“The kids know not to come in the office,” Rhoswen explained, “but they text us when the teachers release them for break at 10:15. There is a day time curfew here, and we’ve had some problems with cops questioning the kids.”

The door opened into a conference room. When the door was shut – the opening wasn’t visible. The most of the wall was covered with LCD screens and a oval table was in the center.

A standard door led from the room to a hallway. To the left was a series of doors.

“Makes it look like we have individual offices for the clients,” Rhoswen explained opening a door and showing smaller version of the classroom upstairs, “but it is set up for us,”

They walked up the hall to a reception area. Set up to feel luxurious with the words Trust Security on the wall behind the reception desk.

“Hi , Gunny,” called out a man at the desk.

“Hi, Travis,” Gunny replied, “How are things going,”

Travis pushed back from the desk and turned his wheel chair towards Gunny, then sticking his hand out to shake.

“Good,” Travis answered, ” Learning how to make this thing work. I’m pretty good on the sticks too. There is a YMCA downtown. After the kids finish school, I usually walk them over there. They swim while Lieth and I use the machines to work out,”

“Sounds like a plan,” Gunny said, “Now what projects do we have going?”

“Mostly some home security for Oil executives right now,” Travis answered, “but I’m sure the bosses will have some other projects as soon as our last person gets here.”

At 6:30 the streets were fairly deserted. They made their way quickly along the streets. They quickly came to an older warehouse that took up a whole block and was 4 stories tall. The ground floor was 2 stories tall. The 2^nd and 3^rd were originally office space. The ground floor had large garage doors that were open and a waist high fence was across the opening.

Gunny pressed his thumb on the fence post at the right hand side and a gate swung open. Gunny, Dugal, and Kiera walked through the gate. In the open half of the warehouse there were ramps on the floor. Bikes hung from the ceiling, and skate boards and scooters from wall brackets.

The back half of the warehouse was walled off. A woman walked out of a door on the left side of the wall.

“Gunny good to see you,” Rhoswen Nab Turton greeted them, “you too kids.”

Gunny walked over and hugged Rhoswen, “Sorry we are late,” he apologized, ” We got a late start and had a problem with a neighbor,”.

Rhoswen gestured towards a stairway along a wall. The others followed her up the stairs. “What kind of problem,” she asked.

Climbing the stairs Gunny explained, “Well seems she was under the impression that the apartments are childfree, so our two were a bit of a surprise,”

“We had a similar problem,” Rhoswen said, “They got over it pretty fast. If they don’t we can always pull out the big guns,”

Gunny replied, “If we have to. But I would rather not have to use the trust to control the situation,”

“There are steps in between,” then to the children, “you all are a little late but class will be up here on the 2^nd floor.

Rhoswen stopped on the landing faced with a blank door with no handle just a touch pad. She pressed her thumb on the pad and the door clicked and opened.

The room was brightly colored. The kids immediately kicked off their shoes and stored them in a cubby by the door. The space had been gutted and was open from end to end, with exposed metal beams replacing the load baring walls. The ceiling was light blue with white clouds. The long walls were a soft yellow. One long wall had a series of adjustable desks each with an adjustable chair. Above the desks bookshelves reached to the ceiling, and a library ladder stood in the corner. The opposite wall had a series of large lockers. The two short walls had floor to ceiling window. The view out the windows shimmered a little bit. The distortion was caused by the glass being both bullet proof, and resistant to laser listening devices. If you actually put your ear up to the windows you could hear a steady hum.

Three children were scatted across the floor on pillows with laptops in front of them with headphones and mikes. A figure shimmered in front of each child.

Dugal and Kiera both quickly stripped off their pads and helmets. Finding their lockers they pressed their thumbs against the pad and the lockers opened up. They stowed their pads, helmets. Pulling their laptops and headphones from the backpacks, they tossed the backpacks into the lockers.

Dugal walked over to where Jen was sitting and Kiera joined Maeve. They quickly logged into school. They both apologized to their teacher for being late.

Rhoswen and Gunny quietly walked out of the classroom. Rhoswen pointed to the floor above. We have upstairs set up with a kitchen and a dormitory if we have to work through the night.

“Visiting?” she said in a snitty tone.

Gunny shook his head, “No, we just moved back from my post in Germany. Just got in last night”

The woman said, “They aren’t allowed here”.

Being charitable Gunny pretended she was talking about the skateboards, “Oh they won’t use the boards inside or on the sidewalks. Their school allows them for recess.”

“No,” the woman barked back, “This is a facility for adults – children aren’t allowed.”

“This isn’t a senior center,” Gunny explained signaling the kids to walk on, “Fair housing laws require that children not be discriminated against,”. Gunny started walking towards the elevator.

“I don’t want kids here,” the woman continued, “they belong in the suburbs.”

Gunny had no desire to be trapped in the elevator with his kids and this nut. He had scoped out the hallway earlier and noticed that the stair well did not have fire alarms, but required a door key to exit. Guessing that this woman wouldn’t want to tramp down 4 fights of stairs, he opened the door as they passed and signaled the kids to go down. He followed them through the door, and closed it.

He was right and the woman didn’t follow. He pulled out his phone and called Alish. He quickly related what had happened, and told her he would be calling the management office to let them know there was a problem. The stairwell opened to the outside.

Gunny walked back to the main entrance and went inside. The kids followed. Gunny walked up to the attendant in lobby. The kids quickly and quietly sat on some chairs.

“Hello, I’m the new tenant in 434,” he explained, “The woman across the hall is quite upset that we have moved in and verbally attacked my children just now. Today is their first day at a new school, and my first day at my new job, so I can’t wait around for the office to open. Could you have them call me at this number ASAP” Gunny smiled as he handed the attendant a business card. “I sure you understand I want to get this handled quickly”

“Yes, sir,” the attendant said taking the card, “Sir you know it is only 6:30 the schools aren’t open yet?”

“That late,” exclaimed Gunny, “They are going to a private school.”

The attendant looked at the kids dressed in cotton shorts and T-shirts.

“They don’t have uniforms, but school started at 6:30 am” continued Gunny, “Kids we have to hustle.”

The living room was on the other side of the wall that demarked the kids’ room. Just past that was the kitchen. Kiera opened the frig and got out a grapefruit and a bowl. She sliced and sectioned the grapefruit and sprinkled it with sugar. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, slipped the grapefruit spoon under the half of the grapefruit before picking up the bowl. She headed out to the balcony. There was a table with 4 chairs. Kiera settled herself in before firing up her laptop.

She ate with one hand while using the other to manipulate the computer. She checked her twitter account, and then pulled up her school account. She checked the messages from her friends.

“Hey Kiera, can’t wait till you all get here. The warehouse is pretty cool. We found a place along the Bayou were we can film our “Tuck Everlasting” report. Make sure you bring your Flip.”

Kiera pulled out her headphone/mike from the bag and hooked it up.

“Hey Maeve, we are here. I guess we’ll be at the warehouse this morning. How do you think the Tucks and Winnie will rescue Mae? Can’t wait to see the site.”

Gunny waited till she hit save on the message before walking out the door. He smiled at his daughter, “Didn’t want to get in frame,” . Then he set down a plate of toast on the table.

“Mom is making eggs. Make room on the table ok.”

Kiera put her laptop in hibernation mode and put it in the bag.

Dugan came out with a stack of plates and started putting them out. Kiera jumped up and went to get the silverware.

“Kiera, tomorrow set the table before getting on the computer,” Alish told her daughter.

“Yesm,” Kiera replied.

“Can you handle that plate of bacon with the silverware?” Alish asked.

“Let me get the napkins,” Kiera said, “then I think I can”

She found the napkins in a drawer. Holding the silverware and napkins in one hand, and the platter of bacon in the other she headed to the door.

Very quickly the whole family was gathered around the table.

Gunny said, “We are running a little late today. I expect to be out the door by six tomorrow, OK guys.”

The kids nodded. Dugal joked, “Mom can waste half the morning – she doesn’t have to be at work till 9 am.”

Alish playfully tussled her son’s hair pointed to his plate and said, “eat”.

They quickly finished up. Everyone carried their plates, silverware, and napkin inside.

Alish said, “throw the napkins on top of the washer” They set up an assembly line to scrape the plates, and put them in the dishwasher.

“Ok, kids get your bags,” Gunny called out.

Kiera and Dugal ran into their room. They quickly put on their pads and helmet and grabbed their skate boards from the closet.

Gunny was at the door waiting, “Kids no skateboarding unless No one else is on the side walk. There is space at the warehouse for you all to skate.”

The kids nodded. Gunny kissed Alish goodbye and they walked out. A woman was coming out of the door across the way.

“We have 15 minutes till Bus comes but we are in Terminal B and we need to be in terminal C.” he explained showing his Dad the screen.

Gunny smiled, “Ok let’s move out”.

The group walked down the long, straight hall that connected a cluster of gates to the center of the terminal.

The train station was just to the left as they came into the center of the terminal. Keira ran ahead and was waiting at the train as the others caught up. They were the only ones in the train car as they sat for the short trip.

“Dad can we really see into Minute Maid from our balcony?” Keira asked.

Gunny smiled, “Yes we have a balcony that looks out over the park, but I don’t know how great the view will be. I’m sure we can get some tickets to game – in the cheap seats”.

“Those are the fun ones,” Keira announced.

The train pulled into the station for Terminal C. The group exited the train and headed for the down escalators. They followed the signs to the bus stop. The kids ran ahead to the bus, followed quickly by their father and mother. The kids had their brand new Q cards out and swiped them as they boarded the bus. Alish directed the children to sit down. Gunny stopped spoke to the driver, “We are new to town, and need a transfer to 163.”

The driver said, “That is ok; just swipe the card when you get on that bus. It won’t charge you if the bus is going in the same direction and is within 2 hours.”

Gunny nodded and went and sat next to his wife. Alish reached over and rubbed his close cropped head.

The kids got out their laptops, plugging in the USB devise that allowed them to get on the web. Dugal started a math lesson on long division, and Kiera accessed a thread about Freckle Juice and answered the questions the teacher had posted. They had learned long early to use these times trapped on buses, trains, and cars to get their school work done.

Alish leaned on her husband’s shoulder looking at the Houston sprawl along I45. This was going to be different from living on a Military Base in Germany or a small fishing village on the Texas Gulf Coast. She knew her kids were adaptable and would have fun with their friends and cousins that would be living and working nearby.

When the bus exited the freeway at McKinney, Gunny stretched and said, “We are getting near our stop.”

The kids nodded and signed off, quickly packing up their laptops. As they approached the stop, Gunny reached up and pulled the cord.

When they got out, the driver drawled, ” you all need to walk just a bock that way to Travis to pick up your next bus.”

The kids smiled and waved at him. The streets were busy with downtown workers. Alish called, “You all don’t get to far ahead,”.

The kids stopped at the bus stop – “What bus do we want Dad?” Keira asked.

Gunny replied, ” 048″.

A woman standing at the stop looked up, “Should be here in a few minutes.”

“Were is our new apartment from here, Dad?” Dugal asked.

Gunny looked around. You can’t see it from here but West and a little North.”

The bus came and the family fell into line with the others. The bus was crowded and they ended up standing as the bus went down McKinney to Crawford.

Kiera’s face lit up as the bus drove past Minute Maid Park. She jerked on her Mom’s hand and started to point. Alish pulled her excited child’s hand back to keep her from waving her hand in front of two seated passengers.

Slightly shamefaced Kiera whispered, “Sorry.”

The woman on the aisle smiled and said, “You like baseball?”

“oh Yea,” replied Kiera grinning from ear to ear.

The man in the window seat grunted and glared.

Gunny leaned over to Kiera, “Sweetie, I think our apartment is on the other side of Eastex Freeway. “

Dugal spoke up, “But we still can go to games right, and the Toyota Center isn’t far either?”

Alish answered, “That is right – and we will be close to the museums also.”

The bus pulled to a stop and Hamilton and Franklin and the family exited. They used the cross walks to go under the Eastex Freeway, then walked south St Emanuel Street.

They came to the four story brick building. Gunny pulled the keys from his pocket and let them in the security door.

“We are in 434,” Alish said. The family went up the elevator and down the hall to their new apartment.

Alish looked at the doors and directed her family down the hall to their new apartment. Gunny opened the door. The kids ran in looking around to find their room.

Alish Crogan Shannon looked across the aisle where her daughter Kiera was leaning down to stow her laptop. She leaned forward to check on her son Dugal. He was tightening his seatbelt. Husband Travis, AKA Gunny, was still sound asleep. She laughed to herself. Years of being a Marine had taught her husband to sleep when he could, and under the most uncomfortable situations.

Alish tapped Dugal on the shoulder. “Wake up your Dad,” she whispered to the 11 year old.

Dugal reached across the aisle and shook his Dad’s shoulder. Gunny went from asleep to fully away. “Landing?” he asked as he raised his seat the fraction of an inch to the full up right position.

The steward laughed to himself at Gunny’s instant wake mode. Then he drew a deep breath. “Excuse me, ” he said to Alish as he leaned across her and tapped the woman in the middle seat on the shoulder. “Madam I need you to turn off the MP3 player and return your seat to the upright position.”

The woman snapped at the steward, “One little MP3 player isn’t going to hurt anything,”.

“Madam, FAA regulation require …” the steward began.

The woman waved him off, “Whatever” jerked the headphones out before putting the MP3 player away in her bag.

“Don’t think you are going to get away with this. I’m going to be complaining to the president of the company.” The woman shouted at the steward as he moved on to check the next row. Then she muttered, “Rude breeder parents that travel with brats and take way the best seats from the adults who deserve them.

Alish ignored the woman’s rant as she had since the woman demanded that Kiera and Dugal give up their aisle seats for her and her companion. But she was silently seething after putting up with hours of “accidental bumps”

The landing was a smooth one and while the plane was taxing the woman and several others got their belongings out and tried to move to the aisle.

The woman stood up and shouted at Alish, “Move,”

Alish smiled and said, “No we were told to stay seated till we get to the jet way.”

The woman shouted, “Moved,” and swung her carry on at Alish’s head.

In one smooth movement Alish unbuckled her seat belt, stood, and caught the woman’s arm in a hold. Gunny also stood and turned towards his wife. The woman’s face turned white from the pain of the hold Alish was using. Alish pitched her voice to carry. You just committed 2 federal offences. One you are not obeying the orders of the flight crew by staying seated till we reach the jetway. Two you just assaulted an FBI agent. Alish had her ID out and in front of the woman’s face. There was a reversed mad scramble. All the people that jumped up as the plane landed quickly sat down and fastened their seat belts. Gunny, Alish, and the woman were the only ones left standing

Changing the pitch of her voice so only the woman could hear her Alish said, “You will sit down and be quiet,”

The woman nodded her head slowly, and Alish released her. The woman sat down and buckled her seat belt. Only then did Gunny return to his seat.

When the plane got to the jetway, the crew had to do something they never had to do – announce that it was ok to get out of your seat and exit the plane.

Gunny made sure Dugal was right in front of him, and Alish made sure Kiera was right in front of her. The well traveled children held the backpacks in front as they walked carefully down the aisle. As they got to the door, the steward looked Alish in the eye and said, “thanks,”

Once they cleared the jet way, the family moved to the waiting area out of traffic to put their backpacks on and adjust the straps.

A Ms. Hubert turned from the distance learning equipment that she was working on and put her hands up in a time out signal. The talking fell off and then stopped as the stragglers were elbowed by their neighbors.

“We won’t be able to do this people if you continue to distract me from setting up the equipment”, Ms. Hubert told the students, “So if you talk you are out,”

As Ms. Hubert turned back to the equipment Jack stage whispered, “Sure”

Ms. Hubert got down off the step ladder and moved it so the door could open. “Jack,” she ordered, “go to Mrs. Biskup’s room you will not be participating.”

Jack started to protest, “but I was just jok…”

Ms. Hubert interrupted pulling a discipline form out, “Insubordination”

Jack jumped up and walked out of the room grumbling about how unfair it was.

Ms. Hubert turned to the class and asked, “Anyone else want to test me.”

The students all shook their heads.

After moving the ladder back in position, Ms. Hubert climbed back up and muttered, “turn off the camera, turn it all the way to the left and push it down. Wait a minute, and then turn it back on.”

With that, she climbed down a ladder and moved it to the side. Then she pulled out her cell phone, and punched in a number. The phone rang then someone answered on the other end. “I think we’re OK on this end now” she explained, “go ahead and try to dial us,”

The TV rang, then the equipment picked up the phone call. On the screen appeared another group of students. They were sitting in chairs and on desks arranged in a semi-circle and ranged in age from 5 to 15 or so.

Ms. Hubert’s students started elbowing each other and mouthing words. Off camera, Ms. Hubert made sure the mike was on mute, then stage whispered, “Stop it they can see you”.

She couldn’t get on their cases to much, because she was also shocked by what she saw. The students on the other end were all barefoot, the boys had shorts and shirts on, and the girls had shorts pulled up over one piece bathing suites. All the kids looked like they were wet. She could see a floor and roof but no walls. The background showed dunes, then a beach behind the kids.

    A boy, with brown hair bleached by the sun, looked up and waved as he jumped up from the pier. He gathered his fishing gear including a stringer of fish and ran towards his twin sister.

    Where her brother’s hair was bleaching towards blond, Aine’s hair had red highlights. Iollan took the fish into the camper, and then joined his sister outside. They started out down the dirt road. Aine walked in the dusty road, kicking up dust around her trod over shoes. The shoes were so worn in some places that the canvas shoes was thread bare. This matched the frayed cuffs on Aine’s shorts that were pulled up over her swimsuit.

    Iollan walked in the grass alongside the road. His shoes were clean and slightly worn. Over his slightly damp swimming trunks, he wore a pressed “golf” shirt without a logo. It was weird that so many people expected them to be alike, just because they were twins. They were even asked on occasion if they were identical. Their eyes were alike brown with gold flecks and veins – like the tiger eye stones the children wore in necklaces for protection and clarity.

    ”Is there something particular Mom wants?” Iollan asked.

“She doesn’t care,” Aine replied shrugging, “She has rice, so no starch and we are eating grilled fish,”

The kids got to the end of the dirt road, where it dead ended into a 2 lane black top highway. The kids looked both ways before dashing across the road and turning right walking against traffic up on the shoulder. They walked in silence in single file. They had about 2 miles to walk.

The farmer’s market was on the side of the road. The ground was covered with crushed shells with parking on one side of the highway and the market on the other. There was a county cop stopping traffic at the crosswalk, he motioned Aine and Iollan across the road.

“Let’s see if Brad has some sweet corn,” suggested Iollan. They headed over to a booth mid way down the 2^nd road.

“Hey,” Aine called out, “how’s the sweet corn, Brad?”

“Oh, are you all back,” Brad replied, “you are early this year. Corn is ok, but it won’t be at its peak for a couple of weeks.”

“We are looking for something good to grill,” Iollan explained, “We are having fresh catfish and steamed rice”

“Corn is a bit small, how about I throw in some green beans and garlic,” Brad suggested, “enough for all of you’ll. 5 bucks”

Iollan nodded, and Aine said, “you got a deal”, and handed Brad a worn $5. She pulled a canvas bag out of her shorts pocket and put the corn and green beans in the bag.

“Hey is Carol around?” Aine asked.

Brad nodded, “She moved back near the trees,”

“Thanks,” the kids called out and headed towards the trees.

When they got to Carol’s booth there were a couple yuppie tourists with their yuppie kids. Aine and Iollan hung back and watched the yuppies pick over Carol’s goods.

Yuppie Mom, “Well I don’t know. Do we know it is safe, I don’t want us getting food poisoning?”

Aine looked at Carol and rolled her eyes – food poisoning from cheese? Carol waved off the kids. They started to walk off to allow Carol to finish her sale. They wondered down the aisle, buying a large oatmeal cookie to split between them. A little way down there was a small musical group set up. The kids sat down on a couple of hay bales.

The group started with Fiddler’s Green. The kids sang along the chorus, clapping along. Next the group launched into The Devil Made Texas. The kids heard a sniff behind them and the yuppie family was walking away. Apparently the Mom didn’t like the song.

Aine elbowed Iollan and tossed a couple of bucks in the guitar case before getting up and going back to Carol’s booth.

“Hey, Carol,” Aine greeted the woman, “Can we have 4 quarts of milk, 2 of cream, a dozen eggs, .5 lb of pepper jack, and .5 of swiss?”

“Sure,” Carol replied, while she cut a small wedge of the pepper jack and swiss and handed it to the kids, “Thanks for waiting – take a pint of milk each. I got some chocolate left”

“Thanks,” the kids grinned at Carol.

“Any one got some good berries this early,” Iollan asked

“Jessie and John have some excellent strawberries, but the blackberries won’t be in till May,” Carol answered, “They are on the third row about a third away down.”

She positioned the quart bottles around a basket, poured ice around the bottles, and snapped on a lid. The eggs were in cartons that were added to the canvas bag along with the cheese wrapped in cloth.

“That will be $8.75,” Carol stated.

Aine handed her an old 10 and Carol handed back the change. “Remember to bring back the basket and carton for a discount”.

Iollan grabbed the basket and they headed off to Jessie and John’s booth. When they get there, they find the same yuppie family.

Yuppie mom was whining, ” but they have black berries in the grocery store I don’t understand why you don’t have them here.”

Jesse sighed, “Yes ma’am they have them in the grocery store because they are importing them from other places. These are locally grown and the black berries will be in for a couple more weeks. ”

Yuppie girl tugged at her mom’s arm, “but Momma I want black berries”.

Yuppie Dad patted the yuppie girl on her head and said of the soothing voice, ” Yes sweetheart, we are going to get you some black berries.”

He turned an addressed John, ” I am sure you has some black berries back there. Please get some for my daughter now.”

John looked the yuppie dad up and down and said in a slow deliberate voice, ” Sir, the only black berries around here are flowers and have it even set yet. Either by some strawberries, or move on.”

” Well I never,” sputtered yuppie dad, ” I thought you were supposed to have good service at a farmers’ market. This isn’t service.”

With that the family stormed off.

John rolled his eyes, ” I really wish they would just say in their McMansions.”

Jesse smiled at Aine and Iollan, ” what can I do you for.”

Iollan smile back and said, ” 4 pints of strawberries please.”

” That will be $8.00 please,” Jesse said.

Aine handed him an old $10.00 bill and he gave are $2.00 back and change.

With that the two children started walking home. They pass was singing group again, and heard strains of Wild Rover as they passed. As they left the shell covered parking lot is started walking along with two lane blacktop highway, there is a rumble behind them. Iollan and Aine looked up to see a large black SUV pull out across the street kicking up the huge amount of dust. The children can say the four members and the yuppie family through the window. They all looked unhappy.

As Aine set off down the highway she said to her brother, ” why would anyone want to live like that.”

” I’m sure I don’t know,” Iollan answered, ” I sure would wanna be them.”

Biography:

Age: 11 years old

Height: 5′ 3″

Weight: 102 lb    

Body Type: Thin and wirey

Face Type: Thin and long

Complexion: Olive/tanned

Eyes: brown with gold flex

Hair: Brown with bleached blond highlights from outdoor activity

Clothing Styles: Preppy, neat,

Speaking style: Mixture of a southern draw and Irish brogue

General Demeanor: Laid back

Career: Student

Prejudices: Distrusts outsiders/normals

Best Qualities: Loyal

Worst Qualities: Suspicious of outsiders

Weaknesses: Loves sunflower seeds

Hobbies: Swimming, white water rafting, biking

Talents: Great hacker, programmer

On the open shelves there were folded shirts, shorts, pants, skirts. On the opposite wall one shelf held a laptop, phone, and MP3 player all charging. The other shelves were cluttered by the knickknacks of a childhood spent on the beach drift wood, shells, beach glass, and photographs.

The interior long wall was, just a curtain. The exterior wall was made of screen. There was a roll up hurricane shutter that could be pulled down in bad weather. The screen doors opened outward.