Kepler’s Dream by Juliet Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

took a sip. “Actually, I had Miguel shoot that bird, I was so mad at it.” She sounded slightly guilty. “And he did, too. Got him with one bullet. So don’t ever cross Miguel, that’s my advice. He’s a good shot.”
    She wasn’t exactly smiling as she said this, but I figured it had to be a joke. Didn’t it?
    â€œTell me, Ella. Do you like to fish?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œâ€˜Pardon?’”
    Oh (expletive deleted)! “Pardon?” I repeated, like a parrot.
    â€œDo you like to fish?”
    â€œNo.” It is possible that some small attitude was beginning to leak through in my voice. The General Major was wearing down my manners. “Why?” I said. “Do you?”
    â€œHeavens, no.” Again, the raised eyebrow. “Can you imagine me sitting on a grassy riverbank, pole in hand, waiting for the telltale dip of the line?”
    I had to admit that I couldn’t.
    â€œBut your father likes to fish.” Oh, so this was what she was getting at. In spite of the penciled boy in the other room, I kept forgetting that my dad was the GM’s son. It seemed so improbable—like Cleopatra turning out to be the mother of Davy Crockett. Also, she talked about him as though he were some distant cousin. Not her own offspring.
    â€œHas Walter ever taken you with him?” she asked. “—Fishing?”
    â€œOnce.” I wondered if she even realized how often I saw my dad, namely hardly ever. She did know I didn’t live in Spokane, didn’t she? And that my mother had cancer? So far she hadn’t said a single word about it.
    â€œOne time, Dad came to California for a visit.”
To California, where I live with my mom, you know?
“He wanted to take me on an early-morning fishing trip. So he came by our house at, like, four in the morning …”
    â€œAhem!” she said. “Was it
‘like’
four in the morning, or was it actually four in the morning?”
    I blinked. “It
was
four in the morning.” I decided not to fightthe grammar police. It was more fun to remember the story. “Anyway, he said it was easier to catch the fish when they were still dreaming and not awake yet. So we drove somewhere way up the coast, and got there before it was even light out yet. But there was a diner open and Dad said we should have breakfast. I wasn’t hungry at all, but he made me eat this huge breakfast, and then we got onto a small boat, with a rod and reel and a bucket of bait—”
    I looked up. She seemed interested, amazingly, so I kept going.
    â€œSo we loaded up all the gear onto the boat and got on with a few other guys. But when the boat went out onto the waves, it got pretty choppy—”
    â€œOh, Ella. Don’t tell me you lost your breakfast.”
    â€œNo, no. I got to keep the breakfast.”
    She snorted, a sound that was maybe supposed to be a laugh.
    â€œBut I did feel queasy standing up on the deck, so Dad said he’d watch my pole if I wanted to lay down—”
    â€œLie down,” she corrected.
    â€œ
Lie
down, and so I did, and I fell asleep, and I slept through pretty much the whole expedition and woke up when we were pulling back in to the harbor.”
    â€œWell!” Grandmother looked strange. It took me a minute to understand why. She was smiling, that’s why. “I think that shows excellent judgment on your part.”
    A compliment! That was a first. “And after that, as a joke, Dad liked to say I was this great fisherwoman, because practicallyno fish bit on his line all morning, but he caught four bass and a couple of snappers on mine. He gave one to my mom to cook for dinner.”
    â€œQuite right.” My grandmother nodded. “Speaking of dinner, shall we eat?”
    Still not a word about my mom. I was beginning to get annoyed. On the other hand, I was also starving.
    I followed her through the door that faced the