Is There A Plan?

“What’s the plan?” Cyd asked, cocking both hands on her hips.

“It was just for the night, Cyd. Kid didn't even have a box to go to. We had a box. It was a nice box too. Pretty sure it could time travel.” Mathias said with a wave. “It's not like she has fleas. I think. I didn't check.”

“It’s not like we don’t have an apartment filled with red devils, uppers and downers,” she reminded him. “Cute innocent little kid act used to work for Isaac, too.”

“First off the list of drugs is way longer than that.” Mathias said. “And Isaac knew better than to try to pick a pocket and midnight, alone. Kid valued my sandwich over the credstick. Which, you know, at least she has some sense.” He shrugged.

“That’s your takeaway?” She asked dryly. “I’m going to be late - she can’t stay here alone, so..” she made a shooing motion with her hands. “Before you go to work. She’s cute. She’ll be fine, give her enough credits to get the rail to the city, otherwise anytime she’s hungry she’ll be on our doorstep.”

“My takeaway is, that kid is not a street rat. She's a country mouse. By the time we were her age we were running all kinds of crazy scams and we could lift a wallet off a table right in front of a guy and no one threw us bone.” Mathias pointed out. “This is me doing the thing that no one did for us when we needed it.”

Cyd’s expression softened, as did her tone. “You have a good heart,” she told her brother. “And it’s in the right place, but your head is up your ass. It’s not that I don’t feel for her, I do, but we aren’t in a position ourselves to help. Lolo still curls his toes in his sneakers, you slept in that lumpy chair with the spring that always jabs you right in the back, and if we don’t make serious bank this Friday at the party, electric and water will be turned off again. Even a country mouse can learn a trick or two in the city. Like I said, she’s little. She’s cute. Someone in the city might eat that up and give her a better place. Or she’ll learn where to panhandle in the city like we did. There was a time you kinda sucked at pickpocketing yourself. C’mon. Don’t make me out to be the Disney Villain, I’m just telling you the truth.”

“I am not making anyone out to be a villain though I maintain Maleficent was not an actual villain and was cool as hell. What I am saying in how many years has our situation changed, hell how anyone's situation here … changed. Everyone is one bad day away from disaster. And I am still working on the sneakers …” Mathias said with a deep sigh. “... It's not going to change so really who is it hurting helping so some lost kid have a warm place to sleep.”

“Lost?” Cyd asked, her eyebrows raised. “As in someone is looking for her? A runaway? And it’s not just a place to sleep, it’s another mouth to feed. What about school? What if someone comes looking? You’ll go to jail, I’ll go to jail, and Isaac - he’ll be the dumb ass trying to pickpocket solo at midnight. I’m all for helping out, and if we weren’t just making it by the skin of our teeth, different story. And what happens when you find another kid begging? The sprawl is full of ‘em, you can’t throw a rock without knocking three of ‘em senseless.”

“Poor choice of words!” Mathias said, holding his hand up. “Less lost and more like abandon, I'm still putting the story together. There were men in vans and bombs and now she is alone watering the streets like a newbie babe lost in the concrete woods.”

“You know that’s just hammering my point of ‘someone might come looking,’ right?” Cyd asked.

“That is also what we used to say to each other, then that is what we would say to Isaac. Someone might come looking. Let's be honest. No one's looking.” Mathias said cynically.

“So what do you suggest,” Cyd asked, crossing her arms. “Build on an addition?”

Mathias choked on his coffee which felt way worse than it sounded. “Hell if I know Cyd.” He coughed. “I mean … not like anyone would notice …” he joked. “... seriously though, I don't know. All I know is this was a kid not from here, in way over her head and a day away from real starvation. You can be the voice of reason all you want but I know you would have done the same thing.”