Secretary Lady ducked as a bullet pinged off the Jeep's hood. "Steve! Let's go!"

Dad gave me an apologetic look. "You heard the lady."

He threw the door open, hoisting me into the back of the cab. Gunshots shattered a headlight, struck against the exterior door paneling.

The woman hopped in, starting the engine.

Ignoring the diagram on the knob, she gave the shifter a slight cursory wiggle, shoving it into drive and pressing down the pedal. The Jeep made angry grinding sounds in protest, making an uneven jolt through a generic cookie cutter army base.

When she shifted gears again, dad grabbed her hand. "Sweetie..."

"Fine! You drive!" Under her breath, she cursed the manual transmission.

She sped around the corner of a barracks, stopping behind a wall. I think dad enjoyed trading seats, because she wore a skirt. Well, until the soldiers shot out the back window and popped our spare tire.

Dad shifted into drive the proper way, speeding around a mess hall as soldiers yelled and fired at us. We kept ducking down.

The Jeep careened toward a pillbox and entry gate, protected by guards and a suspicious looking speed bump.

The woman tensed up. "Wait, there's a bunch of road spikes up ahead. How are we going to get past `em?"

Dad grinned. "Easy peazy. From what I've heard, Elliott here made a bunch of bicycles fly up into the air, soared right over a police car. Isn't that right, Elliott?"

I swallowed. "That wasn't me, that was ET! Why-?"

He just laughed. "Relax. I was just Joshing you." To Secretary Lady: "Honey, you remember how I told you I mucked up the works-"

As he spoke, Gertie leaned forward in her seat, holding her hand out in front of her with a determined look on her face. I would have thought it silly except for the fact her hand glowed.

The Jeep flew up over the bump, and actually floated in midair for a whole second.

"Holee shit!" Dad cried. "I thought that was just a story!"

The Jeep crashed down on the pavement a couple feet past the obstacle, jarring everyone in their seats.

Ironically, a set of road spikes popped out of the ground the moment we rolled away.

"Jeez," Dad muttered.

Secretary Lady crossed her arms. "I thought you mucked up the works."

"I did too, babe." Dad mashed the accelerator to the floor. "I did too."

The front end of the Jeep collided with the gate, its chain links rumbling noisily beneath our tires.

We rolled down a freeway. A handful of army vehicles rumbled behind us, but we'd put distance between them and us.

That distance became greater when Dad radioed a couple semis on his CB, making them block up both lanes behind us when we passed.

We drove for a few miles in silence.

Dad cocked a thumb at the woman. "Kids, Ruby. Ruby, kids."

The lady leaned over the seat, smiling at us. "Nice to meet you."

Dad took a hand off the wheel. "So...Elliott. I hear you've been hanging around with little green men."

"He's not green."

"His chest glows," Ruby said. "I saw it."

Dad looked over his shoulder with concern. "You're not contagious, are you son?"

"I don't think so."

"Your sister can lift cars. I think she got the better end of the deal." He grinned. "Little Yoda."

Dad glanced back at my brother, now currently bandaging his leg. "Hey, Mike! How you holding up back there?"

Michael looked kind of grim. "The bullet's still in there. I think I should probably get a doctor."

"Ixnay on the octor day. I promise we'll have it yanked out the first stop we get to."

I frowned at Michael. "How did you find Dad?"

"He kinda found me."

Dad leaned back in his seat. "I was just buzzing by the old house, you know, to see how the ex and her kids were doing, when I see this big tent over the house, and helicopters, and black vans all over the place. Pretty much been stalking you kids ever since."

"How's mom?"

"Hysterical with worry. Unfortunately, there's also a black van parked out across the street, so you're not going to be able to go home for a very long time."

He turned down a dirt road into a seedy looking trailer park, rolling to a stop behind an even seedier single wide with rusty siding. "All right, guys. Everybody out."

I scowled in suspicion. "What are we doing here?"

"Swapping cars. We can't be seen driving around a stolen government vehicle, can we?"

He hopped out and unlocked the door of an ugly blue Torino. "C'mon, Chinese fire drill! Wanna get out of here before the owner of the trailer gets home!"

We raced over there, Michael limping at the rear behind Gertie.

Not a great car. You had to fold the seat to get in back since it only had two doors. Dad started it up, and we sped off again.

My brother took off his spaceman outfit, changing into jeans and an Iron Maiden t-shirt. Kind of annoying because we didn't have much room to move around, and he elbowed us a couple times.

Michael winced as he re-wrapped his leg.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "So...Dad. Is Ruby...your new wife?"

Ruby chuckled. "Steve...?"

"It's, uh, a common law type of situation...We'll talk about it later."

"Common law!" Ruby mocked. "You know damn well-!"

He grabbed her hand. "Looks like we'll have to talk a little, too."

"What's there to talk about? Either you-"

"Rubes. Sweetie. I love you. But we got a couple kids glowing in the dark, and another with a gunshot wound in his leg. This isn't a particularly...romantic situation we're in right now."

She slipped her hand out of his grip. "Fine. But you owe me."

My brother looked pale, and he kept wincing. Without thinking, I reached out and touched his wound. "Ouch."

Michael rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Elliott? That's not fun-"

My glowing hand silenced his objection.

On instinct, I pressed my hand against his bandage.

My brother screwed up his face in pain. "Hey! That burns! Stop that!"

I pulled my hand away.

Michael furrowed his brow, undoing the bandage.

He stared. "What did you do? The wound's closing up!"

"Tell him to stop," Dad scolded. "If the skin closes up around that bullet, it's going to infect-"

Something clunked onto the floor.

Michael stared. "Dad. The bullet's out."

"Huh. Never mind then." Dad chortled a little. "Guess we won't need those sewing needles and bottles of vodka after all."

"You sure? I mean, I'm still kind of in pain..."

"Not until you're twenty one."

Dad stared at me in worriment. "So why are you glowing? What's with the power? Did you get bit by a space spider, or did your alien probe you?"

I could only shrug. "I just...kinda...thought different after spending time with him. Of course, I did kinda touch him."

Gertie grinned, proudly announcing, "I put ET in a dress!"

"Hell, Elliott, maybe you should have given him a manicure! You could have lifted spaceships and shit!"

"Steve!" Ruby scolded. "These are kids! Language!"

"What? Shit's a medical term. First you say it, then you do it."

She rolled her eyes.

Dad sighed, silently driving for a minute. "Rubes, I'm sorry about the job...I know you had to go through a lot of racial...crap to get where you were...I know we're not exactly living in the fifties anymore, but I know life had just gotten a lot harder for you, especially with the recession...All I can say is, I'm sorry."

Ruby put her hands on her hips. "Are you kidding? This is great! I just saw a little girl float a car in the air!"

"You are ever the fount of optimism. Guess that's why I love you so much."

"And you're absolutely certain my ass has nothing to do with it?"

Dad snickered. "I wouldn't say that wasn't a factor, but it's not the factor."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Michael groaned.

"I'm not surprised. You just got shot in the leg...Speaking of which..."

Dad rolled into the parking lot of a cheap motel, telling us to stay in the car with Ruby, and drive off if anything went south. Lucky for us, it didn't. A few minutes, and he unlocked a two bedroom special for us.

We rushed inside.

The first thing Dad did: Make Michael lay down on the bed while he checked the wound.

He found nothing but a scar. "Good Lord, Elliott! Whatever it is that you have, we need to bottle it up and sell it to folks."

Dad got up from the bed, leaning against a dresser. "I'm going to grab you guys's dinner. You kids need to stay in here until we get you some new clothes. Taco John's okay?"

Ruby checked my jumpsuit size, then my sister's, quoting measurements to him.

I frowned. "How are you paying for all this?"

"First National Bank of Couche-Mattress. Open twenty four hours, no minimum deposit."

"I have no interest in where this joke is going," Ruby groaned.

Dad snapped a finger at her. "Interest free banking!"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Could you get me a dessert pizza?"

"One dessert pizza."

"Can I get one too?" Gertie asked.

Dad clicked his teeth at her. "Only if you can make it fly out of the restaurant." He chuckled and rubbed her hair. "Sugar, you can get anything you want."

Both he and Ruby stepped outside for a moment.

I peered around the corner, to tell them I didn't want tater tots, but they were making out.

My presence did not go unnoticed, nor did my staring, for when they pulled apart, Dad asked, "You're not prejudiced, are you son?"

I shook my head. Honestly, more concerned about Mom, and what she thought about it.

Ruby touched her lips like they were on fire. "I think Elliott just ain't seen that many black folks. He's been out in the suburb..."

Dad snickered, sliding one hand around her hip. "Poor kid."

"Child, you don't know cooking until you've tried a black woman's cooking!"

Dad grinned and slapped his paunch. "She ain't lyin'! We're going to be spending some time together. Who knows, maybe you'll get to find out!"

He glanced down at Ruby's outfit. "Maybe you should stay here too. You're still in uniform."

"What about you?"

"Got a change of clothes in the trunk."

"That's a handy place for it."

"Smartass."

"Shoot. They probably have my place on lockdown by now, don't they?"

"Probably." Dad paused. "Hey, come to think of it, I think I do still have your Oakland A's tee and a pair of hot shorts back there..."

"Why didn't you give `em back? Plannin' to try them on?"

"No ma'am! Just like to keep your memory fresh in my mind."

"You be sniffin' them, huh?"

They both laughed.

Dad changed into some street clothes he had in the trunk, a faded red 49ers shirt ("Son, you can learn a lot about life from O.J. Simpson") and Jordaches with oil spots along the legs. He didn't have the Oakland shirt he thought he had, so Ruby got an Allied Chemical shirt instead. The white hot shorts were barely decent, but it's all he had in the trunk.

Dad drove off, and we hid in the motel room.

Nothing about us on the news, just some people in some foreign country throwing rocks and fire bombs again, and some boring thing with President Reagan and the recession.

Gertie sat on a bed, idly kicking the covers. "I wanna watch Scooby Doo."

My brother peered through the venetian blinds. "We gotta keep it on this channel to make sure we're not on any news reports."

She pouted. "You're just saying that because you want to watch Knight Rider."

"What's wrong with Knight Rider?"

He suddenly frowned, waving us back. "Guys! Hide!"

I crawled under the bed with Gertie, watching with anxious dread as Ruby joined my brother at the window.

"What do you see out there?"

"I don't know," Michael hissed. "It's a black van."

Ruby stared out for a moment, then let the slats drop. "It's just pest control. See them cans they're carrying around?"

Michael furrowed his brow. "So why do they have Geiger counters?"

Ruby cracked the blinds again, took one glance out, closed them hastily. "Shit!"

The two retreated from the window, pressing their backs to the wall.

[000000]

If this ever gets filmed, I'd like to get Jeffrey Dean Morgan to play Elliott's dad.