Chapter 6: Countdown

Maggie's eyes grew wide in panic.

"My mother ... is coming ... here?!? When?"

Mike continued to review the form on the datapad in front of him. "In about a week, it seems. Because she's able to claim relationship to the ambassador, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expediting the request."

Maggie switched to a whisper, as they were still in public. "But ... but ... she's never been to any of our assignments before. She hates space travel, hates it with a passion. She hasn't even been off the Moon since she was a child, and that trip was only to the Earth."

"I remember, through our courtship and especially the gibes at the wedding reception, being reminded of this. She wasn't happy that her daughter had fallen in love with a guy who would probably drag her grandchildren halfway across the universe. I wonder what made her overcome her natural aversion to rock-hopping."

"What'll I do when she discovers we're now living buck naked 24 hours a day?"

"I think she already knows. She was to pack our household effects, and we did tell her we wouldn't need any of the clothes. And why."

"Oh. Right." Maggie looked crestfallen for a second. Then another thought struck. "I'll be standing buck naked before my mother! What will I say to her?"

Millie broke in with: "You could tell her what a nice outfit SHE's wearing."

Maggie stared at her daughter uncomprehendingly. Mike stared at the sky, trying to keep from laughing at a decidedly inappropriate time.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" she inquired of her daughter.

"Well, what will Grandma be wearing?"

The click of Maggie's realization was almost audible. "Oh."

"Yep." Millie nodded encouragingly.

"Think of Linda Hardaway and her mother," Mike advised. "Linda's been nude in front of her mother for three years now, and is going back to take four more years of university. Your mom's only coming for..." he consulted the form. "A mo..." he stopped abruptly, his eyebrows arching for the skies.

"A 'mo'?" Maggie quizzed. "A 'mo'? You mean a month? A full month?"

"With an option to extend through a Spican year."

Yuki added helpfully, "And these visas can be changed to either long-term residency or permanent residency."

"Oh. Goody." Maggie was less than enthusiastic. One of the reasons she'd married into the Diplomatic Corps, aside from the chance to explore new lands and the fact she'd fallen head-over-heels in love with Mike, was the ability to get away from her mother. They got along all right in their own way, as long as their own ways parted for a while every so often.

"How does one handle visits from retired parents who lived their entire lives in a 'textile' environment? That's not something that someone can ask a native, is it?" Maggie asked.

"No," responded Yuki. "And I'm not much help there either. Neither of my parents have ever visited me."

"I'm sure we'll muddle through somehow," Mike tried to reassure his wife. "After all, it's not like we haven't lived with her in close proximity before."

"OK, so Grandma's coming to visit. It's a three-bedroom apartment. We'll just put the kids in the same bedroom."

Monday — D -5

The schools were nice, Maggie decided, as she toured each of them with her offspring in tow. Both facilities were clean, modern and well-equipped, and the teachers seemed to be bright and caring. Micah enjoyed meeting his teacher, and Millie thought that those middle-school teachers she met were nice, as well. She also got to see some of the sports clubs preparing for the upcoming term.

Millie noted in both schools that there were just the two types of lavatory: students and staff. No gender separation. She pointed it out to her mother.

"We get a lot of off-worlders here at this school, due to its location. They all seem to comment on that, but to us it's quite normal. It will be for you too in a short while," assured the one teacher. "We haven't had one off-world child fail to adapt, usually in the first morning."

"Oh, I haven't got a problem with it," she assured him. "It's just different from any other school I've attended."

The middle school swimming pool and gym were well equipped, but their "changing areas" consisted of showers and shoe lockers, with no seating. The everyday sandals were not recommended athletic wear.

Tuesday — D -4

The next day, Maggie and the kids went to the beach, escorted by Yuki's friend Tsumugi, a native Spican who had the week off — and who apparently lived at the beach all day long, all vacation long. It turned out that the subway system connected them to the beach efficiently.