“Not before. It will be too light.”
“Okay.”
“Now you know. Next time you can make it.”
“Okay.”
Babou made me stand with him in a Level Five Awkward Silence while the tea dammed.
It was upgraded to a Level Six Awkward Silence when Dad came in to take his medicine. He glanced back and forth between me and Babou for a second.
“You okay, Darius?” he asked, which broke the silence, but not the awkwardness.
I nodded.
Dad shook out his pills and filled a glass of water.
Babou’s mustache twitched. “Stephen,” he said, “you take these pills too?”
Dad dry-swallowed and then drank his water—the entire glass—in one long gulp. He almost blushed.
Almost.
“Yes,” he said.
And then he said, “Hey. Is that tea ready?”
I glanced at the timer on my phone.
“Another two minutes.”
“Mind pouring me one? I’ll getStar Trekset up in the living room.”
“What about the censors?”
“I’ve got the whole season on my iPad.”
It shouldn’t have surprised me. Übermensches were known for their foresight.
But I honestly had not expected Stephen Kellner to bring it up on his own.
“Oh. Okay. Cool.”
“Thanks.” Dad nodded at Babou and went back into the living room.
I played with the hem of my shirt and waited for the tea to finish.
When I got to the living room, Captain Picard had already started the opening narration.
And Dad was sitting on the couch with his arm around Laleh.
“Uh.”
“Sorry, Darius,” Dad said. “But you’ve seen it before. And your sister was so excited to watch.”
I blinked. It didn’t make any sense.
Star Trekwas supposed to be me and Dad’s special thing.
