Chapter 30 – The A. Goths, Pancakes, and S. Lees
Most of the time Alexander was in too much of a hurry to examine the stone standing in front of the lab, but one morning he took time to examine it. It was a petroglyph hinting at robots and dogs perhaps.
One day he was offered the opportunity to become an evil scientist, but he knew that was something that would disappoint his father. So, instead of going off to insult some tourist, Alexander worked on the rocket instead.
He couldn't, however, resist trying out one of the new functions on his Mortray – that of getting another sim to clean. The lab was becoming a bit messy – debris from his repair job on Mort scattered around, scorch marks on the floor near a chair that someone had tried, unsuccessfully, to transform, that sort of thing. With a sigh, Alexander approached Zachary Johnson.
"I could use one of these in the shop," Alexander mused as he watched Zachary clean surfaces that didn't appear to be dirty. "Anyone who comes in, just to window-shop, bam – they're cleaning the counter instead."
But that was the extent of Alexander's foray into mischievousness. When it came time to test his snake oil serum, he decided to try it out on himself. It tasted a little funny, but he didn't see what the problem was, until --
At home he tried to make Cornelia's bed a little more comfortable. He only succeeded in making it warmer. Luckily Janessa was on hand with the fire extinguisher. He did better with one of the eggs he'd picked up, turning it into
Seduction by the Sea, a romance that would put anyone in the mood.
That evening Janessa took Cornelia to the park, so she could go across the monkey bars three times. Naturally, Cornelia had to show off her latest trick.
The next morning Isobel helped Cornelia with her homework. She was almost an A student now.
Much as he loved his daughters, though, there were times when they got on his nerves. It wasn't them so much, it was the dippy little tune of Cornelia's Keyboard Commander game, and the bits of wisdom that Isobel kept sharing from her book on charisma, like "To have a friend, be a friend."
Maybe he'd look into becoming an evil scientist after all.
Bill Pancakes was beginning to enjoy his job, now that he'd been promoted to orderly and had more responsibilities. Besides the usual tasks of mopping up spills, smoothing down beds, and escorting patients to a treatment room, he was actually allowed to do things with patients besides deliver their food. Things like checking their ears and eyes, taking a swab, and taking their temperature.
Bill still couldn't make a diagnosis on his own; once he'd analyzed a swab, he had to turn the patient over to a doctor. But once a diagnosis had been made, he could give the medicine to a patient.
He was even allowed to give Jeremiah Parkham a shot. Wisely, Bill didn't tell Jeremiah that this was the first time he'd ever stuck a needle into anybody.
But hometime was still the best time. He finished his latest screenplay,
A Night to Remember, and started on a non-fiction expose,
The Cut-N-Gut HMO. He hoped for rave reviews for the latter. Even with his books selling well, Bill's proudest moment was when Robert told him he'd brought his grades up to a B.
Cassandra was pretty proud, too.
"Qiriki, there were a couple of things that I should have told you before we got married," Waldemar said to Stacy one morning. It was her day off from the hospital, so she didn't have to go to work.
"You mean, like the fact that you're an alien?" she said.
"You knew that already," said Waldemar. "No, the truth is that I'm just not happy being a scientist. I'd much rather fish and play with the children's toys."
"Oh," said Stacy. "Well, how about this. You give me a satellite dish and a ray gun that I can sell in the shop, and then you can quit."
The next day at work, Waldemar ignored all the tasks that had been lined up for him and concentrated on making those two items. He finished with about an hour to spare, and headed for the fishing hole.
The next morning he phoned in his resignation. He and Stacy took their items over to the shop, and Stacy put them up for sale.
Soon after that, customers started showing up. Cassandra Goth was the first to buy a ray gun.
That evening, they had a small party, inviting over Stacy's brother Peter and one of Waldemar's friends, Janessa Galvan. The two of them seemed to hit it off.
Meanwhile, Qatzi and Qimi chatted to each other outside. They were in a race to see who could become a teen first. Qatzi was at level 8 of the creativity skill, but still had to practice the violin for a few more hours (a sure way of gaining the alone time she desired), while Qimi was at level 6 of the mental skill and had to make 3 emotion potions.
"Did you see the lights?" Stacy asked the two girls as she hurried outdoors. She didn't wait for an answer.
The little dancing lights became a column.
An hour or so later Stacy was floated back down to earth.
Her anti-gravity device ceased before she quite reached the ground, and she landed with a bump.
Dazed and confused, she stumbled indoors and climbed into bed.
