Ashley and Geoff led Jack into the low-walled patio section of the property. Ash released the clip from Jack's collar and hung the leash on its peg inside. She saw her school bag on one of the chairs inside the front door. Most likely her father was home, in his study. Usually he'd appear for dinner and then leave again until well after midnight. She waved to her mom in the kitchen and went upstairs to wash.
On the back patio, Geoff wrestled with Jack and scratched his ears.
From inside, his Mom said, "Get in here and get cleaned up."
Jack followed Geoff into the house only to be chased back outside. The puppy sat on the other side of the glass, panting and fogging the pane.
Dr. Fox carried a file to the table as his wife chased Geoff into the nearby bathroom, attacking the task of cleaning the boy's face and arms. Fox thumbed through a top-secret logistics brief, his left hand resting on the Micronix device.
A few minutes later, Ana returned with Geoffrey, placed the last of the dishes on its wicker mat and looked upstairs. She took a deep breath to call for Ashley.
"I'll get her," Dr. Fox said. Before he cleared his chair, Ashley appeared at the top of the stairs and came down. She took her seat and noticed the black rectangle sitting before her father.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Work," he replied. “A paperweight.”
Despite its near constant presence, it was rare that Andrew let his children catch a glimpse of the device. Neither of them had ever asked about it before.
Dr. Fox looked at both his children. "Don't ever, ever, touch this. Not under any circumstances. Is that understood?"
Ashley and Geoff nodded. Geoffrey looked at the device. He looked as if he was going to reach out for it, but didn't.
Their mother returned and began serving the meal. Geoffrey started shoveling food into his mouth. Ana finished serving and sat. Neither Ashley nor her father moved toward the food. Ashley had noticed that when he had something to say, he usually did it before he began eating.
Ana broke the ice. "There's something we've been talking about…"
Ashley tilted her head and looked at her father.
Dr. Fox met his daughter's gaze, "I've arranged for you to attend a special camp this summer."
Ash asked to attend the Wellstone ballet camp and had her heart set on it. Summer programs were a great way to get familiar with the academy, making it easier to get accepted later.
Her father had said he’d think about it, an answer recognized by kids everywhere as synonymous with No.
"It may interrupt your ballet training for a couple of weeks," he said, "but Sifu Pan's Flying Dragons Martial Arts Academy is having a camp you should attend. Several of the instructors are accomplished dancers. The cross-training will help you with your ballet."
"Not as much as ballet camp would.”
Her mother smiled but didn’t say anything.
“Plus, I could get hurt," Ashley pointed out.
"You could get hurt dancing," her father countered.
"I bet more people get hurt fighting.”
Ashley's mother laughed.
Ashley looked at her food, her jet-black locks concealing her face. She raised her head, and her looked back to her father. "What if Geoff wants to take Kung Fu when he's older, does he have to take ballet too?"
Dr. Fox had raised his fork but set it down again. "Yes."
"Wait, what?" Geoffrey asked.
"If he asks to study martial arts, then yes, that aggression should be balanced by a softer art. Maybe not dance, but music or oil painting, something for balance," Dr. Fox answered.
"But that's not why you're making me take these classes, for balance?"
"With a boy who wanted to fight, you'd be trying to check aggression and develop maturity. With a girl, it's the opposite. You want to build physical self-esteem and intuition. But that’s not why you have to do it. You have to do it because I said so. Is that clear?"
In her father's study, the phone began to ring. He ignored it. It continued to ring as Dr. Fox held his daughter’s stare.
The ringing became incessant.
"Yes, clear." Ashley glared at her plate.
In the other room, the phone clicked over to the messaging system.
“I'm not hungry," she said.
"You're excused," Fox said.
Ashley stood and left the table.
The phone began ringing again.
Dr. Fox nodded to his wife and rose from the table, crossing to his study to answer. "What kind of problem?" he asked.