Chapter 1
Ken groaned as the sunlight hit his face, pulling him from his comfortable sleep. He rubbed his eyes, blinking at the clock on his nightstand. Dr. Nambu had purchased the device for him as a reminder to get out of bed early enough to make it on time to his lessons. Yet Ken hated the angry beep of the alarm, preferring instead to let the sun waken him. No matter that the sun's alarm came at different times of day throughout the year.
Still… it was late December. The sun didn't rise until about 7 am. And for it to have woken him at full strength… Ken blinked blearily at the clock. It was well after 8 am.
"Wow." he noted, pulling the clock over to confirm that he was indeed looking at the correct time. But there it blinked at him: 8:23.
He was late for his tutor. Master Gorbhor must be livid! Ken tumbled out of bed, pulling on the closest t-shirt and jeans he could find (there were many to choose from, seeing as practically his entire wardrobe was strewn across the floor) and running to the door, socks and sneakers in hand. He jumped over the banister, flying down the two flights of stairs until he reached the bottom level of Dr. Nambu's villa. Stuffing his feet into his socks he hopped down the hallway, then began pulling on his shoes until he had reached the door to the schoolroom. He burst through, his chest heaving with his exertions.
"Master Gorbhor, I apologize…"
The schoolroom was empty. No tutor sat at the large desk, no papers were laid out on the large table, no books sat ready for studious perusal. Ken blinked, his mind slowly coming into focus. He looked over at the digital time readout on the wall.
December 21, 8:25 am.
December 21… wait a minute! It was Christmas! He was on holiday! No wonder the tutor was not present! Ken had over a week off from his studies! Rather than being angry with himself for forgetting, the nine year old whooped with joy, eager to take advantage of this rare time off.
Grinning to himself, Ken wandered over to the kitchen, catching a glimpse of his messy hair as he passed by a hallway mirror. Mrs. Henderson wouldn't like that! Quickly, he ran his fingers through the auburn locks, pulling them into a vague semblance of neatness before walking into the kitchen.
Mrs. Henderson wasn't there either.
Strange… usually Mrs. Henderson had his breakfast waiting for him. But he had been late downstairs. Perhaps she had left it in the warming oven? Yet the oven was cold and there was nothing inside. Shrugging, Ken pulled a bowl from a shelf and a spoon from the drawer. Looking around with the artless deviousness of a child up to no good, he reached into the closet, digging around behind the boxes of bran and muesli. Ah, there it was! Mrs. Henderson's secret stash of Cocoa Crunch cereal! Happily Ken poured himself a heaping bowl, then shoved the illicit treat back into its hiding place. He grabbed a container of milk from the fridge, pouring it into his already full dish, uncaring of the chocolate-smeared drips that sloshed over the side of the bowl.
He closed his eyes as he munched on his breakfast. It was a perfect way to begin a holiday. When he was finished he returned the milk to the fridge and dropped the bowl and spoon into the sink, not bothering to wipe up the table. Mrs. Henderson would do that when she returned. After all, wasn't that her job as Dr. Nambu's housekeeper?
Leaving the kitchen, Ken passed by Dr. Nambu's office. The door was partially open, and Ken popped his head inside to say hello. But the Doctor was not there.
Ken stared, amazed. The usually neat office was in disarray, various papers and folders strewn across the desk. The shade on the lamp on the desk by the door was askew, as if someone had bumped into it upon exiting the room. Reflexively, Ken straightened the shade, knowing instinctively that Dr. Nambu would disapprove of such untidiness.
So why had he left his office in such a mess? Curious, Ken tiptoed over to the desk, peering at the slew of papers spread across the large oaken surface. Most of it was empty folders, and the few papers that remained looked like nothing Ken could decipher: strange diagrams and chemical formulas spreading across their pages. But in the middle of the chaos was Nambu's notepad, covered in the Doctor's recognizable scrawl.
Conference Presentation
Dec. 21 - 28
Utoland Municipal Airport
Hangar 24A
4:30 am
Huh. It looked like Dr. Nambu had run off to some boring conference again. He hadn't even said goodbye. Not that this was unusual; the Doctor was always running off to some ISO thing or another. But he'd never missed Christmas before, not since Ken had come to live with him when he was four years old.
Knowing Dr. Nambu, he'd likely forgotten all about the holiday. Ken supposed he was brilliant with all of that science stuff, but when it came to everyday things like remembering to put on a tie or seeing the dentist, he was hopeless. That was why he had people like Mrs. Henderson in his employ in the first place. She, along with a staff of three others, took care of all of the mundane issues of the household, so that Dr. Nambu could focus on his important scientific research.
Ken frowned slightly. He didn't like to admit it, but he missed the Doctor when he was gone. Ken barely remembered his own father, and his mother was stuck in a hospital, most of the time in an isolation ward where Ken was unable to visit. Dr. Nambu was the only real parent he had, and certainly the only stability in his life.
Then again, with no lessons to attend to and no Dr. Nambu to tell him otherwise, Ken was free to play. He went back up to his room, opening up the curtains to their fullest and pulling down boxes of model airplane kits. Within minutes he had forgotten all about the missing Dr. Nambu and was completely engrossed in his task.
A few hours later he looked up, aware that his stomach was rumbling. His morning breakfast of sugared cereal hadn't filled him for long, and a quick glance at the clock told Ken it was lunchtime. Besides, he was nearly out of InstaGlue. He used so much of the stuff that Dr. Nambu joked that he would buy a crate of the glue bottles, just to keep Ken in business. But the truth was that Dr. Nambu liked Ken's airplane models, encouraging him to build them and always getting him the latest kits. Ken gently lifted his most recently assembled model, preparing to take it down to show the Doctor, before he remembered that his foster father was gone.
Shrugging, Ken headed downstairs to the kitchen, wondering what Mrs. Henderson had put together for lunch. Yet when he arrived at the kitchen, it was as empty as that morning. Ken's dirty bowl and spoon still lay in the sink, and his spilled milk had dried into unappealing brown blobs on the table. Nothing was in the warming oven.
"Mrs. Henderson?" Ken called. "Hello?"
The sound echoed around the house in a way that made Ken feel slightly uncomfortable. Something wasn't right, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. He wandered the ground floor, trying to figure out what it was. It wasn't until he had circled the area and come back to the main stairs that he realized what it was.
He hadn't seen anybody else.
Besides his tutor and Mrs. Henderson, Ken usually caught a glimpse of Mr. Epps, the handyman and gardener, or Nora and Beth, the villa's two maids. Yet there was no one.
That couldn't be right. There had to be someone! Maybe he should call Dr. Nambu… But he recalled that recently the Doctor had changed his cell phone and number, claiming that his calls were being monitored. Ken had never received the new number. There was no way for him to contact the Doctor.
In a panic, Ken raced up the stairs to the third floor and began banging on the door next to his room.
"Please be there, please be there, please be there…" he muttered anxiously to himself. To Ken's intense relief, he heard an annoyed groan coming from behind the door.
"Leave me alone! Can't a guy get some sleep?"
"Joe!" Heedless of proprieties, Ken tore open the door and burst into Joe's room. A tousled head of dark blonde hair was all that was visible from the sheets.
"What's the emergency?" Joe muttered angrily, pulling back the covers to survey Ken. "And what are you doing in my room? Hakase told you to knock! I'm telling!"
"You can't tell!" Ken told him. "Hakase's not here!"
"Then I'll tell Mrs. Henderson. Now let me get back to sleep." Joe rolled over, pulling the covers above his head once more.
"It's afternoon, Joe! Are you really still sleeping?" Ken's curiosity won out momentarily over his panic.
"What's it to you?" Joe grumbled, before glancing at his own clock. "Wow! It really is after noon! How come nobody came to get me up?"
"Because there's nobody here." Ken told him.
"You're here." Joe pointed out.
"No one but us. I looked. Hakase's gone, for a whole week! Mrs. Henderson isn't here. Mr. Epps, Nora, Beth… no one!"
"It's Christmas, idiot!" Joe sneered. "Hakase gave everyone two weeks off, so they could be with their families. Remember?"
"Oh." Ken had forgotten. But this didn't erase the most important fact.
"But then why would Hakase take off?" Ken asked, his lower lip trembling. "Why would he leave us alone? Doesn't he want to be with us anymore?"
"I'll bet he forgot." Joe said, sitting up amongst his tangled sheets. "Smart guy like Hakase… He has too many things to think about to remember stuff like us."
"He forgot us?" Ken's heart sank. He could tell that Joe wasn't nearly as bothered by this as he was, but then, Joe didn't know Dr. Nambu very well. He had only come to live at Nambu's villa a month ago, and for the first two weeks he had been confined to his room, recovering from some kind of injuries. Ken hadn't been allowed to ask what kind of injuries they were, or how Joe had gotten them. But it had been made clear that Joe would be staying with them, and that Dr. Nambu expected the two boys to get along. Ken tried. It was exciting to have another boy his age around. Yet Joe often appeared sullen, and only snapped at Ken or looked down upon him.
Still, right now Joe's company was better than nothing.
"Are you sure there's no one here?" Joe asked, as if he suddenly doubted his own words. "And you're sure Hakase is gone for a week? How do you know?"
"I'll show you." Ken smirked. At least he had something on Joe. He led the other boy downstairs to Dr. Nambu's office, showing him the note he had found.
"Yep, looks like he's gone, all right." Joe concurred with Ken's assessment. "Now you're sure there's no one else in the house?"
"Take a look for yourself." Ken invited him. Together the two boys went through the villa, checking every room. They even went into the garage and peered out of the windows at the extensive grounds. There was no one in sight.
"I guess Hakase really did forget about us." Joe said, dropping down onto the top stair after they had finished their search. "Huh."
"He goes to these conferences a lot." Ken offered. "Usually Mrs. Henderson's here to watch me. I guess what he forgot is that he gave everyone time off…" his spirits fell as he remembered the worst part of all.
"Hakase will be gone for Christmas." he muttered glumly.
"So what?" Joe shrugged. "We've already got the best Christmas present."
"What?" Ken asked suspiciously. Had Joe gotten a present when he hadn't?
"We're alone." Joe grinned. "No one to tell us what to do. No rules."
"No rules?" Ken began to sweat, his heart pounding madly in his chest. "But…"
"No buts. We can do what we want!" Joe jumped up. "And right now I'm hungry. Let's get some food."
"Okay." Ken replied, still not entirely convinced. Rules were there for a reason. If you followed them, you stayed safe. That's why grownups made rules, after all. But if there were no rules…
"What if we get hurt?" he asked.
"We won't get hurt."
"How do you know?"
"You're right. I won't get hurt. I can't promise anything for you." Joe punched Ken in the arm, sending the boy stumbling sideways.
"Hey, that hurt!" Ken complained.
"See? I told you I couldn't promise anything."
Ken saw red. He lashed out with his foot, delivering a side kick to Joe's gut, the way his sensei had taught him in his martial arts lessons. Joe fell backward, landing on his rear.
"You want to fight?" he asked, his eyes flashing dangerously. He got up slowly from the floor.
"No." Ken said, crossing his arms. "We're even."
"Okay." Joe shrugged, his eyes assessing Ken. "You're not as wussy as I thought."
"Wussy?" Ken glared at Joe.
"What do you expect, following the rules all the time?" Joe asked.
"Rules are there for a reason! Grownups make them!" Ken protested.
"And you think the grownups care about us?" Joe snorted derisively.
"Dr. Nambu cares about us."
"So that's why he left us alone?"
Ken didn't have an answer for that.
"How many friends have you got?" Joe asked.
"Huh?"
"Friends. Got any?"
"Uh…" Ken hesitated. The truth was that he didn't know many other kids, and rarely got to see other boys. There certainly wasn't anyone he would call a friend.
"You know why?" Joe asked smugly, before answering his own question. "It's because you trust the grownups. Grownups don't care about you. You just get in their way."
"My Mom cares about me!" Ken insisted.
"Yeah." Joe thought a moment. "Parents don't count. Parents have to care. But it doesn't matter when you don't have any."
"You don't have parents?" Ken asked, surprised.
"Nope." Joe shook his head. "They were killed."
"How were they killed?"
"Why are you so nosy?" Joe demanded.
"Uh…" Ken had no idea how to respond to the other boy's mercurial moods, but then inspiration struck.
"My Daddy was killed too." he offered, surprised when the recollection of his father did not hold the pain it usually did. "Bad men shot down his plane. Hakase calls them Galactor."
"But your Mom's alive."
"She's in the hospital." Ken revealed, turning away. "She's really sick. Most of the time, I can't even see her. That's why I live with Hakase."
"Me too." Joe said suddenly. Ken looked back in surprise.
"You… what?"
"My Dad was killed by Galactor. My Mom too." Joe said. "Galactor sucks. I always stayed away from them, because they like to shoot people. But my parents… they didn't stay away."
"Oh." Ken had no idea what to say. Joe's revelation was heartfelt, yet his tone and demeanor suggested that he was just itching to pick a fight with Ken.
"Let's get some lunch." Ken suggested, eager to change the subject. Joe readily agreed, and a moment later they were in the kitchen.
"Can you cook?" Joe asked Ken as he stared at the deep oaken cabinets lining the walls.
"No!" Ken felt somehow insulted. What was he, a girl?
"Can you cook?" he shot back.
"Nope." Joe shrugged. "But that makes it difficult to eat."
"There's lots of stuff we don't have to cook." Ken replied. "Like this." He went to the cupboard and pulled out a single-serving bowl of macaroni and cheese.
"That looks like you have to cook it." Joe noted, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Nope. It's easy. Mrs. Henderson showed me." Ken bragged. "You fill it with water and put it in the microwave." He demonstrated, pulling off the plastic cover and following the instructions, then doing it again for a second bowl. It felt good knowing something that Joe, for all his swagger, did not.
"Now we nuke it for three minutes and it's done." Ken said smugly.
"I don't know… that looks like you were cooking to me." Joe needled. Ken saw the glint in the other boy's eye, and instantly understood that in his own way, Joe was still looking for a fight. Somehow, Ken knew that unless he earned Joe's respect, this kind of taunting would never end.
"Fine." Ken smiled, realizing the best way to get back at Joe. "If that's what you think, you don't have to eat it."
"You're not going to eat two bowls!" Joe protested.
"I'm pretty hungry." Ken countered.
"You won't share?" Joe's face was the very epitome of surprise. It was clear that he had taken Ken for a pushover.
"I only share with my friends."
"You don't have any friends."
"Bingo."
Joe's face scrunched up into itself as he thought through the problem.
"I could be your friend." he suggested half-heartedly.
"I don't know." Ken replied. "You're kind of mean."
"I'm not mean! You're just a wuss!"
"Yeah, you're mean all right."
"Can't you take a joke?"
"I don't like your jokes." Ken glared at Joe, and something in his demeanor caused Joe's defiant expression to vanish. For an instant, Joe appeared as vulnerable as Ken usually felt.
"Okay." Joe stared at the floor. "No more jokes. Can I have some food now?"
"Yeah." Ken smiled. "I made it for you, anyway."
"Okay."
Right on cue, the microwave beeped and Ken took out the two steaming bowls. He grabbed spoons from the drawer and tossed one to Joe, who caught it expertly in midair. Ken stirred his macaroni and cheese until it had cooled down, then took a bite as Joe mimicked his actions.
"Is this… pasta?" Joe asked suspiciously as he chewed.
"Uh… kind of." Ken shrugged. "I never thought about it."
"This is nothing like my Mom makes… made."
"It's all we've got." Ken reminded him. "Do you want to cook?"
"No way!" Joe appeared horrified.
"Then eat it or hand it over."
Joe curled his arm around his bowl possessively and continued eating. Apparently he was just as hungry as Ken was.
"It's kind of boring." Joe commented a moment later. "I like spicy stuff."
"You want spicy?" Ken smirked. "I'll give you spicy!" He went over to one of the kitchen cabinets, pulling it open to reveal flour, sugar, baking powder, and a long row of spice jars.
"Try this." Ken suggested, reaching behind the jars to pull out a small plastic container with a brownish-red dust inside. "Mrs. Henderson likes spicy too, and she uses this."
"Okay." Joe shrugged, opening the container and sprinkling some onto his spoonful of pasta. He shoveled the heaping pile of food into his mouth.
"Hey, this isn't bad… holy crap!" Joe ran for the sink, turning on the tap and ducking his head below the faucet to catch the cool stream of water that emerged. He drank greedily, the excess dripping down his face and into the sink. Ken laughed at the sight until his sides hurt and his throat was raw. Joe continued to drink, uncaring of the amusement he was providing to Ken.
"What the hell was that?" Joe asked finally, his eyes red and streaming as he finally turned off the sink.
"South American pepper mix." Ken grinned. "It's really powerful."
"Now you tell me!"
"You said you liked spicy." Ken blinked innocently.
"Don't play me! You tricked me on purpose!"
"Maybe…" Ken grinned. "It was pretty funny."
"You're sneakier than you look." Joe noted. It almost sounded like a compliment.
"It's really hot stuff." Ken explained. "Mrs. Henderson only uses a tiny bit at a time. It makes her eyes water and her skin itch too."
"So why does she eat the stuff?" Joe swiped at his eyes with his sleeve.
"I guess she likes it." Ken shrugged. "Hakase can't stand it, so she keeps it separate form the other spices."
Joe nodded and returned to his (fortunately unseasoned) pasta. Ken noted that the other boy did not make any further comments about the bland nature of the dish. They ate in silence for a few minutes.
"So what else have we got?" Joe asked as he finished off the last of his meal and licked the spoon clean.
"I don't know." Ken shrugged. "Let's look." He tossed his empty container into the trash and his spoon into the sink, somehow pleased to see Joe copying his actions. The boys approached the fridge and Ken pulled it open.
"Um… meat… eggs… I guess those have to be cooked." Ken inventoried. "Apples, carrots, oranges, green pepper, beans… milk, cheese, ham… oh yes!"
"What?" Joe asked, digging through the fruit drawer.
"Jello packs! Thank you, Mrs. Henderson!" Ken grabbed one of the plastic cups, ripping off the plastic cover and reaching for the spoon he had so recently deposited in the sink. Within seconds he was halfway through the wobbly treat.
"Jello?" Joe asked. "What's that?"
"I don't know. It's just… Jello." Ken didn't know what to think of a kid who had never heard of Jello. "Where are you from, anyway?"
"BC Island." Joe shrugged. "Near Italy."
"They don't have Jello there?"
"Guess not, Einstein."
"Well you don't have to have any then."
"I didn't say that. It just looks… weird."
"Yeah, I guess it does." Ken agreed, nonchalantly tossing the cup into the garbage and reaching for a second. "But I like it."
"Okay." Joe decided suddenly, grabbing for his own cup and tearing off the lid. He retrieved his spoon and took a bite. His face appeared confused for a moment, then he frowned.
"This is gross!" he shouted, spitting out his mouthful into the sink. He then threw his cup toward the garbage can, but hit the rim. The mostly-full cup bounced and landed on the floor, its contents spilling out onto the hard tile.
"Hey, you're wasting it!" Ken complained, setting down his cup and grabbing for a dishcloth. "And you made a mess! Do you know how slippery this stuff gets?"
"How do you know?" Joe smirked, watching Ken clean the floor. "Did you trip on it?"
"No, Hakase did." Ken retorted, pleased to see that his answer had gotten a reaction from Joe. It would appear that he respected Dr. Nambu, at least. "I'm not allowed to eat it if I make a mess." He glared sternly at Joe, unconsciously imitating Dr. Nambu when he was in a lecturing mood.
"Okay." Joe outwardly shrugged the reprimand off, yet somehow seemed to take the warning to heart. "I won't do it again. As long as you find me something better to eat."
"Let's check the pantry." Ken suggested, drying off his hands and throwing the dishtowel in the sink, along with his spoon. He led Joe out of the kitchen and down a small flight of stairs to the pantry. The door was constructed of heavy steel, yet it opened easily when Ken input his security code into the keypad next to it.
"What's the code?" Joe asked curiously.
"The same one as for the front door." Ken shrugged. "Hakase gave me a code after I got locked out last spring, playing in the forest." He regarded Joe with an appraising glance.
"Don't you have a code?" Ken asked.
"No." Joe appeared mildly annoyed by this. "I didn't even know this was here."
"Well, you haven't been here long." Ken reasoned. "And you spent a couple of weeks in bed. I'll bet Hakase will give you a code later."
"He'd better!" Joe's words were threatening, yet his tone was wistful.
The two boys turned their attention to the food present. The shelves in the pantry appeared to hold more things to Joe's liking than the fridge. The boy eagerly grabbed a box of Oreo cookies and began stuffing them in his mouth. Ken simply stood there, amazed at how much food the small room actually held.
"There's enough food here to last a month!" he gasped, his jaw dropping. "Maybe two months! Why does Hakase need so much?"
"Maybe he hates to shop, so he gets a lot at once?" Joe asked through a mouthful of chocolate cookie crumbs.
"Hakase doesn't do the shopping; Mrs. Henderson does." Ken replied.
"Seems strange that there's a keypad on the door." Joe observed, in between bites. "Is this food special?"
"I don't know." Ken replied. "I've only been in here once or twice, and I never thought about it before." Curiously he examined the room, realizing that there was another door hidden off to the side. He walked over and opened it, staring in surprise at what lay beyond.
"There's a bathroom in here." Ken reported. "And beds."
"This would make a cool hideout." Joe pointed out, excitement gleaming in his eyes. "Better than what I had with Alan. We wouldn't have to come out for days, if we didn't want to!"
"Who's Alan?" Ken asked, but Joe was ignoring him, pushing in to get a better look at the 'hideout'.
"Four beds." Joe noted. "I call one of the top bunks!"
"We're not sleeping here!" Ken told him.
"Why not?" Joe grinned. "Did Hakase say we couldn't?"
"No, but…"
"Then it's not against the rules, is it?" Joe concluded.
"I'm sure Hakase wouldn't like it…"
"How do you know? You didn't ask." Joe smirked. "This is like one of those old war bunkers! My Dad took me to see one when I was little. They dug them underground and lived there, waiting to attack anyone who showed up."
"War bunkers… from the big war?" Ken asked. "My Dad fought in that war, and so did Hakase. That's where they became friends."
"Hakase was a soldier?" Joe appeared surprised. "I didn't know that."
"Yep." Ken confirmed, pleased to have knowledge that Joe did not. "Maybe that's why he built this place. Maybe he misses the bunkers…"
"I never thought Hakase would have a cool place like this!" Joe agreed. "Better than my room, that's for sure. Let's stay here until Hakase gets back!"
"I…" On some level, Ken felt that it was a bad idea; that Dr. Nambu would disapprove. On the other hand, Dr. Nambu was the one who had left them alone, without any grownups. And it wasn't like Ken had ever been told not to go in here.
"Okay." he agreed, allowing himself to feel excited at last. "I'll take the other top bunk." Joe grinned at him, and Ken grinned back. Within seconds they were scrambling up to their beds, playing around and pretending that they were soldiers.
A few hours later their play began to peter out, as the repetitiveness of their games began to take the edge off their excitement.
"So what else do you do around here?" Joe asked. "What's fun?"
"I make model airplanes." Ken offered. "Want to see?"
"Okay." Joe shrugged. He followed Ken out of the secret bunker and through the pantry, frowning when Ken closed the door behind him.
"Hey, I can't open that!" Joe complained.
"Then you'll just have to take me with you when you come back." Ken smirked.
The boys went upstairs to Ken's room, where Ken proudly displayed his model planes, including the two that he had built that morning.
"Pretty nice." Joe admitted. "Do you glue them together or do they snap in?"
"InstaGlue." Ken replied. "I'm almost out. But I think I saw some bottles in the pantry."
"What's that?" Joe asked, moving over to a bin on one of Ken's shelves. "It looks like…"
"Games." Ken confirmed. "For the Playstation. Hakase lets me use it on weekends."
"Video games!" Joe crowed, looking through them. "War Gears, Soldier Story, Space Marines, Ninja Fighter, Street Brawl, Superhero Slam… wow! You've got all the good ones!"
"You've played them before?" Ken deduced.
"Yeah… well, once." Joe admitted ruefully. "At a friend's house."
"You didn't have any video games?" Ken asked.
"I had some." Joe revealed. "But the only ones my Mom got were Mario and Pokemon and Little Planet." The boy stuck his finger in his mouth and mimed gagging.
"Little Planet?" Ken hadn't heard of that one.
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
"Red Baron is my favorite." Ken offered. "I like flying the planes. It's like I'm…"
"Like what?"
"Like I'm with my Dad." Ken looked at the floor. "He was a pilot."
"Oh."
"What did your Dad do?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" To Ken, this sounded rather odd. "Didn't he work?"
"Of course he worked!" Joe sounded insulted. "But he never talked about it. I don't know what he did."
"Whatever you say."
"You don't believe me, but it's true!" Joe snarled. "My Dad was the best! He didn't let my Mom turn me into a sissy! He took me to see the war bunkers, and taught me to shoot, and played with me…"
"Sounds like he loved you." Ken said, a finger of jealousy creeping through his mind. "I don't remember my Dad much. I was really little when he died."
"Well my Dad was great." Joe asserted. "So what if he never told me what he did?"
"Yeah, it doesn't matter." Ken agreed. But inside he thought it was strange. Why wouldn't Joe's Dad say what he did for a living? Everyone talked about their jobs, didn't they? Except…
"Maybe he was a spy!" Ken offered. "That's why he knew about bunkers and guns and stuff. And if he was a spy, he couldn't talk about his job, right?"
"A spy…" Joe thought about it for a moment, then nodded, a big grin on his face. "Yeah! That's it! He was probably a spy. I'll bet he saved tons of people with his spy missions. Hey, do you think he had a cool car like James Bond?"
"I'll bet he did." Once again, Ken was amazed at Joe's mercurial moods. He went from happy to sad to angry in the blink of an eye. This was the exact opposite of Dr. Nambu, who was almost always patient and stern, yet kind.
"Let's play!" Joe decided, picking up the box of games and looking around. "Where's the Playstation?"
"Downstairs, in the family room." Ken replied.
A few minutes later both boys were ensconced on the sofa in front of the large family room television, each of them holding a controller as they allied together against the system to play Space Marines. As the rest of the day and evening wore on they moved from game to game, pausing only to raid the kitchen cupboards for bags of potato chips and boxes of crackers. When Joe discovered bags of microwave popcorn on a shelf, he immediately declared that pushing buttons was 'not cooking'.
Now, with the clock pushing midnight, the two boys played with heavy-lidded eyes, bags of snacks strewn about the room and the pungent smell of stale popcorn floating in the air. Ken was the first to succumb to exhaustion, with Joe not far behind. Together they slept, the television casting a flickering light over the two boys until the morning, neither of them even barely aware of the storm that passed over during the dark hours of the night.