"I hate boys," Nadine grumbled.
"You told me," responded D.W.
The two girls were playing and talking in D.W.'s room, waiting for Maria to return from her job at the jewelry store and take Nadine home.
"I don't want to marry a boy when I grow up," said Nadine as she popped a plastic doll's arm in and out of its socket.
"What else can you do?" asked D.W. rhetorically.
"I'll marry a girl." Smiling ecstatically, Nadine crept on her knees to where D.W. was sitting with her ponies. "I want to marry you."
"Yeah, ri--" D.W. began, but her sentence was muffled.
Nadine leaned over and gently pressed her lips against D.W.'s. The aardvark girl recoiled in shock.
"Ewww!" she exclaimed disgustedly. "You kissed me!"
"I love you, D.W.," Nadine gushed.
"You can't love me," protested D.W., clambering to her feet. "We're both girls."
"So what?" Nadine seemed blissfully oblivious to her friend's complaints.
"What do you mean, so what?" said D.W. incredulously. "You're a girl. I'm a girl. We can't get married. At least not in this state."
Nadine's face fell as the finality of D.W.'s statement sank into her mind.
"Besides," D.W. went on, "my heart already belongs to a special boy."
Nadine's mouth fell open. "Wh-who?"
As D.W. was about to answer, Maria's voice issued from the first floor. "Time to go home, Nadine."
"Just a minute, Mom!" Nadine called back.
"Not just a minute," her mother insisted. "Now."
Maria's voice carried an urgent tone, and Nadine feared to disobey.
"I'll tell you later," D.W. promised her.
Maria didn't speak another word to Nadine until they were on the road. Then the scolding began in earnest.
"Principal Haney told me that you punched a boy," said Maria firmly. "That was a bad thing to do, and I'll have to punish you for it."
"But, Mom, you punched Dr. Rick," Nadine reminded her.
"That's different."
"How is it different?"
Maria struggled to keep her eyes on the street and think of an excuse at the same time.
"Dr. Rick did a very bad thing to Auntie Augusta," she finally said.
"But James did a very bad thing to me," Nadine responded. "He pulled up my dress and looked underneath."
Once again, Maria lacked for an effective comeback.
"You're a hypocrite," Nadine accused her.
Maria gasped. "Where did you learn that word?"
"In kindergarten."
It quickly became clear to Maria that there was only one way to trump her daughter.
Dr. Portinari was stuffing his belongings into several suitcases when a knock came at his door. He answered it, and greeted Maria and Nadine with delight. "I was hoping I could leave your planet forever without any long goodbyes," he said, "but now that you're here, sit down."
Maria seated herself on the easy chair, and Nadine hopped into her lap. The first odd thing Maria noticed was that Portinari's eye showed no sign of bruising.
"I know what you're thinking," said the psychiatrist/alien. "I could adjust my holographic projector to make it look like I have a black eye, but I don't see the point, since I'm not coming back."
"Why aren't you?"
"I don't want to be separated from Augusta," replied Portinari, "prisoner though she may be. Next to the laws of my people, there's nothing in the universe I love more than her." He slammed shut a suitcase full of clothing.
"So that's why you turned her in," Maria mused. "Because you loved the law more than you loved her."
"I turned her in," the alien answered, "because if I hadn't, I would have lost all hope of seeing her again."
Maria fell silent, pondering whether her disdain for the man's actions was misdirected.
"And because it was my duty as a Time Enforcer," he concluded.
"The reason I came," said Maria hesitantly, "was to apologize."
Portinari straightened up and listened intently.
"I'm sorry for punching you," she went on. "And I'm not just apologizing so Nadine can learn that it's wrong to hit people. I'm truly, genuinely sorry."
"I forgive you," said Portinari glibly. "No point in holding a grudge now."
Nadine twisted her head and noticed that her mother's eyes were misting up.
"Losing Angus was the hardest thing that ever happened to me," Maria admitted. "I knew I'd never find another man as good as him, even if I lived a thousand years. I wouldn't have minded it so much if he had died. But he didn't die. Instead he was transformed into a freak. A man who had to learn to live as a woman, who had to suffer all the indignities that women have to endure in this world. Not only was I unhappy, but she had no hope left of happiness. Until you came along. When I thought you'd betrayed her, I lost control. I'm sorry."
Portinari stood silently and allowed the emotion of the moment to wash over his alien body. Finally he bent over, closed up another suitcase, and spoke.
"Augusta's an amazing woman. And she was an amazing man."
Maria nodded tearfully. Lifting Nadine onto the floor, she rose to her feet and laid a tender kiss on Portinari's cheek.
"Thank you for that gesture of affection," said the alien in a cold, logical tone.
Having packed all his earthly possessions, Portinari waved his finger over his wristwatch. Maria and Nadine heard a humming noise, and a large doorway with a blurred frame materialized in the apartment. The doctor first passed his suitcases through the dark portal, then stood to bid the Harrises a final goodbye.
Maria raised her hand and spread her fingers. "Live long and prosper," she whispered.
"The force will be with you," said Portinari with a warm smile. "Always."
He turned and stepped through the portal, which then shrank to the size of a dot and disappeared.
No words passed between Nadine and Maria as they gazed at the empty air through which their friend had vanished.
Finally Nadine broke the silence. "He's a nice man."
Maria nodded. "Yes, he is."
"But he's an alien," Nadine added. "He doesn't count."
