Read Online The Solar Flare by Laura E. Collins - Free Book Online

or eat? Or would you like to jump right into the grand tour?” He said enthusiastically.
         “How about the tour?” Ava responded.
         Wesley proceeded to take Ava through the main floor which contained the living area and the kitchen, as well as a recreation area and an entrance to another grand patio with an enormous swimming pool. Ava stared deeply into the crystal blue water.
         “You have a swimming pool? I’ve only seen pictures of these in my history lessons, when I was in school.”
         “Yes, I love to swim when I get the chance. I can’t do it anywhere else besides on Kyanos anymore. It’s relaxing.” He studied her, enjoying witnessing her reactions to his home.
         “I don’t know how to swim,” s he said looking away from him.
         “That’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to, you’ve probably never been in more than a few millimeters deep in water at any one time in your life. Water is very precious on the stations, and on Earth, but here, we have natural water sources, and rainwater. I’ll bet we can teach you how to swim in no time.” He smiled encouragingly to her, she returned the smile briefly and then they moved on.
          Up the grand staircase were the bedrooms, an office like space, and a small library. Ava walked into the library and up to one of the nearby shelves and pulled out a book. She felt almost awe struck as she opened it and flipped through the pages. Paper books were rare in her time, everything had been converted to electronic format in response to the dwindling natural resources left on Earth and the new society on the space stations.
         “I was very young the last time I touched a real book ,” she mentioned thoughtfully as she gazed at the many shelves of books, recalling the time a book had been passed around in one of her early history classes at school.
         “I remember a time when all we had were paper books ,” Wesley recalled. “After we discovered Kyanos, we set out to collect anything that we could to remember the old ways and preserve our memories. My house is full of what you might call antiques, or even artifacts at this point. You are welcome to read anything that you like in here.”
         “Thank you. It’s a shame you know, what happened to the Earth.”
         “Yes it is, but we cannot go back to the past,” he replied, sensing some sadness in her voice. “Shall we continue?”
         “Okay ,” Ava slid the book back into its space on the shelf. She followed Wesley further down the hall into a separate wing which contained the master bedroom. The room had been decorated very simply in a light gray paint with elegant trim, large comfy looking furniture, and a silver and black bedspread. Ava had never seen such a spacious bedroom and large bed. All of the beds she had ever slept in had been either a twin size or two twins pushed together after she and Nathan had been married. She continued to walk around and look at everything.
          “Do you like it?”
         “It’s lovely.”
         “Naomi had a hand in decorating it.”
         “I can see that,” Ava replied thoughtfully, giving him a half smile.
         “I have plenty of room in the closet for your things ,” Wesley opened a nearby ornate wood door, revealing a large half filled closet, which was so big, it could be a room on its own.
         “Oh ,” Ava said numbly.
         “Is something wrong?” His voice revealed a hint of concern. “If you don’t like how it’s decorated, we could change everything to suit your taste.”
         “It’s not that. . .” Ava wasn’t sure how to tell him how she felt without hurting him. She only hoped she wouldn’t offend him. “I just wondered if it would be possible for me to stay in one of the other rooms down the hall?” She gestured out the door towards a nearby room.
         Wesley studied her for a moment. She could feel the