by Paul Harm
“How are you doing, Mia?” His voice was bordering on crying. He had missed her more than he had realized. “I’m doing fine, dad. In fact, my project is probably going to be realized, which is a great honor.” Two years ago, Mia was picked by the Lunar University to join them in one of their undergraduate programs, because her entrance test results were so impressive and lined up very well with her good grades. He was so proud that day, but still did not realize the implications when Mia told him she was going to be studying on the moon. It was later when he realized "Lunar" University was not a figure of speech. When they joined the others in the living room, he saw that her godmother was there too. After greeting everybody and talking with the whole crowd, which represented the combined friends of both Mia and her family, he sank back on a comfortable chair in the living room and found himself next to Mia’s godmother, Mathilda.
“So, how are you doing?” she asked. “Fine, fine. It’s just… I’ve this one patient and she’s very strange. I keep having flashbacks during our therapy sessions.” “Hm... that sounds like an interesting patient.” “Yes, but still, there’s something odd about her I can’t figure it out yet.” “Odd like what?” “Like she isn’t telling me anything from her life, just about her dreams.” “Well, that’s not odd at all, some people are just moved more by their dreams than by their real life. She probably has a very boring life.” Mia’s godmother joked while sinking into the chair next to him. She looked concentrated and took a sip from her apple mint tea. “Maybe she can’t speak about her past because she’s hiding something.” Joseph looked in disbelief at her. “Well, just imagine you have a secret and your past lays the way to discover it, and you just don’t want anyone to find out.” “I guess that’s possible. But then why go to therapy in the first place?” “I don’t know, Joseph.” She laughed. “You’re the shrink, you figure it out. Might be nothing, just shame or an overdeveloped sense of privacy.” “Is he bothering you with his dream lady?”
Joseph had not seen his wife coming, she must have been eavesdropping on them. “Did he tell you that she both fascinates and bores him, Mathilda?” “Haha no, but that much I figured out because he never talked about his work to me before, so I guess he’s quite caught up in something there.” The godmother laughed hard. “Yes sure, sorry, didn’t mean to be rude.” Joseph felt embarrassed. “How is my little girl holding up with all you smart people?” “Mia, you know, she’s doing more than fine. She knows you don’t know much about what she’s working on, but my department had some very particular requests and from what I can tell, I’m pretty sure Mia and the team she works in are going to revolutionize the way we conceive and build space stations.” the godmother declared gently. “Really?” He sighed. “Still weird to me Mia is on the actual moon. Isn’t the constant exposure to zero G bad for the human body?” Mathilda laughed. “It used to be, Joseph. It used to be. Back a couple of hundred years ago.” Mathilda shook her head as she always did when someone was so behind with his knowledge, and as an astronomic dynamics professor at the Lunar University, she simply knew better. “They make you do quite harsh workouts and there’s the spinning Betsy.” “The spinning what now?” Joseph looked alarmed. “The spinning Betsy. Well, you know we can’t create any real gravity, right?” Joseph nodded. So far, so good. “What we can do is spinning up some big structure to a certain rotation speed, giving bodies inside the framework fake gravity with centrifugal forces. You follow?” Joseph nodded, of course, but he did not follow. “So, when you do a workout in that kind of fake gravity, we couldn’t find any major differences to regular gravitational impacts on the human body”, Mathilda went on. “And in addition to that, it’s the rule of Lunar University to spend at least two weeks on Earth every two months, which is normally easy to combine with the work and experimenting going on.”
“So, don’t worry, the last time someone grew a fin or a tail happened at least a decade ago!” Joseph already had the picture of his little girl with fins and tail in his mind’s eye. It would not matter he thought, he would still love her. When he realized they were both looking at him lost in his thoughts, the women looked at each other and could not help but fall into a fit of laughter. Damn it, Joseph thought, they got me again. Joseph started to laugh too. Not because it was particularly funny, but to not give them the satisfaction that they had gotten to him. “Hey, Mom and Dad, we’re going to go out, see you later!” Mia shouted across the room and the young people were on their way. Yes, the youth’s need for privacy. Since the parents barely, if ever, left their homes in the evening it was typical for young people to seek their privacy in public. “Yeah, have a good time, your room is ready, and the couches are too for whomever might need one”, Claire explained, but they were already gone. Mia knew anyway. The rain ran down the lucid facade of the flat as Mia and her friends headed out into the night.
After a long talk about Mathilda’s current project which had something to do with Jupiter’ rings, Claire followed Mathilda’s thoughts without problems. But then again, Claire as a physicist had a natural understanding for Mathilda’s projects. Joseph did not, in fact he was surprised to hear what exactly those rings were made of and how the rings assembled themselves in the early stages of the solar system. At least he was never bored listening to them, because he always learned something new. The women made sure they did not go too deep into the science, so Joseph was able to follow. So, when they talked about the implications that followed the radiation decay in the rings and how that made them perfect to create an almost accurate model of the early stages of the solar system, they did not say it was about the radioactive decay, but they compared the layers of the rings to the circles in a tree’s stump. That is something everyone could understand, even a shrink.
Joseph left the ladies when they started to do their competition thing. They had been doing it since they had met each other. One of them would say something very scientific and this would start a heated debate about how to approach that problem. What they really did, was a good old game of "I know better than you". And those two could wrestle like that for quite some time. So Joseph went into the kitchen and started to clean up their home. After half an hour both of them seemed to be tired and satisfied with the level of their opponent’s professionalism. “Well, Joseph.” Mathilda called in the armed truce. “That patient you were talking about, could you explain in a sentence what bothers you most about her, like, the core?” Good question, he thought. “I guess it’s because I know she’s hiding something, which she’ll never give away.” He was surprised to find himself being able to point it out that clearly. “Well, you know, Joseph.” Mathilda took a sip of the delicious apple mint tea Joseph brought them. “Part of the solution is always the problem.” Now that’s very helpful, thank you.” But she was right, he thought, why did it bother him so much? After all, it was actually none of his business, he had had introverted patients before, but they usually told him everything eventually. Horrible fantasies, hidden cravings, strange obsessions, hell, they even told him their darkest secrets, which usually were not that dark at all. The point was, his patients used to come around and then they got better dealing with their issues. They dealt with it, he thought, while taking a sip of his tea himself.
The rain was gently crackling against the window. That was it. He did not sense anything in Melinda that needed help, the woman was just fine, and she still kept coming. From all he could tell she, had been fine from the beginning. Well, that was a problem for another day, he thought. The thunderstorm was cleaning the land, while inside their apartment an old familiarity settled in and the three of them talked long into the night. Eventually the youths returned home and took all the bedrooms they could find. Claire, Mathilda and Joseph kept talking until the first rays of morning light shone upon the horizon. The dark blue sky still filled with stars slowly gave away for the canopy to vanish and a crystal-clear blue sky climbed the heaven. When the morning light hit them, they saw the tiredness in each other’s eyes and cuddled toget
her under the blankets, like they did when they were kids, and had a good mornings sleep. Slowly they fell asleep on the couch, like you fall in love, at first slowly and then you fall all at once.
IV. Tomorrow
Whatever happened to that small insecure boy? There was no more hint he ever existed when three older boys circled him and started to push him around inside their circle. “You like that, geek?” Rick taunted him. John did nothing but smile. “What the fuck, Joseph, why the fuck is he smiling?” Mike was worried, and he should be. “I don’t know, maybe he’s lost it.” Joseph sounded sad and worried too. When John did not answer it seemed to make Rick and his henchman even more angry. “Ok, since you seem to like this so much, I say we step our game up a little.” Rick grinned all over his face, it wasn’t a very pretty sight. In the meantime, almost the whole school had gathered to watch the geek bashing, even though no one really liked to watch it.
It was and always will be a strange sensation to human beings to watch someone get humiliated and degraded, like witnessing a car accident, you just cannot look away. When Lucia and Mathilda walked in on the spectacle they waved to Joseph and Mike. “Hey there, how is our boy holding up?” Lucia wasn’t worried at all “Doesn’t look very good, sis.” Mike’s voice was trembling, he was obviously worried about his new buddy. Despite all the humiliation Rick and his gang of dysfunctional human beings caused, John did not give them an inch. When they finally grabbed him and stuffed him head first in the nearest trash can, Joseph and the others thought that at least it was over. While the crowd started to slowly dissolve Joseph, Mike, Lucia and Mathilda headed for the trash can.
A surprisingly calm, clear and loud voice rose out of it. “That’s all you got?” As Rick raised one eyebrow, and burst into laughter. If you looked close enough, you could observe how Rick changed color from actually calm and in control to blind madness. The dissolving crowd returned in an instant. “Well, if he has a plan he’s very smart, if he doesn’t, he’s just very stupid and is probably going to be in a lot of pain soon.” Lucia spoke with an analytical distance. Like it did not concern her at all. While Rick’s henchmen almost gently picked John out of the trash can and carefully plucked away the trash that got stuck to him, Rick was grinning again, but this time with an undeniable madness in his eyes. Power had made him lose his mind, you might say, that’s how it had been in ancient times when a single human being was in a situation where he could just do what he wanted, to every other human being. That is how the old kings must have felt, like Ramses and Xerxes must have felt killing men for fun and fearing no consequences but glory and praising from the rest of the flock. Good old times.
John did not see the first hit coming and almost vomited from the fist that lifted him about half a meter up in the air, as Rick’s fist met his solar plexus. Now, that was not good. “Shit” Lucia stated, still very calm. John sank lifelessly to the floor, doing something that looked like trying to breathe. You had to give it to Rick, he was indeed a dick, going for the solar plexus was both cruel and painful. It was a smart move too, it had all the benefits of brutal force and a significant portion of pain, while it did not leave any traces. The perfect crime. The other guy, John, tried to start breathing again, which he would not for about thirty more seconds depending on the power behind the punch. Unfortunately, Rick did not hold back with this one. John cramped on the floor, while Mike and Joseph, unable to watch any longer, started running towards John. John was no longer smiling. They had not even reached him when a foot hit Mike and it hit him hard. Tommy, the bigger henchman, smiled as he watched Mike falling on the floor. Joseph froze in place and his face turned grayish. Somewhere between fear, panic and anger - Well, at least we’re all fucked now. - ran through his mind.
While keeping both henchmen in his line of sight, he fortunately dodged the first attack from the other dude standing next to Tommy. But before another attack could get launched or a thought could manifest, someone’s voice could be heard yelling. “RICK BERNERS!” Lucia’s voice thundered through the crowd and Rick looked at Lucia, shocked, partially in disbelief and partially in annoyance. “God, I knew that asshole was going to be trouble”, Lucia mumbled so that only Mathilda could hear her. “If you think there’s anyone in the world besides me that’s allowed to wipe the floor with my little brother, you’re very, very mistaken and if you don’t vanish instantly I’ll have you thrown off school for this shit you just pulled here!” she yelled. Rick grinned his sick grin. “I don’t think so. Anyway, we still got another volunteer.” He pointed at Joseph. Who swallowed the brick in his throat. But Lucia was much too fierce to let anyone stop her. They would have to kill her to stop her, she was just like this, and always had been. “In case you didn’t realize.” Lucia’s look was steeled as she started walking towards Rick, her eyes locked on target, her fists clenched. “last warning.” “Bring it on, then little g-” he started, But due to an unbelievably fast move and a violent hit to his larynx, Rick was robbed of the ability to talk, and he collapsed on the ground.
It had taken one single hit from a younger girl. Well that was going to stick for some time. This was going to stick forever. The whole fricking school saw it happen. Rick’s stertorous breathing and John’s gasping for air was the only thing anyone could hear for a couple of collectively-shocked seconds. The approaching sound of high heels gave away the position of a teacher moving towards them, and it was already close. The crowd dissolved again, but this time with the efficiency and the precision of a flock of birds, or a school of fish, avoiding a predator. They distributed perfectly, coordinately and vanished out of sight in a couple of seconds, if any one of the parents would have seen this choreography, they would have clapped at this marvelous performance. Well, there were two people left behind. All Ms. Fisk found were two boys on the ground, barely able to breathe. Both seemed uninjured, and thanks to Rick’s henchmen, there was no trash on John, which might have given away what had happened here. “What was going on here boys?” Ms. Fisk was a caring and lovely teacher and her voice sounded slightly worried and a bit curious. No answer came from the boys, so she took them into the nursing station, just to be safe.
“So, you ran into each other in the hallway.” Principal Victoria’s voice sounded somewhere between bored and annoyed. “Yes!” a chorus of two young men answered as if they were both still short on breath. The look on Principal Victoria’s face was, well, let us just say she wasn’t stupid. “And the crowd when Ms. Fisk entered the hallway was there because…?” She stretched the last word, waiting for one of them to continue. But all she got was a long and painful silence, well, painful for the boys, not for her. She looked them in the eyes, and they evaded her gaze. Yes, she thought. Those two were guilty, but what could she do? She would let it slide this time, one single time. After the boys visibly crumbled under her constant, investigating stare, she spoke again. “If I catch you two boys one more time, there will be consequences.” Yes, Ma’am!” “And now leave my office before I change my mind!” She yelled, partly to scare the little rascals, partly to make clear they will not be getting off the hook that easily should it occur again. She felt like she nailed it. The boys left immediately.
Outside the door, they looked at each other. John was still in some sort of shock, but Rick had a substantial amount of anger rising up in his eyes, now he was not being glared at by Principal Victoria any more. He glanced at John for a second, and then took off without a word. John was still in disbelief, as he scambled back into the classroom. When he finally arrived, his classmates stared at him. He ignored them, sat down and proceeded with his studying. You had to give it to John, that dude knew how to take a punch. After class the five of them met at the bike shed, and kind of decided not to talk about the incident that had happened, in fact they did not talk at all. It laid heavily on their minds, and the worst part was that they did not know if it was over or not. It was probably not. When they arrived at John’s house he spoke short and clearly. “Hey guys, I appreciate what you di
d today, but I think it’s better you stay out of this.” He had tears in his eyes when he babbled it, and he was shaking. “If you get sucked into this because of me to and live through the hell I live through… I don’t want my friends to experience that.” Now he was full-out crying until, well, Lucia slapped him at the back of his head. It stopped the crying and replaced it with some sort of shock. “Shut up, John! We’re in this to now, we can’t turn back time. We’ve made our decision, and you better be worth it!” John gulped. “Suck it up, little boy, it’s not over yet!” Lucia got off her bike, waving the others to follow her and when they stood in a circle around the new kid. Lucia opened her arms and started the first and only group hug she had ever initialized, but she felt like the moment required it. Now John cried again and a lot, but he was smiling. “For now, we rest. In tomorrow we plan. We’re going to meet at the large oak in the park, at 7 AM.” Lucia explained, and silent nodding around her accompanied her words. They were exhausted from today and emotionally off, so doing homework and spending time at home might have been the better move for now. Let the heat of the battle sink away, and aim for a clear and focused mind. So far so good.