Dimitris did. But he was the only one. He was too quick. He let out a loud yell and shot a pulse blast straight up into the air. A few things then happened simultaneously. The girl standing beside Dimitris was startled, turned around to look at him, stepped back on a terrafarmer’s foot, and fell down; the terrafarmers—as one—turned and stared flatly at Dimitris; Dimitris stopped, lowered his arm and half shiftless, half confused turned about in a circle; I felt bad for the girl on the ground looking at her hands--she looked like a young deer on the ground, legs buckled about under her—and moved forward to help her. I bent forward and reached out my hand just as Dimitris must have noticed the girl on the ground as well. I caught him out of the corner of my eye moving downward, just as my left arm rose upward behind me. It caught him flush on the nose. The girl grabbled my hand and I lifted her up. Her hands were warm. So was her smile.

“Ow!” Dimitris yelled, just as the girl said, “Thanks.” I nodded and smiled back. I got nervous and started to open my mouth. A movement beside me drew my attention back to Dimitris. He had shifted as if to come toward me, but the full weight of the terraformers’ stare kept him rooted in place, holding his nose. It was bleeding. I smiled at him.

“Sorry.” I shrugged my shoulders and walked back to my spot in the crowd. Dimitris wiped his nose with his pocket-handkerchief.