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Liberty sat at the helm, listening to the sounds of Boy exploring the deck.
“Damn.”
She looked up to see him backing away from the friction engine. “What happened?”
He clacked by, heading in the opposite direction, but didn’t make it five feet before running headfirst into the port railing. “Damn.”
It was too funny not to laugh. “Stop saying that.”
Boy backed up and headed starboard. Liberty wasn’t surprised when he ran face first into that
rail too.
“Damn.”
She covered her mouth, hoping to suppress a giggle, but it slipped out anyway. “Where did you learn to talk like that?”
Boy backed up again but this time headed astern. Before he could run into that rail too, Liberty stood in his way. She half expected him to run into her, but by some miracle, he stopped just in time.
“Why are you cursing?”
Boy blinked but said nothing.
She stood her ground, waiting to see what he’d do.
Finally, he said, “It makes me feel better.”
She nodded. “How’s that?”
He blinked again. “I imagine poison darts shooting out of my mouth and hitting what pisses me off, that’s how.”
Liberty couldn’t move. To hear her own words repeated back to her filled her with so much hope froze her to the spot.
Boy backed up, but before walking away, added, “Stop staring at my mouth. It’s not really poison darts you know, just pretend ones.”
Tears ran down Liberty’s face, but they were soon replaced by laughter. She ran after Boy and hugged him. “You’re remembering. That’s wonderful. Maybe by the time we meet up with Mender and
Justice you’ll have remembered everything.”
When he didn’t say anything, she patted his head. “Carry on. I suspect you’ll have to run into a few more things before that happens.” She leaned down and whispered, “If you don’t tell Mender who taught them to you, I’ll teach you a few more curse words. You can’t just go around saying ‘Damn’ all the time. It’ll get boring.”