Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

56 ∞ still alive

Then he turned to Mickmi. "My dear, you've only been working for me since Wednesday, but I feel like I've been getting work for a week. This is your pay." He took her hand and placed a brown envelope in it.

Mickmi smiled. "Thank you," she said with a nod, turning the envelope over, feeling its thickness.

Aaron came and patted her on the shoulder. "If Dad's happy, we're happy. Keep it up!"

"Okay, boys, get to work!"

About an hour later, Mr. Myers called Danny into the office. He had a pouch packed and ready. "I want you to run an errand for me. Aaron has to finish the Chevvy he's working on—but you know the routine."

"Yes, sir," Danny said, taking the pouch from him.

"Everything is written up, all you have to do is to give it to the teller. And"—he signaled to Danny as he was about to turn—"you can take Miss Mickmi with you."

∞

Banking. That was another topic to explore. Danny was curious what Mickmi had to say about that.

"You know what we're going to do?" he asked as he took them on a side road into town to avoid the traffic. "Make a deposit at the bank. Do you have banks in your world?"

She tilted her head as she considered. "Banks, aye... We have seed banks, food banks, power banks, memory..." 

"Memory bank? Is that – kind of like a library? Sounds like something you'd need right now." He chuckled, meeting her gaze for a moment before she became distant.

"Kind of. It contains the memories of almost every generation since the Great Desolation, feeding the history and the knowledge of our people, available upon demand." She drew a deep breath. "I remember that."

"Not bad." He rubbed her hand as it rested on the seat between them. "Great desolation, huh? Sounds serious."

"It is history. It happened over four millennia ago."

"You remember your history. But what about money banks? Don't you have those?"

"Nay."

He was bemused. "Then how do you keep money safe?"

"We have no money. Ancient practice."

"Ancient, huh? But don't you buy and sell? How d'you get your groceries?"

"Sustenance is not bought. It is an entitlement, a right." Mickmi smiled patiently. "Like air and water."

Danny nodded. "I like that. That means there'd be no starvation anywhere... We should do something like that here. What about other stuff? Don't you ever buy things?"

"Aye... We use credits. It is a system linked to our life prints." She looked at her hands, turning them over. "Our identities."

He flicked on the indicator as he slowed down for an intersection and stopped, then turned left. There was a lot more traffic here. "Life prints? Like fingerprints?"

She was squeezing her wrist, her gaze far away. "Like an energy print from our pulse." She closed her fingers into a fist.

He glanced at her, noting her frown. "You're doing good, Mickmi. So what—" He broke off as he looked ahead at the entrance to the bank parking lot. "Shoot. It looks full." 

He turned in anyway and drove slowly between the rows of parked vehicles. "It's an extra busy day today," he commented as he braked in front of the bank entrance and tried to look through the glass door. "No wonder Mr. Myers said you could come. Why don't you hop out and get in line while I find a parking space? Go in the line for deposits."