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twenty
years ago. She woke up one night thinking she could hear him
screaming but she searched the house and he was gone. She searched
the streets and there was no sign of him. Just completely taken
away from her in an instant. It’s awful.”
    “ Wow,” Seckry said. “Poor
woman.”
    “ Yeah. They say she sings at
the fountain because when Danney was a toddler he used to love
playing in that fountain so much, splashing his little feet in the
water. She sings his favourite song thinking he’ll recognise it and
come running back. They shut that fountain off years ago though.
The thing’s dried out and rusted over. Of course, if the boy was
still alive he’d be a grown man by now. It’s just harrowing what
losing a child can do to you. It’s a mother’s worst
nightmare.”
    Before leaving for school, Seckry noticed an
envelope sitting on the doormat. There was no address, just the
word Seckry, meaning it had been posted by hand. But who did
he know around here? The only person he had really spoken to so far
was Tenk, but he hadn’t even mentioned his birthday to him.
    Seckry ripped the envelope and opened the
card.
    Happy Birthday , it read, and nothing
more. There was no indication of who it was from. He showed it to
his mum and Leena, but they were equally perplexed.
    He popped the card on his bedroom windowsill
and headed down into the square. He gave the dried out fountain a
glance as he waited for Tenk. He felt a deep pang of sadness for
Mrs Plum. He just couldn’t imagine what it’d be like for a mother
to lose their child like that.
    “ Morning, Seckry,” Tenk
croaked, dragging his feet, his long hair flopping over his
eyes.
    “ Where’s the gel today?”
Seckry asked.
    “ Didn’t have time. Got up
too late. Couldn’t get a wink of sleep ‘causa the
singing.”
    “ I woke up in the night
too,” Seckry told him.
    Tenk shook his head. “It’s bad what happened.
But man, it was decades ago. She’s just gotta let go.”
    “ Look what I’ve got,” Seckry
said cheerfully, hoping to change the mood. He pulled out his
Friction gift card and took pleasure in watching Tenk’s eyes widen
in awe.
    “ Who on earth gave you
that?”
    “ My mum. It’s my birthday
today.”
    “ Your birthday? Man, why
didn’t you tell me yesterday? I would have got you a
card.”
    “ Sorry, I just forgot, I
guess,” Seckry said. Well that ruled out Tenk as the one who had
posted the mystery birthday card.
    “ But seriously,” Tenk
continued, “fifty notes worth. Do you realise the kind of avatar
you can get with that? Damn.”
    “ I haven’t got a clue, to be
honest,” Seckry told him truthfully. “I think I’ll need you to come
with me and help me out choosing something.”
    “ It’ll be my pleasure,
dude,” Tenk said slowly.
    “ Where would I spend these
vouchers anyway?” Seckry asked.
    “ You ain’t seen the Friction
stores yet? There’s one not far, just down Old Hobber’s lane. It’s
only a small shop that one, though. The place you want to go is the
official Friction emporium in the city centre. It’ll blow your
mind. How about I take you there on the weekend?”
    “ Sounds good,” Seckry said,
looking forward to it.
    The streets were warm again this morning. The
summer was ending, but the heat seemed to be lingering around a lot
longer than usual.
    As they stepped off the monorail, they saw
Tippian waiting by the entrance and he joined them as they headed
for their first lesson of the day; art with a teacher named Mrs
Dooly.
    Seckry loved art; he was always drawing in
his spare time and he liked doodling little pictures on his
computer with a virtual paintbrush. He was excited about the
lesson. This was one subject that he knew he could look forward to,
and he was feeling a lot happier than yesterday until he noticed
that the foul mouthed Snibble boy from his inverse mathematics
class was also queuing up for this one.
    “ I love art lessons,”
Snibble said loudly as he stormed into the