The sun was out, the sky was clear for thousands of kilometers, the air was warmer than most people like but I seem to function well in.The sun was out, the sky was clear for thousands of kilometers, the air was warmer than most people like but I seem to function well in. With the small sdisk installation in my iced tea glass it truly was bottomless; there were five gallons of the stuff in the refrigerator. The sound of the living room door opening impinged upon my consciousness long enough for me to shrug and go back to reading. My relative peace and quiet didn't last long as I looked up to find Alexi standing in the porch doorway, not so much fidgeting as merely vibrating in place nervously. "Afternoon, kiddo," I said cheerfully. "What's up? He startled momentarily at my addressing him, as if he hadn't planned on my actually noticing him there. I do tend to get engrossed in my books, I'll admit, but not so much that I won't notice someone staring at me. "Uhm... Dad?" he said, his voice quavering a little. "Can I talk... to you... for a minute?" I like to think I'm a good parent; that my kids can come to me and ask me any question in the universe, and hopefully they'll also get a reasoned answer appropriate for their age. Alexi is sixteen, and at his age I knew more about sex than most people on Terra ever did back then. I didn't know everything, but a lot of what I didn't know I would later wish I had. So I've answered every question Alexi has had truthfully and honestly, and when I didn't know the answer David knew where the facts could be found, if not the truth. For him to ask if he _could_ ask me something was so unusual it took me a second to form a response. "It must be a serious talk." He nodded. I waved him over and gestured for him to sit down in one of the other two empty chairs set around the tiny porch table. "So... what do you need to talk about?" He shook his head at me. "I want to stand, Dad." He wasn't just standing, he was pacing back in forth in the tiny free floorspace of the porch. It was a slow, almost rocking pace, vaguely hypnotic, and I found it annoying. "Alexi." "Huh? Oh, sorry Dad." I got just a little angry at him, which fathers are wont to do with sixteen year old children. "Alexi. You have something to say to me, you may as well tell me." I smiled inwardly, though, realizing that I sounded a lot like my father had, all those centuries back. |