needed to finish some homework I had overlooked. She stopped me before I reached the stairs.
“Arizona, can you drop Ella off at school tomorrow on your way in?”
I was taken aback. Drop off? How? Where? I held my breath and then nodded as I walked up the stairs.
“Sure, Mom.”
I had no idea what to do or how to handle this situation. Confronting Mom with this would just be translated as Arizona having an episode with a journey to the psych ward. I decided to wait for Ella to come up so I could talk to her. I could get her to shed some light on this, surely. An hour or so later, I heard the skipping sounds of Ella’s footsteps and peered into the hallway as she was about to head into her room.
“Ella, can I talk to you for a minute?”
She nodded as she ran into my room and plunked herself on my bed with a wicked smile on her face. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was up to.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing, really. I just wondered how you’d like me to drop you off at school tomorrow?”
She looked puzzled, “The usual way, silly!”
I tried another tactic, “I thought we’d try a different way. The usual one gets boring.”
“No, I like you driving me in your Jeep, it’s fun and bouncy. Taking Mom’s car is too boring everyday.”
My Jeep? Now that sounded more like it! Sweet!
“Ok then, let’s try to make it fun another way. How about you shout out the directions?”
She looked bored and sighed. “I don’t understand what’s so fun about that, but whatever! Can I borrow your MJ clutch for tomorrow?” she asked, suddenly sweet again. I guessed that’s what the earlier grin had been all about.
“Sure, why not? Good night, see you in the morning.”
Ella got up and quietly ran out the room with a mischievous smirk on her face. I got the feeling that she’d expected a different response. Maybe I shouldn’t have given in to the MJ (whatever that was) request so easily. I could hear Mom and Rupert coming up the stairs so I quickly closed my door. However, they opened it and walked in to say goodnight before they went into Ella’s room.
I lay back on my pillow and wondered what was going on. This could no longer be a dream, surely. I seemed to be in some kind of alternate universe. What would tomorrow bring? Maybe I would wake up back in my real life. However, what if I didn’t? I needed some answers; there must be a computer in here somewhere. I looked around, maybe in my desk? Could Arizona Darley be that organized? I opened the obvious drawer and there it was, my very own pink MacBook. I brought it over to my bed and turned it on. First, GPS locate my position. My iPhone would do that more efficiently. I hit the Maps application and the locate icon.
Searching…..
California ….I knew that from the driver’s license.
The locator homed in on blank fields. Mountain View seemed to be the nearest town. I turned to my computer and googled Mountain View, Ca . I had sort of expected that, Mom had moved to Mountain View but I knew nothing about it. I tried Wikipedia first.
‘Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County , in the U.S. state of California . The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains . As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 70,708.’
So not interesting. I scrolled down. It seemed to be one of those “Silicon Valley” towns. I remember Mom mentioning the Silicon Valley. She had been offered a senior physicist position, if I remembered rightly, at NASA? I googled Mountain View and NASA .
Ames Research Center
That rang a bell, yes, Ames . I had heard that mentioned many times before. That’s obviously where she worked.
There was a sharp knock on my door. It opened and Mom stuck her head in.
“Arizona, lights out, school tomorrow,” she said as she closed it again.
I guess Ames would have to wait. However, I did need to know where to head off for school. This was truly insane.
“Arizona, can you drop Ella off at school tomorrow on your way in?”
I was taken aback. Drop off? How? Where? I held my breath and then nodded as I walked up the stairs.
“Sure, Mom.”
I had no idea what to do or how to handle this situation. Confronting Mom with this would just be translated as Arizona having an episode with a journey to the psych ward. I decided to wait for Ella to come up so I could talk to her. I could get her to shed some light on this, surely. An hour or so later, I heard the skipping sounds of Ella’s footsteps and peered into the hallway as she was about to head into her room.
“Ella, can I talk to you for a minute?”
She nodded as she ran into my room and plunked herself on my bed with a wicked smile on her face. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was up to.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing, really. I just wondered how you’d like me to drop you off at school tomorrow?”
She looked puzzled, “The usual way, silly!”
I tried another tactic, “I thought we’d try a different way. The usual one gets boring.”
“No, I like you driving me in your Jeep, it’s fun and bouncy. Taking Mom’s car is too boring everyday.”
My Jeep? Now that sounded more like it! Sweet!
“Ok then, let’s try to make it fun another way. How about you shout out the directions?”
She looked bored and sighed. “I don’t understand what’s so fun about that, but whatever! Can I borrow your MJ clutch for tomorrow?” she asked, suddenly sweet again. I guessed that’s what the earlier grin had been all about.
“Sure, why not? Good night, see you in the morning.”
Ella got up and quietly ran out the room with a mischievous smirk on her face. I got the feeling that she’d expected a different response. Maybe I shouldn’t have given in to the MJ (whatever that was) request so easily. I could hear Mom and Rupert coming up the stairs so I quickly closed my door. However, they opened it and walked in to say goodnight before they went into Ella’s room.
I lay back on my pillow and wondered what was going on. This could no longer be a dream, surely. I seemed to be in some kind of alternate universe. What would tomorrow bring? Maybe I would wake up back in my real life. However, what if I didn’t? I needed some answers; there must be a computer in here somewhere. I looked around, maybe in my desk? Could Arizona Darley be that organized? I opened the obvious drawer and there it was, my very own pink MacBook. I brought it over to my bed and turned it on. First, GPS locate my position. My iPhone would do that more efficiently. I hit the Maps application and the locate icon.
Searching…..
California ….I knew that from the driver’s license.
The locator homed in on blank fields. Mountain View seemed to be the nearest town. I turned to my computer and googled Mountain View, Ca . I had sort of expected that, Mom had moved to Mountain View but I knew nothing about it. I tried Wikipedia first.
‘Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County , in the U.S. state of California . The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains . As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 70,708.’
So not interesting. I scrolled down. It seemed to be one of those “Silicon Valley” towns. I remember Mom mentioning the Silicon Valley. She had been offered a senior physicist position, if I remembered rightly, at NASA? I googled Mountain View and NASA .
Ames Research Center
That rang a bell, yes, Ames . I had heard that mentioned many times before. That’s obviously where she worked.
There was a sharp knock on my door. It opened and Mom stuck her head in.
“Arizona, lights out, school tomorrow,” she said as she closed it again.
I guess Ames would have to wait. However, I did need to know where to head off for school. This was truly insane.
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