Read Online Meet Me in the Moon Room by Ray Vukcevich - Free Book Online
Authors: Ray Vukcevich
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your world wants, not what you want for your world.”
“Well, we did come up with this list.”
“You’re going to have to let Mom come out and tell you want she wants.”
“But she takes such chances!”
“You’ll just have to learn to trust her,” I said.
Jessica didn’t reply, and I was suddenly at a loss. It seemed clear what must happen next, but I didn’t know how to convince the nanopeople. I felt a hand on my shoulder and jerked my head around in time to see Ada squat down beside me.
“Barry’s right,” Ada said. “You must turn inward. You must let Mom take care of the stuff outside. You don’t have what it takes to deal with things out here. We can keep throwing you off the bridge until your society is completely disrupted. If it starts to look like those of you who are left are getting used to bungee jumping, we can do something else. Access Mom’s memory of alligator wrestling.”
Jessica squinted Mom’s eyes for a moment then jerked her head to the right as if Ada had slapped her.
“Look at ultra-light stunt flying,” I said, encouraged again by Ada’s support.
Jessica jerked Mom’s head to the left.
“Do we need to go on?” Ada asked. “We won’t quit.”
Jessica let Mom’s shoulders slump. She sighed. “We’ll try it your way,” she said. “We’ll try it. But strictly on a trial basis!”
“No conditions,” Ada said.
Jessica rolled Mom’s eyes for a long time, then she said, “You win.”
A smile grew on Mom’s face, bigger and bigger, until she laughed out loud. “Ada! Barry!” She struggled with the ropes around her wrists. “I knew I could count on you two.”
I could see it was Mom, something about the way the body was controlled convinced me Mom was to some degree in charge, but how much Mom was it? I worried that the nanopeople would have her on a short leash.
Toby lunged across my lap to get at her. The entire back end of his body wagged as he licked her face, and he could not contain his joy to the point that he peed all over me. I didn’t know how Ada felt about it, but a Mom real enough to make a dog pee was a Mom real enough for me. I leaned in and kissed her cheek.
“Untie me,” Mom said, twisting her head this way and that to avoid Toby’s tongue.
Ada pushed the dog away and pulled the big blade from the sheath on her belt. She turned Mom around and cut her wrists loose.
Mom’s hair turned brown even as she stripped off her sweater. Her eyes cleared; her skin tightened. She pulled the dreary housedress from first one shoulder and then the other and wiggled it down to her hips. She bounced a little and pulled the dress along with her underwear down her thighs and over her knees. Ada undid the bungee boots and pulled them off Mom’s feet. Mom’s wrinkles disappeared and her bones straightened. When she stood, nude and magnificent and beaming a big smile at us, she was Mom in body again. Well, in a way. This was Mom, I thought, as she must have looked at thirty or so. Long reddish brown hair falling over slightly freckled shoulders. Pale blue eyes. Small high breasts. Long strong legs.
“Shall we go home, Mother?” Ada asked.
“Not so fast.” Mom sat down on the bridge and pulled the bungee boots on again. “I need to pin down just who’s boss in here.” She climbed up on the bridge rail, and with a wild scream of joy did a perfect swan dive into the abyss.
We watched the arch of her dive and listened to her yell and watched her bounce.
“Do you suppose we’ve just postponed things?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what do you think will happen to her when we’ve either got nanopeople of our own or we’ve died? How about then?”
Ada seemed to think about that as we listened to Mom whoop at the upswing of each bounce.
“Well, maybe we’d better pull her up and get some motherly advice,” Ada said.
No Comet
C onvinced that my slant on Bohr’s version of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum
“Well, we did come up with this list.”
“You’re going to have to let Mom come out and tell you want she wants.”
“But she takes such chances!”
“You’ll just have to learn to trust her,” I said.
Jessica didn’t reply, and I was suddenly at a loss. It seemed clear what must happen next, but I didn’t know how to convince the nanopeople. I felt a hand on my shoulder and jerked my head around in time to see Ada squat down beside me.
“Barry’s right,” Ada said. “You must turn inward. You must let Mom take care of the stuff outside. You don’t have what it takes to deal with things out here. We can keep throwing you off the bridge until your society is completely disrupted. If it starts to look like those of you who are left are getting used to bungee jumping, we can do something else. Access Mom’s memory of alligator wrestling.”
Jessica squinted Mom’s eyes for a moment then jerked her head to the right as if Ada had slapped her.
“Look at ultra-light stunt flying,” I said, encouraged again by Ada’s support.
Jessica jerked Mom’s head to the left.
“Do we need to go on?” Ada asked. “We won’t quit.”
Jessica let Mom’s shoulders slump. She sighed. “We’ll try it your way,” she said. “We’ll try it. But strictly on a trial basis!”
“No conditions,” Ada said.
Jessica rolled Mom’s eyes for a long time, then she said, “You win.”
A smile grew on Mom’s face, bigger and bigger, until she laughed out loud. “Ada! Barry!” She struggled with the ropes around her wrists. “I knew I could count on you two.”
I could see it was Mom, something about the way the body was controlled convinced me Mom was to some degree in charge, but how much Mom was it? I worried that the nanopeople would have her on a short leash.
Toby lunged across my lap to get at her. The entire back end of his body wagged as he licked her face, and he could not contain his joy to the point that he peed all over me. I didn’t know how Ada felt about it, but a Mom real enough to make a dog pee was a Mom real enough for me. I leaned in and kissed her cheek.
“Untie me,” Mom said, twisting her head this way and that to avoid Toby’s tongue.
Ada pushed the dog away and pulled the big blade from the sheath on her belt. She turned Mom around and cut her wrists loose.
Mom’s hair turned brown even as she stripped off her sweater. Her eyes cleared; her skin tightened. She pulled the dreary housedress from first one shoulder and then the other and wiggled it down to her hips. She bounced a little and pulled the dress along with her underwear down her thighs and over her knees. Ada undid the bungee boots and pulled them off Mom’s feet. Mom’s wrinkles disappeared and her bones straightened. When she stood, nude and magnificent and beaming a big smile at us, she was Mom in body again. Well, in a way. This was Mom, I thought, as she must have looked at thirty or so. Long reddish brown hair falling over slightly freckled shoulders. Pale blue eyes. Small high breasts. Long strong legs.
“Shall we go home, Mother?” Ada asked.
“Not so fast.” Mom sat down on the bridge and pulled the bungee boots on again. “I need to pin down just who’s boss in here.” She climbed up on the bridge rail, and with a wild scream of joy did a perfect swan dive into the abyss.
We watched the arch of her dive and listened to her yell and watched her bounce.
“Do you suppose we’ve just postponed things?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what do you think will happen to her when we’ve either got nanopeople of our own or we’ve died? How about then?”
Ada seemed to think about that as we listened to Mom whoop at the upswing of each bounce.
“Well, maybe we’d better pull her up and get some motherly advice,” Ada said.
No Comet
C onvinced that my slant on Bohr’s version of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum
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