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  “Well, I’d better get the grill going,” Gramps says, heading out the door again. “I’m going to want some of that cake and soon.” Then he looks at Henri and nods towards the door.

  Pretty soon everybody else is out the door, munching away on chips and soda, and my favorite, barbequed ribs. Cheri gives Kylie a playfully hard time about starting high school. Willie seems really at ease with Cheri which surprises me. He’s always so quiet in school. I never knew him to date many girls.

  Most of the talk centers around how the work at Elf City is going. There is some discussion about the gyroscope/saucer exhibit, but Kylie’s description of the software she is working on is so technical that the subject fades pretty fast since nobody is really able to keep up with her.

  Willie and Gramps talk a lot about antique cars and trucks dating from the time of grandpa’s teens. Jen and Jared seem to be having such a good time off by themselves that I wonder if they might be back together as a couple.

  Cheri looks a little bored, and during a small lull in the conversation, turns to Henri and asks, “So how do you and Tyler’s grandfather know each other?”

  Mom, who is never real comfortable with Henrietta Watts around, excuses herself to carry a load of dishes into the kitchen. Dad follows to help. Cheri, realizing she may have brought up a bad subject, looks a little uncomfortable.

  Gramps quickly intercedes, saying “It’s okay Cheri.” Then he turns to Henri. “You feel like telling the story?”

  “Which story?” Henrietta asks.

  “I think it’s about time they hear the whole thing,” Gramps suggests somewhat mysteriously. This gets everybody’s attention, and the porch gets quiet as we wait for her to start.

  “The whole story?” Henri asks him again, quietly and seriously.

  “Sure. Why not?” he replies. Then, after a little more thought, “Well, the condensed version anyway.”

  Jared looks at me with his ‘what’s this all about’ look. Henri looks down at the floor of the porch, her face becoming serious, reflecting a small degree of pain as she searches her memory for the words and a point to begin. It makes me wonder about my grandfather. Only recently I found out about some of his technical toys and some other obscure facts, but I had always been told he was a salesman for some manufacturing company, though when I had asked about it in the past, he’s always brushed it aside saying it didn’t matter.

  Turning to Cheri seems to make the words a little easier to say. It is almost like the rest of us aren’t there and Henri is about to confide a deep secret to a close friend. “Tom and I met when we worked together.” She stops and looks at Gramps with a smile. He nods.

  “Where was that, Ms. Watts?” Cheri asks, quietly helping Henri to continue.

  “At Central Security, a government sub-contractor.” She speaks with pride.

  It hits me like a bomb but explains a lot; his cool electronic toys, his interest in world events and activities. Even his guidance with the gray bits and his attitude about the government make more sense now. “I knew it,” I hear Willie whisper. The others seem just as surprised as I am.

  Henri continues. “We had both worked there for a number of years but not together; he was a lab rat, and I was an inside analyst. Occasionally we talked on the phone because I had to pass along instructions for some of his projects. I remember being mesmerized by his voice a couple of those times. I went so far as to have a girlfriend of mine in personnel pull his file for me. I found out he was married, of course. I was a little disappointed but I respected that.” She stops to take a drink and reminisce for a moment. A smile comes to her face and her eyes begin to sparkle like diamonds.

  “One day, he walked heatedly into my area unannounced. He threw some papers down on my desk and started asking me how I drew those silly conclusions - that’s what he said, ‘silly conclusions’ - from an agent’s report. He didn’t introduce himself but I recognized his voice even through his anger. I took no offense. His looks were every bit as wonderful as his voice and it just didn’t matter to me what he said. “Maybe we should discuss it over lunch,” I suggested to him. I was surprised when he agreed. That’s when we began to get to know each other.

  “Of course, I was engaged by that time,” she continues, “but I considered us more than good friends. We didn’t socialize outside of the office, but he and Rose did come to my wedding. Shortly after that, he got an assignment out in the field. When he came to say goodbye, I told him I was leaving the company. He looked a little sad so I said, and I don’t know where it came from, ‘Someday, when we’re old, we should write each other from our respective nursing homes.’ We hugged our first and only hug and that was the end of it. Then we didn’t speak or see each other for twenty-three years.” She stops, her face becoming long with sorrow.

  “My husband passed away too young. We had never had children so I was living alone with X-Ray, my cat. One day, reading the paper, I was looking over the obits page, wondering how I’d be remembered, when I saw the name Williams. It was Rose’s announcement. I noted Tom as surviving spouse. I went to her wake to pay my respects and offer condolences. I only stayed a short while. When I left I told him to call me if he needed a friend to talk to. It was maybe five months later, after I’d quit thinking I’d ever hear from him, that he called.

  “And that’s about it,” she concludes, looking up at Cheri, who had a sort of dreamy, faraway glaze in her eyes.

  “That’s so romantic,” comments Kylie. “Just think. After all those years. To finally get together.”

  “Central Security? Wow! I never would have guessed,” Jared says. Jen slaps him on the thigh for missing what she felt was the more important point of the story which Kylie had just spoken of.

  “So how come you guys don’t live together?” asks Cheri.

  Henri appears to blush. Gramps doesn’t say anything. I guess maybe they had talked about it.

  “I think that’s their business,” I hear Willie interrupt, feeling a little embarrassed by his date’s curiosity.

  “That’s okay,” Henri reassures him. She looks at Cheri. “It’s just not something that we want at this time.”

  “So, anybody ready for cake?” Gramps asks, getting up from his chair and changing the subject. There was unanimous agreement and soon everybody has cake and the talk turns to other things.

  Happily for me, the subject of our summer project doesn’t come up. I wonder what Uncle Earl would say if he heard about what was no more than a hundred yards away. It might not even matter to him, he is so caught up in finding aliens. I look around at my friends. If nothing else, the anti-gravity project has brought us closer together.

  It’s a fun afternoon, and evening quickly comes. Willie is the first to suggest that it is time to go.

  “Where did you park your truck?” I ask him.

  “We all decided to park over at Jared’s and hike over here. We figured if you heard anything, the surprise would be ruined,” he explains.

  Soon we are all on the trail. I figured I’d go as far as The Hill. It’s still early and after all of the food and cake, I can use a little walk.

  Jen and Kylie are out in front, talking like sisters but not loud enough for anybody to hear. Willie and Cheri are behind them, hand in hand, not saying much of anything. Jared and I tag along behind the group. I walk slowly, trying to let the others get out ahead. I didn’t want them to hear what I had to tell him.

  “Uncle Earl told me something I think you should know,” I say quietly, when the others are far enough ahead.

  “What’s that?” he asks, kicking at a stone on the path.

  “He was there that night we were on the shiff.”

  “Yeah, I know. I saw him get caught too, remember?”

  “That’s not what I mean.” I start over. “He was downstairs listening to us before we went up. Apparently he had the same idea we did, about looking inside.”

  “Yeah? So?”

  “So, he figured we were on our way up the stair
s to the shiff, and, thinking we’d probably get caught, he went around the outside and starting making all that noise.”

  Jared stops and looks at me. “So you’re saying that he did that on purpose? Make all that noise, so that we’d be able to escape?”

  “You know yourself, that if he hadn’t, we would probably have been busted by that guard that was walking towards the shiff while we were in it.”

  “Yeah, we probably would have,” Jared says, thinking back to that night’s events. We start walking again. “Why would he...”

  “Because he’s my uncle and didn’t want me - us - to get in any trouble.”

  “But I’m sure he didn’t want to get in trouble,” Jared says.

  “That’s the funny part. He told me, with his history, he’d probably get off with very few questions. It seems he’s not so out of touch with reality as everyone thinks.”

  “I guess,” Jared agrees. “I’ll have to thank him sometime.”

  “And another thing; Stiles got his stuff back.”

  “Huh?” Jared asks with alarm. “How?”

  “They raided the lab just after lunch when I was home alone.” I quickly fill in the details. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of Cheri because we still have to be cautious. If you get a chance, tell Jen and Kylie after you get home. We’ll fill Willie in later.”

  “Sure,” he says expressively. “Man! You really had one heck of a day!”

  We finally catch up to the others who are waiting at the top of The Hill. We all quickly say goodbye. Kylie wishes me ‘Happy Birthday’ again and I soon find myself alone on the trail home feeling worn out from everything that has happened today.

  Exponential Containment

  “So did you get your license Tuesday,” Jen asks as I walk up to her scooter to take the first of two boxes she has stowed under the seat.

  “Yeah, no problem,” I answer. I set the box on the scooter’s running board and reach into my pocket, pull the document out and hand it to her as proof.

  “Hmm, that’s a pretty good shot of you,” she says, eyeing the small picture. “Mine’s horrible.” She grimaces as she hands the license back.

  “So what did you guys do all week?” she inquires as we head towards the loft with the boxes.

  “More cleaning up around the hangars,” I begin slowly, exaggerating the boredom of the job. “But Jen… you won’t believe it,” I beam. “Everyday, after work, we’ve been searching the graveyard, and we’ve found all sorts of useful stuff. We’ve been grinding and cutting these big pieces of planes and helicopters and hauling them back to the building Jared’s dad is letting us use for assembly.” I stop for a moment to open the door and nod my head for her to walk through. “It’s the most out of the way building so nobody has noticed how much we’ve hauled in.”

  “That’s good,” she comments. “Maybe nobody will notice what we’re putting together.”

  We head up the stairs and across the room, setting the boxes down on the table.

  “And Jen, you wouldn’t believe Willie. That guy is a genius in disguise.”

  “Yeah? What’s Willie up to?”

  “He’s really good with engineering and working with metals. Here I thought he was just a gear-head, working with his old man, and would probably take over the garage someday. But while we were grinding and cutting and hauling, he starts talking about designing vehicles and how to put them together so that they’re light and strong. That guy is going be well known someday. And not for what he’s doing with us.”

  “I never would have guessed,” Jen replies mildly.

  “Me neither. He’ll be one of those guys who’s just hanging out one day and then is famous the next. It’s really fun working with him, too! He’s got so many ideas. What’s even weirder is Jared had no idea of Willie’s talent and they’re cousins!” I stop and look at her.

  “Well I guess you never really know some people, huh?” she comments philosophically, turning to start taking some things out of one of the boxes.

  “I guess. This whole thing is so cool. It’s getting off to a good start, too. Things just seem to be coming together. You really have to stop by the hangar some time and check it out. Right now it’s just a pile of parts, but we’ll probably start trying to assemble them next week.”

  “We’ll see,” she responds, sounding less than enthusiastic.

  I empty the box I had carried up. She has brought a second transformer, a small scale, and what I guess is a multi-meter. “What’s this for?” I ask, holding it up.

  “Well,” she quips dryly, “I thought I’d bring it along just in case.”

  “In case what?”

  “I’m not sure. I just felt like I wanted to have it along. I wanted to be better prepared than last time.”

  “I thought it went well last time.”

  “It did. But something might have come up.” Some frustration is in her voice.

  She starts setting the experiment up. “You got the funnel and magnifying glasses ready to go?” she asks in a very businesslike manner.

  “Nope,” I answer. She looks at me, a little agitated.

  “I got something better.”

  “Yeah, what’s that?”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t notice.” I point at the oddly-shaped instrument on the desk next to the computer.

  “What is it?”

  My excitement level drops a little bit. I had been excited to share this surprise with her, but it just doesn’t seem like she wants to be here. “It’s a camera. It hooks into the computer. Gramps thought it would be helpful and bought it for us to use.”

  “Great,” she responds and turns away. She seems sad all of a sudden.

  “Jen… What’s wrong?” I ask quietly.

  It takes a few moments. From the shrugging motion of her shoulders, it appears she is sobbing. I grab a roll of paper towels off the desk and offer them to her. She tears off a sheet and looks up at me. “Mom told me she and Dad are getting a divorce. He’s moving out tonight.” A flood of tears surface as she turns away again, holding the towel up to her face. Without hesitation, I put my hand on her shoulder and turn her around. She buries her face in my shoulder and lets loose another wave of sobs as I try to comfort her. I guide her over to the chair at my desk and sit her down.

  “Everything will be okay,” I say awkwardly.

  “Parents are such assholes,” she pushes out through the waning sobs.

  “Yeah, they certainly can be.” I pull up the other chair and sit facing her.

  “I’m sorry. Again,” she says, blowing her nose. “First that outburst last week. Now this.”

  “It’s okay, Jen. I meant what I said last week about being here to talk. I can’t say I know how you feel, but I understand a little more where you’re coming from.”

  “It’s just…” she hesitates. “It’s just I thought they were working it out. I knew they had problems... Can’t tell you how many times Mom’s told me that, and they had started getting some help talking things out...” She trails off, shaking her head. “I just don’t understand.”

  I struggle for something to say. “Sometimes things just don’t work out,” I start off. “I remember my Gramps telling me once about him and Grams. They reached a point where they just couldn’t stay together anymore.”

  Jen blots her eyes and looks up. “I thought she died.”

  “That was ten years ago, but they weren’t together at the time, though they did seem to get along at the end. It was strange and made my mom real angry. She’s says she’ll never understand. Gramps says he’s not sure he understands either. It seems people get to a point where they just can’t tolerate each other anymore and one of them decides to split, even though they still care.”

  “Yeah. Mom said Dad feels like he’s missed something along the way, and now he says he needs to go out and find it.”

  “How old are they?”

  “Forty-two and forty-seven.”

  That’s not much different than m
y folks. They’ve had their hard times, too. Gramps has said they’ll work it out. I wish I could be sure. Maybe Dad would hit fifty and think he’s missed something. With the baby on the way, Mom will need him even more.

  “You’re lucky,” Jen comments, reading my thoughts. “You’re going to have a little brother or sister.” I smile and look at her. She smiles back.

  “I’m not so sure. Look at Kylie and Jared. They fight all the time.”

  “But they love each other. If they didn’t, they’d ignore each other a lot more.” She looks off somewhere in thought. “I always wanted a younger brother,” she says after a few seconds.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Somebody to kick around and torment.” She whacks my knee, forcing a laugh.

  “Yeah?” I joke back. “Well, I always wanted an older sister to pester with stupid questions and annoying behavior.”

  “Oh, you do that good enough alright.”

  “Hey! Be nice.” She seems a little better and looks straight at me. Her eyes are red, and the tears have left little trails where she missed with the paper towel.

  “I’ll bet I look horrible,” she says with another laugh.

  I’m about to open my mouth with a dumb comment like ‘Not any worse than usual,’ but decide to keep it closed. “We don’t have to do this today,” I suggest instead, nodding towards the boxes of stuff she has brought over.

  She looks over at it. “But I want to,” she says quietly, and turning towards me adds, “I really don’t want to go home, or anywhere else for that matter.” She gets up and walks over to the desk, picks up the computer camera and looks into the lens. “So, does this thing work?”

  I turn to the key board, tap the mouse and the display lights up. Before she got here, I had started up the program to test it. She laughs as she spots her nose in the display. Then, looking into the lens again, says, “My, what big eyes you have.” She grins at the humor before setting the camera down.

  “What’s really cool about it is the zoom capability. Gramps says it’s lab quality and will probably make it easier to track the state of the bits when we’re trying to manipulate them.” I click a button on the screen and the camera lens whirs as the writing on the side of one of the boxes gets big to the point where the whole letter is lost.