maidenly brush of her lips to his and then she pulled back again, once more pressing her fingers to her tingling mouth. She couldn’t believe she’d just done that. But then she felt battered, and she felt bruised, and in the lostness of it all was it really so wrong just to want to be gently held and touched and maybe even cherished, if only just a 46
little bit?
Tears flooding her eyes all over again, Judy reached for the only person on this whole miserable world who could and would hold her. She climbed up into Papa’s lap, burying her face against his chest and letting his arms wrap tight around her. She fell to pieces there, accepting what comfort his embrace offered and doing her best all the while not to think about any of it.
If nothing else, when he held her close like this, at least he couldn’t spank her.
47
Chapter Six
In the passenger side of Papa’s (for lack of a better word) car, Judy squirmed to get comfortable in the buckles of what amounted to a giant-sized carseat. Tak’buh was taking no chances; the child’s seat was buckled into the car, she was buckled into the seat, and her hands were tied into a leather, muff-like sleeve. Like a giant Chinese finger puzzle, the more she struggled, the tighter it became until she could barely wiggle her fingers much less pick her way out of all these fastenings. Not that she was trying all that hard anymore. The minute Papa had started the bullet-shaped vehicle, all of her attention had been swiftly rerouted towards anticipating the sudden fiery crash that would no doubt claim both their lives any second now.
Although it had initially rested on tires when parked, shortly after they glided from the driveway, with a mechanical whine the tires had rotated up into the underside of the streamlined vehicle, leaving them to glide air-borne onto the twin rails that ran like Earth roads just about everywhere here. Unlike human cars, however, this one did its traveling at speeds determined to give her heart failure. Judy had flown in planes that didn’t move this fast. And then they were on the main road with hundreds of other cars, every one of them moving just as fast as she and Papa were.
“Oh my God!” she shrieked, throwing up her tightly bound hands to shield her face as the vehicle whipped around a corner just a hair’s-breadth from colliding with two larger, commercial-freight-sized trailers.
Chuckling, Papa reached over to pat her head but she jerked away. Her bellowed, “Are you insane?!” became a scream midway through ‘you’ when the rails ahead suddenly formed a vertical hill that launched them straight up into the atmosphere before leveling out perhaps a quarter of a mile above the neighborhood of houses and trees that they diverted around. Larger city-sized buildings in the distance became increasingly larger and significantly less distant in way too short of a time. She was only just wondering whether she might be able to handle the inevitable descent without throwing up when the vehicle again diverted from the main rail onto a descending pair that, in near rollercoaster fashion, sling-shot them into a sharp sideways, down-turning loop.
“Shh, shh,” Papa tried to soothe but, certain she was about to die—and horribly—Judy was not about to be shushed. She grabbed at the door, her high-pitched teakettle screams filling the car as they hurtled towards the ground at breakneck speed.
“Pani,” Papa admonished.
“This is not okay!” she shouted, her eyes huge in her much-too-pale face.
“Omigodomigod!” She erupted into a whole new scream as the vehicle shot into another sideways loop and then suddenly they were slowing, rounding around the backside of a huge building as they rapidly reduced speed, eventually coming to a smooth stop in a crowded parking lot. Like a rollercoaster car, the vehicle vented a hiss of air pressure before the wheels were let down and they glided softly into a parking space.
Shaking, Judy
little bit?
Tears flooding her eyes all over again, Judy reached for the only person on this whole miserable world who could and would hold her. She climbed up into Papa’s lap, burying her face against his chest and letting his arms wrap tight around her. She fell to pieces there, accepting what comfort his embrace offered and doing her best all the while not to think about any of it.
If nothing else, when he held her close like this, at least he couldn’t spank her.
47
Chapter Six
In the passenger side of Papa’s (for lack of a better word) car, Judy squirmed to get comfortable in the buckles of what amounted to a giant-sized carseat. Tak’buh was taking no chances; the child’s seat was buckled into the car, she was buckled into the seat, and her hands were tied into a leather, muff-like sleeve. Like a giant Chinese finger puzzle, the more she struggled, the tighter it became until she could barely wiggle her fingers much less pick her way out of all these fastenings. Not that she was trying all that hard anymore. The minute Papa had started the bullet-shaped vehicle, all of her attention had been swiftly rerouted towards anticipating the sudden fiery crash that would no doubt claim both their lives any second now.
Although it had initially rested on tires when parked, shortly after they glided from the driveway, with a mechanical whine the tires had rotated up into the underside of the streamlined vehicle, leaving them to glide air-borne onto the twin rails that ran like Earth roads just about everywhere here. Unlike human cars, however, this one did its traveling at speeds determined to give her heart failure. Judy had flown in planes that didn’t move this fast. And then they were on the main road with hundreds of other cars, every one of them moving just as fast as she and Papa were.
“Oh my God!” she shrieked, throwing up her tightly bound hands to shield her face as the vehicle whipped around a corner just a hair’s-breadth from colliding with two larger, commercial-freight-sized trailers.
Chuckling, Papa reached over to pat her head but she jerked away. Her bellowed, “Are you insane?!” became a scream midway through ‘you’ when the rails ahead suddenly formed a vertical hill that launched them straight up into the atmosphere before leveling out perhaps a quarter of a mile above the neighborhood of houses and trees that they diverted around. Larger city-sized buildings in the distance became increasingly larger and significantly less distant in way too short of a time. She was only just wondering whether she might be able to handle the inevitable descent without throwing up when the vehicle again diverted from the main rail onto a descending pair that, in near rollercoaster fashion, sling-shot them into a sharp sideways, down-turning loop.
“Shh, shh,” Papa tried to soothe but, certain she was about to die—and horribly—Judy was not about to be shushed. She grabbed at the door, her high-pitched teakettle screams filling the car as they hurtled towards the ground at breakneck speed.
“Pani,” Papa admonished.
“This is not okay!” she shouted, her eyes huge in her much-too-pale face.
“Omigodomigod!” She erupted into a whole new scream as the vehicle shot into another sideways loop and then suddenly they were slowing, rounding around the backside of a huge building as they rapidly reduced speed, eventually coming to a smooth stop in a crowded parking lot. Like a rollercoaster car, the vehicle vented a hiss of air pressure before the wheels were let down and they glided softly into a parking space.
Shaking, Judy
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