Responsibility 4/4
by Bernice Low
"I don't believe this!"
"What?"
Julia jack-knifed into a sitting position as Alonzo rolled onto his side on her bed in the MedTent, his shirt tantalisingly undone and displaying a significant area of his chest.
"Devon!..and Danziger!" Julia exclaimed. "I'd rather think about Julia and Alonzo." he replied drily. His fingers started to caterpillar walk up her bare arm. "You're going all clinical on me again doc.." he teased.
"Alonzo, be serious for a moment." she scolded and he sobered up. "Ok, what about Dev and Danz?
"Don't you see? They've just pulled a fast one on us." Julia told him. Alonzo looked confused. "I don't understand." "Alonzo - you said Danziger dragged you away and told you that our visit to the shower had caused True and Uly to ask questions. He didn't tell you exactly what True and Uly asked and he was hoping that you would automatically assume it was about..."
"Yeah..." Alonzo said slowly, beginning to catch on. "And Devon told you that Uly and True had asked about the facts of life but didn't mention anything about the shower visit."
"So, you would feel obligated to explain to the kids what happened, and I would be stuck with explaining it because I'm the doctor. Danziger and Devon have managed to neatly squirm out of doing this themselves." Julia finished.
The two of them sat in silence.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Alonzo asked. "Well, foist it back onto Devon and Danziger if possible." Julia retorted. "No, that's not right - Devon's right - as a doctor, I am probably the person whom they should talk to." she sighed.
"Hey! Isn't this 'parent domain'?" Alonzo mused. "Definitely - but unless we can find a way to send True and Uly back to their parents asking the same question, we're stuck with the job. And speaking of True and Uly, I suspect Danziger and Devon are just about right outside with them, waiting to send them in here." she said gloomily.
"What are we going to tell them?" Alonzo asked. "The bare essentials..." Julia mumbled. "Unless we can come up with something in the next 5 minutes."
"Maybe we should tell them we were checking the plumbing.." Alonzo mumbled. Julia looked thoughtfully at him.
"Alonzo... do you know anything about plumbing?" she asked. "Only as far as fixing the kitchen sink goes. Why?" "I think we may have a way out of this."
***
"They've been in there an awfully long time.." "This is getting ridiculous - what do you think they're up to?" Devon wondered out loud.
"You don't think Alonzo and Julia decided to tell them *everything* ?" Danziger asked, looking at Devon, as if for reassurance.
Devon frowned and tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. "Everything?" she queried, not following his train of thought.
"You know, everything Adair. Theory and practical." he said slowly. Devon was momentarily taken aback. It hadn't quite occured to her that Julia might tell the children... she swallowed, more. Panicked thoughts ran through her head.
"How long have they been in there?" she snapped. "About an hour." Danziger replied. "That's way too long. I mean what in the world could they be talking about?" Devon muttered - the word 'More' floated through her mind's eye.
Just then, Walman appeared.
"Hey Danziger - seen Julia anywhere?" he asked. "Yeah, she's in the MedTent with Uly and True. What's up?" Danziger asked, out of force of habit rather than anything else.
"Nothing - just wondering if she's done with the hose she borrowed from me earlier. Oh yeah, and the bucket." Walman replied,
"Hose? Bucket? " A frown creased Danziger's forehead. "Yeah - Baines and I gotta go on a water run soon. Could you mention it to her when she comes out? I've got some things to do now."
"Yeah, yeah sure." Danziger nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. Bucket? Hose? What the hell were Julia and Alonzo up to?
They sat in silence, both caught up with their own thoughts. Danziger scowled while Devon chewed her lip - both tried not to think about what could be going on in the MedTent.
"That's it! I'm going in there!" Danziger exclaimed, getting up only to find Devon grabbing onto his shirt. " Adair - don't try and stop me!"
"Stop you? I'm going in there too!" she announced. "Oh." he replied lamely and they advanced together to the entrance of the tent. Just as Danziger bent down to sweep aside the tent flap, his daughter's head popped through the tent entrance and she emerged, followed by Uly.
"True!" her father exclaimed.
"Dad - what's up? You look worried." his daughter stated perceptively. Danziger readjusted his features quickly into a broad smile. His daughter ambled past him, seemingly non-plussed.
"Hey Uly! How about a game of VR Knights and Dragons?" she turned around to ask the little boy.
The little boy seemed to ponder True's request deeply. "Ok - but only if you be the princess first and I get to be the knight.." he said slowly.
True scowled. " Ok,ok - but I'd much rather be the dragon.." she muttered as they raced off to find their GEAR sets.
Danziger looked to Devon, a puzzled expression on his face. The children seemed startlingly unfazed. This wasn't right.
That instant, Julia and Alonzo emerged from the tent, holding hands. Alonzo was carrying the aforementioned bucket and hose. Devon watched with suspicion as Julia stopped him to button up his half unbuttoned shirt and Danziger noticed Julia's hair seemed slightly damp. The two smiled cheerily at Devon and Danziger, who stood stiffly together a little distance from the MedTent, and continued their casual stroll to find Walman.
"Something's not right." Danziger growled Devon nodded. They looked at each other before racing off to find their children.
***
"Hey Doc, I think it worked." Alonzo remarked, having caught an eyeful of Danziger and Devon frantically tearing off to find their children when he cast a look backward to gauge the reaction of their little 'performance'.
Julia turned to look back and had to stop herself from laughing too loud in case they gave the game away.
"So much for the birds and the bees." she remarked. " Alonzo?" "Yeah?" he replied, turning to look at her as they walked to find Walman.
"Next time I get to play with the hose OK?"
***
"True!"
"Just a minute daddy..." True yelled back. Her father always picked the worse times to interrupt her. Suddenly, she found herself rudely snatched from VR back to reality.
"Dad!!!!" she protested loudly. "I was just about to slay the dragon!" "I'm sure it can wait. True girl, dad needs to have a talk with you." Danziger said seriously, bending down so that he was eye to eye with his daughter.
"I didn't do it." she replied instantly. "Do what?" Danziger asked in surprise. "Whatever it is you think I did." came the reply. Danziger shook his head. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about. What did Julia and Alonzo talk to you about in the MedTent?" he asked, deciding to be blunt. His daughter had an uncanny knack for knowing when he was beating around the bush.
"Some pretty boring stuff - the demonstration was interesting through." his daughter replied rather disinterestedly.
"Demonstration?"
"Yeah, Alonzo and Julia showed us the experiment that Julia was trying to explain to Alonzo that night. Daddy - it was just some experiment. How come you didn't know about it? " his daughter demanded.
"True.." her father said slowly, feeling very close to a heart attack, "what did Julia tell you about this experiment?" he spluttered.
"Uly probably remembers more about it." she said absently, getting bored with the tack of the conversation and started to saunter off. But her father took a firm hold of her.
"Just one more question True. Can you just mention one thing Julia told you?" he asked, utterly horrified at the thought that his daughter might very well have been completely corrupted at the age of 12 and it was all his fault.
"Dad - is something wrong? You're never this interested in what I learn.." his daughter remarked, concern in her eyes. Her father was acting very strangely and he looked like he's been in the sun too long.
"True..."
"OK, OK." She paused, and bit her lip as she tried to remember what it was Julia mentioned during the demonstration.
"I think she said water finds its own level...."
***
"Danziger!"
"Adair! We've been had!" he exclaimed when they met up behind her tent ten minutes later.
Just then, a stream of water hit them and proceeded to drench them both throughly. Devon turned around to see Julia and Alonzo grinning from ear to ear, wielding the hose indiscriminately at herself and Danziger.
***
It was a hot and balmy night [again!] in the Summer cycle of G889. Alonzo sat on guard, with only a lumalamp for company. His T-shirt hung on one of the low branches of the bush nearby.
Alonzo listened intently to the sounds of the night - Grendlers rustling away somewhere in the dark - probably trying to outsmart the laser system Baines set up around the perimeter. The night seemed to go by without a hint of breeze. Sweat trickled down his forehead.
He wished he could just sit there in his shorts - but that would be indecent. And Julia would probably be shocked at the thought of him sitting on guard with nothing more than his CKs. He sighed and wished he was in her tent with her.
The thought grew more tempting. After all, who in the world was going to attack on a night like this? The penal colonists would probably be busy finding a way to get cool rather than plotting attack.
Should he? It would just be for a little while. He cast a careful look round the camp. Nothing moved...
Oh, what the heck....
***
"Mom - I can't sleep. It's too hot." His mother uttered a 'hmmmm' from her bed. Uly sat up impatiently and looked over at his mother, who was dozing on the bed across from him. It was too hot to sleep.
He slipped his shoes on and padded quietly to the entrance of their tent. "Uly...?" he heard his mother's sleepy voice. "Going for a walk mom - it's too hot." he replied softly. "OK.." his mother answered drowsily. Just then, Devon catapulted up in bed. A walk?
"I'll come with you son.." she said, stifling a yawn. "It's OK mom - I'm just going round the camp once. I'll be ok." he reassured her but she was already pulling on her shoes.
***
"Hey Danziger."
"Hey Adair."
"Too hot?" Devon asked.
"She wanted to go for a walk." he replied. They walked together in silence.
"Alonzo's gone." he remarked.
"Left the T Shirt behind though." she replied, as they passed the usual spot where the watch took place.
Just then, her son and True came bounding up to her, slightly breathless. "Uly, you'll wake everyone up." she chided gently. " What's wrong?" she asked, noticing her son's slightly stricken expression and True's equally puzzled one.
"We heard some noises. Real loud noises." he whispered. "What noises?" Danziger asked, concerned. "They came from Morgan's tent mom. Do you think something's happened to them?"
"Mom? Mr Danziger?"
-The End-
Chapter End Notes:
So? Did you like it? Too much sex?? Too little sex? Your comments are gladly 'ahem' solicited...