ERIDAHN by Robert F. Young

Author:Robert F. Young [Young, Robert F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi, Time Travel
ISBN: 0345308549
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2013-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

When he awoke he did not know how long he had slept. Probably not for very long, for the vine-covered entrance to the cathedral was still dark and he was certain he had not slept the clock around. Deidre was sitting beside his bed. He saw that her own bed was neatly made. Skip’s bed was on the other side of his, and Carpenter saw that the boy was sound asleep beneath its topmost blanket.

Daylight could not be far away for there was a dawn chill in the big room. Deidre had no bowl of soup, no container of milk. Why was she sitting there in the cold? “Aren’t you tired, Pumpkin?”

She shook her head.

The head of his bough bed had been lowered. He twisted around and found that the folded blankets that had propped it up had been pulled from beneath it. He knew it would be awhile before he could fall back to sleep and he did not feel like lying flat on his back, so he began trying to shove the blankets back in place. Deidre pushed his hands away and shoved them back herself. Then she sat back down again.

It was silent in the huge nave. It was a reassuring silence. The kids were with him and they were all right. Somehow he would have to get them back to Mars, but there was no need to worry about that at the moment. Anyway, if he could not get them back, he could always take them to Earth-future with him. What was important right now was that they were okay.

“Mr. Carpenter?”

He looked at Deidre. This was the first time she had ever spoken to him directly. He could not see her face clearly because Skip had turned Sam’s searchlight down to a lower beam, but he could see it clearly enough to tell that she was crying.

Was she upset because of Hugh? he wondered. He found this hard to believe. Hugh had barely touched her. Then why was she upset? Why, almost every time he opened his eyes, did he find her crying beside his bed? “Pumpkin, there’s no reason for you to cry.”

“Yes, there is, Mr. Carpenter.”

“I’m going to see to it that you kids are okay.”

“I know you are, Mr. Carpenter. That’s why I’m crying.”

He did not know what to say.

“And,” she went on, “I’m crying because I was so mean and wouldn’t speak to you. You’re the most wonderful person I’ve ever known. No one’s ever been so nice to me as you have, and no one’s ever really cared before what happened to me, and I wouldn’t even speak to you because I’m a mean, stuck-up princess, and I’m so sorry I just plain want to die!”

Carpenter reached out and touched her hair. She was in his arms then, sobbing. “You didn’t have to speak to me, Pumpkin. I understood. And it didn’t make me like you any less.”

“You should hate me, Mr. Carpenter.”

“How could anybody hate you?”

“Because I’m mean and stuck-up.

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