Finn spoke first, “Hey, what’s going on?” he smiled tentatively, aiming for a light touch but not quite hitting it.
“Yeah, I hope this is important, I had to change plans with the kids.” added Esther – whose worried look nevertheless betrayed her hope that this was not as dire as she feared.
“Come on, out with it” my mom said. Five pairs of eyes stared at me.
My mouth suddenly went dry. This felt more real than real. I didn’t want to hurt them, and yet I was about to by leaving mysteriously.
“OK, there’s things I can tell you, and things I can’t yet tell you, but I have to go away for a while, and I can’t be in touch while I am away. I can tell you that to the best of my knowledge, I am in absolutely no danger, but it’s not inconceivable that some people might ask you questions about me in trying to find me – that sounds worse than it is. Anyways, you can answer all their questions truthfully, because there’s nothing you know that can help them.”
“What the hell!” exclaimed Daphne, “No, that’s not good enough. You need to tell us what’s going on.”
Cam nodded vigorous, “Yeah!” So did everyone else. “Are you OK?” asked my mom, with wet eyes.
I took a deep breath, “Listen, the more I reveal, the more trouble I will get you into, and the more trouble I will be in myself. You know me, you know that when I have made up my mind, I stick to it. So you know you are not going to get me to tell you what you want to know. Just know that I’m fine, and that when I get everything all figured out, I will come back and tell you all everything!”
While everyone else started trying to berate, plead, or cajole me into saying more, Esther alone remained quiet, thinking, until she said, “Didn’t you say that one of your neighbors in your apartment building had a meteor fragment crash through his place? Or was that your apartment, I wonder?”
Everyone else stopped talking as the implications of what Esther said sunk in. They all looked at me with astonishment as they considered whether I might be a Quantum.
“I am not going to talk about any of that, except to say that the only danger I am in is if I stay here and put all of you in danger. No one can hurt me.”
Cam burst, as though he could no longer contain himself, “My brother is a Quantum?! What can you do? Are you invulnerable, or have force fields? Can you fly?”
I pointed at him and commanded, “No!” – and he stopped, but he was grinning from ear to ear.
My Mom spoke into the silence that followed, “You always wanted powers – I thought it was unfair that people were actually getting them, but not you. Are you happy?”
“That’s another reason I have to go, is that I need to fly absolutely solo for a bit to figure out my happiest way forward.” I replied, but I smiled at her.
As chaotically loud as my family had been before, now they were eerily quiet, as they all thought through the possible ramifications of things I couldn’t confirm or deny.
“Can you at least say whether or not the power you got was cool?” asked Cam.
“I am not even saying that I did get any powers – but if I had, can you imagine any power I got being uncool?”
“Wow.” Cam’s eyes were big and his smile was wide.
Finn added thoughtfully, “But it sucks that you have to go it alone, are you sure you have to do that?”
I shrugged, “Nothing is certain about anything in life, but I want to err on the side of caution. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“OK Bro.” Finn gave me a strong man-hug. Cam jumped in right after with a hug of his own, and soon they were all hugging me.
I stepped back, and now I had a tear in my eye. Cam suddenly noticed the silver case I had brought with me, “What’s that?” he asked.
“Traveling money.” I replied, which got surprised looks all around. “How much?” persisted Cam. “About fifty K.” I said.
You could have heard a pin drop.
“Well, don’t be a stranger.” Daphne said pleasantly, as she pushed forward to give me another quick hug, quietly picked up the case, and stepped back, whistling a normal tune, looking off into the distance.
“Daph!” I mock shouted at her. “What?” she said, “oh, this? You weren’t going to take that with you, were you?”
“Gimme.” I commanded. She handed it over, teasing, “Geesh, look at Mr. Greedy!”
“Really, though,” Daphne added seriously, “Be careful, and let us know you’re OK as soon as you can, okay?”
I nodded, misty-eyed again. “OK guys, I love you all. See you soon.”
Suddenly there was a new flurry of hugs, and I wasn’t the only one with moist eyes. I strove hard not to falter, to stick with the plan for their very safety, and walked out of the apartment and down the street.
And that was that. I couldn’t go back home to my doubtlessly bugged-by-now apartment. It was time to stop thinking about going back, time to move forward. I had a few hours before I had to meet H again in DC, so I astralled to DC, to that same crappy section of town, and bought a by-the-day room with cash, no ID, no questions asked. I got my key, found my room, and let myself in.
It was dilapidated, but clean, with an old tube TV across from the bed. I looked at the clock.
“Always forward, never back.” I quoted a TV show I liked. I was truly alone now – but I was ready to begin.
Starting with finding the answer to the Professor’s vexing question about my jacket’s mysteriously disappearing bullet holes.
Here we go, I thought.