Vrrrrrrr….. Grass… flowers… trees. Slowly, Samus woke up and opened her eyes. She was still in the truck, she realized, except instead of purring along a smooth highway the automobile now bumped along on a rural pathway. They must be getting close to the Care House. At least, that was what the nurse had called the place that Samus would be staying at to recuperate from her terrible wound. Samus's eyes began closing again. Those painkillers they had filled her with in the hospital must not have worn off yet, because she still felt dazed and sleepy.
Somehow, Samus had survived the Largonak incident. Amazingly, a Federation worker had landed on the same planet—why, no one would tell Samus—and, seeing her flares, had come to her rescue. She was immediately put in hospice, where she lay unconscious and feverish for weeks. According to the nurses, it was a miracle she had survived at all. For a while, they had almost doubted she would pull through, but finally her fever broke and she regained consciousness. The Federation, however, kept her status as "inactive" and deemed it necessary to send her to a quiet place where she could rest and recover. So now, the famous bounty hunter who had traveled all over the universe saving planets was coming to Earth for the first time.
Samus blinked her eyes open as the car topped a particularly large bump and came down hard. The driver muttered something about "stupid country roads," but Samus just closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep again, hoping that dark oblivion would envelop her again and take away her waking nightmares. Ever since regaining consciousness, she had felt afraid. Terror lurked in her mind's shadows, terror that threatened to push all other thoughts away and fill her mind with black despair if ever given the chance, terror that could completely immobilize her if she focused on it, terror that refused to leave. She was afraid of being alone.
She had learned from the Largonak incident that she could no longer trust herself, and that fact scared her. If she couldn't rely on herself for protection, who could she trust? She always carried out her missions alone, and if she could not protect herself she was done for. Her foolish pride had always given her confidence before, but now her confidence had abandoned her, and she realized just how vulnerable she truly was. It was a miracle she had survived this long.
Finally, the truck slowed to a stop in front of an old-fashioned farmhouse. After the nurse helped her step out of the truck, Samus unconsciously began analyzing her surroundings. The structure in front of her was small, though it had two stories and a raised porch in front. On the porch, a quaint rocking chair and a couple other wicker chairs surrounded a small table with a chess board on it. Though the house obviously needed some repainting and the furniture on the porch appeared somewhat faded and sagging, the clean, well-kept appearance of everything would have made the place quite appealing. Samus, however, only noticed how strange and different this house was from any space station or structure she had seen before. As Samus gazed at the house, its occupants came spilling out of the front door.
First came a tall lady, her long brown hair framing a motherly face and kind smile. Her clothes were surprisingly simple; unlike the usual tight-fitting, space suits that even people on earth wore, she wore a long skirt and matching blouse. After her, an excited five-year-old girl bounced through the door. Even though her brown hair was contained in braids, they reached below her waist, and as she jumped up and down they thrashed about like vines and whipped her in the face. She, however, didn't seem to mind, nor did she mind that her skirt got tangled around her lively legs. Lastly, a boy of twelve slouched out, hands in the pockets of his worn blue jeans. He gave Samus a sullen look, his green eyes revealing dislike and bitterness, and then he turned his face away from her.
The lady stepped forward. "Welcome. You must be Samus? My name is River. This is my daughter, Angela, and my son, Sam," she said.
Angela hopped down the porch steps and ran to Samus to offer a zealous hug. Because of her height, the girl could reach only Samus' legs, however, so she contented herself with squeezing them as hard as she could. Uncertain what to do, Samus stood awkwardly stiff and gazed down at the little ball of energy smiling up at her. "Hi, Samus! I'm your new sister," Angela exclaimed.
Sister? Suddenly, Samus' knees felt wobbly, and she swayed dangerously. Seeing her predicament, River carefully pulled Angela away, explaining they had to be careful with their new family member, while the nurse helped Samus up the porch steps and into the rocking chair.
While the nurse explained to River what Samus could and could not do yet, Angela plopped herself down on the porch and began telling Samus everything about the farm. "We have carrots and peas and tomatoes and cabbage and all sorts of veggies growing behind our house, and we grow flowers out here in front, and if you walk far enough over there you'll come to the barn where we have a cow that we get milk from and we keep chickens there too"; she finally paused for breath and then kept talking, "and every morning I get to see if the chickens have laid eggs and we eat them for breakfast and they're so good and maybe you'll get to help me gather the eggs, won't that be fun?"
Samus, however, had stopped listening after Angela had said "sister." Sister. Even when her family had been alive, Samus had never had a sister. The word warmed her heart yet froze it in terror at the same time. She had been without a family for so long, that she did not know how to react now that she was gaining one. How were you supposed to treat a little sister? What should you say? And could it even be possible that she had a family again? Samus shook her head, trying to clear away the lingering fuzziness of the painkillers.
"All right, Angela, you can tell Samus more about the farm later," River said, bringing Samus out of her reverie. The nurse had finished speaking with the mother and had returned to the truck, which was revving to life again. Turning to Samus, River said, "You must be tired from all your traveling. Come on inside and sit on the couch while we fix dinner. Angela, go set the table, please."
The little girl jumped up and sped into the house, while Samus and River followed more slowly. Before she entered the door, however, Samus hesitated. It occurred to her that this was the first time she had set foot inside an actual house, not a spaceship or a temple or a facility. Cautiously, she stepped inside and gazed around. To her right, a short hallway led into the kitchen, where Angela and River were now clattering the dishes. On her left, Samus glimpsed a cozy living room furnished with a plush couch. In front of her, stairs led to the second floor.
Samus walked into the living room and gazed about. Though small, the room had a peaceful atmosphere, having been decorated nicely with yellow wallpaper and beautiful paintings. Above the television, which sat on a cabinet opposite a couch, hung a landscape of towering mountains; on the other side, above the couch, another picture showed a scene of colorful fall trees overshadowing a river. As Samus stepped toward this picture, she bumped into a small table standing next to the couch. Rubbing her leg, she glanced at the table and then took a closer look at the framed photos on it. Most of them showed River and her children hugging, smiling, or laughing together. One showed a young boy, Sam at a younger age, grinning over a birthday cake; another displayed the little girl, Angela, holding a basket of eggs. One photo, however, stood by itself.
In the picture, a young man stood in front of a large spacecraft and grinned at the camera. Though he wore a Federation uniform, Samus did not recognize his outfit or his badge and could not figure out what position he held. She guessed, however, that he must have been a new recruit. His clothes looked new and unworn, and his expression, lit with anticipation and expectation, had obviously not been tainted yet by sorrow or experience. Who was this? River's husband? Or another son? More importantly, why could Samus not recognize his badge?
Suddenly, Samus felt uneasy. Looking up, she noticed that she was the only one in the room. She abruptly turned and hurried into the kitchen, where she almost bumped into Angela as the little girl put a cup on a table that stood to the left of the door. "'Scuse me!" the girl cried and skipped away to grab another cup.
The kitchen was smaller than the living room, and the furniture made the space so small that two people could barely fit standing side by side. Fortunately, mother and daughter had become skilled in navigating the room. While River cut the vegetables at one end of the kitchen, Angela set the table at the other; when River needed to fetch food from the refrigerator, she switched places with Angela while the little girl grabbed silverware from the utensils drawer. Samus stood in the doorway and watched as they weaved around each other and in between the table and the counter almost as if they were dancing.
"We're having lasagna and carrots tonight," Angela announced. Samus, having never eaten lasagna before, gave the girl a blank look. Angela's eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Don't you know what lasagna is? Oh, it's the best food in the world! It's got noodles and cheese and tomatoey sauce and it tastes wonderful. Especially my mom's lasagna."
River laughed. "Well, thank you, Angela." Turning to Samus, she asked, "You're not allergic to anything, I hope? I forgot to ask."
Samus shook her head. "I saw you had some photos in the other room. Who is the young man?" she asked, rather abruptly.
River paused, then answered, "He's my husband. That was him many years ago, about a year or so after our marriage. He had just signed up with the Federation then, and he's been working for them ever since. I like to remember how he looked back then…" She sighed and returned to cutting carrots. "He was so happy that day. He even took me out to eat ice cream. We were rather poor back then and little treats like that were a luxury. But I'm sorry, I don't mean to bore you," she said.
"What position does he hold in the Federation?" Samus asked.
"Um, something to do with business, I believe. He doesn't talk much about it," River replied. That explained the unfamiliar uniform; Samus had never come into much contact with the business section of the Federation.
"Samus! Have you ever eaten honey-baked chicken?" Angela asked impatiently, and immediately she began quizzing Samus on various dishes, almost all of which Samus had neither tasted nor heard of. She was more familiar with food from other planets, such as the Toris fruit she had eaten as a child on Zebes; or food substitutes, such as the nutrient-rich energy pellets she used on missions. Even when she had worked for the Federation, she had never heard of the meals Angela asked about. Concluding that her poor new sister had been deprived of anything tasty or nourishing, Angela decided it was her job to educate Samus in the art of eating, and she proceeded to explain every food in sight and every meal her mom had made to the bemused Samus. While she helped her mother fix dinner, Angela kept stopping to hand Samus a piece of fruit, a nut, or a sliver of some handy food. "Have you had this? Do you like it?" she kept asking. Not knowing what to do, Samus obligingly took the food and nodded yes to each question.
"Angela, you'll ruin her appetite," River finally scolded, after Angela had fed Samus about a dozen samples.
"But she's never tasted them before!" Angela protested.
"She'll have plenty of time in the coming weeks," River said, smiling apologetically at Samus.
Although Samus did not smile, she was actually enjoying the little girl's antics, if only because they kept her mind off her fears.
Sam opened the barn door, breathing in the musty, smelly scent of cow and hay. The barn was rather small; one corner contained the cow stall, while the rest of the space was used for storing dry hay, gardening tools, and milk buckets. Maya, the cow, was standing in her stall and mooing, impatient to be milked. Picking up a couple of buckets, Sam went over to her, saying, "I know Maya, I hear you. I'm going to milk you now, so stop your wailing." He sat on one bucket and put the other underneath the cow. As he began milking her, Maya quieted down.
Usually, Sam felt calmed by his chores in the barn. Today, however, not even the soft darkness of the room or the methodic pulling of Maya's udder could comfort him.
Why had that Samus lady come here? His family didn't need a convalescing invalid to add to their problems; they had enough of their own. School would start next week, and Sam would need all the extra concentration he could get to be able to do homework in between chores. His father never came home, and with Sam away at school, his mother would have to take care of the farm mostly by herself and would have all the other household chores to do also. Although Angela's asthma was alright now, you never knew when it would act up. Samus would just add another person for his mother to take care of and would probably be of no help around the farm. Even if she had been stronger, she obviously knew nothing about farms or the country. Her space suit and attitude made that obvious.
Scowling, Sam gave the cow's udder a strong squeeze. Turning her head, Maya mooed in annoyance. "Sorry," Sam muttered. Sam knew he should not grudge Samus, but he could not help it. It just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that his mother had to take care of two children and a farm by herself, that Sam had to be the man around the house, or that the family struggled to pay their bills even though his father was supposed to have a good paying job. It wasn't fair that the family was ridiculed for their backward ways because they couldn't afford to have all the high tech that city folks owned. It was all his father's fault! And now his father had made it worse by saving this Samus and offering to house her when he wouldn't even be here. Sam gave the cow another unpleasant squeeze, and Maya mooed louder. With a sigh, Sam stopped. "Sorry, Maya. Well, you're done anyway," he said.
At dinner, Angela did most of the talking. Now and then, River interjected with a question about Samus' life, but for most of the meal Angela dominated the conversation with stories and details about taking care of the farm. She described how Maya had once escaped the pasture and wandered almost all the way to the city. She related the tale of when she watched a chick hatch. She told how the vegetables grew like magic each year, how she and her mother loved to make quilts together for Christmas, how Sam always milked the cow, how she loved shelling peas, etc., etc. By the end of the meal, Sam thought he would go nuts if his sister did not stop talking.
Samus, however, did not appear to be bothered by Angela's chatter. She neither smiled nor frowned as Angela talked, and only showed some uneasiness and hesitance when River questioned her. Most of her answers were vague and gave no substantial information about herself. Her lack of emotion and secrecy only made Sam hate her more, however, because she seemed to him unfeeling and cruel. Maybe that was what being in space did to you; it made you selfish and inconsiderate. His father sure didn't care about his family…. Sam scowled and tried to think of something else.
After dinner, Angela ushered Samus upstairs to play with dolls, while Sam curled up on the couch to read Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Sam loved books, especially ones that involved knights or dragons. He devoured these books whenever he had time to read, and often he wished that he could step into a time machine and travel to the world of King Arthur. But of course, he couldn't. Instead, he would imagine himself as one of the king's knights; he would fight for justice, venture into the lairs of terrible beasts, and gain honors in battle. In that world, he was the king's most trusted soldier. His family lived in a fancy castle, and his mother and sister had servants to do all the cleaning and cooking. His father, who was kind and gracious, was also a knight and congratulated Sam whenever he returned from his fearless travels. Unfortunately, the daydream could not last. Sam would open his eyes and would find himself in his home, a mere farmhouse and not a castle; he would be a boy who milked the cow and pulled weeds from the garden, not a man who carried out perilous quests for his king.
Sam was engrossed in his story when Angela skipped into the living room. She was already wearing her pajamas, and she cheerfully exclaimed, "Sam, it's bedtime!" Sam looked up with a frown. River and Samus had also entered the room, and they were carrying sheets and a blanket.
"Samus is going to sleep on the couch, Sam, so I'm afraid you'll have to move. Would you help make the bed," River said.
"'Kay," Sam grunted, his mind still ruminating over the battle he had just read about, and he put his book aside with a sigh.
Samus watched curiously as River and Sam pulled out the sofa bed and put the sheets and blanket on. Samus had never slept on a couch or seen one extend to twice its length before. When she lay down on it, she sat up in surprise at the softness and flexibility of the mattress; she had almost never slept on a mattress, but always on hard spaceship beds or standing up in her suit, and the idea that she could sleep on something comfortable seemed foreign to her. Would she be able to sleep on such a bed?
After Samus got into the bed, River bid her goodnight and turned to take Angela upstairs. "Wait," Samus called. "I-I don't want to be alone," she said hesitantly.
River looked troubled. "We don't have another bed in our rooms…" she said.
Suddenly, Angela's eyes widened with excitement. "She can sleep in my room! Sam can sleep on the couch, and Samus can take his bed. Sam is always complaining that he wants his own room, anyway, "she cried.
Sam brightened. While putting together the bed, he had been rather sulky, but now he looked happy for the first time that day. "Yeah, can I, Mom?" Sam asked. "I promise I won't stay up late reading or watching t.v." he said.
River hesitated. Seeing Samus' anxious expression and her children's eager ones, however, she gave in and agreed. With a much better attitude, Sam helped his mother switch the sheets from his bed with the ones on the couch, and soon Samus and Angela were comfortably situated in the children's room. After bidding Samus, who looked much more at ease, and Angela, who seemed too excited to sleep, good night, River peeked into the living room. Sam was lying on his stomach on the sofa bed, finishing a chapter in his book.
Glancing up at her, Sam said, "I just have a few more paragraphs, Mom."
River smiled at her son. "Alright," she said. She sat down on the edge of the bed and asked, "Are you sure you're alright with Samus having your bed?"
"Yeah, don't worry, Mom. This'll be great; I can have a bit more privacy this way, and maybe I can get my homework done without distraction," Sam replied.
"Okay," River said.
After a pause, Sam put down his book and asked, "Mom, how long does she have to stay here?"
"Well, until she can return to her job, I suppose," River said. "She was hurt quite badly, so it may be a while. Sam, I know it's hard on you to have a stranger in the house, especially since school is starting soon, but can you try to show her kindness? Samus has suffered some trauma, and she has an extreme fear of being alone. She needs us to be a family for her. If not for her, at least do it for my sake?"
Sam could not bring himself to look at his mother, but he murmured, "I'll try, Mom."
River smiled and kissed her son's forehead. "Thank you, Sam. Good night. I love you."
Author's Note: The fruit from Zebes that is mentioned does not appear in the games; it is the author's imagination. Also, Sam was originally going to be 10 years old, but I decided it would be better if he were a little older.