Small Talk

By

Pat Foley

Chapter 8

One thing about Vulcans. They are truthful to a fault.

I wasn't home when all this happened. But after Sarek turned up at Rigel, Spock in tow, I got the whole story out of him. I think he was more appalled than I was, almost shell shocked. And for a Vulcan, that is something.

After I went off to my panel session, Sarek made preparations for keeping a close eye on Spock for the next few days, until I returned. Knowing his schedule could be erratic, interrupted by legitimate emergencies, and no longer trusting Spock to be able to look after himself, he did the logical thing. He arranged for a babysitter, the daughter of one of his colleagues. She was finishing her final year in childhood education at the VSA, had experience teaching, and wanted to work for one of the prestigious boarding schools like those Spock attended when we were off planet. She had no siblings and believed that a little hands-on child care experience would look good on her resume. Sarek arranged for her to come that afternoon and stay until I returned.

Sarek hadn't asked me, but given the situation, I would have thought a live-in babysitter was an excellent idea. Certainly four hands are better than two in looking after a child like Spock. Not to mention that Sarek had not gotten great marks himself so far in the child care department.

His score was about to go drastically down.

He reported that Spock had been subdued when he came down that morning. I'm sure Sarek cobbled something together for breakfast. He took Spock directly to school himself, literally walked him into the building, and delivered him directly into the hands of his teacher.

So far, so good, right?

But when he picked Spock up at the end of the day, the headmaster again wanted to talk to Sarek.

"Your wife is away, Ambassador?" the educator asked delicately.

Sarek explained about the conference I was attending, and when I would return.

The headmaster nodded gravely, and then met Sarek's eyes. "I think it would be best if Spock remained at home until his mother returns."

"What has he done now?" Sarek asked.

"Nothing," the educator explained.

"Then what is the problem?" Sarek asked, somewhat testily. After all, he had had a hard past few days.

"That is the problem," the headmaster affirmed. "He has done nothing today."

Sarek said nothing for a moment, as the meaning of this sunk in. "He was disruptive?"

"Not at all. He went to his learning cubicle. He started the edugrams. But he did not respond. At first, the tutors and supervisors thought there was some mechanical or transmission failure that would explain why his responses were not being relayed back to the data banks for recording. But when they observed him, they noticed he was simply not answering."

"Did you ask him why?" Sarek ventured.

"We did. We thought perhaps he was ill. But he had no reply."

"He was insubordinate?"

"He simply had no reply at all. I am not sure if he actually…took in our questions, though I believed he heard us." Seeing Sarek was non-plussed, the headmaster hastened to assure him. "No doubt it is a temporary difficulty. But until he is able to make use of the facilities, there is little point in his attending school."

"I will see that he responds more appropriately tomorrow."

"Sarek," the headmaster forestalled him. "The child is far ahead of his peers and his age group. There is no doubt of his intelligence and no question of his falling behind. His instructors, and I, believe it would be better for him not to attend school, until his mother returns to Vulcan. Her absence appears to be a factor in his recent difficulties. Since she is due to return shortly, I suggest Spock take a few days to recuperate at home."

"I will let you know of my decision," Sarek said, and went to find his son.

He meant to question Spock, but one look at him and he decided to wait until they were out of the school proper. But Spock fell asleep in the aircar, and Sarek chose not to wake him until it was time for the evening meal.

Spock came downstairs, still drowsy from his nap. That is, until he was confronted with the young woman Sarek had hired to babysit, a task for which he had included preparing meals.

Even if Sarek had asked me, I wouldn't have cautioned him against hiring a babysitter, or housekeeper, or whatever. It was natural for Sarek, logical. He had always lived in a house surrounded by various attendants, until I had booted most of them out to have a more private family life. With me away, it only made sense for him to bring someone in.

But Sarek wasn't seeing the situation from Spock's eyes. Our son came face to face with this woman, who was dressed in a light Vulcan house shift and setting out a meal on the terrace, the kitchen being uninhabitable, on a table with three place settings.

Spock found the voice he had been lacking all day, and demanded of his father, "Who is she?"

"Her name is T'Vril," Sarek explained that she would be taking care of such things as I normally would have done.

There are times when Vulcans are particularly clueless. But, as I said, I wouldn't have thought twice about it either. Perhaps both Sarek and I were a bit inexperienced when it came to children. My only defense is that, occasional mischief aside, Spock really was a pretty mature, level headed kid. That was what made his next actions so unexpected. Now that I look back on it, of course it makes sense.

His mother had gone away. His father brings home a pretty young woman, a Vulcan woman, and tells him in so many words that she is going to be taking my place.

Of course Spock might have seen red. Or green as the case may be.

"No," Spock said, politely, but definitely and absolutely, in true Vulcan clan leader emphatic mode. "She is not."

And then, before Sarek had barely drawn breath to dissuade him of this notion, my husband had his first experience with a full blown, drawn out, super nova level childhood temper tantrum, one that by all reports, put any mere human style temper tantrums I had ever heard of in the pale. In Spock's defense, it was his first ever.

But he more than made up for lost time.

From Sarek's perspective, it was the last he ever intended to experience.

I always said Spock had a tendency to wear his father out. I just never realized how true that fact was. Or how far Spock could carry it.

To be continued…