This time, she went straight to her apartment, changed to casual clothes, and took Jib out with her on a shopping trip. She walked through several neighborhoods less fastidious than her own, and saw homeless people sleeping in doorways. It reminded her of L.A., and she remembered what Angela Yee had said about overcrowding inside the town’s wall.
She got all the items on her list, and Jib was happy to carry them for her—or if not happy, at least unprotesting. On the way back to her apartment, she saw an orange cat watching her—a cat with two tails, each twitching with a life of its own. After blinking for a couple of seconds, she said, “Cat, I know a bird you should be chasing.”
The cat turned and ran away.
“I don’t blame you,” Martia muttered. Her left ankle throbbed at the memory.
Sh
