by M. A. Church
Keyno barely got the on the ground before Dale all but fell out of the flyer.
“Oh, oh, oh… Mom! Dad!” Dale raced up the walkway.
A feminine sob greeted him, and his mom, Lyn, burst into tears as Dale threw himself at her, lifted her off her feet, and swung her around. Dale eased her back on her feet, and Jerry, Dale’s dad, patted Lyn on the back and discreetly wiped tears from his eyes as he hugged both his wife and son.
A few feet behind them, Kia walked with Chad’s parents, Linda and Howard. Another heartbreaking shout echoed across the walkway as Chad ran to his parents. Gibor, Doc, Keyno, and John stood by, waiting, all their young staying close. All of them had big smiles on their faces.
Chad cried while hugging his mom and dad at the same time. “Missed you, God, I missed you both.”
“Oh my lord, I can’t believe you’re here.” Dale gasped as he pulled away to run his hands over his mom’s shoulders. “You came here. Jeez, I can’t believe you really came here.”
Antigravity transports, several loaded down with huge boxes, floated down the walkway.
“Oh sweetie, we missed you.” Lyn sobbed, hugging Dale tightly, causing Dale to grunt. “Keyno? We missed you too.” Lyn held out her hand to Keyno and the twins, wanting them to join the hug fest. Szin and Raiden were soon darting around the adults’ legs as Lyn placed both her hands on Dale’s cheeks, wiping the tears away. “Sweetie, we have another surprise for you.”
“What… what…?”
Lyn turned Dale around so he was facing up the walkway to where the transporter had docked. She rested her hands on his shoulders and squeezed as he looked at the dark doorway. Another female stepped into the light with a man behind her. This female was younger, much younger, than the first.
Black dots swam in front of Dale’s eyes as he struggled to breathe. It couldn’t be, just couldn’t be. “Susan? Susan!”
“Dale? Oh Jesus, Dale…” Susan darted down the walkway and launched herself at her brother. Dale wrapped his arms around her, taking her weight and somehow keeping his feet. Susan’s husband, Evan, walked self-consciously behind her while holding their child, Lindsey.
Dale hugged his sister hard, smelling the shampoo she used, the same one she’d always used. Sharp memories of his childhood assaulted him, and the urge to cry started all over again. “But, but… how? I thought Evan wouldn’t let you… I thought he hated the… How are you here?”
Evan stopped shy of the group, his face a study of grief. Tears swam in his eyes as he watched them. “I’m sorry, Dale, so sorry. My not letting Susan come over when you were at your parents was wrong and stupid. Hurtful. My loving wife came very close to leaving me over that.”
“I never should have let him stop me,” Susan cried, hugging Dale. “Biggest mistake of my life.”
“Whoa, whoa, the last thing I wanted was to cause trouble between you guys.” Dale pulled away from Susan.
“But that’s just it. In my anger with how the harvest was done, and losing some friends—my best friend—I took it out on you. Man, I was wrong. Your mate, all these guys”—Evan gestured to the group—“had nothing to do with the first few harvests. Malk was the first Tah’Narian I actually sat down and talked to.”
“Wow, really? Damn Malk, you…” Dale, eyes wide, turned to look at Malk, stunned. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”
“You owe me no debt of thanks. You befriended my mate and brought him out of his shell,” Malk said. “This was the least I could do.”
“That’s what got through to me. Malk told me everything that had happened since you left. You hadn’t changed. You may look a little different, but you are still the Dale I’ve known ever since I started dating your sister. Plus, finding out that many of the Tah’Narians didn’t like the way the harvest was done helped.”
“I’m… I’m just floored,” Dale said.
“Even though I acted like an ass, Malk was nice enough to offer his help in finding my friends. Yes, I want to know about my friends, but the reason I’m here—on another planet—is to say I’m sorry.” Evan held out his hand. “Can we be still be friends?”
Dale stepped forward. He grasped Evan’s hand and pulled him into his arms. “You’re my brother-in-law. Of course we’re still friends. You’re family.”
“Forgive me?”
“You bet.”
Gibor and Dayo joined Chad and his parents. Doc, John, Malk, and Kia were included, and the group nearly took up the whole walkway. Dale handed out the mini-translators that hooked around the ear. Now the humans could understand Tah’Narian speech.
The young crowded around Lindsey, the first female human child they’d ever seen. Lindsey was older, but Raiden and the others were as big as she was—all except Szin. Laughter came from the young while they eyed each other, and jokes drifted up the walkway as the adults talked.
“Okay, so what’s really going on here? I figured it would take an act of Congress to get you guys here, and what are all these boxes?” Dale looked at Keyno. “You evil alien, I can’t believe you hid this.”
“I set up passage for them, and, no, I didn’t want you to know. I sent a message to King Duran requesting extra passengers on the transport ship that was leaving Earth.” Keyno hugged Dale. “Now you know why I was so jumpy.”
“I told him if he was bringing your parents I wanted to request Chad’s parents come also,” Gibor said.
“I… ah, took the liberty of asking Dale’s parents to invite John’s grandparents. They, um, sent a message asking not to be disturbed again.” Keyno glanced at John. “I’m so sorry, John.”
“Those people…” Doc sighed, but John shushed him.
“I expected nothing less,” John said. “Fact of the matter is, I don’t want them here. They aren’t my family. You guys are.”
“Always.” Dale quickly hugged John. “Okay, what’s in the boxes? I’m dying here, guys.”
“Every ornament, knickknack, rolls of wrapping paper, ribbon… everything I have that’s related to Christmas. Years and years of Christmas memories,” Lyn said. “We, all of us, are having Christmas here. Our very first Tah’Narian Christmas, sweetie.”
Chapter Six
Turned out it was a good thing Doc and Gibor, along with Malk, had their flyers at the spaceport. Keyno’s, and the other three vehicles, were loaded down. And Keyno still had to rent a small public U-Flyer to haul all the things the parents had brought with them.
Chad’s parents had some personal Christmas things with them, but the main celebration would take place at Keyno’s home since he and Dale had more room. Dale’s mom and dad, plus his sister and her family, were all staying with Dale and Keyno. After everyone was settled, they turned their attention to the mound of boxes.
“Good grief, Mom, you brought everything. Where’s the kitchen sink?” Dale asked as he, with the help of Szin, unpacked a box. A roll of red wrapping ribbon had Raiden perking up.
“Keep looking; I’m sure she packed that too,” Jerry replied, completely deadpan. “Your mom brought everything else.”
A loud hiss and a low snarl rang across the room as Raiden attacked the roll of ribbon. Within seconds, he had it wrapped around him as he rolled back and forth.
“I think Raiden just killed the big, bad ribbon,” Jerry said. Szin giggled as Raiden tried to unwrap himself. Lindsey watched Raiden’s antics with a small grin on her face.
“Is the kitchen sink something that has to do with the Christmas?” Keyno asked, frowning down at a box. “I did not see that listed in my research.”
“Yeah, and it’s very, very important too. Keep looking.” Dale dug through another box while Evan tried to turn a laugh into a cough. “We must have that, or Christmas will be a bust.”
“Dale!” Lyn smothered a laugh. “He’s kidding, Keyno. It’s an idiom meaning I probably packed things I didn’t need. Dale and his dad are being smarty pants. Ignore them.”
Keyno glared at Dale. “Brat.”
“Oh
like that comes as a shock.” Dale glanced at Keyno. “Oh crap, don’t you dare, fuzz ball—”
Keyno launched himself at Dale, tackling him. He turned so Dale wouldn’t take the brunt of the fall as their bodies crashed together. Dale’s screaming laugh got Raiden’s and Szin’s attention. As soon as Keyno rolled them over so that Dale was on the bottom, Raiden and Szin jumped on Keyno’s back. Both of Dale’s parents laughed at the squeals, growls, meows… and giggles.
Raiden still had red ribbon wrapped around him, and Szin had found a pair of Christmas antlers with bells Dale had worn years ago for a school Christmas musical. Keyno managed to dislodge Szin and stand with Raiden in his arms. He tossed the young up in the air to delighted shrieks.
“Code Red, Code Red! Unidentified life forms on the main deck. Man battle stations,” Keyno yelled as he tossed Raiden into the air again. “Reverse engines and thrusts. All power to the shields!”
“Me next!” Szin hollered, tugging on Keyno’s pants while Raiden flew up in the air. Once he got Raiden on the ground, Keyno then threw Szin up in the air—not quite as high as he threw Raiden—then caught him and flipped him upside down before placing him on the floor. Both young jumped up and down, wanting to go again.
“Now you’ve done it.” Dale cracked up. “They’re not going to stop until you fall to the floor in an exhausted, limp heap.”
Lindsey tugged Keyno’s pants leg and held her arms out. Dale bit his lip hard as he watched, tears in his eyes. You couldn’t fool a kid. They knew deep down who was good and who wasn’t, and Lindsey wasn’t afraid of Keyno. Everyone in the room held their breath.
Keyno looked at Evan. “May I? I will be very careful, I give you my bond.”
“That means his word, and that’s a big deal with these guys, just so you know,” Dale said to Evan. Then Dale whispered, “You saw how careful he was with Szin. He’ll be even more careful with Lindsey.”
Evan nodded, and Dale had to close his eyes at the smile that lit Keyno’s face. God, his heart hurt with joy. Keyno gently lifted Lindsey and tossed her several inches up in the air, nowhere near as high as he tossed Szin or Raiden. Dayo and Neo quickly crowded around Keyno too.
“She’s not afraid of heights,” Evan said, letting Keyno know he could go higher.
“Oh my God, Dale,” Susan said, looking at Szin. “Szin found those antlers from the musical, remember that? I was a snowman in that thing. I hated that outfit. I looked like a goof.”
Evan rolled his eyes. “Please, I was Santa. My mom used a pillow to make me fat. I felt like a dork.”
“Lord, I’d forgotten that.” Dale watched Keyno. “We were like what? Fourth grade?”
“I have pictures around here somewhere. Let me see if I can—” Lyn went to get up.
“No!” Dale, Susan, and Evan yelled together.
“Oh you three, they weren’t that bad. Besides, Keyno would probably like to see what Dale looked like as a kid. And take a break,” Lyn added.
“Aw man, you just had to bring the photo album, didn’t you, Mom?”
“That’s what parents do, Dale. We live to embarrass our kids.” Lyn turned to Keyno. “Keyno, I have some photos of Dale when he was younger. Would you like to see them?”
“I would, thank you.” Keyno eased Lindsey to the floor.
Susan smirked when their mom showed the naked baby pictures of Dale. She didn’t stop to think about her pictures being included, or Evan’s. They’d been friends, then more, and all that had been recorded. Susan wasn’t smirking now. There were pictures of Chad too, which sent Gibor searching through the stacks of old photos.
“You were a cute young.” Keyno looked at Dale’s school pictures.
Of course, Lyn had pictures from all the grades, and Keyno was mesmerized.
“I like this, but why are you in the sink?” Keyno asked. He perused a picture of Dale as a baby, sitting in the kitchen sink getting a bath, and grinning from ear-to-ear.
“He’d gotten muddy, so it was just easier to rinse him there,” Lyn said. “Plus, I could see Susan playing outside too.”
Then Keyno found one of Dale sitting on the commode when Lyn was potty training him, again grinning.
“Interesting.”
“What?” Dale asked. Keyno turned the picture around so Dale could see.
“Oh my God, Mom.” Dale grabbed for the picture. “You swore you burned that. Gimme it, Keyno.”
“I don’t think so, chosen. I like this one very much.” Keyno held Dale off even though Dale still grabbed at the damning picture. “I do believe Cielo would like to see this.”
“You… you wouldn’t dare.”
“No?” Keyno asked with a smirk.
Susan poked fun at Dale until Lyn found one of her in the same embarrassing position. Evan had begged for it, causing Dale to laugh.
“Oh man, can we move on to something a little less embarrassing? Let’s get all this Christmas stuff up.”
“Okay, first off, what are we going to do about a tree? Dale, we always bought one.”
“Hmm. The trees here aren’t like the ones on Earth, Dad,” Dale said. “We could do a search for a picture of a Douglas fir and reduplicate it, but it wouldn’t be alive.”
“I think you should use what’s here,” Susan said. “This should be your tradition. Make it fit who you are, not who you were.”
“Keyno? All the land in the back is ours. Do you have a problem with cutting down a tree for this?”
Keyno stood up. “I would prefer not to kill a tree. We could dig something up and sustain it easily. After this is over, I could return it to the woods or we could keep it here in the house.”
“Well, it would certainly fit inside. It really looks like a jungle in here.” Evan looked around. “But I like it.”
“Yeah, think jungle cat.”
“That explains it.” Evan scanned the room again.
“It’s beautiful,” Lyn said. “It fits you too. You always had a thing for plants.”
“Makes me want to get some plants for the house when we get back.” Susan admired a neon pink plant.
“Dale takes care of all this, and the plants we bring back from other planets. I have a tree in mind. If anyone wants to go with me…?”
Gibor, Doc, and Jerry quickly stood. Everyone else stayed and started decorating. Once outside, Keyno went to the outdoor parking for the flyer and retrieved a tool to dig the tree up without destroying the root ball. He also brought along an antigravity transport.
“I guess men and their garages are universal.” Jerry ran his hand over the contraption.
“What do you mean?” Keyno asked.
“Go to just about any garage in the country and you’ll find tools in it. Even here, millions of miles from home, here’s a man and his tools.” Jerry slapped Keyno on the back. “It makes me feel like we have something in common, besides grilling.”
“I updated my grill since I last saw you. Dale wanted me to tell you.”
“Hot damn, I can’t wait. Let’s get this done so you can show me.”
Keyno led the other three to the tree he had in mind. It was ten feet tall, and the trunk was a deep purple. There were plenty of branches, and the leaves were a lighter purple, almost lavender, and lacey. The very tips of the leaves were silver.
“Oh man, yeah, no way we can cut this down.” Jerry touched a branch. “It’s beautiful.”
“Will it work?” Keyno asked.
“Perfectly. The lights for the tree are white, and there’s enough room between the braches to hang things.”
Keyno loaded up the tree, and they returned. The inside of the house was already beginning to take on a Christmas feel. Dale had found some of that fake snow in a can and sprayed the windows, after explaining what snow was to Raiden and Szin. Susan and Chad had scattered snowmen all through the house—some of which sang and danced.
More than once, Lyn had to stop Raiden from attacking the snowmen. Santa and his reindeer decorations were set out too. Som
e lit up or moved whenever someone passed by. Lights decorated many of the inside trees and large plants, red and green bows graced the containers, wreaths hung on doors, and Lyn had even brought her special Christmas plates.
“Oh my goodness, what a wonderful tree.” Lyn watched as the tree was unloaded. “It’s magnificent. You sure it won’t die? It’s much too lovely to die.”
“It won’t die,” Dale said. “The container has a monitoring system and will give it everything it needs.”
“Your mom could use one of those.” Jerry stuck his hands in his pockets, grinning.
“Oh hush, you.” Lyn swatted her husband.
Chapter Seven
Several hours later, with the help of so many people, the decorations were up. Trimming the tree was interesting. Dayo and Raiden kept trying to climb the braches, and Szin kept throwing the Christmas balls that weren’t breakable at them. Neo chased the balls while Lindsey stuck bows on all the young.
Keyno was staring at a ball that had a fat man in a red suit. “Dale, this is the Santa Claus? The one that breaks into houses and leaves gifts?”
“Yeah, he comes down the chimney, drops off the gifts, and we leave cookies and milk out for him.”
“Why does he not come through the door? A male of this size couldn’t possibly fit down the pipe that conducts smoke and combustion gases up from a fire or other heat source. Doesn’t this structure extend above the roof too?”
Dale noticed Lindsey was listening. Dale nudged Keyno and cut his eyes at his niece. “He’s magical, Keyno. Look, I’ll explain later, but trust me, the jolly fat man can do things that no mere mortal man can do.”
“Can he bring what I asked for all the way here?” Lindsey suddenly asked. “Daddy? What if Santa can’t find me here?” Lindsey’s bottom lip trembled.
Evan bent down and hugged his daughter. “We sent him a message, remember? He’ll get here.”
“But, but… What if…”
“The Santa will get here. He borrowed our fastest starship. Some of my best crew members are on board to make sure he arrives for you. I give you my bond the jolly fat man will find you.” Keyno sat next to Lindsey. He placed his fist over his heart.
