THREE YEARS LATER
Ever since the tragedy, summers had been terrible for Junior. After the funeral, he and his family had met President Clarkson, several politicians and countless others who had reminded them of their inconsolable grief. The result of this was, that each year, as the school ended, Junior was left without anything to distract him from his awful, summer memories.
Luckily, "Uncle" Jack had allowed Junior, who was now fifteen, to assist him in his work as an astronomer for NASA. A good friend of his father's, he was kind enough never to ask Junior if everything was all right.
At the moment, Uncle Jack was studying the planet Neptune, and he had Junior predict the position of its moons. His calculations were then passed on to another astronomer, who would confirm the results and make the observations.
Junior was forbidden the use of a computer: "The only way you'll learn, is if you do everything by hand!" Uncle Jack said. Luckily, Junior had always loved math, and loved the job he was given, but lately it had gotten very frustrating. His predictions didn't match the observations; the moons were never where Junior calculated they would be... He must have been doing something wrong... Reluctantly, he decided to ask for help.
JUNIOR
Uncle! Could you come here for a second?
Ripped from his thoughts, Uncle Jack made his way across the office, to Junior's side.
JACK
Have you finished already?
JUNIOR
Not really, and I have to leave soon anyway. We are going up to Grampa's lake cabin, but I need to show you this before I go...
Junior took out his calculations.
JUNIOR
In this column, is when I predicted Triton should have been, and here, is where it was actually observed. The same goes for Nereid and Larissa. I just don't realize what's wrong! A couple of weeks ago everything was going fine!
JACK
Let me see...
Jack took a pen in his hand and furiously revised Junior's calculations.
JUNIOR
So, what am I doing wrong?
JACK
Hm... that's funny... I don't know what you did wrong, Junior... everything looks OK to me...
JUNIOR
What now?
He didn't expect that. Uncle Jack usually had an answer for everything.
JACK
Who did the optical measurements?
JUNIOR
With the telescope? It was Daniel...
Uncle Jack stormed out of the office, shouting
JACK
Danieeeel!! Report at once!
He was back with Daniel in a surprisingly short time.
DANIEL
...and I can assure you I checked the instruments! I cannot think of anything other than a mistake in the calculations!
JACK
Good! Let us get to the bottom of this! We’ll run Junior's calculations through the computer.
It was typical of Uncle Jack to drop everything he was doing to become immersed in other, sometimes trivial, matters. For the next couple of hours, Junior sat in the room while the two astronomers kept arguing over the orbits of the moons of Neptune. Nothing could distract them, not even the phone ringing repeatedly.
It was typical of Junior to forget the things he had promised his mother. As he remembered, his stomach dropped, and sweating profusely out of fear, he ran out of the office.
JUNIOR
I'm sorry! Gotta go! Be back in a couple of weeks! Byeeeee!
He was out of the building before either Jack or Daniel even realised he was gone.
How could he have forgotten!? His mother had asked him to come home earlier than usual; she wanted to leave as soon as possible for Grampa's cabin.
Riding his bike, Junior wondered why he was pedaling so fast... he was sooo late! Would a couple more minutes have mattered?
Seconds would have mattered...
He sped up.
As he arrived home, the car was in the driveway and his sister Amanda was sitting in the passenger seat, ready to go.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him jump off the bike and sprint inside the house. Escaping from the book she was reading for just a moment, she cried after her brother:
AMANDA
Mom is going to KILL you!
He knew that.
JUNIOR
Mom...
Junior said in a soft voice as he crossed the threshold to his home.
JUNIOR
I'm...
BEATRIX
YOU'RE LATE! That's what you are! I called the lab a million times! Where have you been?
His mother bellowed, coming out of the living room.
BEATRIX
I don't ask you for much but a little attention every now and again, but DO YOU LISTEN?! Of course you don't listen! But why don't I just give up? Why do I always believe that you can, just once, behave LIKE I EXPECT YOU TO?
JUNIOR
I'm so... I'm sorr..
Tried to say Junior, still out of breath.
BEATRIX
You have five, NO, three minutes to pack your things and get into the car, otherwise I'm leaving you behind!
She didn't have to repeat herself. He sprinted into his bedroom, threw open the drawers and opened his bag onto the bed.
JUNIOR
Underwear, shorts, T-shirts, my costume, some socks who cares if they are not the same, a hat, the fishing rod, Grampa has it, no need to worry, my bat!
He almost forgot his baseball bat.
JUNIOR
Do I need anything else?
Said Junior, looking inside the hastily packed bag.
At that, his mother called after him.
BEATRIX
Your sister and I are leaving!
JUNIOR
Yes, yes! I'm coming down!
Junior said, grabbing his bag and racing downstairs.
