Smarter (an Ell Donsaii story #2) (25 page)

Back at her tiny apartment, she pulled Roger inside, got one of his dark beers out of her fridge and sat on the edge of her bed holding it out to him.

He sat next to her, twisting the cap off, then paused to look at it a moment. “You’re not really old enough to buy this are you?”

Ell shook her head and raised an eyebrow at him.

He grinned, took a sip and said, “Ahh, illegal beer, somehow it tastes so much better than legal beer.”

She raised her face to his, “You owe me a kiss for the procurement of that fine contraband beverage.”

He paid his debt.

Saturday, Ell opened her Gram’s door and said, “Hello?”

She was dismayed to see Gram and Kristen sitting at the dining table, looking like they were at a funeral. A man sat there with them, Ell recognized Officer Duncan from the night of her rescue. “What’s the matter?”

Kristen sniffed, “As usual Jake’s the matter. That SOB has filed inquiries with the credit bureaus that have ruined my credit and Gram’s so that we can’t even take out loans. My lawyer is throwing in the towel. He doesn’t think he’ll get paid and doesn’t want to piss Jake off because Jake has too much power in local legal circles. Miles here,” she indicated Officer Duncan, “has volunteered to loan me some money, but I feel terrible about taking it.” She sniffed again, then pulled her shoulders up from their slump. “But enough of my troubles, I’ll get through this eventually. How are things for you?”

Ell held up a finger a moment while she mumbled to Allan, then she looked up and said, “Things are going great! Not just for me, but for you and Gram too.”

Kristen’s brows drew together. “What do you mean?”

“Commercialization of my invention has been more successful than I ever dreamed.”

“Wonderful! Will you get some money soon?”

“Already got some. Check your account.”

“But Ell, I need thousands…” She looked up at her AI screens, “Oh my… goodness!” she put a hand on her chest. “Oh Ell! But that’s way too much! You can’t give me
all
your money.”

Ell sat down beside Kristen and put her arms around her, then leaned near her ear and said quietly, “They are giving me
ridiculous
amounts of money. What I put in your account is just a ‘smidgen.’ Love you Mom.”

Epilogue

Ell leaned back in the lounge chair and listened to the sounds of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” drifting up from the pool deck below. She sipped her virgin piña colada and watched the young man working his way up the rock climbing wall affixed to the smokestack of their cruise ship. The sun came in at an angle that perfectly lit the play of the handsome strappy muscles beneath the skin of his back.

From the next chair Kristen said, “Hey, I see you staring at that young man. Aren’t Phil and Roger enough for you? How many boyfriends do you need?”

“Friendly boys, Mom. Not boyfriends. Not yet anyway. Hey, I’m only eighteen, I’ve only been kissed a couple of times, never been out on a real date and I’m on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. I think I should be allowed to ‘window shop’ a little before I commit, don’t you? Besides, who knows where the Air Force is going to send me next month? Phil and Roger may both be married long before I return to spinsterhood!”

Kristen laughed. “You know that’s just what your Gram suggested I should do before I settled down with your Dad.”

Gram raised her piña colada, “Hear, hear. You go girl. Window shop all you want!”

Ell turned and looked at her mother. “Besides, I’m pretty sure you’re looking at him too. Isn’t Miles enough for you?” She arched an eyebrow.

Kristen sniffed, “My interest is purely that of your chaperone, looking to the fitness of your prospects.” She tilted her head, “That one looks pretty good.” She winked as she held out her glass and Ell clinked hers against it.

The End

Hope you liked the book!

If so, please give it a positive review.

Try the next in the series, Lieutenant (an Ell Donsaii story #3)

Author’s Afterword

This is a comment on the “science” in this science fiction novel. I have always been partial to science fiction that posed a “what if” question. Not everything in the story has to be scientifically possible, but you suspend your disbelief regarding one or two things that aren’t thought to be possible. Then you ask,
what if
something (such as faster than light travel) were possible, how might that change our world? Each of the Ell Donsaii stories asks at least one such question.

“Smarter” asks,
what if
some genius actually worked out a way to understand the incredibly weird world of quantum mechanics? If you’ve never pondered the double slit experiment, you should. It’s guaranteed to make you cross-eyed. Then there’s the phenomenon of quantum entanglement where entangled particles that are physically separated by long distances have some properties that make them seem to still be in contact with one another. Although entangled particles react instantaneously (faster than light) across this apparent connection, it is not thought to be possible to send information this way
—
but
what if
it was?! What if the reason these particles act like they’re still connected is because they actually are, just through another dimension that we can’t perceive. Then maybe we
could
send information through that dimension!

If it were possible, it would be very difficult to work out how to do it but the benefits of figuring it out would be
huge
!

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the editing and advice of Gail Gilman, Elene Trull and Nora Dahners, each of whom significantly improved this story.