The Definition of Stealing: Riley

Today I met a strange woman. She banged on the front door, loud enough that we remembered that there was a front door - we'd never left the building. Father never wanted us to.

"Hello?"

I tried to speak like Father had.

His language wasn't like ours was. We had our own words, our own way of saying things. It's impossible to write out our language, because it has a lot to do with little movements and nuances of tone. It'd be a lot of dots, I think. Dots and swoops. Maybe I'll suggest that to the others.

But she understood me, I guess. "Someone home?"

I warned the other two to stay upstairs while I investigated. It was two shakes of a leaf, not something she would have heard.

"Yes, hi." I crawled carefully down the ladder, watching her curiously. She had pink skin, kind of, pinkish white, really, with black hair where her leaves were supposed to be. She was a human, then.

She folded her arms. "Where are your parents?" If she was surprised by my appearance, she didn't say so.

"Dead," I said. I couldn't really explain that their bodies were still alive, that it was just their minds that had gone. And really, it wasn't her business anyway.

She winced. "Ah. I'm sorry." She leaned down to look at me. "Curious little thing, aren't you. Do you live here?"

"Yes."

She nodded. "All right, well. I'm - ah. I'm here to inform you that your household bills haven't been paid. Since they haven't - well. Some of your things are being taken back."

"What."

I didn't really understand fully, other than she was going to take our stuff.

"Okay ... so, since people are living here, right? You have to pay money to the local government. When that doesn't happen, they send people like me to collect some kind of recompense - er, payment."

"But we don't have any money!"

She sighed softly. "Look, I get it, you know? And I'm really sorry, but if I don't come back with something, the boss will have my head. It's the principle of the thing, these days, anyway."

"Okay but ... how do we get money? How am I supposed to pay the bills?"

I was the oldest, by a few minutes anyway. I guess that makes me the one in charge - which makes everything, everything, my responsibility.

"Look, I'm not supposed to talk about this, but Old Tony is still kicking around. He'll be sending his boys by around Monday. Talk to them, they'll help you get things set up, all right?"

I don't think this is what Father wanted ... but we don't have any choices in the matter, do we?

She ended up taking away our bookcase, though she left the books when I explained that we needed them.

I don't know why we need them, but we do. She left the ones that were to teach us stuff, but she explained that if she didn't take some of the books, it'd be her head. She had to look like she at least tried to get proper recompense.

Whatever that means.

I really don't care if she loses her head, to be honest. But I smiled and nodded like I didn't have anything going on in my head.

I will never have someone like her take my things again.