Aniko A. Rankine was born in Hungary and grew up in Budapest, as well as, if school breaks count, on the northern shore of Lake Balaton. She majored in English and Spanish at ELTE University in Budapest. As could be expected, she ended up teaching English and Spanish both in adult evening classes and in a secondary school setting, but somewhat less predictably, she did most of this in the island of Jamaica. She currently resides in Northern California with her husband and two children. Like many people, she has been writing for a long time, but only when no one was looking, and hiding the finished (or more often, unfinished) product carefully.  This is her first story to be published.