Shift

15- After Lunch

Lavilla smiled at me when I came in. She was still sitting there. How long was she going to stay with us?

We ate some vegetable and meat mixture from Shiflia out of cans. Again, the meat still tasted weird. It should not be sweet, just no. Imagine mixing somewhat hard carrots, peppers, beef and icing, left in a fridge overnight. Now stop imagining. That's what I was eating only it didn't look anything like the foods I described. It was mostly grey, the colour of most processed foods in Shiflia. I don't know how anyone could eat it.

"How is it?"

"Good?"

"You don't like it."

"No"

"Yeah, no one likes it."

"Thanks..." I said, finishing the last bite.

After lunch, Klisa tried to teach me a few more things. It was all really hard to grasp. She forbid the use of all idioms and hyperboles because no one would understand. That was easy. What was hard was that I had to remember so much about Shifts and their planet.

Then, Klisa tried to teach me how to fly the ship. She showed me all the basics and things to do in emergencies and of course told me not to press the button that steals air. Lavilla just sat next to us watching.

It took Klisa hours of explaining how to fly the ship and then she let me try again. I steered with the orb and watched the screen carefully but when I tried to lower the ship, well, I buried it a few meters underground.

Klisa rolled her eyes and took the controls. Slowly, she eased us back to the surface. Lavilla laughed. "Can I try?"

"Aren't you a kid?" Klisa asked.

"Yes, why, does that matter?"

"I wonder what would happen if she tried." Klisa grinned. "Go ahead!"

Lavilla clapped her purple hands together. "Yay!" She sat in Klisa's chair and started to fly. She flied with ease. She flied way better than I could, almost as good as Klisa.

"Girl, you're really good!" I said, admiring the way she flew.

"Now try to land it!" Klisa chirped.

"Okay" Lavilla said with a smile. Slowly, she planted the ship on the ground, perfectly.

"You're hired! If you want, you can come with us!" Klisa said excitedly. Lavilla herself started to look excited.

"Woah, woah, woah! She probably has parents on this planet!" I said.

"That didn't stop you."

"I'm an adult!"

"So?"

"You can't take a child from their home!"

"Not without permission," she looked to Lavilla who was hopping up and down. "Do you want to travel the stars?"

"YES!" Lavilla screamed louder than I ever heard her speak before.

Klisa grinned. "There, it's settled, she's coming."