Redemption

When it was finally time to go home, they lined up by the door. Reminding them of their homework for the evening, the comely blond wished them a good night. Filing through the door, the kids maintained their composure until outside. Then a snowball fight broke out between a faction led by Jerry Gruber, and another led by Jenny. It ended when she and Ewing charged the other side in an all-out assault. During this, David saw Cathy watching from the school’s door with the beautiful blonde teacher.

This time, Tina joined them in walking home. In doing so, she complained to Tillems about picking on her so much. Nodding sympathetically, the tough girl agreed.

“It is just that you are so prone to talk on and on about birds,” she explained.

“I am sorry,” the smaller girl, countered, “I just like birds!”

“Well, there is nothing wrong with it,” Ewing assured her, “But, it does get sort of redundant.”

“It gets sort of what?” Zak demanded uncertainly.

“Repetitive,” Fall adjusted.

“Oh.”

“Well, I don’t mean anything by it,” the brunette assured Hanover, “I mean, I like you-After all, I slugged Greesome for pushing you down last fall, didn’t I?”

“Yes, but-.”

“Alright,” Leer announced, “I confess.”

“Oh boy! Here we go!” Jenny sighed in rueful recognition.

“I like birds too,” the little fellow revealed, “Because, the truth be told, my family evolved from birds.”

“I always said that you were a bird-brain,” Jenny nodded.

“I thought that I saw worms on your sandwich at lunch,” David accepted in feigned recognition.

“That’s right!” The smaller boy nodded adamantly in the face of the other kids’ laughter, “I love worms! I can eat them all day long!”

“I’ll bet that you could,” Prentice chuckled.

“Well, you remember that in a few months, when I bring you a jar full for lunch!” The tough girl reminded.

Later, at home, he finished his homework just in time to help Grandma set the table for dinner. As this was a pot roast, Grandpa was in an extra good mood.

“Mary, I would fight the entire Spanish army for one of your pot roasts!” He declared as he helped himself to seconds.

“So, you’ve told me,” Mary nodded.

“Oh!” David recalled, before taking a bite of potato, “Cathy said that she will walk with us tomorrow.”

“Really? You talked to her?” Ma asked in slight elation.

“Not really,” the boy allowed after swallowing, “But, I did learn that she is smart, and Miss Thatcher really likes her.”

“Well, she’s a pretty little girl,” William observed thoughtfully, “I would just like to know who she goes to visit in the cemetery.”

“It could be one of her parents,” Ellen offered thoughtfully.

“Well, I find it best not to pry in such matters,” Grandma cautioned gently, “As doing so might upset a body.”

A couple of hours later, his grandfather asked David to carry some boxes out to the barn. Despite their being small, they were heavy, but the boy insisted that he could carry all of them. Hefting the three weighty cubes, he walked outside.

To his surprise, the night seemed warmer than the day had been. Overhead, the stars and full moon shone down through a cloudless sky, lighting his way to the large structure. Although this was dark inside, he could see just enough to discern the bench where the boxes were destined. Setting these down, he turned and quickly exited, as he found the barn to be too spooky at night.

Once outside, he paused to look up at the star specked sky. Each dot of light was a distant sun, he recalled in quiet amazement, and around each, planets like Earth rotated. For an instance, he allowed himself to dream of traveling the vast vacuum of space to visit one.

President-elect Custer was already calling for the commencement of attempts to explore space. He was saying that he wanted Americans to plant the Stars and Stripes on the moon within ten years of his administration’s commencement. In response, a growing industry was springing up. As his grandfather had said, “It is only a matter of time. Once you turn free enterprise loose on a problem, the problem will not remain unsolved for very long.”

Suddenly, one twinkling spot in particular caught the boy’s eye. This speck seemed to grow in its brilliance as he gazed at it. In fact, despite his initial belief that he was imagining things, it doubled its size in the scant seconds following his noticing it. A sudden flash heralded its entry into the atmosphere. As it fell earthward, a trail of black smoke hung in the air in its wake.

Before Fall’s amazed eyes, the light fell, trailing the thread of blackness in a slight arch behind it. A screaming whine joined its approach. This culminated in a distant, dull thud, as the light disappeared into the ground of the frozen crop fields, some three hundred yards to the east. A geyser of dirt marked its impact.

Before he knew what he was doing, the boy had divided the distance between himself and the light’s impact at a run. His mind full of astonished wonder, he paid no considerations to any danger that might be present. Rather, he pressed onward under the sway of curious amazement.

Reaching the deep gouge in the ground, he paused for only a second, to peer down at the smoking clump of rock lying at its center. In doing so, he saw that the smoldering meteor was no bigger than his head. With the passing of that second, he clambered down to get a closer look. With his foot’s accidental impact, his leg felt an intense heat coming from the stone. Looking around, he saw a small stick laying a rough foot away. Straining, he reached over, and picked it up. Then he half-sat on the edge of the crater, to inspect the strange object.

Gently, he poked the stick’s end at the hot lump that sizzled slightly and rocked heavily in its earthen cradle. Then, to his continued amazement, the surface of the rock began to crack. His yanking the stick back did nothing to deter the fragmenting of the stone, and vein-like fissures were spreading through it. His breathed gasp grew to a near scream of surprise when the surface of the meteor collapsed. However, his curiosity held him there, despite his instinct to run. Leaning forward, he strained to look inside of the resulting opening.

In between the chunks of the collapsed surface, flecks of a silvery substance twinkled in the ambient light. At first, these seemed scattered through the meteor, as if dispersed pieces of mineral. Yet, as he sat peering down at them, these specks seemed to grow. As they did, he could almost swear that they were moving. Before long, he was certain that they were. In fact, as he watched, the shards seemed to flow along the material of the stone, as if searching for one another. With their meeting, the blobs of silver merged, becoming a bigger mass, before moving toward another blob. This continued, until a single, almost featureless blot sat amount the fragments. A scant second later, it interrupted his amazed gazing, by launching itself at his face. Its warm impact knocked him backwards, into the slightly warm dirt of the crater. Panicking, he loosed a muffled scream, and started to reach up to fight it. But, before he could more than lift his hands, a calming blackness took him.