Max opened her mouth to speak and closed it quickly like a fish out of water. She opened it once more and said, "You noticed my barcode?"
"Yes…last night. In the bathtub," Josephine said.
"It is my name."
"Isn't your name Max?" Josephine was confused.
"That is not my true name. I am only called Max. My real name is X5-452. I am a Manticore soldier," Max sat straighter.
"Soldier," muttered Josephine. "What about all those brothers and sisters?"
"They are also soldiers. We all have number-names, not people-names. We named each other or chose names ourselves. I ended up Max. Jondy, Zack, Tinga…they all got their names from us," Max explained. She paused, "I miss them."
"You said you had no momma or daddy. Where are they?"
"Don't know," Max shrugged non-chalantly.
"You really don't, do you?"
Max shook her head. "I am not human. Not enough. I am part cat."
"Of course you're human. You have everything where it should be, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, ten fingers and ten toes. No tail, no whiskers. Cats hate water and you took to the bathtub like a frog more than a cat last night."
"Cat DNA," Max emphasized. "Cat inside."
"Oh…I see," Josephine followed, but didn't really understand. A 9-year-old knew more about DNA than she did. Ha.
"Cats are better soldiers."
"Huh? Cats are domestic animals, sweetie, not soldiers. Where's Samantha?" Josephine broke from the subject, referring to her calico. "Pst, pst, pst…here pussycat."
Samantha crawled out from under the couch and Josephine seized the unwilling struggling feline and placed her in her lap. "See, Max? Samantha is a cat, not a soldier. She's a pet. You met Lex last night, he's a pet."
"Cat abilities. I can see, hear, jump, run like a cat."
"Oy vay," Josephine murmured and sat back, but she forgot she was sitting on an ottoman and fell on the floor.
"Jo!" Max exclaimed, calling Josephine by her name for the first time since last night. "Are you all right?" Max looked down at her hostess.
"Yeah," Josephine sat up and shook her head. "So you're saying you're genetically enhanced?"
Max nodded.
"You think you know a person," she muttered under her breath. "Well, Max. There's still a little bit missing. Where do you come from?"
"Manticore. Big building. Much bigger than this," Max spread her arms wide to emphasize her point.
"What did you do in Manticore?"
"Trained. Did exercises. Fought. Taught to survive in the woods. Kill. We ran after convicts and hunted them down like one would hunt a bear. The first one to find him, killed him. I went to bed with my hands stained with the blood of a man who killed others but I killed him in return."
Josephine swallowed hard. They taught little children to kill?
Max continued. "We lived in barracks. Small beds for each of us. It got cold, I would sneak into bed under the covers with Jondy. Then Eva would come. We would all huddle together for warmth."
"My sisters and I did that, too, when we were very small," Josephine remembered fondly, back when she and Kelly Ann and Lola were still friends.
"Eva is dead now," Max looked out the window at the falling rain. "Shot in the chest. She held a gun to the Colonel. He got scared and gunned her down."
"That's terrible." Who's the Colonel?
"We think she is better gone, Jondy and I. Ben says she is with the Blue Lady."
"The Blue Lady?" Josephine asked. "Mind if I ask who that is?"
Instead of responding verbally, Max took Josephine by the hand and led her to the office, now Max's bedroom.
"The Blue Lady is in here," Max said. "Here." She pointed to Josephine's lifelike sketch of the Virgin Mary that she drew back in high school, with baby Jesus on her knee.
"That's your 'Blue Lady'?" Josephine asked, lightly squeezing Max's fingers that enclosed her own hand. "Sweetie, that's Mary of Nazareth. She's the mother of Jesus Christ."
"I want to learn about her."
Josephine pursed her lips. Teach the word of Christ to a killing machine? "Later, Max."
"Now…I want to learn if Eva is with her, now," Max tugged on Josephine's hand. "That is why I stayed. The Blue Lady was here. I felt her in here. She was watching over me. I couldn't leave."
"The Blue Lady watches over all of us," Josephine said. "I'm sure Eva is with her."
"I want to stay here," Max said after a long silence.
Josephine's heart skipped a beat. A child? Live here? "W-well, are you sure?"
"No where else. Too cold to travel. I will be gone by spring," Max promised.
"Ah, well, ah, if you really want to…um, I guess I can say you're here for fostering," Josephine said. "If you really and truly want to stay with me, you can."
"Really?"
"All though I'm very skeptical about this Manticore thing," Josephine added quickly. "No funny business, okay? No super powers on mere mortals."
Max had no idea what that ment but she nodded in agreement.
"If you're going to live here, you got to get some proper clothing," Josephine thought out loud. "Some new pants, shirts, socks, shoes," she added with a laugh. "I'll take you to Wal-Mart. They have some pretty good stuff at prices I can easily afford on my salary. I would say we'd enroll you in school, but you'll be gone by spring. No sense in putting you in and pulling you out."
"I got education in Manticore. Enough of it."
Josephine twisted her lips as if she couldn't think of anything better to do. "I can't let you just hang around the house all day, Max. Especially while I'm at work."
"I will work, too. I'll get a job."
"You're only nine. You can't work. Maybe you can come to work with me," she led Max out of the room and to the den. "I'll buy you some workbooks for kids your age and see how you do. Then we'll see about school." She ran her fingers over Max's stubble of hair. "You should grow your hair, Max. I bet it will be very pretty when it's long. With those eyes and perfect mouth…you'll be a real looker, I bet."
"Can I wear a dress when my hair is long?" Max asked.
"You can wear a dress now," Josephine said. "I think I have one here…one my niece Allegra outgrew. She left here one year and never came to fetch it. With your figure, it might fit a little loose but that's okay."
Josephine quickly went into the office and opened the oak closet. Hanging still on that purple plastic hanger, was Allegra's ancient dress. It was navy blue and very simple, with a square neckline. Allegra, who was now thirteen, had last worn the dress when she was about seven or eight, but Max was very thin and short with a chest as flat as an unread book. Josephine took the dress out of the closet and turned around and was shocked to see that Max had followed her and was standing in the doorway.
"Max…you scared me."
"Is that the dress?"
"Yes…would you like to put it on?"
As Max slipped out of the over-sized T-shirt, Josephine ran to her own bedroom to find a pair of panties that were small on her. In case they were too big, she grabbed a safety pin. When Josephine got back, Max was already in the dress and sitting on the floor.
"Stand up," Josephine suggested. "Let me see what a knock out you are."
"I feel funny," Max grimaced. She stood.
"Hm," Josephine sighed as she smoothed out the dress where Max had creased it when she sat. The navy cotton was slightly worn, but still in tact. "With your hair it looks a little funny, but…I think you look, kinda pretty."
Max gazed at her image in the mirror. Could I be pretty? She gave a smile and answered, "Yes."