Stray Cat Strut Stray Cat Sidestory: Canta Clause

Stray Cat Sidestory: Canta Clause

One Year Ago

I slamd my open palm against the entrance a dozen tis in a row, each hit making the heavy tal door rattle and clang.

My breath was leaving a trail of thin white fog in the air and I couldnt help but shiver under the buzzing neon light above.

The street the orphanage was on wasnt actually much of a street. More an alleyway on the third floor of a pair of ga buildings. A fucking great na for what was basically two dozen tennants all linked together and added onto by architects and engineers that were high off their asses.

So of the kids had videos on their dia feeds of buildings just like this one collapsing under their own weight. They tended to have a hard ti sleeping, but they couldnt help watching them over and over again. Weird little shits. I usually got past my problems by pretending they didnt exist.

Open up, for fucks sake! I called out as I banged a fist against the door again.

My shoulder was killing from the sack hanging off it, and my stump was all itchy from the coarse simu-wool sweater I had on.

I couldnt complain though. Lucy had forced to wear it before leaving, and I didnt regret it. The weather had turned cold. Colder than my dia feeds had said it would go. But then, those were always calibrated for the people living near the top of all the nicer buildings around. Closer to the ground, shit got a lot colder.

I shifted, trying to find a way to get the bag hanging off my side to be more comfortable. Co on, I muttered before stepping back.

My shoes--a set of runners we stole from a bin in front of a used clothing store before they set up so caras in front of the place. I was pretty proud of them--slid a bit across sothing wet and oily and I scrunched my nose against the sll.

I looked at the panel next to the door and blinked a few tis to get my augs to connect to it. The interface sputtered to life in the middle of my vision, then froze up.

I force quit, then tried again. Then again. The third ti I was actually able to connect.

WELCO TO THE FUCKING SHITTIEST PLCE EVR!!

Our hours of operation a

The rest of the screen was entirely empty, but I knew better. I twitched my eye to activate my cursor and aid it down a ways to where the button used to be to accept. A few hundred bored kids with nothing to do, half of them with five generation old-gear, wasnt great for the local software infrastructure. I blinked over where the button used to be.

The screen shifted.

Please enter your login information:

NA:

PASS:

Complete the following puzzle:

I sighed and hugged my arm across my chest and started rubbing my hand up and down over my jacket for warmth as I manually entered everything. The damned puzzle was so damned Voight Kampff rip-off with intuitive questions based on poorly rendered images. It hadnt worked to stop any decent bot in a decade, but it did work at slowing down.

The mont everything was done the screen flashed green. And then it crashed.

Fuck!

I kicked the door.

Soone moved behind it, the little hole in its middle darkening as soone looked out. Then the door opened at last and I found myself face-to-face with one of the older matrons. What are you doing out at this hour? she asked.

Freezing my tits off, I said. Let in.

She crossed her arms. One of those gig-workers that ca in to replace what little real staff was left, getting paid half of minimum wage for a shit job. They only really did their job when it allowed them to look tough while treating the kids they were ant to care for like shit.

I could hardly bla them, it was the only ti they probably felt alive.

What were you out doing? Whoring yourself out? she asked.

I rolled my eye. Like you? How much are you making an hour again?

Thats not of your business, she said.

Yeah, yeah. Look, its cold. Let in.

She huffed, then nodded to my bag. Whats in that?

Thats none of your business, I said.

Drugs? Weapons? All sorts of things could be dangerous to the kids. She grinned.

I turned the bag over, hard to do with just the one arm, then opened it up to reveal a dozen boxes inside, all covered in shitty 5-Dollar store wrappings. Gifts. Gifts for the kittens. Do you want to open them all up? Maybe while the kids are watching?

She eyed the boxes, then sighed and stepped back.

I nodded and moved on past.

The orphanage wasnt built to be an orphanage at all. It was actually about half an apartnt level, with a few walls torn down and so of the rooms pushed open a little. The marks of where the walls had been were still left as bumps under the carpet, especially visible where it had worn through.

There was a little lounge area at the front, with so nice toys and a few sofas. A spot that we were absolutely forbidden from entering except in the rare instance that soone ca to see about adopting one of the brats.

Deeper in was the dining room, a spot with three mismatched tables and a dozen chairs picked up from here and there, and then the orphanage split in two, one corridor led oof to the right, towards the nicer rooms, the kitchen, and the playrooms. That was where all the adoptable kids were.

I went left.

It didnt take a genius to figure out why things were the way they were. The corporation running the place, with their off-brand caretaker androids and gig-working staff wanted to make a profit. That ant that they had to use their limited resources wisely.

One of the older guys, one that had left a few months back actually, had explained it all to . The kittens, the cripples, we were only so sellable. Damaged goods, basically. So trying to sell us was tough. The normal kids on the other hand? Yeah, clean them up, give them so last-gen augs, maybe let them take so online classes to catch up with the normies outside, and a prospective parent wouldnt hesitate as much to pick them up.

We got used to the idea, after a bit.

Still hard to explain it to the new kids.

I knocked twice on the door to our communal area. Yo, I said.

The door swung open and I was tugged in by a grinning Lucy. Cat!

A few of the others cheered too, but they were shushed by the wiser kids. Didnt need the staff pulling the breaker on our rooms lights. I got presents for you little shits, I said as I swung the bag around with my hip.

The door shut, and I grinned at the kittens as they got up and rushed over.

Lucy pecked my cheek before stealing the bag. She puppy-dog-eyed everyone into line, then started handing things out while leaning on one crutch.

The gifts were a bit la. A toy car here, so three generation -old handheld console with an emulator there. But the kittens were laughing and whispering and looked happy for it.

Nose, dont ruin your shit so soon, I warned as I noticed the brat shoving a hand in his nose. And Smog, cough on your own stuff, not others.

Lucy finished handing out the last thing, then made a show of turning the bag upside down. I grinned when she clacked her way back to . Ive got a present for you too, you know, she whispered.

Oh? I asked.

She tucked her head into my neck. Youll need to unwrap first though.

That sounds like my kind of gift, I said.

She snorted then leaned off of to look at the kids. Thanks for getting everything.

I shrugged. Lucy was the one that planned it all. Shed made a big fuss of shopping for stuff for everyone on our non-existent budget. I was just the one that went around fetching things. No problem, I said.

She smiled up at , then grabbed my hand. Admit it, you like being all soft and caring.

Fuck no, I said.

She laughed and tugged after her. Liar!

Im not! I said with a laugh of my own.

For that night, at least, our little corner of the world, as much as it slled like mold and had too many of us cramped in together, was a happy place.