The Touches by Brenda Peynado

Author:Brenda Peynado
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

* * *

Nan gasses me, burns the ball, and opens the inner door back into my cubicle with a roar. “You are now class five contaminated. Your permit to leave your cubicle is rescinded,” she says cheerily.

“It was just my hand.” But I know that’s a lie. I know how bugs spread and cross-contaminate, and even the breeze of my breath can push bugs further than the initial contact area.

“Permit rescinded,” Nan says, then leans in to hug me, wrapping me in cold plastic. Then she freezes around me, glitching.

In a week, all that infected me should manifest itself, and if it kills me, Nan will be incinerated along with my body. I want to smash her into pieces already, this broken world along with her. Can’t we just bury it all? Instead, I hold her hand, mold it around mine where it burns. Her hand cools mine. I breathe deeply, the plastic smell of her.

“Everything will be okay, Nan. Reboot.”

“Welcome home, sunshine,” she says, as she reactivates and releases me.

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