Their mom did a little curtesy which made the girls scream in horror having been made audience to a sudden burst of flesh as the base of the dress slide up like blinds.
Kate got a front row seat as Mother stepped up and shook their hands. Their names entered Kate's ear and spilled out the other. They were Pompadour and pretty button piercing, so Button.
Button and Pompadour took Mother's hand and before long they were a procession on a golf cart that hummed through the shelter along to a massive elevator on a raised ramp, like a stage. The two guards stood in their way the body suits and rifles on their backs bringing them to a halt.
The whole time the twinnish combo stared at the Kate and Griff combo, eyes sharp and piercing. They were still baffled but like someone experiencing vertigo, they focused on a singular point.
Mother flashed her wrist and the elevator opened, the doors and guards parting like the seas.
They weren't rich and yet there they were, headed to the VIP area. They should've been sitting with the oldies expanding that war story enough until Kate had a four-dimensional view it all in her mind, which was better than any holoflic. And there was nothing Mother could do that could get them arrested.
Instead, there Kate was watching two girls stare her down like they had pistols at their sides. All while their parents got 'the treatment' from Mother. And no one kept up with Mother. Kate didn't have to be old enough for a brain link to understand Mother needed her to run interference on the tweens, who clearly weren't happy. Pompadour and Button had clearly left something or someone more important than luxury behind.
Kate's overactive brain suddenly jumped to attention having put one and one together. She wasn't Mother but understood. Kate hugged Griff's head and whispered.
"Code Pink."
Griff nodded ever so slightly and rushed over to Mother.
"Mom, I need to pee." Griff whined, sounding a couple years younger than he actually was.
Mother pulled him under her arm and squeezed him like a bagpipe. Immediately chunk of Kate's soul was ripped away as if Griff had been connected to a plug and had just pulled it. She gushed blood from her chest tiny hands fighting to stem the flow before she settled her mind on her reality of being alone. She took a breath and faced the tweens, her most innocent face plastered on.
"Hey," Kate said with a head nod.
She did not get a return nod. There was a lot Mother could do that Kate couldn't. Kate stepped up, puffing up as if she was tall and at ease, rolling her eyes and sighing.
"I know, it sucks, right?" Kate whispered
She added a shrug for good measure.
They, of course, eyed her up and down, which was the point.
"You guys, get a vote?" Kate asked.
"No" grunted Pompadour.
"We're 15." Said Button, who couldn't pull off 'smooth and suave' instead looking as annoyed Pompadour looked
It was time to show a practised obliviousness.
"Oh, I'm 12!" Kate said.
They looked her up and down. She wasn't sure what that look meant, she could only hope that a second stare down meant a second chance. But before they could get to talking and she could try a distraction technique, the door opened to sunlight, a secondary crystal light and classical music.
It were as though they'd been lifted onto a grand stage. And there was space for days! Out of the ether appeared two men in crisp white suits made entirely of starch, any and all fabric a coincidence. One thin and tall, the other simply intimidating. He looked like a cocked shotgun. Thick necked, wide shouldered and permanently leaning in so far he loomed.
"Good afternoon! It is so amazing to see you all! You are expected at the primary booth. But there is still time to settle before the big event." Said the thin one.
Mother swanned in and held his outstretched hand.
"Perfect! So glad you could help. You do have a separate cart, right? I need a bathroom for my boy." She said squeezing.