ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE: The Thanksgiving
173
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One on-stream bite of a grilled bell pepper to satisfy the fans pestering Jeffy for a glimpse of him. One nod at Konstantin, who was at the bottom of the staircase, scraping mashed potatoes and pieces of a broken bowl together while Søren apologized. One loud groan as he glanced at his social media account and saw all the requests for information about the heartwarming thing the teenager with the heartbreaking story was doing.
One piece of origami paper collected from his desk drawer. One shouted conversation out of his bedroom window to the swarm of people who’d gotten involved in cornucopia decorating. He would not be flying that thing to Matadero later unless it shrank by half. They’d been told.
One warning to Haoyu and Lexi about the questionable nature of the potatoes that would soon be arriving. One strong handshake from Mr. Zhang-Demir. And one final flight down to F with a load of supplies for the NesiCard man.
“Even Artonans love pizzzzzzzaaa! Maybe!”
One thought so crazy it would never have crossed his mind on a less ludicrous day. One frown as he stopped and stared at Post Drop #1301— a graduation capstone project gifted to F City by Indah Juliana.
He tried to target it with his skill.
And he felt the pull of it, that little weighted point in the universe that marked the location of his entruster. His sense of it was oddly fragile, like it existed halfway between reality and a fevered hallucination. But there it was.