Space Magic by David D. Levine, Sara A. Mueller Read Free Book Online Page A

to him. They sat together in silence for a time. “Let me talk with him tonight, Mr. Carmelke, and we’ll see how things go in the morning. All right?”
    Jason thought for a moment, then bobbed his head. “All right.”
    They helped each other up.

    -o0o-

    Jason’s father jogged into the doctor’s office the next morning, his lithe new body bobbing with a smooth four-legged gait, and hopped easily up onto a carpeted platform that brought his head to the same level as Jason and the doctor. But he refused to meet Jason’s eyes. Jason himself sat in the doctor’s leather guest chair, fully seated this time, but still not fully comfortable.
    “Noah,” Dr. Steig said to Jason’s father, “I know this is hard for you. But I want you to understand that it is even harder for your son.”
    “He shouldn’t have come here,” he said, still not looking at Jason.
    “Dad... how could I not? You’re the only family I have left in the world, I didn’t even know if you were dead or alive, and now... this! I had to come. Even if I can’t change your mind, I... I just want to talk.”
    “Talk, then!” His face turned to Jason at last, but his blue eyes were hard, his mouth set. “I might even listen.” He lowered his head to his paws, which rested on the carpeted surface in front of him.
    Jason felt the little muscles in his legs tensing to rise. He could stand up, walk out... be free of this awkwardness and pain. Go back to his lonely little house and try to forget all about his father.
    But he knew how well that had worked the last time.
    “I told them you were dead,” he said. “My friends at school. The new school, after we moved to Cleveland. I don’t know why. Lots of their parents were divorced. They would have understood. But somehow pretending you were dead made it easier.”
    His dad closed his eyes hard; deep furrows appeared in the corners of his eyes and between his brows. “Can’t say I blame you,” he said at last.
    “No matter how many people I lied to, I still knew you were out there somewhere. I wondered what you were doing. Whether you missed me. Where did you go?”
    “Buffalo.”
    Jason waited until he was sure no more details were forthcoming. “Is that where you’ve been all this time?”
    “No, I was only there for a few months. Then Syracuse. Miami for a while. I didn’t settle down for a long time. But I’ve been in the Bay Area for the last eleven years.” He raised his head. “Selling configuration management software for Romatek. It’s really exciting stuff.”
    Jason didn’t care about his father’s job, but he sensed an opening. “Tell me about it.”
    They talked for half an hour about configuration management and source control and stock options—things that Jason didn’t understand and didn’t want to understand. But they were talking. His dad even managed to make the topic seem interesting. A wry smirk came to Jason’s lips when he realized he was getting a sales presentation from a dog. A dog with his father’s head.

    -o0o-

    Jason and his father sat in the courtyard behind the clinic, under a red Japanese maple that sighed in the wind. The skyscrapers of San Francisco were visible above the fence, which was painted with a colorful abstract mural. A few birds chirped, and the slight mineral sting of sea salt flavored the air, reminding Jason how far he was from home.
    A phone with two large buttons was strapped to his father’s left foreleg. He could push the buttons with his chin to summon urgent or less-urgent assistance. He sat on the bench next to Jason with his legs drawn up beneath him, his head held high so as to look Jason as much in the eye as possible.
    “I would have had to have something done with the knees one way or the other,” he said. “They were just about shot, before. Arthritis. Now they’re like new. I was taking laps this morning, before you showed up. Haven’t been able to run like that in years. And being so close to the ground, it