Gaele!

Part 6: Physics

As she quietly entered the rear stairwell, her hopes of getting to her room unseen were dashed at the sight of Devon, leaning against the bannister at the top of the staircase, with a maddeningly sardonic grin on his broad face.
"Well, if it ain't Cinderella, who stayed a little too long at the ball, uh?" His pale yellow eyes were on the dark robe she held close around her, like a cloak. "Whatcha not wearing under there, huh?" He sniggered as he leaned toward her to whisper in her ear as she slipped past him. "Whatsa matter, lose your pumpkin?"
"Shut up," Gaele said absently, closing her bedroom door almost in his face.
Later, after showering and getting dressed, she headed downstairs to have breakfast. Devon and Seth were lounging around the kitchen table, and Devon grinned when he saw her and started humming the tune of "Here Comes the Bride".
Gaele rolled her eyes at him as she opened the refrigerator. Seth looked subdued. She studied him thoughtfully as she waited for her oatmeal to heat in the microwave. Seth was always a little sullen in the morning, seeming to be more so in Devon's roiling presence, but this morning he looked really depressed.
"Hey, what hurts, Seth?" Gaele asked gently, as she slid into a seat beside him.
"You don't wanna know, it's GUY stuff," Devon cut in, before Seth could respond.
"I feel bad about the death of the Ancient One," Seth finally said, looking at Gaele with eyes the color of sea foam.
'Yeah, he was ancient, all right..." Devon said, settling down. "He was old even when Dad was our age."
"He was like a grandfather to us," Seth went on, his eyes filling with tears. "Now he is gone forever."
"Yep, gone forever," Devon said, giving him an awkward pat on the back. He sat still for a full ten seconds, and then jumped up. "Whellp, that's life for ya! People get born, and then they just go and die. One big endless circle going round, uh?" He gave Gaele a long look, and a half-hearted smirk, and then jogged out of the kitchen.
"What is it with him, lately?" Gaele muttered half to herself, as she took her bowl to the sink.
"He's hurting, too," Seth answered quietly, and laid his cheek on one forearm. His eyes were distant. "I wonder... how Leonardo is doing. He was so devoted to his master..."
Gaele leaned back against the counter and looked at him a long time. "You're going get to go to the funeral, aren't you?"
"I've been mulling that over," Seth replied, raising his head to give her a meaningful look. "I just wonder what Mom will say."
Yeah, Gaele thought, my question exactly, when she finds out I stayed overnight down at the guest house... seems to me everyone is gonna think something wierd happened...

"DID you or didn't you? Inquiring minds wanna know," Devon said, following her down to the pool.
"I told you, it isn't any of your business, DORKFACE," Gaele retorted, slowing to scowl at her smirking brother.
"Woooh, such strong language."
"Devon," Gaele sighed, dropping her towel on the chaise. "What is your problem, anyway?"
"What?" Devon's mouth opened as he shrugged in feigned innocence.
Gaele turned away from him, and undid her terry robe. She slung it onto the chaise, and walked toward the pool edge, giving the water a sweep with her foot as she customarily did. She felt a hand carefully moving the hair away from her neck. "What are you up to NOW," she muttered, without looking up.
"Checking for hickies," Devon said in her ear.
"Lay OFF," Gaele grumbled in annoyance, as she brushed him off.
"Or maybe he gave 'em where I can't see 'em?"
"Devon, what IS it with you? Why do you assume that anything happened, anyway?"
His eyes narrowed. "What are you tryin' to say, huh?" His tone was defensive. "You think I'm jealous, or somethin'? Why would I be, you're just my sister."
"Thank you for finally answering my question," she gently replied, giving his jaw a friendly punch, before diving into the pool.
When she surfaced, she saw Devon sitting in the chaise next to hers, dejectedly studying his feet. Surprised to see him in such an uncharacteristic pose, she swam to the edge and rested her upper arms on the ledge.
"You okay?" Her annoyance with him was now forgotten.
He nodded a little, and then looked up at her. There was a mixture of sadness and anger on his face. "Just don't feel sorry for me, okay? I'm okay, really." He waved her away, as though she had already attempted to answer him, and then started up the steps, one at a time, instead of his customary two or three.

"Gaele, what are you playing at?"
Gaele stared at her mother, noting her red-rimmed eyes, and voice that was somewhat sandy with residual grief. "Playing at? Nothing, mom."
"You haven't sent in your school registration yet, have you?"
"Mom-"
"Gaele, I understand how you feel,  you are young, lonely and naiive... but for you to stay overnight in the guesthouse with Don is-is... unseemly, to say the least."
"What is this? We haven't DONE anything," Gaele said emphatically. "Okay, so it was stupid of me to stay over there, but he was feeling bad, and I couldn't sleep, and all we did was TALK. Really."
Rahab settled back into her chair, her wide golden eyes filling with fresh tears. "These are strange times, Gaele, everyone is... acting so lost. I wouldn't be surprised at what anyone does, right now... your father is upset, and now he and Don have gone off somewhere without saying a word about it."
"They'll be back," Gaele said so lightly she surprised herself. "I mean, Dad wouldn't leave you alone very long, not without a good reason."
"Anything right now is a good reason," Rahab sniffled, wiping her eyes. "I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he didn't come back at all!" She was crying again.
"Ahh, mom..." Gaele got up and went to give her mother a reassuring hug. "Come on, its just the blues talking."
Rahab sighed, and nodded a little. "I suppose you're right."
They sat in silence for a moment, then Gaele spoke up again.
"What was it like, you know, when you and Dad first met?"
Her mother gave her a cautious look, then lowered her eyes. "Ah. I was ...terribly confused at the time. Your father was very nice to me, and I liked him. He was so charming, and I thought I was infatuated with him, but after a little while, it just suddenly became... stale. I lost interest, but he felt differently about me, and would not leave me alone, no matter what I said and did to him... he really was in love with me. When I finally realized it, I felt so ashamed of the way I treated him, and I was already married to someone else." She raised her hands to cover her face as her composure crumbled.
"What, aren't you in love with Dad?"
"Not then, not... I just didn't realize it." Rahab wiped her nose on a well-used handkerchief. "But what could I do, I had you and Devon, and Seth... and I couldn't handle them alone. I don't know what I would have done without your father... and it took me a long time to realize what love really was all about.  It isn't just strong feelings for someone, its action and dedication, and a great motivation to do what is best for that person." She went silent, and then gave Gaele a long sad look. "I'm so very nervous for your sake, Gaele, the decisions you are facing are big ones, they will affect your life forever. I just cannot stress how important it is to take your time, go to school, see how you like it, pursue what you love to do most in your life. You now have the control and the resources, please don't let that slip away from you. Don't go flying into a situation that cannot be reversed."
"I won't! Mom, I was just trying to decide which school I had to turn down first, I mean, after all, they've all accepted me. Is that wild or what?"
Rahab looked lost in thought, and probably didn't hear her.
Gaele watched her a moment. "Mom?"
"Yes?"
"You okay?"
"I'm fine, dear. No need to sound like a ward nurse. Go on with you. I need some time to get my thoughts sorted out."
"'Kay," Gaele murmered, and gave her a peck on the cheek before leaving her.

When evening came, she saw Don and Mike appear on the path leading from the stand of redwoods at the bottom of the garden, beyond which the edge of the wilderness preserve began.
"Hey, girlie-girl," Mike said cheerfully enough when he spotted Gaele. Don followed a few paces behind him, giving her a polite smile. She smiled back at him with equal politeness, then turned to give her father a hug.
"Mom's beside herself, she says you took off without telling her."
Mike cursed under his breath. "How's she doing?"
"Not any worse than she has been lately, but I think you'd better go see her right away."
She watched Mike sprint up the stairs and she turned to see Don heading for the guest house without speaking to her.

As Gaele headed down the upstairs hall, she could hear her mother crying again, and her father talking quietly to her, in their room. He sounded very apologetic. She closed the door to her room, and lay on the bed a while, not feeling terribly motivated at the moment. She sighed, and with an effort heaved herself up to get her files out and plop them onto the desk. She took out the ones that she found the most promising, and dumped the others into the wastebasket. Princeton followed. Forget that place, too snobby and dreary for her tastes.
Her mind wandered again, and she wondered what sort of school Don would have attended. Probably Ivy League... no, something more like MIT. She wondered what he would have been like in High School, quiet, studious, maybe even boring, talking over her head without meaning to, like some kind of geek. No, he was higher up than that, more like a nerd. A supertechie nerd. An engineer. An inventor. An egghead. She giggled, at the thought of Don wearing maybe some thick glasses, with one of the earpieces taped on, because he was too busy to take them in to be repaired... wearing a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows, and a pocket pen protector. And pants that were just a tad too short.... with white- no, argyle socks... and those cheap, velcro-strap sneakers...
 She sniggered, and got up, feeling very sure of herself, now. Resolutely, she sorted through and tossed out the envelopes, one by one, until she came to the last three. University of Santa Cruz, Stanford, and... Cornell.Well, she sighed, it's a shoe-in. I don't want to be too close to home, and yet not too far. Santa Cruz it is... home of the Banana Slugs. Mom will probably be disappointed that I'm not going to Columbia, but then again, it might bring back bad memories for her. Not that it mattered anyway, Gaele was doing what Gaele wanted to do. Like what Don had suggested. Somehow she had known it all along, because Santa Cruz had a fantastic Bio-Tech department. I guess I just wanted to see how many places I could turn down.
The phone chirped politely at her elbow, and she picked it up. "So say it, girlfriend," she said.
"Say... what?" Don's voice, with a hint of confusion in it.
"Oh, sorry," she said, laughing a little. "I usually expect my friends to call at this hour."
"Oh." He sounded distracted. "I see." There was a pause. "Are you... busy?"
"I'm sorting out my school registration forms," Gaele said, feeling smug. "I want to get at least one of them sent out by tomorrow."
"That's good."
"Yes."
"Do you need any assistance?"
"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine. Thanks anyway."
"All right, then. Good night."
"Night."
As she folded up the receiver, she stared into space, feeling confused at his sudden attention toward her. He sure was puzzling. One minute he acted as though she didn't exist, and the next, he was offering to do things for her. Catching sight of the unfinished forms on her desk, she turned her attention back to the task at hand.
It was after midnight when she finally licked the envelope and left it on the center of her desk, to be mailed in the morning. She got up and stretched, and writhed a little to ease her stiff shoulders. Wide awake... her mind too preoccupied for sleep. She wondered if Don was still up.
Throwing on a housecoat, she made her way downstairs.

The door was ajar as it was the night before, and this time, Gaele pushed it open without knocking. There was a light on in the kitchen, over the bar, and Don was sitting there, a slim, black notebook computer open in front of him, his fingers scurrying over the keyboard in a fast rhythm of nearly inaudible clicks. His eyes were focused intently on the gently glowing screen in front of him.
"I thought you were busy with your college admission forms," he said quietly to the screen.
"I finished up."
"I see."
"I decided on Santa Cruz."
"I see."
Gaele watched him a moment, then bent to get a glimpse of what he was working on, but the way the screen was designed, she couldn't read the lines of text that flew across the light background, unless she were sitting directly in front of it. "A terminal with a real keyboard? How cute."
He smiled absently at her joke.
"May I ask what you are doing?"
"You may," he said, matching her formal tone. "Though whether or not I will answer will be my decision."
"Okay," she said, amused. "What are you doing?"
"Writing code."
"Manually?"
"I find the monotony reassuring. It helps settle my mind."
"Oh."
"I'll be done with this section in a sec."
"Okay." Gaele sat on the edge of a kitchen chair, and absently watched him.
After a while, she sighed.
"Sorry, this is taking longer than expected," he said to the screen.
"Oh. Bummer," she yawned. "Maybe I should let you alone, then."
"It's all right with me, if you stay. Didn't say you couldn't talk to me, I can still listen."
"Okay," she said and stretched a little. Then she laughed aloud.
"What's that?"
"Oh, hehe... just a funny thought came to me. My family, you know... they can be so silly, at times."
"Why is that?" Don smiled a little at the screen.
"Well... its just that when I stayed over here the other night, my family kind of went nuts. They asked me all kinds of questions and stuff... they think that we are getting romantically involved. Can you believe that? Isn't that a riot? Mom almost had a fit." She burst into laughter.
Don stopped typing suddenly, and his chair squeaked as he turned to look at her.
Her mirth died at the expression on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"You... think that is funny?"
She stared back in surprise. "Well- I- its, yeah, well, I thought-"
"I doubt you thought," he muttered, and went back to glaring at the screen. After a long tense moment, his fingers found their way to the keyboard and he went back to typing.
She stood up. "Okay," she managed to say, after taking a long, slow breath. "Sorry I offended you. I didn't realize I'd be stepping on toes here. Only... I was trying to lighten things up a little, everyone has been dragging themselves around this place, and I have a lot going on in my head, too. I'm in the middle of making some very important choices for my life, and all I wanted was to take a break, and have a little fun. Aren't you CAPABLE of doing that?"
Don didn't respond, as he continued to type .
After a moment of nothing, Gaele turned to leave. "Never mind, I might as well go on up to bed, I have my work cut out for me, I've been moping around too long as it is. Life's too short."
Don nodded slowly, and then got up. "You are right," he finally said.
"About what?"
"What you just told me. And I admire the choices you made. You have a good head on those lovely shoulders... it will take you very far."
"Well, thanks. Good night," Gaele said abruptly, and walked out of the room, and out of the house. The tone in Don's voice seemed so dismissing... her mind roiled, as she got into bed. Was he just playing head games with her, or did he have some kind of split personality, or what? Hard telling, with Don. He was a real corker of a read.

Her phone woke her up. She fumbled groggily for the receiver. "Mm- who?"
"Good morning," Don's voice, sounding crisp and cheerful enough to be annoying.
"Oh, hi. How are you..."
"Gaele, I was wondering when you come down, if you could be so kind as to bring my kimono? I don't want to forget it when I pack."
"You guys leaving already?" She squinted at the clock. Almost ten.
"Yes, in fifteen minutes."
"Gaele?" There was a quick knock on her door.
"Hold on, Mom, be right there... Okay, I'll meet you downstairs, Don. See ya." She put down the phone, and stretched, and threw on a sweatsuit before opening the door.
"Honey, we are going to be leaving in-"
"Oh, I know, I just talked to Don, he wants me to, ah-" Gaele went back to the closet. "He wants his kimono back."
Rahab smiled absently. She was dressed plainly but impeccably, her still narrow waist cinched by the belt of her grey travelling coat. Gaele envied her mother's natural slimness, and though Gaele herself was in peak physical condition, she would never have that clothes-horse frame that her mother had.
She followed her mother down the stairs into the front foyer, where everyone who was getting ready to leave. Devon gave Gaele a semi-covert wink when he saw her carrying the robe.
"I'll just leave this here on the bannister. Make sure Don finds it," Gaele said to nobody in particular. Nobody seemed to hear her, it seemed nearly everyone was busy with something or talking to someone else. "Have a safe trip," she said.
"Aren't you gonna kiss your BOYfriend goodbye?" Devon sniggered in her ear.
She gave Devon a solid punch on the shoulder in return. "When are you gonna grow UP? Besides, he's NOT my boyfriend."
"He's not, uh?" He squinted at her in a dubious expression. "Then what IS he to you?"
"He's NOTHING to me, really." She then noticed belatedly that Don was now standing at the other end of the foyer, and well within earshot. He had been talking to Rahab, then when he saw Gaele, approached her. Devon stood back, one eyebrow lowered suspiciously as Don gave him a polite nod in passing.
"Uh, here," Gaele said, keeping her eyes on the robe as she handed it over to Don.
"Thank you very much," Don said. She glanced up to see he was smiling at her. Everyone else was moving outside, getting ready to climb into the limo waiting out front.
"I guess I'll see you around sometime," Gaele said, shrugging a little.
Don pressed his lips together. "I'd like to come back here after the funeral, but I've fallen behind schedule. Might be late August before I can take any more time off..."
"Well, I'll be on my way to school by then," Gaele said with a half shrug. "And you know what that means... I'll be pretty busy with my studies."
Don tilted his head a little, and gave her a long look. He then glanced at Devon. "Excuse us," he said to him, as he gently steered Gaele to one side. "If I have offended you in any way, Gaele, I extend the most sincere of apologies."
"Apology accepted," Gaele said, trying to sound nonchalant, but she found herself looking into his eyes, seeing something in them that brought on a deep sadness.
"Have a good time with school, then."
"I will," she said absently.
He gave her hand a warm squeeze, and went out the door.
Mike took her up in a firm hug. "Don't go very far, okay? And don't burn the house down."
"Call us if you need anything," Rahab added.
"Okay, I won't, I mean, I will," Gaele responded, confused.
"No using your sister for a punching bag, either," Mike said to Devon, grabbing his jaw and giving it a little shake.
"No-o problem," Devon said lightly.
"Be good now!"
"No fighting!"
"Yes Mom," Gaele and Devon said in chorus.
 They stood on the front steps, waving, as the car pulled away.

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