Chapter 13

I forgot to sleep in my time accelerated pocket universe, and dragged at school the whole day. I was glad that Elizabeth had cheer practice, as she still stunk as I drove her silently to school. I pulled up to an empty house, as Dad had texted he was out doing errands.

I needed to get to Maceduckia to pick up my spaceship, but couldn’t be gone when Dad got back. Instead I worked on my lasagna and got it in the oven, then sat at the counter and did homework. I was caught up to chapter 4 of the Algebra 2 book, and working the workbook problems hoping I could be at chapter 5 by tomorrow.

Dad came into the house about 5 minutes before the lasagna was finished. By the time he was showered and cleaned up, it had cooled enough for me to slice it.

“This is still amazing.”

“It only takes about 15 minutes to make it if you have the ingredients,” I told him.

“It tastes like you put hours of work into it.”

“I did. Hours and hours. Days even. It’s the most delicious and easy to make lasagna in the universe,” I bragged.

He just smiled and took another piece, one of the coveted corner ones.

“Next Monday is one of our teacher days, where we have the day off from school. Beck and I are planning on working on our photo project that day.”

“Will you be gone all day?”

“No she’s coming here, it is a combination cooking and photography project.”

“Ok, I’ll be around. Do you need me to give you room to put the moves on?”

I laughed, “We’re just friends, but let me know if you are doing anything loud or causing any sort of vibrations before you start. I’m making souffles, and she’s going to photograph them as they rise.”

“I think I’ll just be working in the attic, so no worries,” Dad said.

“I’ll be making her lunch, so feel free to come down and join us. Not sure what I’ll make, but I’ll make enough for everyone.”

“Sounds good,” He agreed, “Are you still going to the Pub to make soda after school tomorrow?”

“Yeah, and Saturday as well. Mr Brewer didn’t want me there on Friday past sundown, same for Saturday. I’ll have dinner there tomorrow, and lunch on Saturday. I’ll be back here for dinner, but I thought I might bring us takeout.”

“I’ll be in Summerville most of Saturday, and be back late so don’t worry about my dinner.”

I noticed he didn’t say doing what. I wondered if it was a date, if so, with who. I didn’t ask.

After washing up, I headed up to my room claiming homework. I did have homework, but I also needed to find a recipe for Mr Brewer.

Adam collected photos of various colas, all microbrewed, and I carefully sipped them, rating each one. The fourth one was an early winner. I went back and finished the winning bottle after trying all nine.

‘Adam, put the recipe for number 4 on my laptop,’ I subvocalized to him.

I reviewed the recipe, it seemed easy enough. I hit print, and sent it to the network printer in Dad’s office.

I checked the time, and decided it was now or never. I headed into the fast time pocket and settled in for a nice sleep. When I woke, many subjective hours later, I was trying to decide what my strange dreams meant.

I pushed it to the side, simply glad it hadn’t been nightmares about screaming giant sloths. A hot shower later, and a final goodnight to Dad, I locked my bedroom door and teleported to the same hill I had arrived at previously.

It looked to be early morning, the sun glistening off my new spaceship in the distance, and the deceptively low colony headquarters sitting nearby.

‘What’s the local time?’ I subvocalized to Adam even though no one was near to hear my side of the conversation.