Skylar handed Katrina a receipt.
Katrina released Evan, who pushed her away and raised his fists.
“Don’t even try it,” Katrina said softly.
While keeping one eye on Evan, Katrina grabbed her belongings, backed out the door, and stumbled away.
“Fuck you, you crazy bitch!” Evan shouted.
As Katrina left, the neighbors stared at her like she was garbage.
Which she was.
* * *
“So … you’re a space alien?”
“Citizen of the Galactic Empire would be more accurate.”
“And you escaped here … to make donuts.”
Lan nodded. “I needed to get my family far from the Empire. But I needed a way to do it without raising suspicion.”
“And that would be donuts?”
Lan shook her head. “Well, not just donuts. At this moment, two hundred forty-seven light-years away, a level-five gamma ray burst is on a direct collision course with this solar system.”
“Level five? Is that good?”
“Beyond good!” Lan gushed. “Less than one percent of gamma ray bursts are level five. When it arrives, every planet, every moon, every asteroid it hits will be bombarded for about four minutes—not just with gamma rays, but all sorts of high-energy radiation! If we’re lucky, even your sun might be affected!”
Gamma rays? High-energy radiation? Did she just hear that right? Not that a space alien like Lan had any obligation to care about life on this planet. Still …
“Lan, why move your family into certain death?”
“No, no! You see, at the time, this planet will be shielded, directly behind your sun. Due to a remarkable alignment, your planet will be the perfect location to watch the spectacle. That is why I suggested to the bank that building a stargate would be great for sightseers and travelers.”
“And you could serve them donuts.”
“Yes!” Lan said excitedly. “That’s how I was able to get a travel permit. I made it look like an excellent business opportunity.”
“And that explains why your accent keeps coming and going.”
Lan frowned. She had let her donut accent slip—not good! This was still a customer.
“Oh! I can change now if you like—”
Shizuka put her hand up and shook her head. “No. Please. Don’t.”
Shizuka listened to the jingle of a passing ice cream truck. It was not every day that Shizuka felt fortunate to have been damned by Hell. But it did keep her from getting too shocked by life’s surprises. Space aliens at a donut shop? Why not? In fact, it was refreshing to meet someone else with secrets for a change.
“So, what do you look like, really?” Shizuka asked.
Lan looked away. When making first contact, it always came to this, didn’t it?
“Scary,” she finally said.
“Really?”
“Yes. Really scary.” Lan turned her gaze back to Shizuka. “Does it matter?”
Shizuka shrugged. “To be honest, I suppose by now I’d be pretty scary, too.”
“What do you mean?”
The sun was just beginning to drop in the sky, and the golden glow made Shizuka recall Technicolor, The Brady Bunch, and ABC After School Specials.
“I used to be a musician.”
Lan listened as Shizuka talked about a deal with a demon and a soul in exchange for souls. She listened as Shizuka spoke about a music she could barely articulate, a music that had eluded her for years.
Shizuka talked about how she had finally found it, that afternoon on this very bench, in a girl with a cheap violin, a tuning fork, a battered copy of Schradieck, and a huge bruise on her face.
And how she had been coming here as often as she could, feeding the ducks, hoping for that girl to return.
Lan tried to understand what Shizuka said. Some civilizations still might symbolically pledge to a family, a government, even an idea. The entire Tarn Republic declared itself a servant of peace in one of its final communications.
But Lan’s civilization had long evolved beyond believing in supernatural beings and souls and music. And, in her reality, no one would think to attach such importance, such meaning, to music.
Still, as Lan listened to Shizuka’s voice, it was as if her words had a faint and peculiar pull, giving Lan the tiniest desire to enter Shizuka’s reality as well.
Shizuka shivered. She realized she had told Donut Lady far more than she intended.
“We said too much, didn’t we?” she said.
Lan nodded.
“I could wipe your memory,” Lan offered. “Of course, I’d wipe mine out too. Just for this afternoon.”