Megan watched her dad type quickly on his computer in the lab. She grinned as she saw a smile spread across his face. She walked over.
"Did you do it?" she asked. Her dad nodded.
"I think so, now," he said, flipping a switch, ", let's hope it works." A small generator hummed nicely nearby. Megan's face lit up, her dad had finally got the generator to work! Almost. It suddenly sputtered and went out. "Oh, great." Megan's dad mumbled. He got off his chair and grabbed a screwdriver. Megan listened very carefully to his mumblings. "You can repair solar cores on the fly but can't invent a magnetic core." Megan grinned, her dad was famous for inventing solar-powered machines. The way he worked on them was almost a dance. He never worried about making a mistake, always saying that he could fix it later on once he got it initially working. That occasionally led to some setbacks, but most of the time it was a really efficient way to work. "Megan, can you pass me a pair of tweezers and some bolts?" Megan's dad suddenly said, interrupting her thoughts. Megan nodded.
"Sure, Dad. I think there's some bolts somewhere," she said, looking around. Her dad chuckled.
"As your aunt put it, bolts seem more valuable than money around here." he said. Megan grinned, and handed a pair of tweezers to her dad. She then started rummaging through various trays trying to find some bolts. If it wasn't for the trays, sometimes the lab would become too much of a mess to work in, much less able to find things in. Megan managed to find half a handful of bolts eventually. She handed them to her dad.
"Will this be enough?" Megan asked. Her dad looked them over.
"They'll be fine. We have to get in a shopping trip soon." he said, taking them and started to insert them into the magnetic core. Megan's dad frowned as he fiddled with a switch. "We have to be careful or we'll short out the whole house again." he said, carefully jostling a wire. Megan giggled.
"Hopefully not the neighbours too this time." she joked. Her dad looked at her with wistful eyes.
"You sound just like your mother did." he said, giving Megan a hug. Megan forced a smile onto her face. Her dad missed her mom, so, so much. They worked quietly for a while. This was Megan's special time with her dad. The bright lights shone overhead, making their work gleam, and the faint hum of the computer whirred, making the lab strangely peaceful. Megan tried to hide a sudden yawn, was it already nighttime? "You should get to bed, Megan. you've got a big day tomorrow." her dad suddenly said. Megan tried to pretend she wasn't sleepy.
"It's my birthday tomorrow, I can't sleep." she argued before letting lose an even larger yawn. Her dad gave her a look.
"Get to bed."
"Even though its summer?"
"Bed." Megan's dad said firmly. Megan sighed dramatically.
"Fine, I admit defeat." she declared. Her dad gave the smile he gave every so often.
"No tricks." he added, going back to the magnetic core. Megan nodded and turned to leave, the door sliding open with a gentle swoosh. She paused right outside, being as quiet as a mouse. She heard her dad sigh, but nothing else. Megan frowned, occasionally she would hear her dad say something. He always seemed to go back to his familiarity about solar cores.
As Megan climbed the stairs to her room, she wondered how her dad had learned so much about them. She turned the doorknob and pushed the door open, leading into her slightly messy room. Megan yanked off her day clothes and got her pajamas on. She snuggled under the covers of her bed. The blue and white bedspread on top was really cozy. With a quick glance out the window, she fell asleep.
She woke with a start the next morning. She breathed in slowly, sunlight streamed in through her window, lighting up her room, but Megan got the feeling that she had had an awful nightmare just a few seconds before. She hugged her arms, finally she was ten, but she felt so scared. She tried to piece together the nightmare. Stray threads still lingered inside her head. She had felt a warm hug, then later on a blasting jolt of something, then wild, wild laughter. Megan frowned, none of those images made sense! Was it her dad hugging her? A how could she feel something she had never felt before? It was just so confusing.
"Megan? Are you up?" her dad suddenly called, bringing Megan out of her thoughts.
"Coming!" she exclaimed, kicking off the covers. She went through her dresser trying to find just the right outfit for her birthday. She eventually selected a white t-shirt with a blue vest to go on top, and comfy black shorts. She raced out the door, not bothering to put on socks. She skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. The appetizing smells made her look to the white-painted stove. Megan's face lit up when she saw who was making breakfast there.
"Aunt Roll!" Megan exclaimed, hugging her blonde-haired aunt. Roll gave her a big hug in return.
"Happy Birthday, Megan!" she exclaimed. Megan grinned.
"When did you get here?" she asked, Her dad came over and gave her a hug.
"She got here an hour ago." he explained. Megan's smile got wider,
"How long are you staying, Aunt Roll?" she asked. Roll smiled.
"About a week," she explained, then looked at Megan's dad. ", your dad isn't the best at housekeeping." she finished, teasingly. Megan's dad pretended to be insulted.
"I kept the kitchen clean, didn't I?" he said. Roll rolled her eyes.
"Mugs in the plate cupboard, I don't think so." she said, proving her point by opening one of the cupboards. As her dad and aunt started teasing each other and laughing about 'old times' as they put it, Megan helped herself to some of Roll's pancakes. They were the best ever. As she ate, she listened. She was a very careful listener, learning more about things just from ear.
"Remember the time the lab was so cluttered that even I had a hard time keeping up?" Roll asked. Megan's dad looked down at the tiled floor.
"I'm sorry, you told me about it later, remember?" he replied. Roll looked down.
"Right." she whispered. Megan quickly went back to looking at the pancakes like they were gold. She kept hearing things like that, a story that wasn't quite finished, almost like they didn't want to finish it.
