Patricia takes us to her house. It’s a tree house. A real house in the trees. Inside the tree house, there are three pianos.
A man greets us, and Patricia introduces him as Gary. Gustav doesn’t say anything. I tell Gary that my name is Stanzi and that he has curious bone structure.
“Curious how?”
“Your mandible is displaced,” I say. “Did you never notice that?”
Patricia looks somehow pleased that I have said this. The man, Gary, seems annoyed.
Gustav asks, “Do you have any food?”
Patricia speaks before Gustav can say any more. “They were hiking. Got lost. How long did you two say you’ve been walking around hungry?”
I can see Gustav processing, but slowly. I say, “Almost three days. Lost the trail and then I swear we went in circles for two days.” I don’t know why I’m lying.
“We didn’t,” Gustav snaps. “I knew where I was going.” I don’t know why Gustav is lying, either.
“Well then how did we end up here?” I ask.
I’m impressed by our acting skills. A physicist and a biologist.
“You’re just impatient,” he says. He smiles slightly when Gary isn’t looking. Gustav knows I avoid confrontation. Gustav probably knows everything, but we never talk about it.
“I was hungry, Gustav. My sister must be worried sick!” I look at Patricia and Gary. “Do you have a phone I could use to tell her we’re okay?”
Gary hasn’t smiled yet. He says, “There are no phones.”
“Oh,” I say.
Gustav looks like he’s about to say something real when his actor says, “Where are we?”
Gary takes Patricia by the arm and leads her into another room of the tree house and closes the door. I look at Gustav and smile. He says, “He doesn’t like us.”
“I don’t think he likes anyone.”
“I expected a real welcome,” he says. “I didn’t think we’d have to lie.”
“I don’t like lying,” I say.
“She said they’d destroy it. I just spent nine months building it. They can’t destroy it. Why would they destroy it?”
“I don’t know,” I say.
“She seems nervous. Too nervous,” Gustav says. “So far, this doesn’t seem like a hotbed of genius.” He’s shaking a little.
“I’m hungry,” Gustav answers. “I need fuel.”
“There are no departures,” I say. “That’s what the bush man told me. He said, There are no departures, but I left and look at what happened to me.”
“He’s dramatic,” Gustav explains. “Remember the lemonade?”
“But he wasn’t being dramatic. It’s written on the map.”
“Join us for brunch!” Gary says, exploding from the door, grinning. Patricia walks behind him and looks as if he stole her smile and took it for himself. She is expressionless, though anyone with a heart can see she’s afraid.
“Thank you!” Gustav says. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever heard Gustav use a vocal exclamation point. “Will anyone at brunch have a phone? Stanzi should really call her sister.”
I put on my actor’s face. My worried-and-need-to-call-my-sister face.
It’s at this moment I feel inexplicably happy.
I’m not gathered around the holly bush talking about dominant and recessive genes. I’m not drawing any Punnett squares. I’m not trying to explain to the class the magic of transcription and translation of DNA so they can better prepare for the tests.
I don’t even miss it.
In two days of flying I forgot about it completely, as if it never existed.
I like this better, whatever it is. Whatever it isn’t.