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 Dealing With Life  (2 ratings)by Lin Y. Cawthra Page 3 of 3 They didn't go out the rest of that first day but made Nika go to bed
to rest. Nika remembered her parents' words but wasn't sure she could
keep love and acceptance in her heart, if there were people like that in
the universe. At first she couldn't sleep, she just kept hearing the
words of the woman and feeling the pain of the man's fist hitting her
in the mouth. But slowly, she started remembering all the hugs and
kisses her family gave her. Nika started remembering all the good
times with her family. She knew then that it might take some time
but she would learn to trust others again. Her Commander Mommy
was right, she had to keep love and acceptance in her heart always.
The next day, after checking to see if Nika had a fever or otherwise did not feel well and being reassured that she was just fine, they all went out shopping. At first it was hard to put the incident of the day before aside and have fun but after a while, Nika managed. It was hard not to have fun, with all there was to see and do at the Cherryh Spaceport. Before anything else, they got the shopping for basic necessities done. The two little girls were told that they must always make sure that was done first, otherwise there might not be enough credits left if they waited until after they had fun. Then what would they do? Business first, always business first. Then you could have fun and not have to worry about the business. They played in a holodeck programmed as an amusement park. It had zoo animals to look at, ponies to ride, baby animals to feed and cuddle, rides to go on, clowns to watch perform juggling acts and funny performances to watch. They were there all day and they had so much fun. The two little girls were exhausted by the time they left the holodeck and had to be carried back to the hotel. Their parents didn't mind though and it felt nice and safe in their parents' arms. Both Nika and Shai were fast asleep long before they got to their hotel room. It was a really good day. The following day, they all went to a movie. They had never, ever done that before and it was really exciting and even scarey. It was an old movie from when Terra was still called Earth and it was about dinosaurs being made from something called DNA found in a bug that was inside a rock. Nika didn't understand all of that. What was DNA? How did a bug get inside a rock? Stupid bug! But she liked being scared by the dinosaurs and hoping that no one would get eaten by them. When they left the movie, Nika was a little jumpy for a few hours, although she didn't let on, as she kept expecting dinosaurs to jump out to eat her. When they didn't, she finally calmed down. They got to eat pizza that day and they got to eat ice cream too. Neither Nika or Shai had ever before had pizza or ice cream but after having them, they both vowed to become really, really rich some day so that they could have them both whenever they felt like it. Their parents just laughed lovingly and said they could be whatever they wanted to be and if they worked really, really hard maybe they could become rich and have pizza and ice cream whenever they wanted to. Then they did more shopping but just for fun this time. Both of the little girls got some new clothes and toys. Then their parents bought lots of books. Most were for the school and the daycare center on the ship but some of the books weren't, they were for their very own to keep for always. Their parents bought them three books each. They were told they could choose whatever books they wanted. Both Nika and Shai chose their favorite storybook. Nika chose "The Little Elf" and Shai chose "Clancy the Clown" for one of their books. They chose brand new, never before read storybooks for their other choices. Of course, both little girls made sure the other two books would be really good stories to have forever and always, by reading the books that looked like they would be fun to own. It took a while to choose just the right books but their parents let them take as much time as they liked. Nika chose a book that had lots and lots of different stories about elves. She still called them elfses and a book about dinosaurs. Shai chose a book that had lots and lots of stories about clowns and a book about farm animals. Their parents bought themselves several books each. They were yucky grownup stuff and didn't look like any fun to read at all but their parents looked all happy about buying them. Grownups sure were hard to understand sometimes. In all, they had seven whole days of shore leave on Cherryh Spaceport. And, except for the incident with the man and woman, it was the most fun that either of the little girls had ever had. The incident haunted Nika for a long, long time but eventually, she learned how to shrug off racist and prejudiced remarks and not take them personally. In time, she discovered that while there were many, many racist and prejudiced people out there in the universe, there were many, many more who were not. And she learned that love and acceptance felt better inside herself than fear and hate did. In time, she got better at dealing with life. The End -- DEALING WITH LIFE is a short story by the author of PRIMUS THREE written by Lin Y. Cawthra Book #1 in the Science Fiction series SPACE VOYAGERS ISBN #: 1-893906-00-0 Published by: The MAZE Publishing Company ACTION! ADVENTURE! ROMANCE! Her book is available at the Web Site: http://www.spacevoyagers.net or at the Web Site: http://www.themazepublishingco.com
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