Chapter 6

"Mom," said April. "I'd like to introduce you to my pets..."

"What?!?" Vee exclaimed.

"April ... when will you stop bringing home strays?"

"MoM!"

"You surely remember what happened last time?"

"That was different," said April. "They found me, I didn't find them."

"You had to stay until the last one died," said Mom.

"I know ... losing Simone and David was very hard on me."

"I think they helped you grow up."

Vee looked at Gary and Gary looked at Vee... "Grow up?"

"In your term I am very old, but in Mother's eye I am a Young Adult. Company is just a kid ... or so She says," explained April.

"So we're just children?" Vee asked.

"No. You exist in a different time scheme. It's apples to oranges," Mother said. She hemmed a bit, and said, "Why have you come?"

Gary said, "We seek a place for us."

"The Powers that Be ... the Watch Makers and Time Guardians ... say the earth is dead in 100 or so years and we wish a judicious collecting and a new place," Vee said, "No politicians, religious fanatics or others of their ilk need apply. April tells me that the local intergalactic group is unsuited for colonization."

"Hold on," April said, "I said that the suitable planets were either occupied or a mess." She turned to her mother...

Wait! wait! Go back. Who is mother? "as a grain of sand is to Mount Everest so April (Ship) is to mother." Mother is pretty fucking huge. Mother is also very populated with the Things nightmares are made of ... scary fuckers ... but civilized ... shape changers and so on.

In her explorations, mother has found and incorporated the very best of the worlds she has studied ... the Japanese Bath and Tea House with attendant garden were three.

We lived in mother for long enough to make the acquaintance of all sorts of people. People: not necessarily homo sapiens. Gary wasn't in a rush to make friends with his worst nightmare but Vee had her royalness and imperturbability to fall upon. Raising a teenager does that.

Gary gets a makeover.

Gary was somewhat older than Vee ... more the age of a father than a husband. The Austins had the watch to keep them young ... Gary had Six to make him old.

So,

Vee cornered Mom ... which I'd love to have watched...

"Gary is old," Vee started out with the brass tacks, no beating around the bush with this chick, "I'm worried about him making the trip and I just know I won't like being a widow and having to make decisions while I'm missing him."

Mom suggested, "I can kill him off and you can start over." She chuckled, "No? That's what I did. Men are everywhere, you can always get your ashes hauled. We've got thirty thousand bars and dance halls..."

"No ... it took me long enough to trap him ... I don't want to do it again. Just ... fix him up ... but not FIX like vet ... ok? He's not broke ... just old."

Mother did a renew before they left.