Break-In

Jim and Danny had already gone to bed that night. I was getting ready to go upstairs when I found Liz sitting quietly at the kitchen table sipping a glass of water. I sat in the chair across from her.
"Do you like him?" I asked.
"Sam?" she responded. "Oh, he's nice. He's really great when you get to know him."
"Yes. I heard you talking and laughing all day."
Liz giggled slightly.
"Did you expect the kiss?"
"Did I look like I did, Mommy?"
"Well, you did look pretty dumbfounded." I smiled at her, but she just stared at me without a grin.
"I don't like him in that way, Mommy. I hardly know him. And look at this bracelet." She held up her left arm to display the glistening piece of jewelry. "If he just got this for me--I mean--I shouldn't be getting this expensive stuff when I don't even know him."
"It is beautiful. Quelecquian jewels are rare you know."
"Exactly. But look at this. I can't get it off." She made some attempts to undo the metal fastener that locked it to her wrist. I tried to help her with it but was not successful.
With a sigh, I said, "We'll see if your father can get it off somehow in the morning." I reflected for a moment before asking, "Liz, Sam helps run an inn. What was he doing on a ship?"
"Well, he does work at an inn on a spaceport, so obviously he has to do some spacer occupation, right?"
"I suppose," I said suspiciously. "What does he do besides work at that inn?"
"He told me he's a rigger."
"Really? I didn't know they used Terrans that often to manage the solar sails. He must be very agile."
"Well, you know, he also checks on the solar crystals below deck and all."
"Hmm." This news was a little strange to me, but I supposed anything could happen.
"That was my first kiss you know," Liz said somewhat dreamily.
I tried to steer away from talking about Sam. "You know, it's funny. Your father did not have a girlfriend, and I didn't have a boyfriend all our days at the Academy. We only knew each other really, but we thought of each other more like friends. We didn't even kiss until your father proposed to me."
Liz laughed. "That sounds so romantic. You told me you found that engagement ring box by your navigating tools when he proposed. How did you know it wasn't just something someone lost?"
"Well, when the box turned into Morph after I picked it up, I knew it was from him."
"That was Morph?" She laughed even harder. "Did he ever get on one knee?"
"No. Your father's not the kind of person to do that in front of anyone. I think he was a little shy at the time too." I smiled in my memories.
Liz thought for a moment. "How'd we get into this conversation about marriage? I assure you I'm not marrying anyone for a long time."
"Good. I'd miss you too much if you left home."
We both went upstairs for bed.

Jim tried the next day to get the bracelet off of Liz's wrist. He even went so far as to use a flame to melt the fastener (not before Liz put a fire proof material on her skin both around and under the bracelet). Its shape did not change at all. Liz never wore jewelry much in her life, so that, combined with her insecurity about Sam, motivated her to want to remove the blasted thing.

About a week passed since the young man left our planet. It was then Jim and I decided to speak to Danny about the talent we had found in him. We went into his room. Danny looked up from a book and asked, "What's up? Is something up? I can tell whenever you both come into my room like that that something's up."
"Well," Jim started, his face beaming, "while you were gone, I made a little discovery."
"Now," I interrupted, "please don't be alarmed, dear. He was in your room, and we know you don't really appreciate us coming in here."
"What were you doing in here?" Danny asked somewhat surprised. "There's nothing special in here."
Jim went on, "Actually, I did take a look at that book on your nightstand."
Danny glanced at it and back at Jim. "Oh, that? I dunno. I just doodle a lot when I'm depressed."
I was worried before that our son may have gone crazy about us intruding on his property, but now I had to let him know that his abilities were worth something special.
"Danny," I said in a rather pleading voice as I sat with him on his bed and grabbed the journal, "your work here is remarkable. Your drawings are immaculate, especially when it comes to scale and detail."
"You think so?"
Jim entered the conversation. "Yeah. You know there are some pretty good jobs out there for people with artistic ability. I'm not just talking about artists either. I mean, there are architects for spaceport buildings and ship designers. The list is almost endless."
Danny looked amazed and wide-eyed. "Wow. Dad. I didn't think about that. But face it. They won't hire someone with my grades."
"See, honey," I said with a wide smile, "that's the thing. I think all your tutors have been missing something and teaching you in the right way. Maybe their ways work for some students, but everyone has a different way of learning, and I think this will help us to find out what works best for you. It could make all the difference."
"But how could I have gone my whole life and not have figured out what I was doing wrong?"
"Well, maybe it'll just take some thinking about," Jim answered. "What do you say, Laura?"
"I think maybe you are more of a visual learner," I said. "Judging from your attention to detail, you seem to take mental pictures when you see something interesting."
Danny whispered, "I never thought of that." Then more loudly, "I mean, I do observe a lot of people around here. And when I don't have this sketchbook with me, I can usually remember what they look like pretty well. But for things like the ships and stuff, I have to look at pictures and books. Like this one." He held up the book he had been looking at. It was full of images of every type of vessel imaginable. He found it in our office apparently.
Jim and I left the room as Danny just stared out his window smiling. I felt that we had helped to light a spark somewhere inside our son. I also felt a new determination that seemed to glow from him.

It was about eight' o'clock that night, and Jim, Liz, Danny, Morph, and I settled around the fire. Danny told Liz about his new abilities and a possible turn-around in his academic capabilities. She was so proud of him that she hugged him quite unexpectedly. Danny, being somewhat stand- offish about hugging his sister at his age tried to escape from her grasp and finally succeeded after attempts that seemed to last for a whole minute. The rest of us laughed.
"You know, Danny," Jim said, "someday you're going to miss the good old days when Liz used to hug you all the time."
"Who says I'll ever stop?" Liz joked.
"Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm gettin' kinda old for that stuff, you know?" Danny said in a fairly aloof manner.
Jim and I looked at each other and grinned. Yes. They were both growing up to quickly.
Suddenly there was a noise coming from upstairs. It sounded like glass breaking in the office. There was the sound of angry, rough voices. We put out the fire with racing hearts so the intruders would not detect that anyone was home (all the other lights in the house were out and it became dark except for the dim glow coming from outside).
"I'm gonna get a laser rifle," Jim said quietly but with an edge to his voice.
"Jim," I reminded him quickly in a loud whisper, "the rifles are in the closet upstairs. If you go up there they will see you pass the office door without a doubt. They might hurt you. Don't risk it!" Then to everyone I said, "All right, everyone. Outside now. We'll have to run for help."
We rushed to a near-by tree outside that was quite a good distance from the house.
"All right, Danny, go get some of the robo-constables at the police station," I ordered. "You know where to find them."
Danny hurried off. The distance to the station wasn't that great.
The rest of us watched as a menacing solar skiff came out from behind the house where the office window was. The harsh voices came from the skiff and were not drowned out by the dull roar that came from the starting engines. The skiff began to depart.
Jim sounded upset. "Darn! They're getting away."
"It's okay," I said, "It was wise to leave the house before they had a chance to hurt us."
"What could they possibly want? You think they're...pirates?"
We didn't answer because of our uncertainty and just stared at the house.

To be continued...