See You in the Cosmos
Page 9
Terra laughed and she asked me what’s my mom like, and I told her my mom has black hair that’s starting to turn gray and her eyes are dark brown like mine. Terra’s eyes aren’t brown, they’re green like Ronnie’s and like the leaves on the trees on my street when it’s cloudy. Terra’s really pretty but she doesn’t wear a lot of makeup like some of the girls at my school. She has natural beauty. She reminds me of Dr. Arroway except she has brown hair, not blond hair, and it’s a lot shorter, like a boy’s.
Terra asked me what’s my house in Rockview like and what’s my street like and about Ronnie and do I remember anything about our dad. Terra’s full of questions too, it runs in the family.
I told her that everything I remember about our dad is what other people told me, and I told her about how him and my mom met and fell in love on the top of Mount Sam. I asked Terra how did he meet her mom, and she said she doesn’t know, she never asked. She said he was never really in her life either, and he never lived with them, she’s not sure why his name showed up with their address. I told her I’m not sure either, but I’m glad it did.
We went back inside after a while and then the guys got here and so did our Indian food, and we sat on the floor and spread out all the food in front of us and ripped open the paper delivery bags and used those as placemats because Terra only has two chairs for her table.
The food looked like barf but it tasted pretty good. I love the samosas and I love the bread, which is called naan. You dip it in the curry and I finished my naan and there was still a lot of curry left, and Terra said I could have her naan. I can eat a billion naans but not literally a billion, it’s just an expression. Literally I can probably eat two and a half naans. I told Terra the naan was so good, and the next time we order Indian food, we should get naan à la mode.
The whole time we were eating Steve was acting really weird again. He wasn’t as mad and his phone kept buzzing but he didn’t even notice it, and any time Terra said something Steve would nod his head and say Yeah, Uh-huh, or I see your point. And he kept staring at Terra especially when her and Zed were talking about Zed’s trip to India to find the guru. Then Terra got up to go move our clothes from the washers to the dryers and Steve got up too, and I thought he was going to the kitchen to refill his water but then he sat back down right away, I think he was just being polite because Terra was leaving her seat. Steve’s quite a gentleman.
After a while I started feeling hot and stuffy all of a sudden even though the windows were open, so I went outside to look for Terra and help her with our laundry. The air outside wasn’t that much cooler though, and I looked up again and I could still only see a couple of stars and then something smelled like garbage, and I remembered that Carl Sagan was still missing.
Terra came back from the laundry room and I guess she saw me sitting on the stairs crying again. She asked me what’s the matter, and I said Carl Sagan hasn’t even been gone for a day and I already forgot about him, I’m the worst best friend on Earth.
Terra said that doesn’t make me a bad friend, it’s the opposite actually, the fact that I feel guilty about not thinking about him shows how much I care. She gave me a really good hug and said we’ll look for him together first thing in the morning, and then she asked me can she listen to the recordings I made for you guys on this Golden iPod. I said, Of course you can, you’re my Terra so my Golden iPod is your Golden iPod, and we went back inside and she went into her room to listen to them.
While she was in her room I finished the rest of the Indian food with the guys, and then Zed was sitting on the floor meditating again and Steve went to his car and got all the phones he bought from people who needed money for an emergency. He started cleaning the phones because he’s going to sell them on eBay and I said, Hey Steve, didn’t you promise your girlfriend you’d be back in LA by tonight because you guys should probably get going. But Steve said it’s only a five-hour drive, so they can still stay for a while.
Terra was in her room for a really long time. I thought maybe she fell asleep so I went into her room to check, and she was sitting on her bed and she had in my earphones. I told her, I’m glad you didn’t fall asleep, I just wanted to make sure, and I wanted to see your face, and I think our laundry’s done, but I’ll come back when you’re finished listening. And she said, No, come here. So I went onto the bed and she gave me another really good hug. I said, What’s that for? and she said, Stay here, I’m almost done, so I stayed there. Then she started laughing a little so I laughed a little, and then she put her hand over her mouth like she was trying not to say anything, and then she took out the earphones.
I asked Terra, Why are you so sad, it’s making me sad, and then she hugged me again. She said she really admires what I’m doing and she hopes I keep making my recordings, and I said, Of course I’ll keep making them, I’m redoubling my efforts like Lander said, and I’m not going to stop until my Golden iPod is on its way into deep space. Terra said she wants to help me with my mission however she can. She said, You and me, we need to stick together, promise me we’ll do that, and I said I promise because I’ve never been in Boy Scouts so I can’t say Scout’s Honor.
We went back into the living room and I helped Terra and the guys clean up all the delivery containers and paper bag placemats and aluminum foil, and Steve was talking about how it’s really late and he’s so tired from going around and looking for Carl Sagan today. Terra said if him and Zed want, they can stay the night at her place on the sofa, and also she has an air mattress, and Steve said OK right away. I guess he didn’t have to be back in LA tonight after all.
Terra got out the air mattress from her closet and it was in a bag that was even smaller than my duffel bag. When I saw it I said, That’s it? THAT’S the air mattress? and then she unfolded it and showed me how it works. I thought it was like sleeping on air but it’s not, it’s sleeping on plastic, you just blow it up with air. I asked Terra, How long does it take to blow up, because I’ve blown up a beach ball once and it took me five minutes because I had to stop and catch my breath, and that looks a lot bigger than a beach ball. She said it doesn’t take long, it comes with a motorized pump, and she showed me.
She plugged in the pump to the wall and turned on the switch and then it went whhrrrrrrrr and the mattress filled up with air. I said that is SO cool, they should make an air sofa and an air coffee table and an air Lay-Z-Boy and you could fit everything into your duffel bag and that way no matter where you go, you’ll always be at home. I asked Terra can I sleep on the air mattress tonight and she said, It’s for the guys, we’re sharing my bed if that’s OK with you, and I said OK.
What a day, what a day! Even though my dad isn’t still alive and can’t be the man in love for my Golden iPod, and even though I still haven’t found Carl Sagan yet, I did find out I have a Terra and she’s full of questions and doesn’t make sense when she cries and she has green eyes and I love her. I hope I get to talk to Terra’s mom and stepdad, and I hope that Terra meets my mom and Ronnie soon. I’m still not sure how my dad had two families at the same time but I think Terra’s mom might know. I think she might have some pieces to the jigsaw puzzle too, and if we all sit down without yelling or getting mad, we can figure out what happened. And then we’ll have even more extra pairs of eyes to look for Carl Sagan!
We’ll find him for sure.
NEW RECORDING 26
18M 34S
Hi guys. Terra was awake already when I woke up this morning, and she was listening to my iPod again. I rubbed my eyes and I said, Hey Terra, what are you doing? and she said there was a part of a recording that she wanted to listen to one more time. I asked her which part, and then she sat down on the edge of the bed, and she said she has something she wants to ask me.
Terra said that the guys are about to leave for LA, how would I feel if we drove to LA with them? I said, But what about Carl Sagan, you said last night you’d help me look for him! and Terra said we can still
look for him this morning, but if we don’t find him then maybe we can go see Ronnie, maybe Ronnie can help in some way. She said that while we’re in LA, people here will still see my MISSING posters, and if someone finds him or if animal control gets a dog that matches his description, we’ll drop everything and come right back.
I still didn’t want to go at first because then I’d be even farther away from Carl Sagan. I told Terra that the worst part about all this is that I know he’s out there somewhere but I don’t know where he is and what he’s doing, and I used to always know. We used to always be together. I asked Terra does she know how that feels? And she nodded and then she started picking at some fuzzies that were on the blanket, and I watched her pick at the fuzzies and I thought about how I do really want to see Ronnie though, and I want him to meet Terra too, and I remembered how Steve said the drive is five hours, which isn’t that long because we were driving for a lot longer when we came from SHARF to Las Vegas.
I told Terra, How about we look for Carl Sagan and then decide, because maybe we’ll get lucky and find him this morning and then we can bring him to LA with us because he hasn’t met Ronnie yet either. Terra said sure, let’s do that first, so we told the guys and they said they’d help us look too, and we all went to Zelda’s again and to the restaurant bar and to some dumpsters but Carl Sagan wasn’t at any of those places.
Finally I told Terra, OK, if you really think we should go to LA then let’s go because I trust you, and besides, I promised you we’d stick together and a man is only as good as his word. I told her I’ll try my best to be brave.
The guys are in front of us on the highway now. I’m riding in Terra’s car which has rust on the bumpers, and whenever we go faster than seventy miles per hour the whole car starts shaking like a rocket reaching escape velocity. I asked Terra, Is this hunk of junk going to hold together? and she said she hopes so. I asked her why doesn’t she buy a nicer car and she said she doesn’t need nice things, she just needs her own things, and I respect that.
TERRA: I’m glad I have your respect, Alex.
ALEX: Hey Terra?
TERRA: Yeah?
ALEX: Did you tell your mom you’re going to LA?
TERRA: Nope.
ALEX: She’s your mom. You should at least tell her.
TERRA: I’ll tell her later. She’s just going to worry if I tell her right now and it’s not like I need her permission anyway. I’m legally an adult. If I want to go, I’m going to go.
ALEX: Do you always yell at her like yesterday?
TERRA: I wasn’t—well, no, not always.
TERRA: It’s just sometimes she doesn’t listen. And she treats me like I can’t take care of myself. If I call her now she’ll freak out, like, But where are you going to stay? What are you going to eat?
TERRA: It’s like, Donna! There are hotels in LA. There are restaurants. People live there.
ALEX: I know what you mean. It’s like when someone thinks I’m still nine or ten years old. I hate that because I’m eleven, not nine. I’m in middle school, not fourth grade. And I’m probably at least thirteen in responsibility years!
TERRA: It’s a big difference, isn’t it? They just don’t get it.
ALEX: They just don’t get it.
TERRA: I don’t know what happened though, it wasn’t always like this.
ALEX: Like what?
TERRA: With my mom. Our relationship was a lot different. I used to tell her everything. If there was . . . something I’d done that I knew she wouldn’t approve of—like, some hard decision that I’d made on my own, I’d tell her about it afterwards. And I felt that at least she understood why I made the choices I did, even if she wasn’t always happy about them.
ALEX: Was one of the choices to move to your own apartment? She wasn’t happy probably because she knew she was going to really miss you.
TERRA: Mmm . . . yeah, I guess. But it’s just that sometimes parents don’t want to accept that their kids are growing up. It’s like they think, I don’t know, they think if we grow up, then we stop being their kids or something. But that’s their whole job! It’s to raise us to be independent! They just have such a hard time facing it, you know? Facing the truth.
ALEX: My hero believed in the truth.
TERRA: I remember that from your recordings. I believe in it too. And anyway, my point is that at least back then I felt like Donna listened, and respected my ability to make my own choices. But somewhere over the last few years she started getting like this and—
TERRA: Sorry. I don’t mean to be dumping all this on you.
[phone chiming]
ALEX: Terra, don’t.
TERRA: Don’t what?
ALEX: Don’t text and drive at the same time. We could get into an accident.
TERRA: You’re very considerate.
TERRA: I’ll tell you what—you take the phone.
ALEX: Me?
TERRA: Yup. You don’t want me to text, right? So you’ll have to be my eyes and fingers.
ALEX: OK! Let me put down my iPod—
[rustling]
TERRA: Here, the cup holder—
ALEX: This thing—
TERRA: I’ll move the—
ALEX: I got it.
TERRA: Great. Now read me the text.
ALEX: It’s from Amy Carter. She says she can cover for you while you’re gone.
TERRA: Tell her thanks, I owe her one.
[keys clicking]
[phone chiming]
ALEX: She says, I guess this means you’re not going to Jordan’s party tonight?
TERRA: That’s right.
[phone chiming]
TERRA: What’d she say?
ALEX: It’s someone else this time. Terra, you’re really popular.
TERRA (laughing): Who is it now?
ALEX: It’s Brandon Mullen. He says, Hey.
ALEX: Is he your boyfriend?
TERRA: No, we’re not—well, maybe. Not really.
ALEX: Did you guys kiss already?
TERRA: We did a little more than that.
ALEX: You mean you French-kissed?
TERRA: Yes. We French-kissed.
ALEX: Then you’re girlfriend and boyfriend.
TERRA (laughing): It’s so simple. I don’t know why we overcomplicate things.
TERRA: It’s just a fling.
ALEX: What did you fling?
TERRA: A fling’s when two people love each other for a really short time and then they go their separate ways.
ALEX: Oh, I had a fling too.
TERRA: You did?
ALEX: Yup. At the start of fourth grade there was a girl in my class named Emily Madsen who was a can-can dancer for Halloween, and we sat together at lunch and swinged on the swings at recess and then her family moved to North Carolina and I never saw her again.
TERRA: Now there’s a fling if I ever heard of one.
ALEX: It’s for the best though, we were both too young and she’s not really my type anyway.
TERRA: I didn’t know you had a type.
ALEX: Of course I have a type, DUH! Don’t you have a type?
TERRA: Maybe. What’s your type?
ALEX: Someone like Dr. Judith Bloomington. She’s a professor of astrophysics at Cornell University and she’s written dozens of research papers and five books on becoming a multi-planetary species and a book of short stories and poetry also, and she’s kind and sweet and beautiful and she’s forty-nine years old.
TERRA: She sounds like quite a woman.
[phone chiming]
ALEX: It’s Brandon again. He says, Can’t stop thinking about you.
TERRA: Text him back.
ALEX: What should I text him?
TERRA: Whatever you want. My phone is your phone.
ALEX: OK.
/> [keys clicking]
[phone chiming]
[keys clicking]
[phone chiming]
[keys clicking]
TERRA: What’d you say?
ALEX: I said, Hi Brandon, do you know any astronomy jokes?
[phone chiming]
TERRA: And he said . . .
ALEX: He said, Was your daddy a thief?
ALEX: And then I said, No, he was a civil engineer.
ALEX: And then he said, I think he was a thief, ’cause he stole the stars and put them in your eyes.
ALEX: And then I said, No, I’m pretty sure he was a civil engineer, and I told him you can’t steal the stars because even the closest ones are trillions of miles away and nobody owns them.
[Terra laughing]
[phone chiming]
ALEX: He says, I like it when you play hard to get.
[phone chiming]
ALEX: He says, What are you wearing?
[keys clicking]
ALEX: I told him I’m wearing your NIRVANA shirt.
[phone chiming]
ALEX: He says, Wait, who is this?
[Terra laughing]
[keys clicking]
[phone chiming]
[phone chiming]
[keys clicking]
ALEX: He says, Who’s Alex? Where’s Terra? It’s in all capital letters.
ALEX: I said, Hi Brandon, I think your caps-lock is broken.
[Terra laughing]
[phone ringing]
ALEX: He’s calling now.
TERRA: Let it go to voicemail.
ALEX: OK.
TERRA: Well done. You’re in charge of the phone from now on.
ALEX: In charge of the phone! In charge of the phone!