Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go…
My grandmother used to sing her that song. A horse with a sleigh to through the white and drifted snow.
This year the river was a shining river of molten blue glass lava, and the woods were Lama and Steel Bark trees. The Steel Barks were black with shiny yellow leaves that never dropped. The Lama trees were covered with soft white fuzz that covered up 6 inch long poisonous spikes. Or at least they were poisonous to humans. The drifted snow was blue and black ash shot with sparkles of green. As for the horse and sleigh, she had to settle for her mini glider. Wheels wouldn’t be safe on most of the either slick or spiky terrane.
Despite the dangers I still think it is a beautiful sight to behold.
“Gwen, what are we doing for Thanksgiving this year. Is everyone on their own or will you be hosting a dinner?”
I glanced over at Garland Holbright He was a pain in the ass. Charming, unnaturally good looking, and a self-righteous pain in the ass. Damn good looking. He was along as the star reporter for Intergalactic Geographic.
I am the Commander of the USS Invictus, speeding through space, exploring everything, on a scientific mission to better understand whatever we feel like it on any given day. Actually, it is more complicated than that, but lately I’d been feeling a little disjointed and maybe my biological time clock had been ticking too loudly, or maybe I just needed a new hair style. I don’t know. It isn’t like I’m unhappy. I love my job, and my life, and my crew. I’m happy. Usually. I’m also in love with two different men and nether one of them know it. Or at least I don’t think they know it. One, unfortunately is Garland Holbright.
“I’m not sure yet,” I said. “How did you celebrate when you were growing up?”
Growing up on Earth like we both did, but in extremely different worlds. Garland had been genetically engineered by his extremely wealthy parents to be the perfect child. He wasn’t a random mix like the rest of us. He was born to be perfect. In order to keep his mother’s body perfect she’d had him grown in an artificial womb.
In her defense, artificial wombs are pretty cool because you can see your baby grow, just like looking in an aquarium. Then just like baking a cake when toothpick comes out clean, or the timer goes off, whichever comes first, you have a perfect custom made baby. On the other hand, I view stretch marks as a sign of honor, like battle scars.
I on the other hand was a mash up of random genetics from a vacation my parents went on Hawaii. I was made under the light of a full moon on a State Park beach in Oahu no less. I was kind of sort of planned, and my parents were always pleased with the outcome.
Right now, at this very moment, Garland and I were as far away from Earth and babies and our families as we’d ever been.
Garland smiled, a beautiful perfect wistful smile, and said, “my family has a house in New England, in New Hampshire. They’ve owned the property since the 1700’s, before the American Revolution. We would gather there with all of the family, ride horses, play in the snow and take sleigh rides, if there was snow. My grandmother lived there year around. She grew the pumpkins and apples for the pies. My sister, cousins and I would hike the woods and walk along the river. My grandmother’s neighbor raised the turkeys. Our personal chef and her family always came so the food was amazing. It was a magical time. How about you?”
“We stayed home,” I said. “I grew up in California, so we didn’t get snow. Sometimes it was foggy, but it was usually nice. We’d smoke a turkey and have friends and family over. Everyone would bring something. It was fun. Um, I was thinking we could set up a tent, away from the glass flows, in the flower fields with the view of the mountains.”
I have to say the mountains were amazing, like something out of a Kay Nielson drawing. The entire planet was like something out of a Kay Nielson drawing.
“I like that,” said Garland. “A picnic Thanksgiving.”
We started to talk about the menu when I got a call from Boof Andersen. Boof grew up homeless, or in a pod shelter with his mom. His Thanksgivings were either in a shelter soup kitchen, or whatever his mom could scrounge up. Needless to say, he and Garland did not like each other at all.
Did I mention that sometimes I also feel like I’m living in a bodice ripper romance? Two men, one blond, one brunette, both exceptionally hot and smart, one rich, one poor…what is a girl to do? I liked the poor one a little bit more. Actually, a lot more.
“Commander, you and your Frankensteined friend need to get back here as soon as possible,” said Boof. Like I said, he and Garland don’t like each other. By the way Frank or Frankenstained is a derogatory term for genetically designed babies of the rich and perfect. Pretty much it is used by those of us in the Space Force.
“What’s going on?” I asked my Chief Science Officer.
“Ironic Three the giant glass volcano is going to blow in the next hour. There was no warning. It isn’t like other volcanic events. I’ve never seen anything like it but…you have to get back NOW. We have to leave the orbit of the planet NOW.”
“Leave?”
“It will throw debris and hunks of flaming glass the size of a football stadium into the space. It is going to leave a crater a minimum of ten miles deep and the size of the state of Colorado.”
So much for Thanksgiving plans. The sixteen of us who were on the surface of the planet quickly evacuated. I headed the USS Invictus out into space where the entire crew watched the planet nearly explode. It had to be the most frightening and magnificent thing I’d ever seen. Then I got our asses out of there before we were smashed to smithereens by flying chunks of blue and green glass.
My geology team would have loved to stay and study it up close and personal, but it was just too dangerous. I left a few unmanned drones to keep collecting data.
Later, in the period I consider night, as much as we can have an actual night in space, I went to my private quarters. The holidays sort of made me sad. Sure, I had my space family, and believe me, in space we become close if we’re lucky. I’ve been on shitty crews, but I made sure the one on my ship was civil and for the most part caring. I knew it couldn’t be 100% perfect (Boof and Garland for example) but it was at least 90% perfect.
As for my biological family, it was just my brother Sterling and me. Our parents had passed away when we were both in college from Covid-384. Millions had died in the outbreak that came through like a blast of wind, then left before there was time for a vaccine or any kind of help for those who were in its path. The rest of our family was wiped out by the tsunami that hit the city of Crescent City after the last huge Alaskan Earthquake. It was a 9.8 and rocked our world in more ways than one.
Sterling and I both joined the Space Force and left Earth. Boof, always the history buff, compares our trips to the voyages of the 19th Century whaling ships that would be gone for years on end, while the wives and families waited patiently for them at home. Sometimes he’d talk about the earlier 17th and 18th Century explorers, or the early space explorers who left home forever to spend the rest of their days on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
I still saw Sterling every year or two, though it had been three years since I’d seen my baby brother’s face in person. We talked all the time, but it just isn’t the same as in person. He was on another research ship on the other side of the galaxy. The last time I saw him was at his wedding. Time flies, even in space.
After dropping my clothes into the wash, I put on my favorite fuzzy robe and curled up in front of the screen, looking for a movie I hadn’t seen yet. The doorbell buzzed.
“Are you alone?” Boof asked. I noticed he had a bottle of wine.
“I’m quite alone. Come in.”
“I just received an invitation from the research ship USS Nebula. They’re 32 hours away. We’ll rendezvous for Thanksgiving. ”
“The new A Class?”
“The very one. They have a new Commander too.”
“Who is it?”
“I hear he is good, and everyone is happy with him.”
“Who…”
Boof stepped forward and stopped my words with a kiss. “I’ll open the wine. It’s from Napa.”
“How’d you pull that off?”
“I have my sources,” he said.
We had some wine, watched a movie (an ancient funny one called The Barbie Movie) and Boof spent the night, or at least the next nine glorious hours.
In the morning he told me that Garland Holbrook was going to join the USS Nebula for a while. Boof was quite happy to share that information with me.
“Do you still talk to your mom a lot?” I asked him. He’d set her up comfortably and for the first time in her life she was truly happy. She missed Boof but he saw her whenever he could.
“I hope to see her when we get back home. Six months seems like a long time, but I’m excited about it. Maybe you’ll get to meet her.”
“I’d like that,” I said.
“Gwen, I know you miss your family, especially this time of year.”
“Thanks. I wish I could see my brother soon. I haven’t heard from him for a couple of weeks. He said he was super busy. Oh well.”
Boof kissed me and gave me a hug. Sometimes even Starship Commanders need hugs.
Thirty two hours later we saw the spectacular new USS Nebula. The Commander requested I visit the ship right away.
Boof, and I took a shuttle to the new ship. Waiting for us was the commander.
I started to laugh, and he ran to me then picked he up in a hug and swung me around.
“Sterling!” I said to my brother. “You have your own ship! Oh my goodness. Congratulations.”
“Happy Thanksgiving Sis,” he said.
And so, it was the happiest Thanksgiving anywhere in the entire universe.
~ end
Thanks for dropping by. This is a new story for Thanksgiving 2023 based on the stories Hollow Heads and Three Ships.
~ Juliette aka Vampire Maman
Vampire Maman 