Chapter 28
MITCHELL
After a picnic lunch in the park with Molly and the still unnamed kitty, a tired and now slightly grumpy Neal was pouting.
“I don’t wanna take a nap! I’m not a baby!”
I sighed. If only he knew how wonderful getting to have a nap was once you became an adult.
Maybe he’ll fall asleep in front of the TV.
I felt guilty for even thinking about using this tactic, as if I was somehow cheating.
I knew I wasn’t and that this was a perfectly okay thing to do as long as it wasn’t an all the time thing he got used to.
Right? I asked myself. Yeah, I’m sure I heard that somewhere.
Or read it and from a reputable source. Still, I was also ready to put my feet up for a little while, and watching some TV sounded good.
“Tell you what, buddy, let’s sit down and watch some TV.”
“Yeah!” he agreed, his eyes bright with excitement at having won the nap discussion.
“Hey, Xero,” I called out as I settled down into the comfy wooden chair.
The padding was soft and the matching padded footstool had a dozing Morris curled up on it despite his cat condo being only a few feet away in front of the window.
Which I knew wasn’t really a window at all, but a viewscreen displaying outside.
Darla had told me it could show me any view from all the worlds and parts of space that the Mylos had been to.
Which gave me an idea - later on Neal and I could pick places for Xero to show us and choose a new view.
We could do that once a week, one week a view from Earth or its solar system, the next somewhere else.
Xero could tell us a bit about each place and we could have the replicator make us some local foods to try. It would be fun and educational.
“Yes, Mitchell?”
“Neal and I are in the mood for some TV.”
“What would you like to watch?”
“Lilo and Stitch!” Neal called out.
“No,” I replied. “We already watched that today.”
“The TV show one,” Neal insisted.
“You can watch that while I cook dinner tonight,” I told him.
“Um, Xero, what live action family movies do you have? Got any of the Disney ones from the 60s and 70s?” Those were what I thought of as the golden years of Disney movies, having rapturously watched them on old VHS tapes my grandmother had kept from my mother’s youth.
“Here is a list of 60s and 70s Disney films available. I have taken the liberty of highlighting a few I thought might be of particular interest to Neal.”
I grinned in delight, seeing the ones he was suggesting.
“The Cat from Outer Space,” I decided.
Neal stared dubiously at the screen but upon catching sight of the Absynnian cat that was the star of the show, became entranced.
He didn’t fall asleep, though, but he was quiet and relaxed.
Once the movie was over, he scooped up his cat, saying, “Come on, Jake! Let’s build a spaceship!
I got lots of Lego but don’t eat any, okay? ”
“You know she’s a girl, right?” I asked, wanting to make sure.
“Uh huh, but it doesn’t matter. Her name’s Jake so that makes it a girl’s name too.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “Just checking.”
“It’s short for Lilo Jake,” he added. “Jake is her middle name. She goes by that so she won’t think she’s getting called all the time when she hears Lilo and it’s the TV.
Like Annie at school. Her name is Sue Ann but we got another Sue who don’t gots a middle name, so she’s just Sue and Sue Ann is Annie because her granny is Ann. ”
“Sounds reasonable. Plus there’s girls named Michael, so why not?”
“Yeah!” he said before scrunching his face. “You know a girl named Michael?”
“Not me personally, no. But there’s a Starfleet officer on Star Trek who is and a famous actress from an old TV show whose name was. I’m sure there are more.”
He nodded. “See? Names are just names.” He turned, carrying a docile Jake into his room with him.
“Mitchell,” Xero said. “Your coursework arrived during the film. Whenever you’re ready for it, let me know and I’ll read it to you while displaying any accompanying images.”
A frisson of excitement ran through me. I was about to begin the realization of my dream!
Only right this second was not a good time.
It would be best to set aside study time for when I was a lot less likely to be interrupted.
My first day as a student at the ship’s sickbay was tomorrow, though, so I definitely needed to get started on the written material today.
It would have to be after Neal went to bed, which thankfully would be around eight o’clock ship’s time.
That would give me two hours of study time easily before we turned in, without compromising any of our family time. Well, not much of it anyway.
“Thanks, Xero. We’ll get started on that later tonight.”
“Alright.”
Feeling a bit at loose ends, I decided to make myself a coffee.
Going into the kitchen, I realized it had been a few hours since I’d made the pot of coffee and it had switched off.
I poured it away, knowing it would end up recycled so I didn’t feel too terrible about it.
I didn’t want to make more, though, and have it also go cold. Then I remembered the replicator.
“Xero, you can make those fancy lattes, right?”
“Yes, Mitchell. What would you like?”
“Um, can you make me a large mug of hazelnut, caramel, and mocha?”
“I can. Would you like marshmallows on top?”
I blinked at the unexpected question. I had never had anyone at a coffee shop ask me that unless I was ordering hot chocolate. Though a mocha did have chocolate in it, so why the hell not?
“Sure.”
Within seconds, a cup of the requested beverage appeared in the replicator.
“Ohhh! Pink and white ones!” I absolutely adored these, convinced that they somehow tasted better than plain old bags of just white ones even though rationally I knew the pink was just food coloring.
“Yes, “ Xero’s voice answered. “When Darla first arrived, she set the parameters to include a query for marshmallows with lattes and always for them to be pink and white.”
As if I’d needed another reason to like the Commander’s wife! I took the beverage and gave it a cautious sip. I needn’t have worried. Just like at the scholarship center, it was the perfect drinking temperature.
“This tastes fantastic. Thank you, Xero.”
“My pleasure. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
I walked back into the living room, settling back down into the comfy chair I’d vacated.
Morris had moved to the cat tree, and was now snuggled up in the hammock while Molly napped under my chair’s footstool.
“Darla said I could talk to you about ordering some furniture and stuff,” I replied, glancing around the slightly too empty space.
“Yes, indeed. What would you like?”
“I really love this chair, but there is only one of them. I think we should have at least one, maybe two more, and a couple side tables. And I’d like to get a kids’ bookcase for in here, like the ones they have at preschools for picture books, and oh, two bookcases for regular books.”
“Accessing camera function. Ah, yes. The chair you are in is a Poang. They are very popular. Would you like me to open the Ikea catalog for you to browse or would you prefer suggestions? I can show you suggestions set in a simulation of the rooms you wish to furnish.”
“Oh wow! Yes, please. Um, I want those things in here.”
“Ikea does not have the requested children’s bookcase, but I have found one in a similar finish to the rest of the furnishings.
” As Xero spoke, the part of the wall that became the TV screen flared to life.
A realistic image of the living room, with the dining room just beyond, sprang into view.
Xero had rearranged the existing furniture so that two Poangs and the sofa were around a round coffee table, with two side tables, one on either side of the chairs.Our existing Poang was moved to the far wall, with a new ‘window’ beside it.
A tall, wood finished bookcase was on the opposite side of the window, with a matching children’s bookcase next to it, bracketed on its other side by another tall bookcase which matched the first one, and a second ‘window’ with another cat tree angled in the corner beside it.
A red beanbag was on the floor in front of the kids’ bookcase.
“I like that grouping, but won’t that make watching TV awkward?”
“Not at all. The entire wall can become a viewscreen, so the viewing area will be reset so it is centered for where the sofa would now be. The chairs are lightweight enough to be moved to the side for extra seating without being in the way of anyone seated on the sofa. Also, the chair by the bookcase is a rocking chair instead of the stationary version.”
A rocking chair? I loved that idea. I wanted the bookshelves so I could start collecting some classics for Neal to read and the beanbag was perfect for a place for him to flop down and chill with a good book.
I could imagine myself sitting in the rocking chair, eyes closed, headphones on, listening to an audiobook or chilling to some tunes. There was only one thing missing.
“Need someplace to put my tablet and a drink when someone’s sitting in the rocker,” I said.
A small table appeared, the bookcases and windows and the chair moving a couple of inches each to make room for it without the space looking cluttered.
The potted tree still fit in the nook too, and a hanging plant appeared over the small table.
I smiled, recognizing the easy to care for spider plant.
The white macrame hanger mixed with the Scandi furniture giving it a retro yet modern vibe. I absolutely loved it.
“Perfect! Um, maybe don’t order it until Jolar gets home though. Furniture is pretty expensive and I don’t want to ransack his bank account.”
“An allowance has been provided by the Fleet for furnishing these quarters. This will leave over half of the allocation available.”