It hadn't been their worst fight, but Pauline was pretty sure that it would be their last. She and Hank had been fooling around Sunday afternoon, just kissing until they worked up the momentum to go upstairs. That it would be the 212th Sunday afternoon in a row that they would spend up in the bedroom might have been why she'd said, "You know, it wouldn't have to be a big wedding."
"Whoa," Hank had said. "Let's not rush things here."
They had gone back to kissing, and for a moment, all was harmony again.
But Pauline couldn't let the subject drop. "We've been engaged for four years," she'd reminded Hank.
Hank had exploded.
"What's got into you?" he'd complained. "You hate commitments. I hate commitments. We agreed that we didn't want to be tied down when we moved in together. So what's the problem?"
"Maybe I feel like it's time to settle down," Pauline had said. "Or maybe I'm ready to move on. I don't really know what I want, I just want something different."
"Why?" Hank had asked. "We've got a good life together. We have fun."
Pauline had thought about what they'd done earlier that day.
"Yeah," she'd said. "You watch TV while I dance to the stereo. Whoop-ti-doo."
Hank had pushed out of the room. "I'm going to the beach," he'd called over his shoulder. "See you later, alligator."
Pauline usually responded, "After a while, crocodile," but today she just didn't feel like it.
There was something she hadn't told Hank yet. That morning she'd received an e-mail from her old buddy Cassidy in Oasis Springs:
So here's the deal: I'm setting up a girl band, and I thought you might like to join. I need someone who can pick up the violin fast, and I've never seen a stringed instrument that you can't coax a tune out of . I think you'd like Oasis Springs. SASA (Sims Aeronautic and Space Administration) has a base here, and there are plenty of hunks (and a few geeky chicks) hanging around. It's the perfect place for a party girl like you. So what do you say? Hugs and kisses, Cassidy
Pauline thought about Cassidy's e-mail while she swam out to go wind-surfing.
She loved riding on the water, and the weather today was a perfect mix of sunshine and ocean breezes. She could forget everything and just concentrate on steering her sail. Oasis Springs was in the desert, she remembered, but here in Sunset Valley, she lived a 5-minute jog from the beach.
"And I already have my own hunk," she thought, when she spied Hank playing in the water.
Maybe she would tell Cassidy that she wasn't planning to go anywhere, thought Pauline as she fixed some autumn salad for dinner.
Or maybe she would tell Hank that once they got married she would learn a few other recipes, as he was always hinting he would like her to do. By the end of the day, the only decision Pauline had made was that she would wait and see how things were in the morning.
She didn't get much sleep that night. Images of handcuffs clashed with images of a bride and groom. Did she really want to get married? she couldn't help asking. If Hank were the one suggesting marriage, would she want to go ahead or would she get cold feet? If she didn't like being married, they could always get divorced -- probably that wasn't the best attitude to have.
Getting up the next morning, Hank remarked, "You know, it's funny -- you and I both have a lifetime wish to be a heartbreaker."
Funny? Pauline thought as Hank started his bath running. She didn't think there was anything amusing about the situation at all. She threw off the covers and scurried downstairs to pee. A line from an old song kept running in her head -- "Give me a reason to stay and I'll turn right back around."
Hank did look gorgeous in his uniform -- that was one reason.
But he didn't look so gorgeous when he was reading, obviously avoiding conversation.
"What did you mean--" Pauline began, just as Hank's carpool arrived outside and honked.
"Wait!" said Pauline.
"Gotta go," he said. "See you later, alligator."
"After a while, crocodile," Pauline responded glumly, to the closed front door. She finished her cereal and washed the dishes. Then she called Stiles McGraw to tell him she was quitting.
"But -- " he expostulated.
"My old friend Cassidy is setting up a girl band in Oasis Springs," said Pauline.
"We could probably arrange for you to spend more time playing on stage and less time packing the van," said Stiles.
"Thanks for the offer," said Pauline, "but no."
"Hank going with you?" asked Stiles.
"No," said Pauline. "We're -um- taking a break. It's complicated."
"Oh. Well. Good luck!" said Stiles. "You can always come back if things don't work out."
Pauline wrote a short note to Cassidy telling her that she'd arrive in Oasis Springs soon. She then spent a couple of hours staring at a piece of paper trying to figure out what to write to Hank.
Like you said this morning, we both want to be Heartbreakers, and neither one of us has made any progress these past four years.
Pauline paused at that point and spent another hour trying to decide whether to tell Hank where she was going. If he followed her and tried to win her back, that would be very satisfying, but if he just wished her well, she would feel devastated. If he really wanted to know, he could find out from Stiles, but then Stiles wasn't the most gossipy person she knew. Stiles might even forget.
My old friend Cassidy Perdue has invited me to join her band in Oasis Springs.
That said, Pauline struggled with finding the right way to end her note. Love, Pauline? -- too generic. Love ya! -- too breezy.
We'll always have Sunset Valley, she wrote. I'll miss you.
By then, it was almost time for Hank to get home from work. She didn't have time to pack, but that didn't matter -- she could pick up some new clothes in Oasis Springs. Pauline went out the front door, closing it behind her. Hank always complained when she forgot to lock the door. Pauline didn't think it was necessary because he got home about 5 minutes after she left for work -- this had been the subject of about half their fights. He was paranoid; she was reckless.
She locked the door and used her house key to weigh down the note on the table on the front porch.
"Oasis Springs, here I come!" she announced to the world as she left.
Chapter 2 -- Prologue in Sunset Valley, Part 2
The first thing Hank noticed when he returned home was that the newspaper was still on the front porch.
That was odd. Pauline always brought the paper in and read it with her morning coffee. She loved to find out who was doing what in Sunset Valley, although lately she'd had a disturbing tendency to focus on wedding announcements.
Hank continued inside. The house felt curiously empty. Pauline usually was home on Monday afternoons, because she didn't have to work until Tuesday. "Pauline?" he called.
There was no sign of Pauline but there was a note on the table. He picked up the keys she'd set down on top of it, and then read the note. Hank didn't remember anything about saying that he wanted to be a Heartbreaker, but he did remember that Pauline had said something about wanting to get married. But if she wanted to get married, why had she gone off to Oasis Springs?
Hank went inside and tried to figure things out. He knew that his mind was a bit slow -- Pauline always ran rings around him mentally. Cassidy -- he dredged up a memory of Pauline telling him about her best friend from high school, Cassidy...he couldn't remember her last name.
After a few minutes of bewilderment, Hank reached a decision. He would go and find Cycl0n3 Sw0rd. He was the brightest guy Hank knew, and he felt sure that if anyone could help him figure things out, Cycl0n3 could.When Hank finished explaining the situation, Cycl0n3 had a few questions.
"Has Pauline received a phone call from this Cassidy?" he asked. "Any letters?"
"Not that I know of," said Hank.
"How about e-mail?"
"I wouldn't know," said Hank. "We agreed right from the beginning to keep our e-mail accounts separate and never to pry. I don't even know Pauline's password."
"No problem," said Cycl0n3. "I know where to find it. You guys don't have a computer, right? So she had to use the one at the library. I know the hard drive of that baby like I know the back of my hand."
It didn't take Cycl0n3 long to find Cassidy's e-mail and Pauline's response.
Sounds like fun! she'd written. I'm in a relationship that's going nowhere, so maybe it's time to move on. Okay if I crash with you until I find a place of my own?
"That's harsh, man," said Cycl0n3.
Hank shrugged. He didn't understand what Pauline meant by "going nowhere." They didn't need to go anywhere, they were perfect right where they were.
"Come on," said Cycl0n3. "I'll give you a ride home."
Dazed, Hank followed him outside. Yesterday, Pauline had been talking about a wedding, he remembered now. She had said they didn't need to have a big wedding, and he'd reacted the way he always did when anyone mentioned marriage, i.e., he'd said, "Eww! Get away from me!" But now that he thought about it, maybe a wedding wouldn't be so bad.
"Oasis Springs is a happening place," Cycl0n3 told him, when they returned to Hank's house, "and I understand that SASA is looking for astronauts. You're in good shape. I bet you could get accepted."
"I could probably pass the physical," agreed Hank, "but I'm sure they're looking for people who can use a computer, too, and you know, I'm just not brainy enough for that."
"It's not that hard to learn," said Cycl0n3. "I can teach you."
And so, for the next two weeks, the residents of Sunset Valley were astonished to see Hank Goddard and Cycl0n3 Sw0rd together in the library, hovering over the computer. This, in itself, wasn't surprising as Hank always consulted Cycl0n3 on cases that might involve a computer. The surprising thing was that Hank was the one at the controls.
The day finally came when Cycl0n3 declared that Hank was ready to apply as an astronaut.
"Are you sure?" asked Hank.
"We-ell, as ready as you'll ever be," said Cycl0n3.
"That's what I was afraid of," said Hank. "I wish you would come with me. You always make things seem so clear."
"I've been thinking about that," said Cycl0n3. "I can get a job as a video gamer there, which sounds really attractive."
"That would be great!" said Hank, "but are you sure you feel okay about leaving Sunset Valley? What about Blair?"
"Blair's the best," said Cycl0n3. "She and I have been best buddies since middle school, and I hope she finds a wonderful husband who deserves her. But that's probably not going to happen as long as I'm in the picture confusing things. I'm pretty sure Stiles would make a move if I weren't around, and more power to him, I say."
"So it's settled, then," said Hank. "Oasis Springs, here we come!"
Chapter 3 -- A Day with Ollie and Cassidy
The house was smaller than the one she had shared with Hank, but it would have to do until she was able to move out on her own. There was a bedroom with a dresser for Pauline and Cassidy, and a smaller bedroom -- almost a monk's cell -- for Ollie.
It was strange not to have an ocean nearby, but Pauline thought the wind sounded nice.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said about her violin-playing. Ollie and Cassidy were too polite to cover their ears, but when they suggested that she turn on the radio and try to play along, Pauline realized that she really did sound as bad as she thought she did.
"It's okay," Ollie said encouragingly. "It's got a good beat. You can dance to it."
Pauline didn't think so. On the whole, she was relieved when Cassidy found a beginning book on the violin for her. "Although I don't think I sound nearly as bad on the violin as she does on the guitar," she confided to Ollie.
"Hey, I'm sure the two of you will be cranking out hits in no time," said Ollie. "At least you're not painting one of the creatures from Spore. I want my art to say something important, but I keep producing llamas and cuddly aliens."
"Some people like cuddly aliens," said Pauline. The minute she said that, she wished she could take it back. She liked Ollie, and maybe a couple of years ago she would have tried to get involved with him. But at the moment, she just didn't feel like flirting. Luckily Ollie was too morose about his painting to read anything into her comment.
"Do you think I should call Hank?" she asked Cassidy a little while later. "Let him know where I am? At least give him my address so he knows where to send my mail?"
"Not on your life," said Cassidy. "He'll just go back to taking you for granted again."
"But I don't think I told him your last name. He might not know how to find me."
"He's a detective," said Cassidy. "He'll find you."
Hank hadn't made detective yet, thought Pauline, but she didn't want to say that -- it sounded mean-spirited. "Maybe you're right," she said.
"Of course, I am," said Cassidy. "It won't hurt him to work a little. And if he doesn't want to make the effort -- well, there are plenty of other fish in the sea -- or maybe I should say rocks in the desert."
A few weeks went by without Pauline hearing anything from Hank, and she was beginning to worry. One afternoon, shortly after she got a promotion (to Open Mic Seeker), she dialed his number.
"I'm sorry. The number you have dialed is a non-working number," said the recorded voice.
Pauline thought she might have made a mistake and called again. Same recording.
She gave up and dialed Jamie Jolina's number. The phone rang quite a few times, and Pauline was worried that she might have caught Jamie while she was sleeping. Jamie was an intern at the Sacred Spleen Hospital, and it was really hard keeping track of her schedule.
"'Lo?" a sleepy voice finally answered.
"Jamie, it's me, Pauline!"
Jamie perked up quite a bit. "Well, where are you?" she asked. "Everyone's been worried."
"Everyone?" said Pauline. "I left Hank a note."
"Yes, well, no one wants to ask him about you. It's like he radiates this force field that says 'I don't want to talk about it.' It's weird -- he's been hanging out a lot with Cycl0n3. Anyway, where are you?"
"I'm in Oasis Springs," Pauline explained. "Cassidy, my friend from high school, suggested we start up a girl band, and Hank and I were kind of in a rut, so I thought I'd shake things up a bit."
"Well, next time, tell your best friend what you're up to. I was worried. Anyway, what do you think of Oasis Springs? Do you like living in the desert?"
"I'm having a great time. I found some uranium the other day. It's not worth as much as tiberium, of course, but it was great being outside."
"And what about your social life?"
"We-ell," Pauline hesitated. "Cassidy said the bars would be full of hunky wannabe astronauts, but the biggest population group in Oasis Springs seems to be elders. So far I've met one older woman who was wearing the same outfit I was..."
"...but there was a guy who was kind of cute who was visiting with his grandparents or something. He's really more your type than mine."
"And did this paragon have a name?" asked Jamie.
"Braxton Burroughs," said Pauline. "Something like that. Why all the interest in Oasis Springs?
"I have an interview with an organization located there," said Jamie. "It's not a hospital, but that's all I can say."
"It would be great if you could come here," said Pauline. "Don't get me wrong -- I enjoy living with Ollie and Cassidy. Ollie's a great painter -- or going to be one...
"...and it's great having other people do the cooking...
"...but it does feel cramped sometimes, and with three people in the house, the plumbing breaks down faster. But if you came here, then we could share a house, or maybe the four of us could get something bigger. What kind of job is it?"
"That's hush-hush," said Jamie. "But I can tell you that Thornton Wolff was there for an interview at the same time I was."
It was time for Pauline to go to work then, so she rang off. It would be great to have Jamie here in Oasis Springs, of course it would, but at the moment she really wished Hank could be here, too.
Hank really wished Pauline was around when it came time to eat. His confidence in his cooking skill was at a minimum. The only good thing he could say was that he was pretty sure he'd be better at cooking than Cycl0n3. He didn't think Cycl0n3 knew the difference between potato chips and the silicon variety.
Cycl0n3 had found a job as a tech guru, and Hank had been accepted for training as an astronaut. So far his duties were pretty easy -- he had to be enthusiastic about the space program and stay in shape. Hank headed for the local gym to take care of both tasks.
On his way home, Hank spotted a woman playing the guitar. He couldn't help wondering if that was Pauline's friend Cassidy. There couldn't be too many musicians in Oasis Springs, could there? And the blond guy listening to her -- was that Malcolm Landgraab? He'd heard gossip that the Landgraabs were leaving Sunset Valley, for reasons unknown. Hank thought about going over to say hi, but he hesitated. The last time he'd seen Malcolm, he'd been picking him up for staying out past curfew. Besides, he wanted to surprise Pauline.
For the next few days Hank went to work and came home. Some evenings he went to the bar, hoping to run into Pauline, but he never saw her.
But one evening he met a woman who had met Pauline. She didn't mention her by name, just said that she'd gotten into an argument earlier that day with an opinionated Asian woman who wore her hair in two ponytails. She'd finally quit talking to her and watched TV instead.
Hank understood the feeling.
The house he and Cycl0n3 had moved into was in a pretty neighborhood with a brook nearby. Hank knew they wouldn't be able to stay there, however. There wasn't room outside for a telescope, let alone a rocket ship.
He went for a walk one afternoon, checking out a vacant lot to see if they might build a house there. Cycl0n3 didn't care about his living conditions, as long as he had a computer and a coffee maker. In the yard next door, Hank spotted a painting.
The kitten kind of reminded Hank of Pauline, and he took a quick peek through the window, hoping to see her. She wasn't there, but he did catch a glimpse of the red-haired guitar player, repairing the toilet.
Had he found Pauline's house? Hank went home, his mind in a whirl. Did Pauline really live just up the street? But if so, why hadn't he run into her yet? Surely she had to go to work sometime. Of course, when they'd been living in Sunset Valley, she'd worked nights rather than during the day. Perhaps tonight he'd go out for a stroll around 10 or 11. Hank yawned. If he was going to do that, he'd have to take a nap first.
Chapter 6 -- Contact!
As the days wore on, Pauline began to feel more depressed. She and Ollie and Cassidy all had a birthday at the same time, so they decided to have a party. Ollie baked a hamburger cake for them.
They had a party, but Pauline forgot to take pictures. The next day she felt worse than ever. Here she was, an adult already and she still hadn't gotten married and had children. Worse than that, she had no idea where Hank had disappeared to. She couldn't even go back to Sunset Valley and live with him again.
"Why don't you go to the gym and get some exercise?" Cassidy suggested. "It will make you feel better."
Pauline hated exercise, but she had to admit that now that she was middle-aged, her upper arms were getting a bit saggy. She did a few presses, enough to work up a sweat, and then she went to take a shower. When she emerged from the shower, she thought for a minute that she was hallucinating. "Hank?" she said. "Is that really you?"
"Well, who else would it be?" said Hank. "I was beginning to think that I would never see you again."
He showered and changed, and they went outside to talk.
"I'm an astronaut now," he said. "Well, a module cleaner really, but maybe I'll get to go up into space someday. Cycl0n3's been helping me with my computer skills."
"That's great!" said Pauline. "I'm learning the violin -- I've picked up $100 in tips so far."
"Good for you!" said Hank. "So -- are you too mad at me to give me a hug?"
"Of course not, " said Pauline. "Why don't you come home with me and meet Cassidy and her brother?"
It felt a little awkward having Hank in the house. Pauline couldn't help seeing things through his eyes -- the smaller, plainer rooms, the fact that there was no upstairs and only one bathroom. She couldn't help anticipating the question, "You left me for this?" She and Cassidy and Ollie weren't living in squalor, but it wasn't their color-coordinated home in Sunset Valley either. She and Hank danced together for a few minutes.
"I have to go to work now," she said, "but we should get together again soon. We have a lot to talk about."
"'I don't have to work tomorrow," said Hank.
"Neither do I," said Pauline. "Meet you at the park next morning?"
Pauline woke up early the next day, hungry and nervous. "I painted a picture that's supposed to make you feel confident," Ollie told her. "Why don't you go check it out?"
Pauline went to look at it. She didn't feel confident exactly, but the butterflies in her stomach had quit fighting with each other. She was wearing a new dress, too -- that helped.
She arrived at the park and gave Hank a quick kiss when she saw him.
"Happy to see you, too!" said Hank. "So, you want to get back together again?"
"That's not much of a proposal," said Pauline.
"Hey, I proposed once already!"
"Yeah, and we ended up being engaged for four years. Look, I'm all grown-up now, and I want to get married and have children before my hair turns gray. We're not going to stay young forever, you know."
"I'll make you a deal," said Hank. "You propose this time, and I promise, we'll actually get married. Here's your ring back."
Pauline got down on one knee and held out the box to him. "Hank Goddard -- you drive me crazy but I'd rather be crazy with you than bored without you. Will you really and truly marry me this time?"
"I will," said Hank.
And the next day, he did.
"I don't think I can bear the suspense of waiting for a big wedding," said Pauline. "I know you still have commitment issues."
"Yeah, but I know that I'd rather live with you than be free as a bird without you," said Hank. "Maybe being an astronaut will make me feel that I have enough space. So let's do it, let's just elope and get married now."
"And when we get home, let's try for a baby," said Pauline.
Which they did.
Hank couldn't understand it. He had a great job and a wonderful wife, but he felt tense all the time, like he just wanted to take off running down the street and never come back. He tried explaining this to Pauline.
"There's nothing wrong," he said, "and I'm not criticizing you or anything, but I just feel like I'm under a lot of pressure."
"Pressure!" Pauline snorted. "I'll tell you what pressure is. Pressure is having to pee right after you've brushed your teeth because there isn't any room in your bladder for the water you rinsed with. Pressure is having your skin stretched so far that you feel like a balloon about to burst. Don't talk to me about pressure."
"All right, I won't," Hank said crossly. He went and hit the punching bag a few times. Ordinarily that would help him loosen up, but right now it was just something he had to do for his job.
One thing he couldn't tell Pauline was that he wasn't all that happy about becoming a father. From the moment she'd told him she was pregnant, he'd felt like the walls were closing in.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you," Pauline said a little while later. "Let me serenade you, okay?"
Hank listened for a few minutes and thanked her when she was finished, but to tell the truth he preferred her "fiddle" tunes to the classical stuff she usually played.
He went and talked to the mirror for a while. He'd been doing that a lot lately, trying to calm himself down, pep himself up, give himself encouragement.
He couldn't talk to Pauline about anything these days, she was always so grumpy. To be fair, she was having a rough time. She didn't seem to have time to do anything except eat, pee, and sleep. She wasn't having much fun, and he could tell she was worried about what labor would feel like.
As it turned out, labor was pretty easy. It turned out that there were two babies in there, both in a big hurry to get out.
They named them Abigail after Hank's mother and Marie after Pauline's.
"Twins!" said Pauline. "No wonder I swelled up like a beach ball...oo's a sweetums now?"
"And oo's a cutie too...Marie?" She wondered if pinning nametags to their onesies would be okay.
When Hank returned home from work he learned the glad news. Twins -- double the pressure.
But cuddling Abigail (or was this one Marie?) he suddenly felt that the pressure was just about right. Maybe it was kind of a drag being stuck in the same job, but he wanted his girls to be proud of their father. "My daddy's an astronaut!" sounded a lot better than "My daddy's changed jobs a half dozen times and never accomplished much of anything." So he felt tense once in a while, big deal.
"So, you're going to have three ladies in your life," said Pauline. "Is that going to be enough for you?"
"For now, it's just about right," said Hank.
Chapter 8 -- Life with Twins
It was hard to tell the twins apart, so once they had hair, they decided that Abigail would always wear her hair in a ponytail and Marie would wear hers down.
Abigail was more active, but whether this was because she didn't have her hair always flopping in her eyes or because she was born that way, Pauline didn't know.
Marie was artistic and soon filled the wall in the girls' bedroom with her pictures.
Both of them enjoyed dancing with their father, but Abigail was the better dancer.
Marie was more imaginative, telling them stories at the breakfast table. Pauline was pretty sure that there weren't any bears in Oasis Springs, although she had to admit that she didn't know what might be roaming around in the desert.
Hank complained about his job occasionally, but Pauline liked what he was doing. All the exercising he had to do to meet the physical requirements had had an effect.
Learning about the perils of outer space meant that his impersonation of a space monster was particularly effective -- at least as far as Marie was concerned. Abigail was more skeptical.
Hank was building his own rocket up on the roof as there wasn't enough room in the yard. He said that he would have a surprise for her once it was finished.
On the whole, Pauline was perfectly satisfied with her red-headed brood. The only thing she didn't like much was cooking.
Maybe she should just stick to salads.
Chapter 9 -- Birthdays
Pauline decided to throw a party for the twins when they were ready to become teenagers. It wasn't a big party, and there weren't any children available to come -- in fact, the only person Pauline knew well was Ollie Purdue -- but it was enough of a party that she wouldn't be plagued for the next few years by someone wailing, "And you never threw me a birthday party!" every time there was an argument. She baked a hamburger cake and put candles on it.
The first to reach the cake was Marie, followed immediately by Abigail as soon as Pauline could put more candles on.
Once again, the girls had identical hairstyles. Marie got her hair cut short, while Abigail opted for a different ponytail. Marie had loved painting so much as a child that she decided to make her aspiration that of a Painter Extraordinaire. Abigail wanted to find a soulmate. Right now, the only boy her own age that she knew was Malcolm Landgraab -- who turned out to be evil.
Pauline was the next to have a birthday. She didn't really want to call attention to the fact that she was now an elder, so she just baked herself a cake -- chocolate, this time.
She decided to leave a little gray in her hair and changed a couple of her outfits. Pauline had never gotten rid of all the weight she'd gained with the twins, and now that the weight had drifted downward, she just didn't look good in shorts anymore. But she kept her party clothes -- they helped her stay in a good mood while she was composing.
She and Hank were still in love with each other, but they had to keep the passion subdued. Pauline didn't want to risk a heart attack, at least not while the girls were in their teens.
Hank finally made it to astronaut. Now that he was out dodging asteroids, he didn't feel quite so anxious to change his job.
He had his birthday a few days later, and Pauline baked him a strawberry cake.
She thought he looked pretty good for an old man. Hank thanked her and said she didn't look bad herself.
Chapter 10 -- The 50-Mile Club
The Watcher has a terrible confession to make. She tried to kill off Hank and Pauline so she could find out whether teens could live on their own without adult supervision. But the two of them were too healthy. Three times they woo-hooed, and the worst that happened was that they got smelly and had an unsatisfactory woo-hoo. Afterwards they were very frisky, blowing kisses at each other and flirting. The Watcher gave up and provided Abigail and Marie with birthday cake.
Marie had an A average from high school, so she went into level 3 of the Painter career. She's painted a sad painting:
and a confident one:
Abigail only had a B average, so she went into level 2 of the Secret Agent career. She has to spend a lot of time looking up intelligence data on the computer.
Both girls realized they'd been eating too much birthday cake lately, so Marie went to the gym to work out.
Hank finished his rocket ship and went up into space to do some exploring. He found the Cosmic Relief Dog Pound, but even though he got a rabies shot, he didn't manage to pick up the stolen dog.
"I'd like to go up into space," said Pauline when he returned.
"There's something I should tell you," Hank said, as they entered the capsule, "this rocket ship can be powered by Love."
As they returned to earth, they got a notification that they had officially entered the 50-Mile Club. "That was fun!" said Pauline. "Let's do it again."
"I don't know," said Hank. "We're not spring chickens any more."
"I know," said Pauline, "but I'd rather be used up than left over. Of course, if you're scared..."
They blasted off again.
This time when they landed, Pauline felt a bit woozy. "If I could just lie down for a minute..."
She didn't say anything more.
"This is all my fault!" Hank sobbed to the Grim Reaper. "I should never have let her go up again."
"Now, now, she was on today's list anyway," said Grim. "I e-mailed her this morning, telling her to put her affairs in order."
Abigail and Marie learned the news as soon as they returned home. Marie immediately went to cry under the covers.
Grim stuck around for a little while, taking notes for Pauline's obituary.
"She was a beautiful violin player," said Hank.
"She was teaching us all how to play," added Marie.
"But she wasn't much of a cook," said Hank. "Remember the time she tried making something other than salad and set the kitchen on fire?"
"But she made great cakes," said Abigail.
"She was never angry," sniffed Hank.
"O-kay! Time for me to go." Grim disappeared in a column of black smoke.
Later on that day, Marie painted a picture that summed up how they all felt.
Hank carved her epitaph, "Wish you were here."
This wraps up Sparks in the Desert. I might write more about the girls later.
