Rose tries to get back to the terminal Cats and Mice chapter 4 by aquarelle

The woman’s bus-sized feet now rested comfortably right next to the terminal that Rose had been using for the past hour, Rose’s own tiny bag of belongings lying precariously close to one of those giant mules. Rose stared at the feet in disbelief. They cast a shadow; the white-lit window of the terminal stood out starkly. God. She should have just messaged Marissa from that thing the moment the stranger sat down, before Rose got…

…kicked.

She smiled bitterly. She’d never been fucking kicked before. This kick could have easily broken a few ribs, one of them could have pierced a lung, and Rose would be gone, just like that, poof, because who’s going to operate on a tiny, who’s even going to get her to a hospital in time? Someone needs to start a health insurance for tinies, every tiny should wear a device that detects kicks and stomps and claps so that the moment some bitch wearing cheap shoes—oh, and these were cheap, fast fashion, looks good but falls apart in months, Rose would know, she wasn’t wearing anything fancy herself, but she’d seen so many women among the Small World higher-ups and benefactors wear stuff that was nice, she’d never mistake that—yeah, the moment there’s a kick, there’s immediately a courier, an ambulance, a military drone for fucks’ sake. We’re human! We are!

“We are”, she said out loud, staring at the mules, suddenly loathing the woman.

Unexpectedly, there was a response. It came from above, from beyond the table.

“Hi! How are you?”

Rose looked up, almost expecting to finally see the woman’s face at the edge of the table, but it was not there. She could not see past the woman’s stomach. Could walk up closer, Rose thought, to look up from way below, assuming there even was a proper angle, because maybe there wasn’t, maybe she’d be staring at the underside of the table, or the chair, or the legs, no matter what.

“Good, good. Yeah I – I just got to this café in Magna… s’posed to interview someone here…”

So it was her!

“She’s not here yet… I thought she would be, you know… Yes, yes, it’s the tiny. But, you know.”

Why would she think Rose would be there 20 minutes early?

“Ha!”

The woman rose slightly in her seat, shifting her position, rolling from one buttock to the other; the outline of her muscular foot suddenly visible under the strained leather. Rose took a step backwards.

“Just checked!” the woman said and giggled. There was something too sweet, too fake about that giggled. “Didn’t squash her, no.” She flexed her toes, leather creaking loudly, soles scratching against the floor, leaving marks on that track for tinies that Rose had taken to the workstation just a bit earlier. “I mean, if I did, that’d be a sign she wasn’t right, right?”

Rose really wasn’t getting a good vibe.

But she also really wanted the job. She looked around, feeling helpless, hoping to see Marissa’s black sneakers approach the table, but outside, in the open grounds of the café, she saw only a dense, chaotic forest of legs – wooden legs, hairy legs, pant-clad legs. She shuddered at the thought of going out there; how insane. But… with how Ms. Purcell’s phone conversation was going, she also felt she needed to act.

So Rose looked towards the terminal. It was right there, waiting for her. And so was her bag with extra clothing, small bits and pieces… there was also a mirror to signal people… She needed that. Ioana’s feet weren’t even between her and the terminal, the woman simply stretched her legs parallel to the wall and crossed them, but there was still a sizeable gap between those leather-clad monsters and the wall, a gap wide enough for ten, or at least five, Rose Bassanis to pass through holding hands, and, if she just stayed close to the baseboard, she’d be fine. Right? That had to be right.

Cautiously, she got closer to the wall, then, hugging the baseboard, advanced towards the terminal, where that browser window still shone; she’d never known LinkedIn could be tantalising, and yet it was, she just needed to send out one message, here, I’m here, I did get here early, can we start the interview please, except she’d say it formally, with an appropriate amount of sorrys and exclamation marks.