THE FERALS Part 11
The next day, Silvy wasn’t sure what she had expected. It would have been stupid to think the change would happen overnight. She stumbled into the kitchen where her mother was making breakfast as usual. The typical news broadcast blared on the holographic screen. Pat had said they didn’t want the changes to be abrupt. Otherwise, the powers that be would know and go looking for what might be wrong.
“Hey, Mom.” Silvy sat at the breakfast bar on her favorite stool. Her mom slid her a cup of coffee just the way she liked it.
“You look tired. Didn’t sleep well last night? I didn’t hear you come in.” Her mother stared at her for a minute too long, scrutinizing her daughter’s face.
Silvy refused to make eye contact. “Yeah, we went for coffee after the movie.”
“That is why you couldn’t sleep. You need to stop drinking so much coffee late at night.”
“I know, Mom. I’m gonna go get ready.” Silvy slid off her stool and started to walk back to her room.
“I would ask you to stay home today and get some rest, but I would hate for the Ferals to go without. Especially the little kits.” Her mom didn’t look at her when she said this. Instead, she was busy scrambling eggs.
What she said caused Silvy to halt mid step. Since when did her mother care about Ferals? She didn’t want to make a scene by asking her, so she kept heading to her room. Maybe the change would happen faster than they thought it would.
Out on the streets, everything seemed the same. She went about filling orders and taking them to the Feral families. Silvy made sure to spend as much time as she could with each. It was always the best part of her day. She even made sure to buy candy or toys for each Feral kit from her own money.
Other than her mother this morning, nothing seemed different. The guards were still buttheads. The news still only told of human casualties. People came to stare at the Ferals through the fences pushing the buttons so one wall would become invisible, and the occupants could be seen.
However, Silvy realized she had only been paying attention to the adults. The next time she passed by, she looked to the children trying to climb the fence or standing slightly behind their parents. What she saw had her pulling over and getting off her scooter.
The children weren’t afraid anymore. They were waving, actually waving. One kid was even holding out a lollipop through the fence and the parent wasn’t trying to stop her. Change was happening.
Silvy got back on her bike and went to gather more supplies for the next family. Her smile stayed on her lips the whole time. They only thing warring in her mind was if she should tell the Ferals what was going on. On her way back, she finally decided that it wasn’t her place yet, but she would ask either Tom or Pat about it. They were the ones who this was all about after all. They should know. And with the humans staring at them all day? They would start to wonder about why the children were being nicer.
As Silvy went about her day, she wondered what would be next. How would they stop the Ferals from being the front line in the war? How could they get them to be equal to humans? She really hoped they continued to let her help. This was just the beginning.
