MOTHER'S DAY
By
Anne Backus
Timeline: On way to New Pacifica
Author's E-Mail: ABackus@aol.com
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I have been lurking on this list for a while so I figured I better contribute. I have been trying to write a long piece of fiction but I haven't been able to finish it. Last night this idea popped into my head so I sat down and wrote this piece for Mother's Day. I hope its not too bad.
(You know the drill about copywrite, so I won't repeat it.)It's dedicated to mother's everywhere.
MOTHER'S DAY
By Anne Backus
A month had passed since Devon had been healed and the group had been traveling steadily since. Things had been going smoothly for a change. Spring was here and things were growing again. One day the group stopped by a river to camp for the night. Everyone worked quickly and efficiently to set up the camp. After so many months on G889, they could have set up the camp blindfolded.
"True, Uly. Time for lessons." Yale called to the children.
True and Uly stopped their game and came and sat with Yale while the rest of the group finished setting up camp.
"I've been scanning some history files and found something interesting. Tomorrow is Mother's Day."
"What's that?" Ture asked.
Yale tried to explain, "Well, back on Earth in the 20th century, humans started a custom called Mother's Day where, on one Sunday in the month of May, children honored their mothers."
"Only one day. What about the rest of the year?" a puzzled Uly asked.
"Hopefully they honored her all year, but on this special day they were extra good and maybe gave her a gift." Yale continued. "Even made her breakfast in bed. According to my files, burnt toast was a favorite."
"Boy, it would get messy having breakfast in bed." True giggled.
Uly looked thoughtful then a smile spread across his face. "I'm going to do that for my mom. I'll bring her breakfast in bed and I'll find her a neat gift."
"She'd love that Uly" Yale smiled at Uly then noticed that True had a sad look on her face. "What's wrong True?"
"I don't have a mom to do anything for."
Yale took a moment before answering, trying to figure out how best to help True. "I think if someone didn't have a mother, but had someone else who raised them or was like a mother to them, they might honor that person like they would have their mother."
True's face brightened. "So, I could give my dad a Mother's Day present? Do you think he'd like that?"
"Sure, he's been a father and a mother to you. I'm sure he would love it." Yale said.
"Neat, True. What are you gonna do for him?" Uly asked.
True thought for a moment. "I don't know. I think I'll bring him breakfast and think of a gift for him."
"Come on, lets start looking." Uly spoke as he grabbed True's hand and the two ran off. Yale watched with a smile as the two children went to find the perfect gifts for their parents.
By nightfall, the children had found what they had wanted to give as their gifts and had gotten Yale to help with the breakfast plans.
Before dawn, Yale had quietly woken Uly and True without waking John and Devon in the process. They quickly prepared the usual breakfast oatmeal but they added some special fruit they had found while searching yesterday. They had Julia test it and swore her to secrecy about it until breakfast had been served.
As the sun rose on another late spring day, the children headed off to their parent's tents. But before the kids reached them, Devon and John exited their respective tents. Upon seeing their kids, they asked simultaneously, "What's going on?"
"Dad, we were trying to surprise you. What are you doing up?" True sounded disappointed.
"Sorry True. Sometimes nature calls." Danziger walked over to his daughter and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"What have you kids got there?" Devon asked.
They both chimed in. "Breakfast!" Uly continued, "We made it special for you. Yale told us that today is Mother's Day and we wanted to do something special for you."
"How sweet." Devon bent down and carefully hugged Uly who's hands were full.
True excitedly continued. "We couldn't make burnt toast like kids used too, so you'll have to have the usual oatmeal. But we added something special."
"We found a patch of these red berries," Uly jumped in, "and Julia tested them and said they were edible. She says they are like wild strawberries that used to grow on Earth. They're really good."
"Try it, Dad" True was tugging on her dad's arm to get him to start eating.
"Slow down kids," Danziger said, "give us a minute to sit down." Devon and Danziger sat themselves by the campfire. True and Uly placed the bowls of oatmeal into their hands. By this time the rest of the group was up and slowly gathering around the fire.
"Hey, did you make some for us, too?" Baines inquired of the young chefs.
Yale let everyone know that there was enough oatmeal and strawberries for everyone. After being served, they enthusiastically began to devour their breakfast.
Sometime later, Danziger rose from the log, rubbing his stomach. "That's the best breakfast I ever had kids. Thanks for the delicious surprise. Now it's time to get to work."
"Not yet, Dad. You have to get your Mother's Day gift first." True was about to dash off to where she had left her gift, when Danziger stopped her. Bending down, he spoke quietly to his daughter, "In case you forgot. I'm not your mother."
"I know that Dad. But since you've been the one that raised me and you've always been there for me, you're a father and a mother to me. So Mother's Day is for you too."
The two Danziger's looked at each other with eyes filled with love and unshed tears. "Thank you, True. That means a lot to me."
"I got to get your gift, too, Mom" Uly and True both took off to the place they left there gifts.
John and Devon watched their children run off and then looked at each other. A smile of mutual pride passed between them. In a moment the children were back.
Uly's arms were filled with wildflowers. "Happy Mother's Day. I know how much you love flowers, Mom. When True and I were out yesterday, we found a field of these and I just knew it would be perfect for you." Uly placed the flowers into his mother's open arms.
"Oh, Uly. They're beautiful. I haven't seen flowers like this before. They smell wonderful. Thank you." Devon freed up one of her arms and then wrapped it around Uly in a hug.
"I didn't think flowers were a good gift for you, Dad. So I tried to think of something you would really like. It took a while, but with Yale's help, I made this for you." She handed him a piece of paper on which she had painstakingly drawn a picture of John and herself.
"True, this is wonderful. I didn't know you could draw so well." John could hardly speak with the huge lump in his throat. He wrapped his arms around True in a big hug.
There was hardly a dry eye amongst all of the Eden crew. Bess leaned over to Morgan and whispered, "I can hardly wait until I'm a mother." Morgan looked aghast at the thought of being a parent. But then smiled at his wife and said, "Yeah, I can hardly wait either."
Devon kissed Uly and stood up saying, "We better get a move on. We'll never make it to New Pacifica if we don't get going."
Everyone started packing up tents and supplies and prepared to move on. Even though is was a special day, they had to keep moving.
Danziger walked over to Devon and smiled. "Those are some kids we have"
Devon looked at John nodded her agreement, "They sure are special."
-The End-
Hoped you liked it.
send comments to ABackus@aol.com
This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.