"Timmy! Watch where you're-" the rest of Brian's sentence became irrelevant, as the young missile collided with a poor older woman. The woman, however, didn't seem phased at all as Timmy bounced off her and plopped to the ground on his butt.
"Ma'am, I am so sorry!," Brian apologised as he jogged up. "My brother is an idiot."
The woman was beautiful. She stood tall and straight, her skin was a warm light brown. While her right eye was covered with a patch, her left danced with good humor. Only her long white hair and the few creases on her face even hinted at her age. However, it was the woman's tattoo that caught Brian's attention.
"Eye of Ra?" Brian said, without thinking, only to have the woman grin at him.
"Indeed," she inclined her head. "I'm impressed you recognized it."
"Brian's a nerd!" Timmy said as he stood dusting off his rear.
Rolling his eyes, Brian sighed. "From the kid that won the contest to meet Efi Oladele."
"Did you now?" the woman looked at the young boy, clearly impressed. "And how did you do that?"
Timmy looked a little sheepish as he looked at his shoe. "I made an Apollo rocket."
Raising an eyebrow, the woman looked at Brian with a questioning look.
"He made a functional Apollo rocket," Brian supplied, with a proud smirk. "Of course, also how he broke his wrist."
The woman laughed and ruffled Timmy's hair. "Is that so?"
"Yeah! But the rocket went WAAAY far!" Timmy almost jumped up and down in excitement.
"It did," Brian confirmed with a suffering look. "It actually hit lower orbit."
The woman seemed taken aback, as she blinked, looking from the older brother to the younger, then back, as if trying to decide if the boys were joking. Then after a moment, she let out another warm laugh and shook her head.
"I have to say that is quite impressive," the woman laughed. "You remind me a lot of my daughter Fareeha. She is all grown up, but she is still quite fond of rockets!"
"You don't look like an old lady," Timmy said, tilting his head.
"Oh my God, Timmy," Brian slapped his brother in the back of the head, eliciting a little 'ow!'. "You don't say things like that…."
The woman just laughed warmly. "My boy, I will accept that compliment anytime. But, I have an appointment to keep, and I shouldn't keep you from your meeting with Efi."
"Bye!" Timmy waved and began running back down the street in his exuberance.
Brian gave the woman a small smile. "Sorry again, ma'am."
Still smiling, Ana opened her phone and made a call.
"What?"
"Running a touch behind," Ana shook her head at Jack's gruff tone. "Ran into a couple of sweet kids."
"Hnh."