The Story of Samo-Chapter One, Part Five
Kia extended his hand. “Samo, just wait-”
“Get her out.” Samo turned his attention to the tubing on his steam wagon and tried to ignore Kia.
“Look, I know you said you don’t want her here-”
“That’s right, Ki, so get her out of here.”
Kia sighed. He said, “If you’ll just lis-”
“Get her out.”
“Will you shut up and listen to me?” Kia raised his voice, which raised the pitch again. “You little psycho! She wanted to come by to apologize to you, but no, you have to hold a grudge because you can’t bring your mind to a place where someone else might be sorry for what she did to you!”
Bending down to make a show of inspecting the pipes, Samo said, “Then why is she hiding? Why were you hiding?”
“Because you terrify us you moron!” As he shouted at Samo, Kia’s voice raised to a full mezzo-soprano.
Samo turned his head up to glare at Kia, who had his eyes closed and was repeatedly mouthing the words, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t…ever…call…me…moron.” Samo gripped a torque wrench that lay by his feet and stood. Holding it to Kia’s face, he said, “Don’t…ever…insult…my…intelligence. You know that.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You’re darn right you shouldn’t have said that!” Samo raised his voice to a roar, the sound reverberating off the walls. He held the wrench inches from Kia’s face as he shouted. “You, of all people know about that!” Turning to the workbench where he found Kia, he set down the wrench and said, “Where is she? Kiara, come out here.”
Soon, a girl about seventeen came from behind a workbench on the other side of the room. She was thin, almost waif-like, and had reddish-brown hair that hung halfway down her back. Holding some package in her hands, she shuffled forward. When she was facing him, she held out the package and said, “I’m sorry.”
Tales of the Inventor's War 