Chapter 18

"You two are an amazing pair. I'll bet that you weren't even thinking you had to play along to humour your poor crazy daughter."

"No, you're right. Justine and I already decided that she wasn't crazy."

"You had a conversation with your eleven-year daughter about her level of sanity?"

Patrick stared down into his cup.

"She brought it up."

Lee coughed on her coffee and turned red. She waved off Patrick's concern and regained control.

"I knew there was a reason I liked this family." She looked at her coffee cup. "I better leave this alone. This stuff is dangerous." She looked at him and Patrick thought there was a subtle shift in her eyes.

"You have all day, right? Let's go to the zoo."

"I haven't been to the zoo since Justine and I went with Wanda and the twerp."

"The twerp?"

"That's what Justine called Wanda's son when she wasn't trying to match us up."

"I'm glad to hear that she's normal in some respects."

"She was ten."

"Never mind. It's off to the zoo; lions and tigers and bears."

"Oh my."

The two of them giggled all the way to the car. Occasionally Patrick would hum a song from the Wizard of Oz while driving and they would start over.

***

It was a beautiful sunny day but cool enough for the animals to be moving around in their enclosures.

"Look," Lee said, "they've named the lion Maximus."

"He doesn't look much like a Maximus, more like a Minimus, or maybe a Medius."

"Give him time."

"They didn't give the rhinoceros a name."

"How about Arnold?"

Lee laughed, and Patrick felt something in him shift ever so slightly.

The zoo was a delight, or rather being at the zoo with Lee was a delight, but the afternoon went far too quickly. They finished the day off at a gift shop with entire walls of stuffed animals.

"So, what are you going to buy for Justine?" Lee was petting the fur on a huge plush lion.

"I don't know," Patrick lifted a much smaller lion from the shelf. "Maybe I should get a couple of things." He picked up a tiger too. "Do they have any bears?" Lee laughed again and Patrick laughed with her as she tossed him a small plush bear.

They got home mid-afternoon, and Patrick put together some chilli and left it to simmer in the slow cooker. Just as the afternoon light began to dim, Justine waltzed in through the door.

"Drasil didn't know what you meant by dark so he sent me home before there was a significant loss of light." Justine saw Lee and stopped dead. She looked at Patrick and sighed.

"So does she think I'm crazy?"

"It isn't polite to talk about people in the third person."

"So, Ms. Palenz, am I crazy?"

"Far from it. I've convinced your father that you are a certified genius and need to be challenged."

"Oh," Justine hung up her coat. "So what's a certified genius supposed to be like?"

"Different."

"Well, that fits." She saw the three animals sitting on the table. "What, the zoo didn't have any flying monkeys?"

Lee and Patrick looked at each other and went off in howls of laughter. Justine just shook her head and went to check on the chilli.

"When you're ready," she said, "we can eat."

It was a little while longer before they sat down to eat. Lee and Patrick took turns telling Justine about the zoo and soon had her in fits of giggles. After Lee left, Justine insisted on doing the dishes.

"Dad, you told her about Drasil."

"I did," he said. "I didn't know if I was doing the right thing. Lee helped me figure it out."

"By saying I was a genius. Did she say that I was making it all up because I was bored?"

"That was one theory, yes."

"And what is your theory?" Justine turned away from him to scrub at the slow cooker.

Patrick went and knelt beside her and turned her so he could look in her eyes. They were wet with tears.

"I am so glad to see you happy, that's more important than understanding where you're going. I think I will just trust my daughter."

Justine flung her arms around him and squeezed him hard.

"The spaghetti was a huge hit." She paced back and forth in the kitchen as she talked. "I couldn't believe that I got the noodles right on the first try. I tried to teach them how to twirl the noodles, but they couldn't do it. Well, Stone figured it out, But the rest wouldn't cut up the spaghetti. What's the use of making long noodles if you cut them to pieces? they said.

So, Marisha got out these things like chopsticks and they ate them like Chinese noodles. What a mess! There was sauce everywhere. But they liked it and Marisha asked me to show her again how to make it. Then we played tag, and Stone and I juggled together, and he kissed me goodbye."

She put her hand up to her mouth.

"Oops, I wasn't going to tell you that part."

"Why not?

"I didn't think you would like if I had a boyfriend."

"I'm not sure what I think about it, but what you think about it is more important."

"I don't know. He's twelve or something. He's fun and he listens when I talk and answers my questions sensibly most of the time."

"He sounds like a good friend."

"They all are, but Stone especially. I think he understands me."

"That's always good."

"I think I will just stick with being friends."

"May I ask why?"

"Because I like the juggling more than the kiss, and if I'm his girlfriend he'll want me to kiss more than juggle."

"Makes sense."

"Thanks, Dad." Justine blew him a kiss and went upstairs.

Patrick sat down at the table and stared at the lion and tiger and bear.

"My daughter was kissed by a boy," he said to them, "oh my."