Diamonds in the Sky by Ed. Mike Brotherton Read Free Book Online Page B

everything you could ever want.”
Or your father does.

    “Except a kiss from you.”

    “Oh, not that again, Zeke. Don’t be so boring.” She held up her palm as if ready to push him away.

    “Why not? If my explanation is correct, and you lose, then you’ll kiss me.”

    She threw him a coquettish glance. “Hmm. I don’t know about that. What if
you
lose?”

    “I won’t lose.”

    She shrugged. “But it’s no bet if you have nothing to lose.”

    “So, what do you propose?”

    She paused as if considering possibilities, though she already knew where this was going. “For starters, if you lose, you pay for my return trip, full fare.”

    “Sure,” he said, cocky as ever.

    She realized her mistake immediately.
That didn’t work. It’s his father’s money. It wouldn’t bother him to pay
.

    She offered her hand to shake on the deal, but he held up one finger, signaling another condition. “If you lose, I’ll pay your fare anyway, but we have to take the long way back. And you’ll share a cabin with me.”

    She knew the long way back was at least two weeks. “I think you just raised the stakes.” She thought fast. “Under the circumstances, we need to throw in one more thing, to balance the odds.”

    “What did you have in mind?” Apparently he still didn’t have a hint that he might lose.

    “Hmm. Remember that pig we saw?”

    “You mean that … Greta, the champion sow?”

    “That’s the one.”

    “What about her?”

    “If you lose, you have to climb into the pigpen and kiss her. On the lips.”

    He rocked his head back and forth, tossing his golden curls from side to side.

    “Very funny. Okay, why not? I’m not going to lose.”

    He extended his hand. She shook it, sealing the bet. He didn’t release her hand until she led him up in front of a uniformed policeman and asked for directions to the live animal pens.

    On their way to the pens, they passed a small girl, perhaps five years old, bouncing a large multi-colored ball—probably a prize from one of the gaming booths. Zeke moved quickly and snatched the ball on a bounce. When the girl started to cry, he seized her hand and pressed his own palm sensor on hers. “Here’s money for the ball. Enough for ten new ones. Now get lost!”

    Astrid wanted to hug the child and wipe away her tears, but the five-year-old was already running back to her friends, wailing. Zeke tugged Astrid’s elbow.

    “Let’s get out of here before she complains to her parents. Her Mama is probably a hundred-kilo farm wife who wrings chicken’s necks and eats them alive, feathers and all.”

    Astrid pried his fingers off her arm, but couldn’t see much alternative to following him as he searched for a spot adequately dark for his demonstration.

    Eventually, he found a barn-like structure filled from wall to wall with animal pens, though the stalls on their end of the building were all vacant. “This should be dark enough,” he said, setting his data pod on the railing of the nearest stall and turning on its light beam. “This will be the sun, shining its light on both the planet and the moon. Now you stand here.” He swept away some straw on the dirt floor.

    “You’ll be the planet.”

    “I’m supposed to be a
planet
?”

    “Well, okay, think of yourself as
you
,
standing
on the planet. You’re looking up at the moon.” He held up the ball in both hands. “This will be the moon.”

    “And what am I supposed to do?”

    “Just stand there and look at the moon while I carry it around you. You do know that the moon rotates around the planet, don’t you?”

    “That doesn’t sound right, but if you say so, okay. It’s your demonstration.”

    “Good. Now, face away from the sun—my pod—and watch the shadow on the ball.” He stood in front of her so that she and the ball and the “sun” were in a straight line. “Tell me about the shadow you see.”

    She was distracted for a moment as two young boys led a noisy