Spoonbenders

She could have been any age between seven and twelve. Teddy paged through the roster of children he knew to be in the house, sorted them by gender, age, and race, and came up empty. Graciella and Irene weren’t in the room.

“And who might you be?” Teddy asked.

“June,” she said.

“Hi, June.”

“June,” she said, slightly differently.

“June.”

She was already bored trying to correct him. “It’s not really karaoke, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” he admitted. “It’s for highly advanced psychometry. Do you live in the neighborhood?”

He didn’t get an answer. One of the twins shrieked in joy and sprinted from the room, and Not-Exactly-June gave chase.

That’s when Irene walked in the door, carrying two paper sacks of groceries.

IRENE

“What the fuck?”

The living room had been turned into a laboratory: black cases sprouting wires and cables; half a dozen small satellite dishes on tripods, like inverted umbrellas; control boxes on the coffee table and the floor.

Destin Smalls greeted her with a cheery hello, and G. Randall Archibald—the Astounding Archibald himself—waved at her from near the couch.

Teddy ushered her toward the kitchen. “Nothing to worry about, Irene. Just a little science.”

“Where’s Matty?”

“Downstairs, playing. Perfectly safe.”

She gave him a dark look. “You’re on top of this, right?”

“I’m offended you even asked. Off you go.”

Buddy passed her carrying a tray of coffee cups. Irene went into the kitchen with the groceries, where someone stood at the counter, chopping vegetables. The someone was Joshua.

He set down the knife and lunged forward, just in time to grab a bag as it slipped from her grasp.

“Hi,” he said.

Her body was having a full-on chemical reaction. She wanted to throw herself on him. She wanted to run away. She wanted him to run away, and then she’d catch him, tackle him, and squash him into the ground.

Her mouth eventually managed to make words. “What are you doing here?”

He set the bag on the counter. “You didn’t know I was coming?”

“Why the hell would I know you were coming?” Anger, even fake anger, was good. It gave her something to hold on to.

“Your brother invited us to a picnic,” he said.

“Buddy?” And then: “Us?” She flashed on the unknown child in the pack who’d run past her. “Jun is here?”

“Yeah. It was my weekend, and I figured, hey, adventure.”

She couldn’t think of what to say.

“He didn’t tell you,” Joshua said.

“Nope.”

He blew out through his lips. “Okay. I’m so sorry. We’ll go.”

“You can’t,” she said. “I’ve got four pounds of ground lamb shoulder in the car.”

“Four pounds?”

“I thought Buddy was overestimating, but it turns out, he may be right on target.”

“Right,” he said. “Us and the karaoke guys.”

He helped her carry in the groceries and put the perishables into the already crammed refrigerator. During the process she tried to figure out what was happening in her body and in her brain.

“So…” he said.

She stopped him. “Where’s Buddy?”

“Outside?” he said.

She took Joshua’s hand and pulled him outside. Buddy was in the yard, crouched over the same device he was working on yesterday. Two cables, one red and one blue, ran from it for a couple of yards, then vanished into the lawn.

“Buddy,” she said. He didn’t respond. “Buddy, look at me.”

He stood up reluctantly. The thing he’d been fiddling with was an orange canister. The cables terminated at a junction that was topped with a big red button.

“What is that, a bomb?” she asked.

Buddy’s eyes went wide. Then he shook his head.

“I’m kidding,” Irene said. “Buddy, I wanted you to meet Joshua in person. See, he and his daughter came all the way from Arizona.”

“We met,” Joshua said. “He was in the street when we pulled up.”

“That’s awfully nice,” she said.

“Don’t be mad at him,” Joshua said into her ear.

“Is there anyone else coming I should know about?” she asked Buddy. “Anyone else dropping by? You know, in case we need more lamb shoulder.”

Buddy grimaced.

“Who?” Irene demanded.

“Surprise,” he said quietly.

“Jesus Christ.”

The kids ran through again. Somehow they’d acquired water pistols, and the older kids were carrying giant Super Soakers, the AK-47s of squirt guns. Jun was grinning and yelling with the rest of them. Sooner or later, someone would be crying, but for right now they all seemed happy. Buddy eyed them, then covered the red button with a metal cap that snapped shut.

“The garage,” she said to Joshua, and took his hand again. There was no logical reason she needed to physically drag him around. It’s that she got a charge every time she touched him, fizzing up in her bloodstream.

Graciella’s Mercedes wagon took up most of the space. Irene popped the back hatch and gestured for him to sit beside her.

“Nice car,” Joshua said.

“It belongs to the mob,” she said. “Long story.”

They said nothing for perhaps half a minute. The air warmed between them.

“You left kind of suddenly,” Joshua said.

“I hope I didn’t get you fired,” she said.

“Me? No. Others, though…”

“Really?”