Linksshifter II

A Path Between The Waves - ~~~

"It's still not fair," Ajay said, banging his spoon on the table, drips of porridge splattering. "It's not fair that she gets one and I don't."

"I agree it's no fair," Sonali said, taking another spoonful and then standing up to check the malpuas in the pan. "But it's no fair on me that I've got to be the one to give it. If you don't like it, you should talk with mum and baba about getting your own phones. You're going to be in secondary before too long, and you've got to have a phone there, even if yous are managing in primary without them. They're expensive, but they're getting cheaper, and like I was saying, they can come locked down so yous can't just poke something and double the bill." She turned the pancakes over, one by one; they were browning faster, so that meant the heat could come down a little. Sonali turned the gas back a notch and sat down again.

"I asked," Ajay said, obviously wounded like he was tired of doing this over and over again – maybe his friends were giving him it tight about not having a phone even. "I asked, and baba said no, that he couldn't trust me with it."

"Aye, and so he shouldn't," Sonali said, mouth half full of porridge. "He thinks you're too much of a wean yet, and that the first thing you do when you get a phone is go on Twitter and call everyone in Glasgow and Dundee all the bad names you think you know how to spell correctly. And he probably thinks Anji's going to be texting her battery flat, sending the same emoji fifty times to every girl in her year. Mum and baba are old yet; they think you've got to be grown to have your own phone, so you've just got to show them that you're grown enough. Simples." She stood up again to check the pan; a little more, maybe another couple seconds, and this batch would be out as well.

"I wouldn't," Ajay said. "I wouldn't but. But it's hard anaw – it's like we're the only ones in our year who don't have phones, and if she gets one an I don't, everyone's going to be giving me laldy over it. It's not fair. I'd no even need a plan – I just got to have something that works that I can take it out my pocket and turn it on."

"Like I'm saying, don't talk to me, talk to baba," Sonali said, turning the malpuas over again to be sure before she took them out. "And don't beg, just tell him straight up what you want it for, what you've got to be able to do with it to not get stick from your friends. You know I've had my problems with baba, but if you tell him the truth, he'll see the truth and treat you fair – at least as far as he sees it." She wasn't sure how much she really believed that after that business with the club and the temple association, but he'd done that because he'd made the rule that she was out of the club, and knew ahead of time she'd try to go around his back and break it. "Like he'll let you have the phone, but you've a hard data cap, or you're not allowed to go walking around after Pokemons without him or me or mum with you." There were more malpuas in this batch, enough for a decent portion for her after she served out a couple more onto the twins' plates for seconds.

"I guess that'd be all right," Anji said, pitching right in on the malpuas like there was something wrong with her porridge, "that Pokemon's no quite so popular any more, it's only when they do a new update that folk are out catching them."

"No, it's well popular the now," Ajay said, bolting down another spoonful of porridge and ignoring the malpuas. That was enough for him then if he didn't want them. "There was an update, and now there's a super-legendary out. Gavin even said – he's been going after it and he's promised he's going to catch it over summer break if he doesn't find it by the end of the term."

Sonali cocked an eyebrow, munching on one of her malpuas. This batch were much better – like she was actually getting the hang of this. So kids still lied to each other about secret features in their games these days – even with the whole internet full of spoilers a bare click away. Well, not for the twins, not without phones of their own; maybe that's why Ajay'd been getting this line from his mates. "It's going to take all summer? So what's this super-legendary then – some kind of womble that shoots fried Mars bars?"