In the low gravity, Meredith
easily carried Jillie from the bath to the den, with Jillie’s arms and legs
wrapped around her. Meredith tapped the wall and said, “Night sky, Bermuda.”
Upstairs and down, the lights
dimmed, and the ceilings disappeared, revealing open starry skies. The effects
were seamless, worth every Hari-credit Meredith had spent. Jillie looked up at
the rich, black sky filled with countless bright stars. Simon slept more easily
under the open sky, even though he knew it was illusion.
As Meredith walked, she pointed
to Jillie’s favorite constellations. She paused in the den doorway until Simon
looked up from his tablet. “Okay, my little monkey, go give Daddy a special
hug,” she encouraged Jillie, holding her hands as their beautiful, impossible
daughter drifted down to the floor.
Jillie grinned at Simon, who sat
still, except for his fingers back and forth on his knees. Meredith scanned his
pulse and breathing from her vantage point in the doorway. Elevated. Shallow.
But acceptable. She didn’t want Jillie to push him too far though.
Jillie held her arms wide open,
palms flat. She took slow, sliding steps, watching Simon as carefully as
Meredith did. If he stiffened up, she would stop. But he stayed calm – for him
– on the couch, and held out his hands, palms to the sides to match Jillie’s
when she reached him. They clasped hands, and Jillie pushed against his,
leaning with all her might into their special open hug.
Meredith had figured it out in
the long, dark months after she had taken Simon out of the Hari. He couldn’t
tolerate any constriction, nor any light touch. She couldn’t hug him, or trail
her long dark hair over him, or run her fingers playfully over his skin.
Nothing the Hari had used – nothing she had used -- to seduce him, to break
him, to compel him to give up the information they wanted.
Eventually, face to face, palm to
palm, he could relax enough to accept her body against his. By the time Jillie
was born, he trusted himself enough to hold her if Meredith carefully wrapped
her in a blanket for her feet and hands wouldn’t startle him.
Meredith slid slowly away from
the doorway. “Okay, monkey. Off to bed with you. Come, I’ll throw you up the
stairs.”
Jillie blew kisses to Simon, who
almost didn’t flinch as her hands fluttered toward him. He tried so hard.
Jillie ran around the couch to Meredith, who grabbed around her waist and
pitched her up the stairs. Jillie giggled as she floated down to the top
landing. “Goodnight, Mama,” she called as she climbed into her hammock and
sealed it.
Note:
So what do you think of this re-working of yesterday’s post?
I think it’s cleaner, perhaps, but I also have the feeling it’s more of
a coda, an ending scene, than the beginning of the story. I think the real
story is Meredith and Simon in the Hari, and their escape from it…unless the
Hari are about to come retrieve Jillie…
Dogs in house
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Houdini
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Time writing
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20 minutes
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January word
count
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15,332
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