Birthdays are Once a Year

Eventually, Rydia approached him with Georgina in hand and kindly said, "Hey, Rishi. Santo's back from his trip. He brought back a surprise. Do you want to see?"

This was enough to have Rishi break his focus, instead slapping on his touchscreen with the palm of his hand. Rydia sighed and let go of Georgina to take Rishi's hand, delicately squeezing it to have just his pointer finger out.

"It's easier if you use one finger," Rydia explained, then guided him to press the 'yes' image on the screen. The machine read the image in its robotic, monotone voice. "Like that. Now let's go."

Rishi let out a loud humming noise, but complied without protest, allowing Rydia to take his and Georgina's hands to head over to Santo. He was at the back of the jeep to bring out his big surprise. A few bleats followed him gently tugging his haul along, revealing it to be a white, adult goat.

"Doggie!" Georgina cried as she let go of Rydia to run over to the goat. She pulled it into a hug, which the goat accepted with a deadpan, vacant expression.

"That's a goat," Rydia said while inspecting it herself, noting its large udder. "We can milk it like a cow."

"That was the idea," Santo said. "I figured one was a safe start given their needs. That was why I had Wesley and the others expand the animal area."

Rydia smiled as she watched Georgina nuzzle her face against the goat's soft fur. "That makes sense, but you think the kids will like goat milk? It has a mighty strong taste..."

"I'm sure Nina can figure something out. Where is she?"

"Where she usually is. Her and Ayako are preppin' for the party."

Parties were a bright spot for the children. It let them receive gifts, play around, and eat their favorite foods with little care. For the sake of time and resources, everyone's birthday for that month was condensed into one day. If a child didn't have a birthday, one was given to them. This was the case for Judas, who was lucky enough to have this month to himself. Even if he didn't deserve it, it was better than skipping the month altogether.

Nina and Ayako had a solid dynamic down with their cooking and designing respectively. They could agree on where to put the food, where to set up the games, and how to decorate the cake. They took each child's preferences in mind, even if it meant having to make multiple, smaller cakes on bigger months. Judas liked chocolate, cherries, and video games, so Nina baked a chocolate cake with cherry filling while Ayako molded fondant to match little pixel characters. They were able to get references from Timmy.

Judas already probed Timmy into spoiling the surprise, so he sat in the cafeteria and watched the girls making his cake with the biggest grin on his face when Santo walked in. As he greeted the girls, Rishi was right behind him, his touchscreen reading out letters as he typed them. There was some pattern to them as it was always the same letters: A E L Y. Over and over again at random.

"You sure he'll figure out how to use that thing?" Judas asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Santo said. "Even if it's not perfect, it could help us understand him better."

Judas rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say."

To his surprise, Rishi stopped typing away to move over to Judas, and attempted to wrap a free arm around him. Judas froze in place, baffled and unsure what to do.

"Aw, I think he wants a hug," Nina said with a giggle.

Judas glanced at Nina, then back at the clinging Rishi. "You're kidding."

Ayako joined in the giggling. "He's trying to be nice for your birthday."

Judas doubted this, but his choices were limited. Since shoving him off right in front of Santo would lead to a lecture, he gave up and tried to return the gesture, awkwardly placing a hand on Rishi's back. In response, Rishi let out a gleeful squeal, rotated his head, and sunk his teeth into Judas's arm.

"Ow!" Judas cried as he pulled back and checked the damage. It was barely anything, the marks from the light bite quickly fading. "He bit me!"

Nina and Ayako burst out in laughter while holding their sides.

"Now ladies," Santo stated calmly yet firmly while motioning Rishi away from Judas. "I know his little 'love bites' are funny, but we shouldn't encourage it."

"Sorry," they both replied once they regained their breath.

Judas pouted and stood up. "Whatever. I'll have Melinda check for rabies while y'all are finishing up."

He got a disapproving look from Santo for that comment, but he let him go regardless. He had expected Melinda to be treating some other kid for scrapes and bumps at this point, yet as he entered the infirmary, he was greeted with another surprise. It was Freya who was doing the patching this time, wrapping a bandage around an injured Melinda's arm. Russell and Winona were picking up metal objects off the floor, while a guilty Jermaine sat in the corner facing the wall.

"Woah, what happened here?" Judas asked.

"Just a little accident," Freya said. "Jermaine was running around when he knocked over a shelf full of supplies. Melinda pushed him out of the way in time, but got hurt in the process."

"I'm so sorry!" Winona said frantically, still in a panicked state despite the situation already being resolved. "I should've grabbed him sooner..."

"Really, it's fine!" Melinda insisted. "What's important is that he's safe."

Judas smirked and sat down on the bed next to Melinda's. "Heh. You complained about your parents being heroes, but you're actually no different, huh?"

Russell raised his head up to glare at Judas for that comment, but Melinda simply blushed and laughed a little.

"I guess you're right," Melinda said bashfully. "I really am their daughter..."

"I'm sure they would be proud, dear," Freya said, giving her bandaged arm a comforting pat. "You've grown into a reliable woman."

"I wish I could say the same," Winona mumbled bitterly. "I keep messing everything up..."

"Hey, you can't do everything," Russell said. "It's okay to let us to handle things once in a while."

The girls smiled from the warm reassurances, but the moment was shattered by a sudden, loud beeping noise. Everyone immediately looked over at Russell, who had stiffened in response. Freya gasped and pulled her phone out of her pocket, realizing the sound came from her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Freya said as she turned off the alarm. "I must have set that to be recurring for my job. I didn't mean to frighten you, dear..."

After a long, suspenseful moment, Russell relaxed. He placed a hand on his chest, closed his eyes, and took a deep... deep breath. He wasn't dying. He wasn't burning. He was here.

"I'm okay," Russell breathed out, managing to find peace. "I'm okay..."

Winona placed a supportive hand on his back just to be sure while they stood up and put everything back where it belonged. Melinda humored Judas by examining him, and advised he washed up to avoid infections. Once everything was settled, the group headed out to go to the party.

Meanwhile, Talus and Santo had moved into his office to talk. Ceri was preoccupied with the other kids setting up the games. Angelica was even in a good mood today and letting the young ones have a chance to win instead of yelling at them for playing wrong. The two men shared a bottle of aged whiskey, clinking their glasses together before taking a sip.

"Damn, pullin' out the good stuff," Talus said with a chuckle. "What's the occasion? Aside from the party."

Santo idly swirled around his glass, observing the amber liquid within. "I've decided to confess."

Talus quirked a curious eyebrow. "Confess what?"

"How I got this land. It's not a pleasant story, hence why I didn't want you to hear it sober."

"Ahhh, gotcha. Ya know I'm calmer with a little juice in me. Clever." Talus sighed and leaned back in his seat. "A'right. Lay it on me. How'd ya do it?"

Santo placed his glass quietly on his desk, then explained, "After I ran that day, I went into hiding until I could secure a meeting with Henry Midas. I used your evidence to blackmail him since the church was founded on his property."

Talus snickered. "That's it? Why would I be mad 'bout that? I'd be glad ya got back at that bastard."

Santo shook his head. "No. It's not that simple. We agreed that I would work for him until he retired. After that, I could have the property in exchange for the evidence, on the condition that a building of faith was constructed. He didn't care which."

"Whichever god won't send'em to hell, I reckon."

"More or less." Santo's azure eyes turned downcast as he recalled his deeds. "But working for him meant being in charge of his workers. The children taken from the church. I had no choice but to command them to do things that were highly dangerous and unethical. Putting hands in gears, working for longer hours, skipping their lunch breaks..." Santo raised a hand to cover his eyes in shame. "As you can imagine, they despised me for that."

"I'll say..."

"When the time came, Edgar Midas ended the child labor in favor of machines as predicted. Henry handed me the entirety of the property as promised. My original plan was to take the children and bring them back with me to rebuild. Unfortunately, I had made a grave error. By playing along with that man's schemes, I failed to give the children any reason to trust me. They all assumed it was a trap and scattered into the slums, never to be seen again."

Talus frowned and looked down at what was left of his drink. "Yeah, you really fucked that one up."

"Yes, I did. So I decided to learn from my mistake and start over." Santo glanced over at one of the photos, which showed him holding a much younger Angelica. "While I was trying to find one of the factory children, I met Angelica. She had left her parents' apartment when they hadn't returned from work and was wandering aimlessly. They'd been missing for days and had likely been killed. I knew what I had to do in that moment, and the rest is history."

"Fair enough." Talus followed up his drink with a cigarette, using it as an excuse to mull things over. "Yeah, I would've been mad at ya if you told me sooner. But it's been five years. Ya failed to make it work the first time, but you got it this time. Since you've been learnin' and improvin' for their sake, I can forgive ya for being so stupid."

Santo's smile overflowed with relief. "I appreciate it."

By the time they left the office, the children had finished their games and were getting ready to eat. Ceri ran up to Talus and grabbed him by the hand to drag him over to a table, but Talus countered this by pulling the young man into a headlock and gave him a noogie.

"Dang it, you're drunk!" Ceri playfully shouted while trying to push him off. "Dumb, old man!"

Talus chuckled. "Ya know it!"

The two exchanged some laughs before finding a place to sit. As Santo scanned the area, seeing everyone present and having a wonderful time, Judas approached.

"Ah, there's the birthday boy," Santo said. "How are you enjoying the festivities?"

"It's good," Judas answered plainly. "The cake looks cool."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Suddenly, Judas jumped forward and wrapped his arms around Santo's waist, burying his face into Santo's torso and taking Santo completely by surprise.

"Um... thanks," Judas mumbled. "For not giving up on me."

Santo was touched by belief, and he placed his hands on the boy's back to return the hug. In the midst of this lovely moment, Santo was too distracted to notice the stray hand slipping into his pocket.

Got it.