Chapter 3
Preparation
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The next month went by in a blur of activity. The Ellsworths received their Linguistic Mapping Devices one afternoon, and as Dad had promised, it was easier than going to the dentist. Her father hadn't mentioned that a small area of scalp had to be shaved though, Abby thought darkly. She also believed that she could feel the tiny legs of the LMD meshing with her brain tissue, despite the technician saying that the brain had no sensory nerves. Maybe her brain was different. Tom didn't feel a thing. Both of them hoped that getting an LMD merited more ice cream. They were wrong.
The Ellsworths had to pack clothes and store the personal belongings that weren't going with them. Since they were going to be gone only for a year or so, Dad had decided to rent out the house rather than sell it.
Abby agonized over every item, even the clothes that she had outgrown and should have given away long since. And though they were heavy, she had to pack her collection of Nancy Drew detective books. These had originally belonged to Gemma, and they were old even when Gemma was a kid. The pictures on the front of the books were pretty funny; everyone was always dressed up. The girls and women had skirts, blouses and pearls on, the men were in suits. Even the boys were well-dressed, unlike the boys Abby knew. Tom liked to make fun of them and sometimes the books were kind of silly. But Nancy Drew was smart; and Abby thought that maybe she'd like to be a detective, too. And just like her heroine, Abby had a father but not a mother. Except that Nancy didn't have a brother.
Tom had a much easier time of it. Shoes, socks, underwear, shirts, shorts, pants. There. Now for the important stuff: pocket knife, compass (he supposed it would work on Gracchia), survival in the wilderness handbook. Tom and his friends had gone on a camping trip last summer, and although they hadn't got lost or gone hungry, it was still good to know which bugs were edible. Just in case. Maybe Gracchia had similar bugs; the scientists now believed that Earth, Gracchia, and the other worlds had developed in parallel.
Wilson the cat strolled into the bedroom as Tom was packing. Wilson knew which bugs were edible. All of them. Since he was a speck of a kitten, Willy had been engrossed in the hunting and (sometimes) the eating of bugs. Wilson was a beautifully sleek, dark gray cat with a white spot on his chest, perfect for blending in with the shadows from whence he stalked bugs. He supplemented his diet with cat food, but for him there was nothing so thrilling as a freshly caught insect. Grasshoppers were a special favorite, nice and crunchy. Wilson especially liked to bring his prey indoors for his people to admire. Just now he had a moth in his teeth. He let it go and watched it flutter to the ceiling of Tom's bedroom, unconcerned to see his captive escape. Moths were fun to catch, but the dry, dusty texture was not very nice to eat.
Oliver had the additional problem of finding a suitable tenant to rent their house. Gemma would be around to keep an eye on things but getting a good, steady renter was very important. Oliver had less than a month now to find the right people. He even contemplated leaving the house empty, but he knew that unoccupied houses quickly became unhappy and developed problems with the plumbing.
Oliver placed a 'For Lease' notice in the local paper and put a sign on the lawn in front of their small, two story house. The results were not encouraging. The first response was from a group of young male college students who apparently wanted to use the house as a sort of informal fraternity for a year. They seemed a bit hurt when Oliver politely but firmly turned them down. He remembered his own college years. Good sanitation hadn't been a major concern. In fact, cleaning hadn't been any kind of concern whatsoever.
The second response was from a nice, normal young couple. This seemed to be promising until the end of the tour when the wife asked Oliver if she could paint the living room black. "For seances," she explained. Oliver declined.
Other people made appointments to see the house but never showed up.
Then one Sunday morning, the doorbell rang, followed by a vigorous knocking. The three Ellsworths were on the back porch eating breakfast in the morning sunshine. Abby was choking down shredded wheat while Tom had raisin bran, the closest thing to a sweet cereal his father would allow. Abby used to like raisin bran until her brother told her that the raisins were really dried flies. She knew it wasn't true, but the image stuck in her mind and closed her throat.
Dad put down his coffee and went to the door to see who could be knocking at such an early hour. Probably, he thought sourly, it was a group of square dancers wanting to rent out his house for barn dances.
He opened the door to find a small figure dressed in a red baseball cap, a leather jacket over a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Oliver couldn't see his face.
"I beg your pardon for disturbing your freehold on a morning of domestic tranquility," the small figure said, "but I've heard that you wish to lease your property, and I petition to be considered as a tenant." The voice was high-pitched and had trouble with some of the hard consonant sounds. To Oliver's amazement, the person stuck out a brown, furry hand. Then the stranger took off his hat, and Oliver understood: this was a Gracchus. Naturally, he had seen pictures of Gracchus on television and even live from a distance, but never before in person. This may have seemed odd since he was about to move to the native planet of the Gracchus, but there simply weren't that many of them on Earth.
"In fact," the Gracchus continued, "I have a business proposition for you. I have a residence in Aurelia that is currently unoccupied, and I know that you will be moving there in a matter of days. Perhaps you would consider a trade?"
A house exchange with a Gracchus. This opportunity was simply too good to pass up. That is, if the house was sized for Humans and not for the considerably smaller Gracchus. Oliver didn't relish the idea of having to bend over every time he had to go through a doorway. He'd have to get details.
Oliver recovered his manners and his voice. He leaned over to shake hands and said, "I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Oliver Ellsworth. Won't you come in?"
"Thank you. My current name is Prospero." The Gracchus moved his white sneaker clad feet into the house. "As you can see, I'm incognito this morning." He gestured towards his clothing, then took off his leather jacket. "All this clothing is confining though. I'm quite hot." Prospero had light brown, curly fur unlike the Gracchus who had made first contact with Nigel Wooster. As the Ellsworths were to learn, the Gracchus varied considerably in fur color and texture.
Oliver was struck by the name: Prospero. The only place he'd ever heard that name before was in "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare. Then Oliver recalled some of the background reading he'd been doing in preparation for the move. Branagh Dinwiddie, one of the Humans involved with building the Gate and among the first to travel to Gracchia, had been a huge Shakespeare buff and had introduced the Gracchus to the master's works. The Gracchus had taken to the Shakespeare plays with great enthusiasm. (Although, it must be noted, the sonnets were not a hit). The Gracchus changed names almost with the casualness that Humans changed hairstyles, and some of them had adopted names from the plays. Prospero, obviously, was one such person. Briefly, Oliver wondered what Shakespeare would have thought of small, furry aliens reading his works, then thought that the Bard would have taken it in stride. He'd known that there were more things in Heaven and Earth than were dreamt of in his philosophy, after all.
"Please, follow me. I'd like you to meet my children." Oliver led the way through the house to the back porch. This was a great opportunity for Abby and Tom to meet a Gracchus before the overwhelming experience of moving to a new planet.
"How did you travel here? To the house, I mean," Oliver asked as they walked. He knew that the few Gracchus on Earth usually had drivers and sometimes a Human bodyguard or two. Aliens on Earth still attracted attention.
"I rode my motorbike. Most exhilarating," Prospero said.
Oliver had no time to ponder the vision of a Grac
chus on a motorcycle; they'd arrived at the back porch. "Abby, Tom, this is Prospero. He has a house in Aurelia on Gracchia that's empty and we're discussing the possibility of a house swap."
Tom and Abby stared for a moment. It wasn't every day your Dad brought an alien to the breakfast table. They saw a small person, about four feet tall, with short, wavy fur. His eyes were brown and were staring back at them with interest. The nose was brown also and protruded a little; they could see the nostrils flare as Prospero took in the scents around him. Once again, Prospero stuck out his hand. Abby was the first one to shake. "Hello Mr. Prospero." She smiled shyly at him. The fact that Prospero looked a little like a koala bear reassured her. Prospero tried to smile back knowing that smiles were a polite Human custom, and so he pulled back his lips to reveal very sharp white teeth. Now he looked considerably less cuddly.
"Nice to meet you," Tom said. He added, "Welcome to Earth."
Prospero replied with a string of growling syllables from the back of his throat. For an instant, Tom thought the Gracchus was going to attack, but then had the startling realization that Prospero had just spoken in Gracchian, and moreover, Tom could understand him. The LMD must now be fully functional. Prospero had said, "Thank you. Your planet is lovely and fruitful, long may it revolve around your golden sun." Cool.
Prospero continued, although in English again, "I see that you must have received your Linguistic Mapping Device already. Excellent. I must say, trying to learn English has been one of the more difficult problems I've encountered. It wanders all over the landscape like a grazing verdinger." Prospero rubbed one of his hands behind an ear. It made Abby think of Wilson cleaning his face.
Verdinger? Must be some sort of animal on Gracchia. Probably like a cow, Tom decided. Obviously the LMD couldn't translate things that were unique to an individual planet.
After an offer of coffee was politely declined, Dad began the house tour with Prospero. Tom and Abby went along, fascinated by the Gracchus. "I do have the choice of living in Gracchus House," Prospero said as they walked along, referring to the enormous estate that many of the Gracchus living in the city shared, "but I wanted to go out and live among the Humans. How else could I experience things like 'barbeque' and 'lawn care'? Tell me, is it true that the greenness of the lawn vegetation determines social status for Humans?"
Tom and Abby wondered what he was talking about. Their lawn had lots of beautiful dandelions; Gemma called them sunshine flowers. Abby loved them; after they were finished blooming they had puffy seeds that you could blow on and make a wish. Her father had once told her that the green leaves of the dandelion were edible, but she was pretty sure he was joking, and besides, sometimes the neighbor's dog peed on them. Yuck.
Prospero closely examined the bathrooms, turning the faucets on and off and flushing the toilet. The faucets were a bit of a reach for his arms, but they were adequate. He looked at the interior of the refrigerator and peered into the cupboards. Prospero even looked under their beds which for some reason made Abby want to laugh.
After touring all the rooms, Prospero produced a small cube from his jeans pocket. "Now, I'll show you the property on Gracchia, in the trade city of Aurelia." He pressed something on the side of the cube, and a three-dimensional image of a topless building leaped out of the cube. The holographic projection was about two feet tall and amazingly detailed. It was like looking down into a dollhouse. "Naturally, the residence has a roof," Prospero hastily added.
The house was oval, like a squashed doughnut, with a courtyard in the center. All the rooms in the house opened into the courtyard area where a fountain splashed. Abby was fascinated to see that she could see water moving in the fountain. For an instant, she almost thought she could see something moving under the water, but that was just silly. Yet the projection was almost like a little movie rather than a still picture. She looked for the bedrooms, trying to pick out which one she'd like to have. One of the small rooms at the back had a flowering bush growing outside a window. Maybe that one would be hers.
"Wow," Tom said. "Look, Dad, you can see right into the rooms. Is this the kitchen?" There was a huge room with a table at one end, and lots of different appliances at the other.
"Our food preparation and storage is simpler than your custom, but that room does function as a kitchen, yes," Prospero said.
The house looked more than adequate; Tom and Abby obviously liked it, and Oliver doubted that he'd find anything better. Plus, this way they wouldn’t need to impose on Macready while looking for quarters. A house exchange seemed ideal.
Prospero liked the Ellsworths' house, and he and Oliver easily reached an agreement and arranged a move-in date for Prospero. The three Ellsworths walked him to the door where he put on his small leather jacket, adjusted his cap and hitched up his odd-fitting blue jeans. "There. Now I won't attract attention," he said. Tom wouldn't bet on that. Tom wondered if Prospero had something like diplomatic immunity if the police stopped him.
"Thank you for your kind consideration. I'll take good care of your residence in your absence," Prospero said. "It has a good aura."
"Next weekend will be our last," Dad said to Prospero at the door. "Would you like to have dinner with us on Saturday evening? We can go over any last minute details, I can give you a set of keys, and I know the children will have questions they like to ask. Bring some friends, if you'd like."
"Sharing of food!" Prospero exclaimed with obvious pleasure. "I'd be honored." He formally shook hands with each of them, put on a pair of goggles, and walked to the driveway where he'd parked his small motorbike. He drove off down the street with only a slight grinding of gears.
"Uh, Dad?" Tom said.
"Yes?" Dad was looking absentmindedly at the receding bike.
"What are we going to serve? And do you think that Mr. Prospero is going to invite a lot of friends?"
"Hmm. He mentioned wanting to go to a barbeque. We'll just throw some things on the grill-- fish, chicken, lots of vegetables. They're omnivores, like us, so we'll have a good variety," Dad said.
"Omnivores means they eat everything," Tom helpfully pointed out to his sister.
"I knew that," Abby lied. Sometimes Tommy could be kind of a show-off. "Daddy, can I make something for the barbeque?"
"Sure, honey," Dad replied, his mind still elsewhere.
Abby was happy. She'd create a new recipe just for the occasion. Since Mr. Prospero looked a bit like a bear, maybe she'd make something with gummy bears in it.
Tom wondered if his father remembered his sister's other experiments in the kitchen. He thought that maybe they were a reaction to too much healthy food. The pancakes with chunks of bubblegum. The sticky clumps of spaghetti with chopped dill pickles. Not to mention the pineapple and mayonnaise salad. Ugh. The memory of this last dish made Tom shudder. He was pretty sure his father didn't remember.
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The last full week on Earth was extremely eventful for Abby and Tom. The final day of school was especially memorable as the reality of their departure sunk in. They would not be starting school again in the fall with their classmates. Tom's friends spent most of the day in idle speculation about aliens and strange planets. Secretly, most of them were glad they weren't going. Talking about aliens was one thing, but actually meeting them was another. The one person who truly wanted to go was Tom's best friend Doug. The other guys were great, but Tom knew he was really going to miss Doug. By the end of the day, most of Tom's friends had managed to shake his hand or at least punch his shoulder goodbye. Even Braxton Winkler had said goodbye. Braxton was the class bully, and Tom had fought a running battle with him since the third grade. Still, he would miss even old Braxton, the creep. Braxton punched Tom's shoulder a little too hard in farewell.
Abby and her two closest friends spent a great deal of the last day of school in tears. Whenever one of them would recover, they would look at the others a
nd begin crying again. The drama of one of their friends 'leaving forever' was quite pleasurable.
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The day of the barbeque arrived. Oliver wasn't sure how many friends Prospero was going to bring. Probably two or three, he thought. But just to be on the safe side, he'd make plenty of food. They had to clear out the deep freeze anyway so he'd grill all the meat, and he and the kids could eat the leftovers until they left on the following Friday.
Abby, rummaging around in the freezer, came across a large package of frozen bread dough, three loaves, whole wheat. She thought it would make a splendid base for her special dish. She insisted on having the kitchen to herself so the dish would be a surprise. Oliver, too late, remembered some of her other culinary explorations. Yet he couldn't possibly stop her from making something now; it might hurt her feelings, and Oliver would rather choke down a double serving of bubblegum pancakes than risk that.
Tom was delegated to mow the lawn. He comforted himself with the thought that they probably wouldn't have a lawn on Gracchia.
A little before five o'clock, an enormous blue Stratocar pulled up in the Ellsworths' driveway. Abby, looking out through the front window, was amazed as she saw twenty Gracchus pile out of the doors. Good thing she'd made a lot of gummy bear bread.
"Dad," Abby said, walking into the kitchen, "Prospero is here. He brought a LOT of friends."
Dad, pleased, took off his chef's apron and dried his hands. "Well let's go let them in! Abby, go call your brother downstairs."
He walked to the front door and opened it. Momentarily, Oliver was at a loss for words. The thought flashed through his mind that twenty trick-or-treaters had started five months early. There were maybe two dozen Gracchus on the doorstep, all talking at once. At the back of the group, like a parent, was a tall, very thin figure draped in a purple robe with many chains and amulets hung about its neck. This person had light blond fur and bright blue eyes.
Oliver recovered his aplomb. "Welcome! Please come in." Prospero, he thought, must have invited the whole Gracchus delegation. Oh well. He saw, to his relief, that some of them were carrying bowls of food.
Prospero fought his way to the front of the chattering crowd. "Oliver Ellsworth, my friend!" he exclaimed. "We cement the friendship with the sharing of food!"
Abby and Tom arrived, staring with fascination. "Abby, Tom, show our guests out to the backyard," Dad said.
Abby and Tom led the way through the house. Oliver stood beside the door and greeted each Gracchus filing past. Every one of them paused to shake his hand and introduce himself or herself, sometimes precariously juggling a bowl that seemed too large for small furry hands. Many of the Gracchus had on one or more articles of Human clothing: ties, scarves, belts, shirts.
"Titania," one especially small female said, extending a hand. That hand, Oliver noticed, had a beautiful emerald ring on one of the short fingers.
"Orlando."
"Constable of France." Oliver blinked at that one.
"Echegaray." Ah, they didn't all have Shakespearean names, then, Oliver thought. He'd been wondering if it was a requirement for a post on Earth. Or perhaps Echegaray was from one of Shakespeare's lesser known works.
"Beatrice." Oliver shook her hand and helped her to steady a bowl of what looked like potato salad. Beatrice was wearing a black velvet hat on her furry head and a Christmas wreath around her waist.
"Francottle."
"Tarquin."
Finally all the Gracchus passed. Oliver hoped that he'd be able to remember at least some of their names. The final figure approached, the one in the purple robes with chains and symbols draped about its neck.
"My name is Ebben," the person announced. Up close, Oliver could see that Ebben had a very sharp nose, almost rodentlike, with whiskers trembling at the sides. Oliver recognized Ebben as a member of the Elihu. Little was known about them; they were secretive and superstitious, known to be suspicious of outsiders. Oliver didn't even know if Ebben was a male or female; there were no obvious clues in the clothing or speech.
"Welcome to my home, Ebben," Oliver said hospitably. Unlike the Gracchus, the Elihu didn't want to shake his hand. That was fine with Oliver. He understood that different cultures had different rituals, and some transferred and some didn't.
"I'll proceed to the back premises directly. Prospero assured me that this bar- bee - kew would take place under the open sky." Ebben made a gesture indicating that it would walk around the outside perimeter of the house. "Your house may contain ghosts." Ebben said, and walked away. Ghosts? Not likely in an American suburb, Oliver thought. Perhaps the LMD mistranslated the term, and Ebben hadn't really meant ghosts.
Oliver hurried to catch up with Ebben who was now making its way through some shrubbery at the side of the house. He and Ebben were about the same height, but Ebben was much thinner and seemed to glide between the bushes without touching them at all. Oliver, on the other hand, kept getting his trousers caught on thorns. It was slow going.
They arrived in the back yard, which seemed to be full of Gracchus. Oliver saw Abby and Constable of France talking; she apparently was teaching him how to climb their elm tree. She dragged over a chair and proceeded to climb onto a lower branch; Constable of France, with considerably more difficulty, followed.
Tom was in the middle of a group near the table on the porch which was piled with food brought by the Gracchus. As Oliver grew closer, he could see that they were passing around Tom's trading cards, the cards with the pictures and 'facts' about alien cultures on them. They seemed to be causing the Gracchus great amusement; one would squawk loudly and read aloud a sentence from a card. Then the whole group would start gronking with laughter. None of the Humans had ever seen aliens laugh before, but it was unmistakable. Even Tom was laughing a bit ; he didn't entirely understand the cause, but the merriment was contagious.
"Here's one, here's one!" the Gracchus named Beatrice said, reading from the back of one of the cards " 'Because they are brilliant conversationalists, the Elihu are known around the galaxy as the life of the party.' Ha! Hahahaha." Beatrice caught sight of Ebben and choked back more laughter. "Sorry, Ebben, but that's almost as funny as believing the Aeris are gentle vegetarians." The rest of the group broke up again into laughter.
After shooting a glare at Beatrice, Ebben lifted his gaze to the horizon, ignoring the rabble.
Prospero hurried forward. "Oliver Ellsworth, my friend, thank you again for the invitation. How can I help?" He took Oliver by the hand as unselfconsciously as a child and drew him into the house.
"Some of the Elihu are all right, but I'm afraid Ebben can be a terrible stick in the wet dirt. We needed him to drive the car, you see; the last time we attempted to drive one of your cars with Beatrice working the pedals and Constable of France steering we met with disaster. I hope you don't mind," Prospero said. At least that answered one question; Prospero had called Ebben 'him.'
Oliver had known countless Humans who were similar in demeanor to Ebben. Of course he didn't mind, and he said as much to Prospero.
"I will need your help in getting out more chairs, though," Oliver said.
"Of course!" Prospero called in a half dozen Gracchus and they wrestled all the kitchen and dining room chairs outside. Then, with Oliver holding up one end of the kitchen table and four Gracchus holding up the other end, they moved the table outside, too.
Abby came inside to take her contribution to the party out of the oven. The bread dough had baked to a crispy golden brown, and tiny gummy bear heads poked out here and there like shy jewels. Perfect! She put it on the cooling rack.
Tom and Abby brought a stack of plates outside. Since their usual tablewear wasn't going to be enough for the group, their father told them to get out the good china from the dining room hutch, too. "After all," Dad said with a smile, "it isn't every day we get dinner guests who have traveled thousands of light years." Tom agreed. He'd n
ever really understood the concept of 'special' plates anyway.
Wilson the cat, ever audacious, joined the noisy party. He circulated among the Gracchus and got a fair amount of attention and petting. But the person who took the greatest interest in Wilson was Ebben the Elihu. He kneeled down and made noises of inquiry at the cat. Wilson tilted his head and reached out a cautious paw to touch the whiskers on Ebben's face, then quickly pulled the paw back. He meowed. Ebben meowed back. This went on for some time until Wilson got bored and wandered off.
Dad finished grilling the chicken which always took forever. The hamburgers, pork chops, and a small amount of fish were already done, waiting on a platter with a cover to keep the flies away. Abby brought out her gummy bear bread creation. Oliver was happy to see it looked fairly edible.
Even with all the chairs outside, there still weren't enough for everyone, so Tom brought out a large blanket for some of the guests to sit on. Everyone filled a plate with much discussion of the food choices and found a place to sit. The blanket was the most popular spot. The Gracchus didn't sit cross-legged but rather sat back on their legs in a sort of modified crouch. Tom thought it looked uncomfortable. Abby was thrilled to see that every one of the Gracchus had taken some of her gummy bear bread. She looked further; even Ebben had taken some! In fact, Ebben had taken some of her bread and a little fish, that was all. He must not be very hungry, Abby thought.
Most of what the Gracchus had brought was slightly weird renditions of Human food. The potato salad, for instance, had ketchup in it. There was a green tossed salad that looked normal but seemed to have maple syrup as a dressing. Tom and Abby's favorite was the bowl of uncooked brownie dough.
Even as everybody began eating, the noise level didn't diminish appreciably. Tom noticed that the Gracchus felt no shyness in eating off others' plates and sharing bites. They didn't try to take any of Ebben's food, however.
Prospero sat next to Oliver at the table. As soon as he sat down, Oliver perceived a problem. He rushed inside and brought out a large armful of books for the Gracchus to sit upon so his chin didn't rest on the table. Oliver ended up bringing out the entire encyclopedia and all the phone books besides to boost all his guests.
Abby finished quickly-- she liked playing with food more than eating it-- and walked over to where Ebben was sitting. "Mr. Ebben--" she began, but got no further.
"Young one," he said, "to use a hierarchical title is offensive to our kind."
Abby was mystified. What in the world did he mean?
Ebben continued, "To use a title in front of my name implies a quasi-unequal paradigm of oppressive modality fostered by a patriarchal hegemony."
Was her LMD not translating properly? Did it not work on the Elihu language?
“Have you been warned of the ghost problems on Gracchia?” Ebben said with a dizzying change of subject.
“Ghost? What ghosts?” Abby asked.
“Ah, I thought not. Even as the Gracchus believe themselves to be lords of the universe, they’ve not been able to control the seepage at the gates. Ghosts,” Ebben said.
Beatrice, the Gracchus who had brought the potato salad, overheard this part and interrupted Ebben before he could elaborate. “Nonsense. Ebben, don’t scare the child.”
“Scare the child? You consider the truth to be frightening?” Ebben asked, his lip curling.
Abby looked from the Gracchus to the Elihu, wondering what was going on. They couldn’t really be talking about ghosts. Could they?
Ebben abruptly turned away, dismissing them. He stalked off in search of more amenable company. Wilson moved in on the Elihu’s plate of half-eaten food, sampling the fish with cat-sized bites.
Beatrice waved a hand in the air, brushing away the troublesome Ebben.
“Now, I understand that you made this wonderful carbohydrate masterpiece with the ‘gummy bears’?” Beatrice asked Abby, taking her hand and drawing her away from the receding Elihu.
“Yes, I did!” Abby beamed. “But what was Mr. Ebben saying? Are there really ghosts on Gracchia?”
“The Elihu have a long tradition of exaggeration. There’s no thing too small for them to worry about,” Beatrice said.
“Now, would you explain this thing you call a lawnmower? I have promised Prospero that I would help to maintain the green integrity of your vegetation, and so there’s much we must learn.”
“C’mon. We’ll get Tommy to show you; he’s the expert,” Abby said.
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Oliver was glad to see that both Tom and Abby seemed to be at ease with the Gracchus. Sometimes Abby especially could be reserved around strangers. And yet the Gracchus were so friendly and interested in knowing more about Humans, it was hard to see how anyone could be uncomfortable for long around them.
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During the big cleanup later that evening, Abby related her odd conversation with Ebben to her Dad.
“He said that I shouldn’t call him ‘Mr.’ because it was a sign of a patriot hedge or something like that,” Abby said, putting away the clean silverware. “And then Mr. Ebben said that Gracchia has ghosts coming through the Gate.”
“Oh. I wouldn’t worry too much about that. He wouldn’t walk through the house because it might have ghosts,” Dad said.
Tom bagged the trash, three sacks worth. “The Elihu word for ghost is also their word for intruder or trespasser,” he said, tying a knot at the top of the last bag.
“How do you know that?” Abby was curious.
Tom shrugged and lifted two of the bags. “Don’t know.”
“The doctor said that the LMD would operate a little differently in each of us,” Dad said, picking up the last bag and opening the door to the garage.
“At any rate, we’ve nothing to fear from ghosts. And the Gracchus control the Gates; I don’t think they’d allow trespassers.”
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