"Michael! Goddammit…Jan where the hell did he go?"

Nessa gave her older sister an impatient glare where she sat on their couch enjoying a book. On the cover a half-naked man was groping desperately to an even lesser clothed female. Both of their hair was gone with the wind, just as Jan's attention span had gone from the baby of the family; Michael. Nessa would have thrown something at her if she wasn't so worried. Michael got into a lot of things. And to top it all off he wasn't exactly the smartest of children. Regardless, he was going to get the ultimate beating when she found him. Glancing around the almost empty room she noted all 16 of her sisters seemed unconcerned for the little idiot's whereabouts. All were preoccupied. A house full of dumb blondes, Nessa thought glumly, ignoring the fact that she too fit that mold.

A gruff grunt came from the kitchen behind her, reminding her that their father was still in attendance today.

"Dad!"

"What?" He stepped from the kitchen wearing gray sweats and a beater and picked at the bronze stubble around his chin before scratching at his neat trim of a haircut. He really didn't look like he had sired 18 kids.

"Have you seen…Michael?"

He blinked for a moment and then nodded raising a hand towards the kitchen, a glass of milk sloshing in his hand, "Oh yeah…he's in the kitchen with me."

She sighed inside but didnt reveal her concern to their father, "Oh…Why is he so-"

"Quiet?" Her father suggested, "He's amazingly normal when you give him cookies."

Cookies…how stupid… She threw her hands up and turned to join her sisters. As soon as her back was to him, he made his way back into the kitchen where little Michael sat atop the counter staring almost pensively from the window at the craters of the moon's surface. He smiled to himself as he posted against the wall waiting for the eight year old to notice hm. it took him longer than he thought before he turned to face him, a cookie crumbling between his small fingers and blue eyes bright and slightly narrowed with the strain it seemed to cause him to think, "David."

"I prefer 'dad' but what is it, Caboose?"

Michael just seemed far to impressive for such an underwhelming kid. Caboose flowed so much easier. David really wasnt sure whether or not he even realized the difference. Judging by said childs vacant gawk, He felt it safe to confirm his thought process.

"Where does the moon end?"

David glanced with only his eyes out the window then blinked back to his son shrugging, "I don't know. Our little colony here is pretty…eh, desolate, you know. We don't have much going on here."

Michael nodded slowly, "Yeah…I don't really think this place is where I want to be…"

David snickered leaning beside his son, "Oh yeah, Caboose? Well then where you going to be? This isn't earth; you can't just sign up for the army or go to college. This is the fucking moon, kiddo. "

He frowned, "Yeah, I know. Where did mom go?"

"She…Sheila just really didnt want to stay here with me I guess."

"But weren't you guys together? I'm going to get married one day. And I'll make my wife…muffins."

"Son, that sounds really fucking gross. You need more then muffins to make a woman stay with you. Listen. Let me pass to you a little Caboose family wisdom…or stupidity really. But My dad told me, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" He offered Michael his glass and he took it his brows rising as he tilted his body back to finish the cup. He set it beside him and wiped the white mustache from his face.

"Want another cookie?"

Before Michael could nod a vigorous yes, he had already handed him the nearly empty jar. Rather than eat the 3 cookies left, Michael took them out and set them beside him placing the jar over his head, keeping it above his eyes so he could see his father. With the amusement of a smile touching his lips he supported the jar with both hands, "Does it look like a helmet?"

"Uh…Yeah, you're a regular soldier, Caboose."

Caboose released one hand so the jar fell on a tilt, occluding one of his blue eyes and grabbed a cookie with his free hand, "I think I should go to school first."

"You're already in school. Yeah, and after school is college, Caboose."

He finished his cookie and returned his hand to the jar on his head to support it out of his eyesight, "Will it be anything like the army?"

"Been there done that, son. Wasn't really worth the enthusiasm."

"Were you in the…army?" Caboose whispered tugging the jar into place. David smirked, "You guys don't know anything about me…guess I should be around more. Would you like that?"

"No."

"Well fine. I'll stay out every night."

"So, you were in the…army?" He whispered again.

"Yeah I was in the goddamned army. By accident. Like I told you, it wasn't worth shit. I thought I was signing up for college."

"...Pretty dumb."

There was a long pause of silence before anyone spoke. But it wasn't Caboose or David. Nessa had peeked her head into the kitchen, "Such a dumbass. Look, dad, mom just called. She said she wants to see us."

David grinned but Caboose just stared back out the window, not interested in the woman he knew by only six letters and a soft voice delivered through a cold phone in a loud household.

"Sheila?" He asked his sister softly.

She nodded, "Yeah, Sheila. Buuuut lets work on calling her mom."