2.3.8 Week One: Maldonado
One thing Maru hadn't expected was how bored she would get making soothing serums for stressed animals. Mixing chemicals wasn't the same as making things. Perhaps she should have become a scientist like her father, except that he spent much of his time mixing chemicals, too.
Reading to Gus was more enjoyable. She couldn't help wondering, though, how he would feel when he discovered that dinosaurs didn't exist any more, and that T-Rexes had never been orange and kindly.
And it worried Maru a little that Shane had taken up ice cream when he'd quit drinking.
"Isn't there a weight you're supposed to maintain as an astronaut?" she couldn't help asking one evening. Gus was in bed for the night; Cookie was sitting on Shane's foot.
"There is," he agreed, "and that's something I've been meaning to tell you -- I'm thinking about quitting. I don't fit in with the other guys -- they're all squeaky clean and geeky."
"I'm kind of squeaky clean and geeky," said Maru.
"I know," said Shane, "and I love it when it's you. But if I hear one more guy who's supposedly an adult complain about a video game when there's so much suffering in the world, I'm going to freak out. Anyway, GeekCon is tomorrow. I was thinking I might take the day off and stay home with Gus so you could go."
"Me?" said Maru. "But--"
"You've been looking a little stressed lately, like your happiness bucket needs filling."
"I'm perfectly happy," Maru objected.
Shane didn't say anything but just raised an eyebrow.
So Shane took a day off. "I'll be doing a sweep at GeekCon," his boss told him. "Anyone from our team I find there is going to be in big trouble."
"You won't find me, sir," said Shane.
Maru entered the rocket ship feeling excited and apprehensive. She thought she would enjoy going into space, but what if it turned out that she suffered from space sickness? And what if she loved it so much that she wanted to go again and again?
When she returned a few hours later, she knew that she'd found her dream job. Despite the cramped quarters, the noise, the smoke, and the smell of rocket fuel, space travel was incredibly wonderful.
"And I actually found something," she gushed to Shane. "This alien asked me to hide something at the refueling station. Probably I shouldn't have done it, but I did, and when he left, he gave me this rock. Isn't it gorgeous?"
"Not as gorgeous as my happy and excited wife," said Shane. "Now don't you think you'd rather be an astronaut than a veterinarian?"
Maru nodded. "I'll have to wait until Gus starts school, though. And I would like to have another child -- a little girl this time. I don't think they let you go into space when you're pregnant. And it's not easy to get into the program. I know Dad had to pull some strings for you."
"I do appreciate your dad doing that for me," said Shane. "That Joja Mart job was killing me. But I like animals, and I think I'd make a good vet. Why don't you take Gus to your parents' tomorrow and see what they'd think about you and me switching jobs?"
Robin, Maru's mother, thought it would be great if she became the first woman astronaut, and reminded her that she had a project to finish on the workbench.
Demetrius thought it was a great idea, too. "I have no doubt that you'll boldly go where no one's gone before," he said.
Maru couldn't wait to share the news with Shane. "Okay, I let Mom and Dad talk me into it. Just as soon as I have this baby, I'll start working."
That night some gremlins attacked. Maru worked on one bathroom, while Shane made hasty repairs in the other.
He also called a plumber to deal with the appliances in the kitchen. With the refrigerator, the stove, the dishwasher, the washing machine, and the dryer all emitting sparks and puddles, the situation called for an expert, which neither he nor Maru was.
The next afternoon, once Shane had gone to work, Maru took Gus and Cookie to the Brindleton Bay vet for Cookie's vaccinations.
To her surprise, she ran into Dr. Harvey. "Fine little fellow you have there," he said. "He looks about the same age as my daughter Kathy."
"Yes," Maru agreed, feeling awkward.
"I've got a test that can help you find out whether you're going to have a boy or girl," he continued.
"I'm pretty sure it will be a girl," said Maru. "I've been listening to a lot of pop music lately."
"Well, try eating some strawberries, too," he said. "It might be an old wives' tale, but sometimes those old wives knew what they were talking about."
Maru couldn't help feeling relieved when she got home and was able to change into her grungy overalls. She didn't know how she felt about seeing Dr. Harvey again, and she didn't want to think about the encounter. Trying to teach Cookie how to fetch (didn't every dog know? But apparently not Cookie) was a welcome distraction.
It didn't take long for Gus's little sister Wendy to make her appearance. And as soon as she became a toddler, Maru would be able to start working.
"Are you sure you're ready to handle being a stay-at-home dad and vet?" Maru asked Shane the night before she was due to start work.
"You won't be able to spend as much time watching TV in your man cave," she warned.
"Gus can be out the door and down the street in no time at all. And now that he's been potty trained, he can get out before you even realize he's not in bed anymore," she added.
"Cookie loves getting baths, and he'll roll in trash just to make himself dirty so he can have one."
"And there's no telling what mischief Wendy will get into now that she's mobile."
"We'll all be fine," Shane assured her. "And I've made a big batch of chocolate ice cream to help me get through the day. Just make sure you check the tail pipe of your rocket before taking off."
"Why?" asked Maru.
"People have been known to stuff a potato in there as a prank," he said.
