My Share of Sand (A Calabasas Fable)

16-Dragon Attack

Saturday, September 16

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Why did Templynn insist on quickly obtaining some books at the Calabasas Library, incognito, then going back home during her study date with Colinda, while Holden and Darius merely stayed at the library in a study room? For one thing, Jack Fickler has a net worth that's about 4 billion dollars less than Karlie Banks-Treat (his is merely in the low nine-digit range), and for another, Templynn is a very noticeable and memorable person, while Holden just looks like the randomest of random white dudes. In other words, anyone wanting to kidnap Holden in public has about an 85% chance of picking the wrong guy. So the risks of him staying in the library are minimal.

"'Once the Mesopotamian farmers perfected their methods,'" Darius read from a book, "'They began to yield crops far beyond what they needed to survive. A handful of farmers could now produce enough to feed the majority, meaning that most of the society didn't need to farm anymore. They could now be laborers or artisans or public servants, with leisure time away from their jobs. With no crops to barter, how could these people pay for necessary services, or to occupy their free time? This marks the context in which the first forms of money developed.'"

"So what did they talk about?"

"The Mesopotamians?" Darius was confused.

"The girlfriend and Jaxon."

THE GIRLFRIEND?

"Well," Darius started as he scratched the back of his head, "they isn't really accurate. He did ninety-five percent of the talking. He talked about his family going on vacation to Rome, talked about skiing, talked about his dad maybe setting up in a startup company that does cryptocurrency or CBD oil or whatever, talked about his family's cabin at Big Bear; he talked about that a lot. He made it abundantly clear that his family has a cabin and it's at Big Bear."

"We have a house in Cabo San Lucas. She knows all about that. There's no way in hell he can compete with me on that kinda stuff," Holden snidely moaned. "She used to not like him at all. What happened?"

"Have you two, like, fought at all lately?"

Holden shrugged his shoulders. "We had a big argument a couple weeks ago, but, you know, she had her chance to break up with me and she didn't." He was clearly struggling to come up with something more to say, but was saved by his phone's text alert. "Do you mind if we just finish up now and we can get together again sometime this week? Some extra tee times just opened up at the Calabasas Country Club."

"I don't mind actually. I have to go get ready for Paitishahem Gahambar tonight anyway."

"Is that your girlfriend?" Holden asked unironically, in a disinterested voice.

"It's the Zoroastrian harvest festival."

"Oh."

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Colinda always felt a little like she was a stalker looking at Templynn's social media, but with Karlie Banks-Treat, all she had to do was type her name on Google Images and dozens of incredible pics popped up. Colinda appreciated her long, luscious blonde hair, but it was her face that she'd fallen in love with. Karlie had the pleasant combo of a warm, wholesome smile and mischievous eyes, hinting at a playfully devilish mind. It was like she never frowned. And hardly ever wore sleeves, for that matter.

But her Saturday morning photo search session ended with a knock on her door. It was Dad. "We're having an emergency family meeting in the backyard, as soon as possible."