Episode Forty Seven

Milo pushed these thoughts out of his mind with some difficulty as he hobbled on his crutches into the library at the end of the day. Amanda had asked all the members of the WIBA committee to stay after school. She had been in touch with the rest of the committee through e-mail and social media during the week she had spent in San Fransokyo with Zack and Melissa, while Milo had recovered from his mutation, but her unexpected absence had still meant there were fires to put out and the WIBAs were only a few weeks away. As ever, as Milo entered the library, Amanda gave him the impression of a general commanding her troops.

Amanda quickly ran her gaze over the various papers scattered across the table in front of her. "The design for the stage backdrop looks good," she said. She shuffled through some of the papers in front of her and picked up a piece of paper. Milo tried to read it upside down. The title across the top of the page read, "38th Annual WIBA Awards Category List." He thought of Zack and suddenly had an idea.

"Hi guys," he said.

Everyone turned at the sound of Milo's voice. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "I got stuck in the supply closet on the second floor again."

Amanda waved away Milo's apology. "That's OK-," she began.

She was interrupted by Bradly, who snorted in contempt. "Oh, of course," he said sarcastically, "let's all make excuses for Milo. He disappeared for an entire week and just shows up in school as nothing happened-."

Amanda's face flickered for a second and Milo thought that he detected a harsh rebuke there, but she appeared to Milo to have bitten her tongue and said, "Milo's had a hard week-."

Bradley snorted again. "Has he?" he asked, his voice edged with sarcasm.

Amanda sighed, "yes he has," she said. "Look, just shut up Bradley," and she suddenly wondered just what it was about Milo that Bradley didn't like. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You weren't there." Her face flickered again, and it took some effort to push away the memory of Milo lying unconscious on a tunnel floor.

"Actually, Amanda, can I see the category list?" asked Milo.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Milo," she said. Amanda coloured slightly. She had momentarily forgotten that he had been standing there. "Of course." She handed him the category list. Milo took it and ran his eye down the list.

Jefferson G County Middle School 38th Annual Winter Break Awards

Athletics

Varsity League Most Improved Player

Varsity League Most Valuable Player

Varsity League Player of the Year

Intermural League Most Improved Player

Intermural League Most Valuable Player

Intermural Player of the Year

Arts and Music

Poetry Contest Winner

Creative Writing Contest Winner

Art Show Contest Winner

Music Recital Winner

Drama Award

Academic Achievement

Quiz Bowl Winner

Achievement in Mathematics

Achievement in Geography

Science Fair Winner

Essay Writing Contest Winner

Individual Student Achievement

Most Dependable Friend

Best Gardener

Best Green Thumb

Greatest Perseverance

Best Juggler

Best Unicycler

Most Improved Bowler

"I'd liked to propose adding a new award category," said Milo after he had finished looking through the list.

"What category is that?" asked Bradley waspishly, "The 'How to Ditch School for a Week and Get Away with it Award?'"

Everyone else ignored him. "I was thinking of calling it the Greatest Personal Improvement Award," replied Milo. He paused, "unless someone has a better name," he said. He glanced at Amanda and suddenly found that Amanda appeared to unreadable. He glanced around at everyone else and thought that a few of the other kids seated around the table seemed to be receptive to the idea of adding a new award category. After a second or two, Amanda nodded. She took the award list from Milo and scribbled the words Greatest Personal Improvement Award underneath Most Improved Bowler. "I think that sounds like a good idea," she said. "Thanks for the suggestion, Milo."

The meeting broke up half an hour later. The late afternoon sun cast long, slanting shadows across the library book shelves, leaving everything in a dappled mix of light and shade. Milo squinted against the low, late winter sunlight as he stepped outside. There was a slight wind and the air was chilly. He paused momentarily and pulled his scarf tighter around his face. Milo tried to take a step and immediately felt himself begin to skid. He tried to steady himself on his crutches and immediately felt a hand on his elbow. Milo turned and found Amanda standing next to him. "Oh, hi Amanda," he said.

"Hi Milo," she said.

Milo steadied himself, planting most of his weight on his right foot. He leaned forward and carefully planted his crutches on the top step and attempted to lowered himself down to the next step. No sooner had he done this, than he lost his footing and fell splay-legged on to the hard, frozen concrete. A jolt of pain shot through his broken leg and Milo grimaced.

Amanda thrust out a gloved hand and Milo took it. The hood of her winter coat was pushed back and Milo was suddenly aware of how her hair caught the sunlight. With her help, he levered himself back into an upright position. Planting his weight on his right foot again, Milo carefully bent over and picked up his crutches, then straightened up. "Thanks, Amanda," he said. He took another cautious step forward and when he didn't fall again, Milo set off across the school parking lot.

Amanda fell into step beside him. "You're welcome," she said. The perfectionist and the hapless teenager crossed the school parking lot in companionable silence. Amanda seemed to be screwing up her courage, because when she spoke again, it was in a rush, as if she was afraid she were going to lose her nerve. "Milo," she suddenly, "I think what you did for Zack was really-."

Milo adopted an innocent look. "I don't know you mean, Amanda," he said in protest, "I just thought that-"

She didn't let him finish. "Yes you do," she chided him gently, but Milo could hear the clear note of approval in her voice. "He's claustrophobic-"

"Claustroavoidant," corrected Milo.

Amanda pressed on, ignoring his interruption, "either way," she said, "I think you did a good thing for Zack."

Milo gave his usual casual shrug. "From what he told me afterwards, it sounds like he went through a lot."

"I think he did too," said Amanda in agreement. She kissed Milo and he felt himself flush despite the chilly weather. "I hope he wins. He deserves it."

Milo and Amanda told Melissa what Milo had done at the meeting three days later. Zack had stepped out after finishing his lunch to use the bathroom. Melissa nodded in approval when they had finished talking. "I think you did a good a thing," she said around a bit of her sandwich, "After what happened in San Fransokyo, I was thinking of nominating him for Most Dependable Friend, but this is a lot better."

The rest of the week seemed to pass by with almost interminable slowness. The sensation that the week after Milo's adventure in San Fransokyo was moving by at a nearly glacial pace wasn't helped by the week's worth of missed school work he had to make up for as a result of having been in the hospital. By the time Saturday came, Milo had mostly managed to work through his backlog of missed assignments, but was feeling slightly wrung out. As result, he felt glad that he didn't have to get up early to pick up alien garbage with Cavendish and Dakota.

After they had all returned, there had been another informal celebratory dinner for Milo's safe return, during which Milo, Zack, Melissa, Cavendish and Dakota had explained everything that had happened after they had all woken up and found Milo gone. Cavendish and Dakota had also tried to apologize for leading Milo and all of his friends into what what in retrospect was clearly a trap.

Afterward, Martin had found himself full of conflicting thoughts and emotions he had watched Milo talking and laughing with his friends. On the one hand, he had been thankful that Milo had come back from San Fransokyo with nothing more serious than a broken leg, but remembered how elated Milo had been when he had come home from the first day of first grade with a skinned knee, a black eye and a new friend in tow. Over the next seven years, Milo and Melissa would become virtually inseparable. She had sat at the Murphy family dinner table table on many occasions, laughing, talking and joking with Milo and Sara and he had had to remind himself on more than one occasion that she was not one of his children. Milo, he had come to appreciate, made few, if any distinctions between his family and his closest, and for many years, only, friend.

Several times during dinner, Martin's eyes had slid back and forth between Milo and Cavendish and Dakota and he had thought of how excited Milo had been to go to school for the time and how Milo's first day of school had almost had a completely outcome. By Martin's estimation, the time agents had almost certainly saved Milo's life, as well as Melissa's.. Cavendish and Dakota had seen two children being dragged behind a school bus with a rocket engine lodged on its roof and had simply reacted. Cavendish's time vehicle had had the ability move three times faster than local time and the two time agents had been able to catch the two children before they had hit the ground. They had all then gone their separate ways. Over the next thirty years, or seven, depending on the point of view, Cavendish had died several hundred times and Dakota had rewritten his own timeline each time to undie his partner, which was a blatant violation of Bureau regulations and had resulted in the creation of a small army of time clones. It had also eventually resulted in Cavendish and Dakota being stripped of their time agent credentials and being banned from using time travel for life. In the meantime, Milo and Melissa had grown up together and had become close friends. Martin had always been grateful that Melissa had proven to be such a good friend to Milo. She had given him a sense of stability that Milo might not have had otherwise. Then Cavendish and Dakota had walked back into Milo's life and in the process of saving his life, and the lives of his friends, several more times, the two time agents had not only taken Milo and his friends under their wing, but had earned Milo's absolute trust.

"So, what does it all mean?" he had asked.

Milo, Cavendish and Dakota had all looked at each other. "Actually, Dad," Milo had said with a shrug, "we don't know."

Cavendish and Dakota had both nodded. "It's a certainly an unusual coincidence," Cavendish had said in agreement, "but, as Dakota and I are barred from using our time vehicle, we have no way of ascertaining what Milo being alive in this particular timeline actually means."