Gremlins, Go Home! Read online

  “Of course. Amazing how few people seemed to know about it though,” Rolf’s dad answered. “Still, this is going to make that part of the work here a lot more important. Which reminds me—the surprise I mentioned I’d have for you after the launch. I’ve been asked if I want to shift into this new ecological study work.”

  “You?” said Rolf, staring at him.

  “Yes. It’s been a pet project of mine for some time. I didn’t want to say anything to you both because I wasn’t sure it could be pushed through. But it’s all set now. I’d be Engineering Director for it,” said Mr. Gunnarson, thoughtfully. “It means I’d have to go running off on trips to various parts of the world from time to time, but maybe we could tie some of those trips in with family vacations.”

  “Why, I think it’s marvelous!” said Rolf’s mother. “Why didn’t you tell me until now?”

  “Well, you were asleep when I came in at four a.m. after we got the launch wrapped up,” said Rolf’s father. “Besides, the only time this family ever gets together is at breakfast, and I thought we’d all talk about it together.”

  He looked at Rolf, who was staring back at him.

  “What do you think, Rolf?” he asked. Rolf gulped.

  “Cool!” he said, hastily, getting up from the table. “But I’ve got to go now. Rita’s waiting for me.”

  “Rita. That’s nice,” said his mother. “I’m so glad to see you spending some time with your friends for a change.”

  “By the way, you didn’t ask me for a dependent’s pass to the launch,” said Rolf’s father. “Where were you yesterday?”

  “Oh, just around,” said Rolf, halfway out the door.

  “And come to think of it,” said his father, “weren’t you asking about a ten-speed bike back there a week or so ago?”

  “Uh… well,” Rolf edged back toward the kitchen door. “I guess my old three-speed is fast enough, Dad. Really.”

  “But…”

  “I’ve got to go!” Rolf slipped out the kitchen door and paused only briefly in the hall to grab a towel from the linen closet.

  “Where are you going, dear?” called his mother.

  “Swimming! Down at the pool!” Rolf shouted back, stepping out the back door. His bike was waiting there with his bathing suit already in the rattrap. He added the towel to it and climbed on. Wait, he thought, until I tell Rita…

  “I thought—” A shadow that was his dad’s face spoke to him through the curtains of the half-open kitchen window, “you said you couldn’t swim because your leg bothered you—”

  “Oh, my leg’s fine!” Rolf called back. “It’s been fine for weeks. See you!”

  He cycled off.

  “That boy…” he heard his father beginning behind him; but the rest of the words were left behind. Rolf wheeled down the street in the morning sunlight; and for a second his father’s words about the new job and family vacation came back to him. His father—of all people! He felt sharply uncomfortable for a second, thinking how he had misjudged his dad. Then, the uncomfortableness was washed away by the thought of the trips. It really would be cool zipping around the world. Wait until he told Rita, and the other kids at school. He would have to ask Baneen how to go about finding the local gremlins in other places, once he got there. He wondered if the dogs in Spain or Japan spoke Spanish or Japanese, or whether he would be able to understand them the way he was still able to understand Shep…

  No point in letting the fact that he could see gremlins and talk to animals go to waste.

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