Points of Origin Read Free Page A

nodded warily. Judith came around the corner. “Ready to go?” she said. She shot me a baffled look at the long faces—they had so clearly enjoyed the skating—but took her cue from my silence on the way home.
    I put a long-simmering soup on the stove before I turned to the kids. “Now. Your father. I don’t have any specific information—”
    â€œNeither do we,” said Enid quickly. “If we knew when he was coming, we’d let you know so you could make plans. I mean—”
    â€œThank you, Enid,” said Judith quietly. “They brought up their father?”
    â€œRichard thinks their father is coming to take them home,” I said.
    â€œIt won’t be like before,” said Harry with cheerful confidence. “We know that.”
    â€œDo you? What will it be like?” said Judith.
    â€œWell—” Richard started, and then looked to Enid.
    â€œOf course Mom won’t be there,” said Enid. “And we’ll have to merge ships with another family, since ours has been taken. Probably an alliance of some sort, or else we’d end up the junior cousins, and Dad and Philomel would never make arrangements for us like that .”
    â€œMy dears,” I said, as gently as I could, “what other family?”
    â€œThe Teuku-Tans, I imagine,” said Enid. “Or someone like that. Someone we know and like.”
    I bit my lip, glancing at Judith. She had closed her eyes. I said, “I can help you look. If there are specific families you want to know about. But Enid—most of the families in the Oort had their ships repossessed. It’s not just you.”
    â€œI know, but—the Teuku-Tans have ties to Elizabeth Tan on Miranda Station,” said Enid. “If anyone can help us weather it—”
    â€œYou and thousands of other families,” I said. “As I said, we can check. But I don’t think you should count on your dad being able to take you back to the Oort. Even if he finds you—”
    â€œWhen,” said Enid firmly, her eyes on her brothers. They had looked to her in startled panic when I said “if,” and I realized that she alone was old enough to even think of the reasonable doubts.
    â€œAll right, when he finds you,” I said, giving in on the smaller point to make the larger one. “It may be that you have to live here a while longer, you and your dad. Or it may be that he wants to move you out to Ganymede, or Miranda Station, or wherever he can get work. He may have to work in the asteroid belt for a while. A lot of Oorters have to work on company ships in the asteroid belt, and if he does—”
    They were all staring at me.
    â€œIt may be some time,” I finished helplessly. “The asteroid belt ships don’t usually take children. You may be with us some time. That’s all I’m saying. And of course your father is our family now, too, he’s welcome with us—”
    â€œWhat your grandfather means to say,” said Judith, “is that we should focus on the present.”
    â€œOh yes,” said Enid. “I’ve told the boys that too.”
    None of them believed it. You could see in their faces, they didn’t believe it in the least. Living on a planet was an experience they were having, and they would probably talk about it fondly when they were grown—but the idea that they might spend any amount of time with Judith and me had not crossed their minds. And I couldn’t really say that we understood what it would mean to raise them to adulthood. I don’t know that we’d had the chance to think about it. But I think Judith and I knew that the odds against their dad coming for them were pretty high.
    Judith was the one to propose reading to the boys every night, and Judith had the idea for the outing the next time we had a free weekend. I would never have thought of Magus Station, but when I saw Harry jump up