It was silent in the car. A miracle, usually, with all of his five sons there, but this was not the run-of-the-mill day out. This was going to be the last time any of them saw Scott for five months. It was the longest any of them had ever been apart, and the strain in the car was palpable.
Scott sat in the front as usual, but he looked a mixture of sad and excited. Jeff couldn't blame him, going away to university was a huge thing, and Scott was more attached to his brothers than the average person. It was not going to be easy on him, but it would be an opportunity for his eldest to find himself.
John, Gordon and Virgil sat in the middle row, and they were all studiously ignoring the atmosphere, staring out the windows. Their Grandma and Alan were in the back row, Alan fast asleep leaning into her side.
Eventually they pulled up at the private airfield where Jeff was due to fly Scott, John and Virgil to New York so that they could help Scott settle at Yale. He'd already obtained an apartment, one where Scott would be sharing with three others, and with a pang he thought of all the time he had missed recently.
Oh Luce, our boy is all grown up.
Pulling into the parking spot reserved for Jeff Tracy, CEO of Tracy Industries, Jeff Tracy, family man, got out and helped everyone else out too. Gordon had been mad that he wouldn't be allowed to come, but last night Scott had made special time for just him and Alan, and they had given Scott gifts, stuff he would find useful.
Walking towards the plane, though, Scott found himself more and more torn. It was true that he longed to see who he was, having spent so long looking after his brothers he needed to discover that, but the thought of leaving them all behind was tearing him up. He would only be able to visit during the large breaks too, it being a little more difficult to get back to Kansas without transport. The one bright spot was that John would be at Harvard soon, and although they were only a couple hundred miles apart, it did mean that they could meet up more often.
Jeff watched the battle raging on his son's face, waiting for the moment of realisation. Scott was so out of it he nearly walked into the plane. It wasn't Tracy One, Jeff's own plane. He watched as Scott did a double take.
On the runway was a small, compact jet. Similar in design to Tracy One, but white and blue and about two-thirds of the size. Scott spent the next fifeteen minutes looking her over inside and out. She had the same controls as T1, so Scott could fly her, and he looked at his dad, puzzling. Why did his dad need a smaller jet?
Jeff broke out into a wide grin at the puzzled looks Scott was throwing him. Maybe he should just put him out of his misery. He threw the keys to his son, and Scott caught them
'Dad?'
'This is Tracy Two, officially. Unofficially called 'Bluebird', and she's all yours son.'
'You're kidding! Are you kidding me? Dad…I..'
Jeff put his hand on Scott's shoulder. 'You have been here for this family when I couldn't be. So now go find yourself, safe in the knowledge you can come home whenever you want.'
There might have been tears, but they were Tracy's and would never tell.
