The Swailing

Prospera: Too Comfortable

When I wake up in the morning, I am so comfortable and cozy I don't want to move. These sheets are incredibly soft, the comforter just the right weight on top of me. The room is quiet and dark, with just a slit of sunshine peeking through the curtains. I've never been to a fancy hotel, but I bet they have nothing on Sabine's guest room. I wonder if Finn's room is this amazing.

I finally roll over to look at the little antique clock on the bedside table. It's not digital and I have to remember how to read it. I mean, it has hands and probably moving gears inside. The little hand is halfway between the 10 and 11, and the big hand is just past the 6.

10:32. 10:32?! I sit up and swing my legs out of bed. I can't believe how late I slept. Sabine must think I'm the laziest person and the rudest house guest ever.

I find Finn and Sabine in the kitchen looking at a digital map of Aon. I'm overwhelmed by the smells of coffee and cinnamon.

"I'm sorry I slept so late," I say. "That room is just too ... perfect."

"Oh, honey. You drove straight through from Denver! You needed your sleep."

I look over at Finn, who is already dressed and happily tearing apart some kind of gooey looking breakfast roll.

Sabine puts one on a plate for me and waves to the counter which is filled with an array of fruits and granola and silver dishes of yogurt. So much food for just us.

After breakfast Sabine helps us to figure out the location where my mom sent the ping 14 years ago. Within the digital file on my memory stick she locates a long string of numbers that means absolutely nothing to me, but she squeals excitedly when she plops them into a search engine and the location pops up on a map.

"She sent it from downtown. Around the corner of Abercrombie and Taylor. Let's see what's there."

Sabine zooms in on the map.

"It looks like a ... Gap."

"A gap? What do you mean? There's nothing there?"

"No, a Gap. The clothing store."

She taps open another screen and brings up an image of the store. I find it ironic that the name of the store means something empty and open when the store itself appears to be loaded with more pairs of jeans than I've ever seen in one place, t-shirts of every color of the rainbow, puffy winter coats and sweaters and even socks lining entire walls of the place.

"Oh, cute blouse! Porsche would love this!" Sabine taps on an image of a green shirt and digitally purchases it in seconds, along with two more in slightly different shades of green, and then continues on as if she hasn't just spent more than I spend on clothing in a year.

"I guess you can never have too many green shirts," Finn says, winking at me behind Sabine's back.

I grin at him, but his sarcasm is lost on Sabine.

"Right?" she says. She turns to me once again. "Maybe your mom was shopping?"

I shrug noncommittally, but I highly doubt it. She had just left Optima – I doubt she even knew yet that shopping was practically a sport in Aon.

"Well, maybe it was something different 14 years ago. Things change fast downtown," Sabine tells us. "You can use Laser's computers to check – he has enough hardware to store the entire history of the world in his room." Sabine smiles and slaps her hands on the counter enthusiastically, ready to move on to something more interesting. "Now ... you guys must have some laundry, right? Come on, I'll show you our new machine."