interest in their insults once I notice Taryn’s son—and Bambi’s grandson and Barbie’s great-nephew, etc.—stealing Future’s toys. My little brother’s happy face loses its smile when the older boy takes each one. Finally, Future only has the block in his hand.
Back in the Collective, everything belonged to everyone. There was no individual ownership. My toys were available to all the children, just as theirs were to me. With the Dandelions, those were the rules. Greedy people didn’t survive long.
But the outside world works differently. The people here are greedy. At the apartment the government put us in, our neighbors stole our stuff because we didn’t lock everything up. We forgot to view them as the enemy.
At the Village, some things were owned by people, others were owned by the community. Mostly, the important objects—food, vehicles, tabernacles, tools—were owned by the Volkshalberd. We shared them. But a shirt or a small toy could belong to an individual. Then John Marks came along. Soon, I noticed everything good belonged to him and his brainless toadies while the leftovers belonged to the rest of us.
But this house isn’t part of the Collective or the Village. Outsiders’ rules work here. That means Devlin would never share his toys with Future. So, why should my brother share his things with the five-year-old?
“Doesn’t your mother give you toys?” I ask Devlin before shooing him away from Future’s blocks that I’ve taken back.
“Don’t talk to my son that way,” Taryn demands.
“Don’t raise a thief.”
Comforting her greedy son, Taryn glares at me and mutters, “I thought you people were hippies.”
“And we gave you so many free things yesterday,” DeAnna complains. “Those toys are only yours because of our charity.”
“I sent those over,” Lana says of the blocks.
The mood shifts around me. These women have histories. I knew right away how Topanga and Lana weren’t friendly with DeAnna and Taryn. Their faces are different when talking to each other versus the new women. I’m not sure about Barbie and Bambi. They both frown a lot, mostly at Mama, who remains in the kitchen frowning at them.
“That’s not the point,” DeAnna says and turns back toward me. “You need to be more grateful. Tell ‘Future’ to share.”
After doing that bendy thing with her fingers, DeAnna glances at Taryn and snickers at my brother’s name.
“It’s your devil boy that won’t share. Doesn’t he have toys of his own? Why is he so greedy?”
“Stop talking shit about my grandson,” Bambi says, pointing at me. “You need to watch your mouth.”
“No,” I say and reach down to take back the blocks Devlin stole from Future again.
My brother smiles when I place the blocks in front of him. Devlin just growls at me like a dumb little dog.
“Did you know,” Topanga says as if she just discovered her voice, “that Lana and Bronco have four girls between them?” Before I can explain how I do know that since she told me yesterday, the woman continues, “I bet Dove is around Summer’s age.”
Lana smiles despite not wanting to. “Dove could come over and meet the girls. Summer could talk about whatever teenage girls talk about. It’ll be fun.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Bronco’s princess will fucking love that,” Taryn mutters to DeAnna.
“Why do you whisper so loud?” I ask the blonde. “We can all hear you. Just talk normal.”
“I’ll do what I want.”
“She’s got a mouth on her,” Bambi mutters to Barbie, who is focused on Conor nearby.
“I was thinking,” Topanga says, getting her chatty personality back as she takes me by the arm and waves Mama over. We walk outside with Lana. “There is so much space in your yard. You could buy a playset for Future. And put a vegetable garden over in that corner.”
“Or one of those atriums,” Lana suggests. “You can grow plants and vegetables during the bad weather. The sunroom gets enough light for you to grow herbs, too.”
I look over the flat green yard and try to imagine the things they’re describing. I don’t know what swings and a slide look like at a house. I’ve only seen them at big parks.
“We had greenhouses at the Collective,” I tell Topanga.
Mama walks past us with Future following her. I notice he carries a single block. Back in the house, the devil child stole the others for the third time! My brother isn’t used to having things of his own. That’s why he doesn’t fuss over losing his blocks. Instead, he follows Mama to the grass where he plops down and looks at