Smallara

Madison came into her room with the force of the afternoon attached to her.  The bedroom door opened fast, and the hallway noise came in with her for half a…

Ava’s homework came in later, after Brooklyn’s, and with far less fanfare.  There was no video call.  No bright face filling the tablet.  No cheerful interruption, no casual claim, no…

Greg had started on Brooklyn’s science homework. He sat at the little workstation Madison had set up inside the habitat, the tablet propped at an angle in front of him,…

It was noon when Brooklyn called.  The tablet rang with a cheerful little chime that cut through the habitat like a thrown stone.  Greg startled first.  He had been dozing…

  The tablet started ringing.  Greg and Cindy both turned toward it at once.  The sound cut through the habitat with bright, cheerful insistence, too loud for the quiet that…

For a long time, neither of them said anything. The plan sat between them, unfinished but real. McKenzie would need to know. Greg would have to tell her. The application…