Sunlight rained down upon the back porch of the modest one-story abode, filling the air with its oppressive summer heat. It glistened off of the splendorous soap bubbles that hung in the air and nearly broiled alive the father and daughter who were playing with them. Wiping the sweat off his brow and sighing, Ian stared transfixed at the bubbles, watching them pop one by one as Kelly looked on with plastic wand in hand, enraptured.
When all the bubbles had popped, Ian reached over and gently took the wand and container of liquid soap from Kelly's hands. "Look- look here, Kelly, I want to show you something. Now, today you're going to learn about what I do, what I study- and that… that is chaos."
Kelly nodded silently in response, an interested smile on her face. She was used to her dad's lessons by now and knew it was best to watch his creative demonstrations first, then ask questions later. She also knew that even a year after he had left her mother, Ian still felt awkward about these arranged visits, and tried his best to be the good father he wished he was whenever Kelly was around. If he wanted to teach her something, let him- wasn't that what dads were for? The jury was still out on how well he lived up to his desires, though.
"Now, watch this," Ian said to Kelly, dipping the wand into the bubble solution and coming up with the clear liquid dripping off of it. "When I blow this, where- where do you think it's going to go?"
"Uh…" Kelly considered it. Though the sun was scorching outside, there was little relief, for no breeze was currently stirring. She pointed downwards. "It's probably gonna fall, because there's no wind."
"Good guess, good guess," Ian encouraged, before pursing his lips and blowing a long stream of bubbles into the air. Just as Kelly had expected, they hovered in the air for a few moments before slowly descending and popping against the hot surface of the porch.
"You were right!" Ian declared, glancing over his shades at Kelly. "Good for you, kid. Now we're, uh, going to guess again. If I blow the bubbles, are they- are they gonna land in the same place?"
Already Kelly could kind of see where he was going with this, so she chanced a guess- "No, they won't."
A chuckle escaped Ian's lips as he raised the bubble wand up again. "Well, we'll see." He blew against it, and just as the bubbles formed, a slight blessed breeze kicked up, sending the bubbles scattered off in a new direction. Ian set the wand down, looking pleased with himself, and Kelly flashed him an admiring glance.
"You see, the bubbles didn't just, uh, fall to the floor this time because the wind came," he said. "Tiny factors affect a larger outcome. And, uh, that's chaos theory."
"So it has to do with unpredictability?" Kelly said, happily anticipating the rambling lecture that was sure to come.
Proudly, Ian beamed at his daughter. "Simply put, yes. Let's- let's go inside and discuss it some more." He stood up, and Kelly followed suit, picking up the bubbles as she went- sometimes she felt that if she didn't clean up after Ian every once in a while, he would find himself buried in all the objects he had put down and forgotten to put away again.
"Can we talk about it over ice cream sandwiches?" she said longingly, thinking of Ian's "surprise" that she had discovered that morning in the freezer.
He gave her a knowing look before heading inside, not wanting to verbally acknowledge that she had found out about the surprise before it was actually shown. "Y'know, I think we might have what you're looking for. Been peeking around again?"
Kelly only laughed, and the door shut behind them both.