World-Mart Read Online Free

to discern what appeared to be a coded message on one side.  Unable to read it, she hung up the jacket and returned to the kitchen.
    George had scarfed down his sandwich and was finishing his coffee as Virginia came back.  He noticed the sparkling card in her hand.  “What’s that?”
    “You don’t recognize it?” she asked.  “I found it in your jacket pocket.”
    George got up, eyeing the card as he passed her.  “Probably some kind of promotional or movement act advertisement.  Go ahead and toss it.”
    She nodded.  “Meet you in the shower.”
    He hurried down the hall with a smile, closing the bathroom door behind him as he entered, shedding his nightclothes as he waited for the water to heat up.  As he entered, he realized that he had set the water hotter than he should have, but then decided that he would wait and cool it off in a minute or two.  The hot water felt good against his back.  Hot water used a great deal of energy, regardless of whether or not the water recycler was on, and so George turned down the heat before steam could accumulate on the mirror.  Virginia always had a comment for him if she saw steam.  He washed and rinsed quickly, then waited for Virginia with the water recycler on at full power.  After several minutes, he called out, “Virginia, are you coming?”
    Virginia finally entered, throwing off her bathrobe and hurrying from the cold, tile bathroom to the lukewarm shower.  She turned off the water recycler.  “I can’t get this damned glitter off,” she said with great frustration as she motioned for George to vacate the shower.
    He took the hint and grabbed his towel, slipping out as she hurried beneath the hot water.  He watched from aside as she rinsed and scrubbed her hands, only spreading the glitter up her arms and onto the soap.
    “What a mess!” she said.
    George dried off and got dressed as Kurt began to knock persistently at the door.
    “Shelley hit me!”
    “Did not!”
    George slid out of the room, slamming the door behind him as the two children stared back.  “Can’t you two get along for one morning?”
    “But she—”
    “I don’t want to hear it!”  George yelled.  “Both of you, finish getting ready!”
    Both showed a look of protest, but neither said another word as they retreated to their rooms.  George returned to the bathroom to comb his hair, surprised to find Virginia still scrubbing her glittery, powder blue hands.  “You’re going to miss your shuttle,” he said.
    She nodded, too preoccupied respond any further.
    “I’m walking Kurt to his shuttle station now.  I’ll see you tonight.”  He blew her a kiss.
    She nodded again as he left her to her shower.
    Virginia took the Line 210 shuttle every morning, which delivered her right to the doorstep of Communications-Corp.  The weather delayed the shuttle over a half hour just before her stop, and yet she still received a demerit for her late arrival to work.  The garage was unusually crowded when her shuttle came in.  She didn’t have the time to get a closer look, but it seemed as though a group of Mart-level employees was having another demonstration.  Security associates were everywhere, and so far, the event looked peaceful.  Virginia knew that once the horn blew, matters would get ugly, however, as it was a corporate offense to miss one’s shift intentionally.  She hurried to the Communications Building, not wanting to become caught in the crowd.
    Virginia worked in residential telephone communications, which was mostly restricted to workers in the Corp Segregate.  There were phones in Mart housing districts, but generally they were only used for emergencies because of their cost.  Cell phones had long ago been abandoned throughout the region because of constant blackouts from the weather, but landline communications had also suffered a significant blow.  The cost of maintenance was substantial, and so it was kept to a minimum.  At any given time, lines