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Darcy couldn't believe how pleasant her days in Alpine had become once she wasn't worried every second about hulking, hostile men carrying her off to prison.
Luisa helped her find another place to stay before the housekeeper discovered a freeloader in the dorm. She had done some volunteer work in her sophomore year with a woman who kept three or four foster children. She and her husband were happy to lend a cot to any friend of Luisa's, especially if that friend would help with the chores. The house, a rundown frame affair in desperate need of maintenance, was on a side street within walking distance of the campus.
Darcy soon developed a schedule. She had lived for decades by schedules. She would visit the university library in the mornings, help Mrs. Alvillar, the foster mother, prepare lunch; then on Tuesdays and Thursdays explore the town or go back to the library. Later in the afternoon she would return to the house to help with supper and other chores, and tutor the children with their schoolwork.
On Monday/Wednesday/Friday afternoons, she met Cheryl at the track and the two of them would go for a long run. Cheryl was tuning up for a big track meet of some kind, so Darcy let her set the pace and tagged along. Cheryl was one of the quicker, more graceful people Darcy had seen, and it was enjoyable to measure her abilities against Cheryl’s. Perhaps because she was much smaller and lighter weight than Cheryl, it was easy to stay with her.
She hadn't quite got over being startled whenever she saw a police car or one of "her" posters out in the open. However, frequent checks of her reflection in store windows reassured her that she did not, in fact, look much like that sad creature in the picture.
Having no money was an inconvenience. The whole society seemed to run on it. People who looked to have very little money lined up at fast food counters to buy meals. She couldn’t do that, and she would have loved to. Everywhere she went in town, people were coming out of stores carrying bags of food or clothing, or loading furniture or appliances into vehicles.
At some point, it would be fun to acquire a little money and see what she could do with it. Mrs. Alvillar, fortunately, put plenty of basic, tasty food on the table.
She discovered a small amphitheater made out of concrete on the campus which looked almost like a miniature of the ancient Greek ones—curious indeed. There was a restaurant that looked like an aluminum railroad car. Very strange, but attractive. There were beautiful animals in pens at the veterinary school. She watched them often. The colts were particularly graceful when they capered around.
But the library was her perfect haven. It was large, quiet, full of information she wanted, no one bothered her, and best of all, it was free. It was especially pleasurable to handle real books instead of the digital versions she had been limited to on the moon. Their heft, their smell, the feel of the different papers always delighted her.
The librarians probably thought she was a student, especially since she generally carried her backpack with her. As long as she didn't try to check anything out, she didn't need identification. She spent a lot of time there.
