by Travis McBee
“Na, I was just gunna hang around the house,” Will answered.
“Good I miss your company,” His father said looking back towards the television.
The movie ended the same way it always did, with the bad guy getting impaled on his own sword. Will was stretched out on the couch with his hands behind his back as his father began searching for something else to waste away the time when a beeping noise called down the hall.
“Sounds like your phones going off,” Steven Haynes said absently.
“Yeah I better go get it, it’ll probably be Mike,” Will groaned getting to his feet and walking towards his room.
Will walked through the door into his dim room and flipped the light on with a wave of his hand. His cell phone was sitting on his desk getting a fresh charge and he walked over to it and picked it up. He flicked it open and saw that he didn’t have a message or missed call.
“Huh that’s weird,” He muttered to himself .
The beeping he had heard from the living room began again and Will stared around in confusion until he saw his micro lighting up through the pocket of the jacket he had slung over his chair when he had first gotten home. He retrieved it and thumbed the screen into life. He had a new message from Abby and his heart leapt as he saw the four letters that made up her name. He missed her more than he had realized. Hey keyed the message open and his eyes and smile both widened in delight as he read:
Dear Will,
How’s your break going? Mines fine, kind of boring though. I was talking to my parents last night about you and they said if it was alright with your parents that they would let me come visit you for a few days since I’ve never gotten to see Earth before. I know it’s kind of straightforward and maybe a little bit rude, but would your parents be willing to let me visit? I really want to see where you grew up and see all the things you tell me about. Message me back asap either way.
Missing you a ton,
Abby
Will hammered the micro into his pocket and bolted out of the room towards the living room. He dove through the door and found his father still in the recliner now watching another old movie this one with a car that had an appetite for killing people. His father glanced up at Will’s sudden arrival and frowned.
“Tiger in your pants?” He asked, “What’s going on? Who was that?”
“Abby,” Will fought out through lips that seemed too big to speak properly with.
“Who’s Abby?”
“My girlfriend?,” Will said wondering why his father had to ask such a question.
“You have a girlfriend? Didn’t bother to tell us about that did you?”
“Oh, oh yeah, sorry,” Will apologized
His father chuckled, “So what did she want?”
“She wants to come visit,” Will replied excitedly, “Can she?”
“Visit here? Where is she from?” His father looked confused.
“Ageo, I think is what she said,” Will replied after a moment’s thought.
His father frowned and looked at his son in confusion, “We’ll talk about it when your mother gets home,”
“But…”
“When your mother gets home Will, I’m not getting in trouble over this with her.” Steven Haynes laughed.
Will sighed but couldn’t help laugh a little as well. Few things are more terrifying to the human male than an upset human female and when it’s your wife, girlfriend, or mother that goes double.
* * *
That day was a long one for Will and his father soon got tired of him asking him repeatedly about either letting Abby visit or when his mother would get home to discuss the matter. Will found that his feet couldn’t remain in one place for too long and he paced from his room to the living room, to the kitchen. and back to his room while the rain thundered down onto the roof above his head.
At a quarter past five the faint sounds of a car pulling into the driveway sifted into the house where Will had been sitting on the couch for a few restless moments. When he heard the echoing pop of a slamming car door he ran to the front door and wrenched it open.
He saw his mother running up the path that was flooded with water. Her feet splashed up miniature typhoons as she ran with her head to protect her hair and neat business suit.
“Thanks Will,” She panted as she passed through the door bringing the smell of damp fabric with her.
Will closed the door behind her with a snap and turned to her to ask her if Abby could visit.
“So Mom…” Will began
“Not now buddy,” His dad interrupted him placing a palm on his shoulder.
“But dad…”
“Not now,”
Will’s mother didn’t notice the exchange because she busy brushing the water off of her suit and skin with a pale palm. Little beads of the water still hung onto the rough cloth of her suit, gleaming like a thousand diamonds. She turned to look at the two men of her life and offered up a beaming smile.
“Who feels like pizza tonight?”
* * *
Pizza was a rare treat for Will growing up since his mother loved cooking and hardly ever passed up an opportunity to use her culinary talents. That night however Barbara was exhausted from a grueling day of work and the misery that rain always seemed to instill in her. So she picked up the phone and ordered a large pepperoni pizza and a small vegetarian pizza. Will and his dad dove into the greasy pie with pepperoni while his mother ate a couple slices of the meatless pizza with unerring grace and civility. Will yearned to begin the discussion about Abby’s visit but casual glances at his father told him to let his mother relax.
After the family finished their meal they headed into the living room and Will’s father began to scan through the channels to find something worthwhile. Will sat in one of the armchairs and glanced at his mother first and then his father. Steven Haynes looked at his wife who was lounging comfortably on the couch and back at his son who looked as if a bee had flown into his pants and he wanted to ask permission to let it out. He looked at Will and smiled a smile of conceding.
“Honey I think Will wants to ask you something,” He said without taking his eyes off of his son.
“What is it Will?” His mom asked with genuine curiosity sitting up on an elbow and smiling at Will
“Wellyaseeabbywantstocomevisitcanshe?” The words that Will had been holding back all day flooded out in a messy wave of words.
“Bless you?” His mom laughed, “Why don’t you try that again honey?”
Will took a breath and released some of the pent up nerves he hadn’t realized he’d been holding back, “Can Abby come visit for a few days?”
“Who is Abby?” His mom said with a smile that widened at the mention of a girl.
“My girlfriend, she wants to come visit and meet yall,” Will said
“You have a girlfriend!” His mom shrieked, she loved hearing about Will dating although she successfully fulfilled her maternal obligation to hate every girl Will had ever brought home, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“Just didn’t mom. Can she come visit?”
“Well I don’t know honey. Where is she from and how long does she want to visit?”
“Ageo and I have no idea about how long she wants to visit,”
“Ageo! Well um that makes things complicated doesn’t it?” His mom tapped this side of her chin with a single finger as she descended into thought and glanced at Steven who was watching the proceedings with a faint grin.
“Um…I don’t know…does it?” Will asked hesitantly
His mom looked at him and then glanced at his father who shrugged and continued to flip through the channels.
“Does she speak English?” his mom asked quietly
Will opened his mouth to retort at the stupidity of the question before realizing it wasn’t stupid at all. The lingus he had worn in his ear for his entire season at school had fit so perfectly he had never contemplated its existence until he was told to take it out upon returning to Earth.
At his mother’s question he realized for the first time that he had never heard Abby’s voice except after it had been filtered by the little device that had sat so stealthily in his ear. It was a device he no longer had, along with no one else in Pleasant Valley. If she didn’t speak English how could a visit work?
“I’m um, not sure,” Will replied
Will’s face fell from the high of emotions that had set it into a large smile and it became a dim frown as he felt the visit from Abby slip away as surely as sand through a mesh screen. Barbara noticed his change in emotions and it hurt her dearly to see the optimism and excitement fade from her son’s eyes.
“Go get your micro for us dear so we can call her parents,” She said with a smile, “I’m sure they already have something planned out if they were the ones to initiate this little plan.”
Will walked out of the room and could hear his father’s low voice kick start into a quiet conversation with his mother, Will couldn’t quite make out the words. He scooped the micro off his desk and returned it to his parents who smiled at a device they hadn’t seen for almost twenty years.
“Things haven’t changed a bit have they?” His father commented.
“Nope it looks the same as when I got my first one. Now that’s consistency,”
“No that’s lack of progress,” Steven said glumly
Will cleared his throat.
“Okay then, enough about technology,” His mom said, “Will dear, if you will just go wait in your room, your father and I will sort it out,”
“Can’t I just…”
“Go wait in your room,” His father said with a stern but still benevolent stare.
Will didn’t argue with his parents, it was something he had never had to do while growing up considering the fact that his parents were uniquely straightforward and honest with their son. While most parents treat their kids like pets the Haynes had treated Will with honesty and respect and he had returned the favor. Well there was that one little lie, that one little huge lie about where they were from Will mused as he collapsed onto his bed.
He could hear the sounds of a conversation coming from the living room but they had apparently closed the door and he could only make out the high trill of his mother’s voice and the low base of his father’s without words being discernible. At first he only heard the two voices but after a minute a third and possibly fourth voice began to ring down the hallway to where Will lay on his bed.
After what was no more than fifteen minutes, but what seemed to be an eternity for Will, the voices broke off and footsteps echoed in from the hallway as his parents made their way to his room. His father rapped lightly on the door while he pushed it open and he entered the room closely followed by Will’s mother.
“Well Will I have bad news,” His dad said pulling out the desk chair and sitting nimbly into it.
Will’s face fell into a sulky frown, “She can’t come?”
“Nope,” His father said sadly and then gave off a big grin, “Not until tomorrow night,”
Will looked up and a smile that could have rivaled Bozo the Clown’s broke across his face. He stared from his mom to his dad in excited glances searching for a joke being played on him.
“Really?” he asked elated
“Yep, she’s going to stay for a week,” His mother smiled a reply, “She’s going to stay in the guest bedroom. I hope I can trust you two,” She added.
“Of course you can! I’m so excited!” He shouted and ran from his father to his mother giving them both rather large hugs for a fourteen year old boy.
* * *
Will had thought the wait for his mother had been bad, but the wait for Abby turned out to be much more unbearable. He barely slept that night as he tossed and turned willing sleep to steal away the time before he could see Abby. He discovered that sleep is very much like time, it does not do what you would bid it to do, rather it does the exact opposite and seems to taunt you for trying to bend it to your will.
When sleep finally did arrive for Will at about three in the morning it did not stay for long. The first fingers of sunlight that drifted into Will’s room woke him up as thoroughly as a bucket of ice water upended over his head. He tried valiantly to return to sleep but the adrenaline that began to circulate in his system at the thought of Abby’s arrival made it impossible.
Will paced around that day as he had done the day before but this time he clutched his micro at all times hoping for a beeping alarm of Abby’s arrival. He was home alone that day since both of his parents were working and the house seemed depressingly lonely as he made his rounds. His cell phone suffered several beeping fits of vibration as various old friends tried to make contact with him but he ignored each call or text with an indifferent push of a button.
At half past four a rumble emanating from the driveway announced the return of his father’s new car. Will hurried outside at the sound and was jumping down the three steps that lead up to the front door when his father was still pulling himself out of the boldly orange car. Will glanced into the passenger seat and another at the back seat confirmed that it was empty. He had been half hoping, half dreaming, that Abby would be there.
“Why are you home so early?” Will asked confused about the premature arrival of his father.
“Well we need to go pick up your girlfriend don’t we?” his father smiled, “Lock the door and get in.”
Will rushed back to the door and with fumbling hands managed to insert the key into the lock on his third try. He snipped it to the left and a soft snap told him the deadbolt was secure. He ran back to the car that his dad had restarted and jumped into the passenger seat.
“Not excited are you?” His father smirked at him after he noticed Will was visibly trembling.
“A little bit. Where are we going?”
“Out past Riverdale,” His father replied snatching the car into reverse, “Our humble airport has apparently been picking up some interesting activity lately so we need to go past it’s range,”
“You mean they saw the ship that brought me back?” Will asked his father with genuine curiosity.
“Well the morning after you came back they found ole Jacob Kenderson drunk as a skunk and pretty freaked out. He ran the control tower at night you know? Anyways I put two and two together and someone a bit more competent might figure something’s up if strange things keep happening and we don’t need the military in our town.”
“I thought our shuttles and pods can’t get picked up on radar?” Will asked, “Like stealth planes or something.”
His father shot him a grin as he stopped briefly at a stop sign before continuing onward.
“Normally can’t but it felt like more than a coincidence so better safe than sorry,”
“Oh,” Will said simply and then found he didn’t really care, he only cared about seeing Abby which he assumed would be soon.
* * *
Will’s father pulled the sleek new muscle car onto a bumpy dirt road that jarred Will so violently he wouldn’t be surprised if his brain was slowly bouncing its way out of his ears. His dad drove the new car deeper and deeper into the woods. They were so engulfed by the forest that the bright light of the sun seemed to dim and the bright day became a dull dusk. Will found himself half expecting to hear banjos begin an ominous duel in the distance.
“I sure hope you know where you’re going,” Will said to his father.
“Yeah me too,” His father said lightly as he glanced down at the GPS.
Will looked up at his dad who turned and stole a glimpse of his son. They made eye contact and the glitter in his father’s eye drove Will into a small fit of laughter. That quiet laughter was soon accompanied by a short bark of laughter from his father and within moments both of them began laughing like hyenas as the Dodge Challenger crept smoothly deeper into the woods.
They eventually emerged in a small clearing that was filled with waste high grass that danced in the mild breeze that refreshed the forest. Above the field the sun
beat a merry dance along the trees which still gleamed with water from the torrent of rain which had splashed down the day before. Steven Haynes drove the car under a stately old pine tree which overlooked the field and slid the gear shifter up and into park.
“When is she getting here?” Will asked staring out the window at the waving grass.
His dad glanced at the dashboard clock, “Any minute now,”
The funny thing about “any minute” is that it could actually be any minute. The minute in question turned out to take place over an hour later than when the two Haynes pulled under the large old pine tree.
“Dad are you sure we’re in the right place?” Will asked after checking his watch for the four hundred and fifty eighth time.
“I think- yes look there!”
Steven Haynes was pointing across the field at an object that had suddenly dipped down to skim over the surface of the trees that bordered the small field. It was a small pod that resembled a gleaming silver minivan. Will watched as it meandered around the field getting lower and lower as it went until it set itself down with a graceful plume of mist rising around it from the disturbed grass.
Will clicked his seat belt off of him and pushed the door open. The soft chime of the door alarm began to ring as Will sprinted across the field towards the pod which now sat so out of place amongst the grass of the field. When Will closed to within twenty feet of it, a door slid smoothly open and Abby stepped out with a hand shading her eyes from the afternoon sun.
“Abby!” Will cried running towards her
Abby simply smiled at the running boy and started to offer a friendly wave to the man she saw sitting in the strange machine on the other side of the field when Will made it to her and swept her up into his arms. He spun her around laughing wildly and Abby couldn’t help but giggle a little as well.
“Weell calm down!,” She chimed in a beautifully familiar accent, “It ‘as only been a few days!”
Will dropped her to the ground and looked at her with intense confusion adorned on every edifice of his face.