Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode 9: Asha-tanga #3

Cheryl King found three others had beaten her to the breakroom. She wasn't surprised, to be honest. Kaylin was on her phone. The charge nurse, Sharon, said Kaylin was just lazy, always on her phone instead of working. And, of course, she always managed to slip out before shift change was technically over. But Cheryl couldn't really blame her; she remembered what it was like to be nineteen, with a kid at home and not a lot of hope for the future. And Kaylin did pitch in if you asked her.

"That you even have to ask her," Corrie, one of the nurses, groused. And yet Corrie had beaten Cheryl back to the breakroom as well and had her nose stuck in a romance novel.

Lacy, the other nurse's aide, looked up at Cheryl. "God, I am so jealous of you."

Cheryl smiled as she found a seat. She rubbed her ankles and then slipped off the white shoes, rubbing her arches. "After an entire week of being assigned B hall, I need it," Cheryl said. Lacy was referring to Cheryl's upcoming vacation. "I'll need two weeks to recover. Did I really piss off Hannah that bad?" Hannah was the director of Nursing, and Cheryl had been half joking all week about her work assignments. Julie Stevens, one of the older nurses referred to B hall as "a bunch of nervous Nellies." They were only a couple of them, to be honest; older ladies who constantly needed something from their aide. But a couple was more than enough to keep said aide busy most of the shift.

"It's just so nice of Jake to take you on a vacation, especially...space. I mean, God, imagine."

Cheryl met Lacy's eye, and the girl blushed and looked away. Lacy was also nineteen, Jake's age. Cheryl knew that Jake had maintained a huge crush on Lacy throughout high school but that she was "out of his league." She had dated one of the football stars and gotten pregnant in her senior year. He'd taken off just after graduation.

He and his friends had run into Lacy at J's pub out on the edge of town when Jake was back home a couple weeks ago. She'd gotten one look at the man he was growing into . . . and the crush had clearly reversed direction. Cheryl hoped nothing ever came of it. She liked Lacy well enough; she just didn't want Jake to be saddled with raising someone else's kid.

"Yeah, I mean, it's a once in a lifetime chance," Cheryl said. "Couldn't turn that down. Besides, how long has it been since I've had an actual vacation, like gone anywhere?"

"Must be expensive, though," Kaylin said without looking up from her phone. "I hear it is up there. Especially this time of year, with that festival going on."

"Asha-Tanga," Cheryl supplied.

Corrie gave a snort. "Heard its some heathen thing."

Cheryl shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. "Jake says it has religious connotations for some people, but it's not really a religious thing. Kind of like Christmas."

"Christmas is religious," Corrie huffed, looking up. "Birth of Christ."

"Yeah, but not all of it. I mean, the birth of Christ and all, but there's no Santa or reindeer in the Bible. And people still celebrate Christmas even if they aren't regular churchgoers."

"It's not Christmas so much as Mardi Gras," Kaylin said. "That's what I've heard anyway. A big party. I'd go if I could afford it. How can he afford to take you?" Kaylin glanced once in Corrie's direction, as if to dare her to spout any more conservative ideas about Christmas, and then at Cheryl, suspicious of her son's newfound wealth and connection to the stars.

"Honestly, he can't. But the parents of one of his crewmates have a place, and we'll be staying with them."

"Jake knows someone on Saras Station?" Lacy's eyes lit up.

"No, they're from Shin. He's Hanuman. I've met him once on Shoshone Station, briefly, but not his parents."

The breakroom door opened, and Kelly strode in. "Time clock just turned," she said, throwing stuff in her locker.

"Hanuman, huh?" Corrie snorted as she stuck the book in her pocket and pulled a coat off the hook. She gave Cheryl one last disapproving look.

"Ignore her," Kelly said, watching Corrie's retreating back. "Sour grapes."

"Yeah," Lacy agreed. "I'd go in a heartbeat."

"Who wouldn't?" Kaylin said. "Have fun." She tucked the phone away and strode out the door, leaving Kelly, Lacy, and Cheryl to gather their stuff. Cheryl pulled a pair of heavy boots from her locker.

"Hey, Kelly, Justin drove me in today and . . ." Lacy began. Justin was her current boyfriend.

He's drunk by now, Cheryl finished in her head.

"Could I maybe catch a ride?" Lacy asked.

"I've got to stop by Walmart for some stuff for the trip," Cheryl said. "I'll take you." Cheryl knew how hard it was to raise kids by yourself, to have to constantly ask for help.

"Thanks so much," Lacy gushed as they headed to punch out. The sun was bright in the sky, and the weather was turning warm—for Wyoming in March, that is. The temperature had been hovering around the mid-forties for the last couple days, and the snow was slowly turning to slush.

"I'll be glad for winter to be over," Lacy said as she climbed into the passenger side of Cheryl's car.

"Me too. Even with Jake working, it'll take months to catch up the heating bill." Cheryl started to pull out and then stopped to wait for Corrie. She sighed. "She hit a nerve," she admitted as they pulled out. "Getting to go into space . . . that's pretty exciting. But this whole Asha-Tanga festival sounds pretty wild. And I have kids."

"Don't worry," Lacy said. "I saw something on TV about it. It can be wild in places, but so can any celebration. I'm sure there will be plenty of family-friendly things going on as well."

"Yeah, and Chatura has a young sister too. I just don't know what to expect."

"It will be fabulous, I'm sure. I've seen pictures of Saras. Even if all you do is sit around a hotel, it'll be worth it."

"Yeah, thanks," Cheryl said as they pulled out and headed down the road.