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[Story] [Science]
A Promise is a
Promise
"But daddy, you can't go!" I pleaded with
my father.
"Baby, I have to. Don't worry, I'll be back
before you know it," my father said
reassuringly.
"Do you promise, daddy?" I said, making an
effort to stall time.
"I promise baby." He leaned down, and held me
tight, and for just a second everything was okay,
not a care in the world crossed my mind. He
casually walked towards the door, looking back to
wave, and smiled. So many tears were welling up at
the back of my eyes, my eyes started to hurt. I
wept until my eyes were nearly swollen shut, then I
fell asleep.
The next few days were just a blur. Between
crying, and sleeping, I couldn't seem to do much
else. Not a day went by in those few weeks that I
didn't think of my father, and miss him. I still
remember the day that my babysitter woke me up, her
face ghost white. Her voice shook nervously as
those dreaded words spilled out of her mouth, "Your
father's not coming back." This time, I couldn't
even feel the tears rolling down my face. I just
wanted to curl up in a corner with my teddy bear,
and cry forever. I felt so sorry for myself,
because I knew I'd never be able to see my father
again.
Before I knew it, strangers were coming into my
house, telling me they were so sorry…sorry for
what? I still had the idea that my father would
come prancing through the front door, and I could
run into his arms, and be held and comforted just
once more. To this day, I still dream of that
long-awaited reunion, though I know it will never
happen.
The jungle known as high school is a wild and
sometimes horrible place. The typical scene of a
high school hallway includes the outcasts enduring
torment, the popular cliques conspiring new ideas
to tease the geeks, and everyone else just minding
their own business. It is the world's most horrible
experience, being at the bottom of the "food chain"
of high school popularity. Not that I would know,
though, because, fortunately, I was popular. I had
a million friends, and they were very true friends,
they were like the glue to my paper, the concrete
to my bricks, they held me together. I had
everything, but I didn't have my father, the one
and only thing that meant something to me. I would
give up all the popularity and friends, and
happiness that came with it, to spend just one day
with my father. It was like a void in my life, a
gaping hole that would never be filled. It was the
little hole in my ship that was slowly bringing me
down, deeper into despair, because losing your
father is nothing anyone should experience.
Then I saw Nathan…oh…my…god. Just
the sight of him made me weak in the knees. I was
walking down the hall when I first saw him.
"Ashlynn, right?" he said.
"Actually, it's Ash-leigh", I responded.
"Yeah- whatever," he said. Oh my goodness, he
actually spoke to me. This crush turned into the
perfect relationship. Nathan, and his "chick"- yes,
that would be me. I didn't mind at all. We were
just perfect together. He was the captain of the
football team, and every girl would die to go out
with him. Me, all I had to do was ask him.
Since my father died, I have been on an endless
quest to find a way to bring him back. I'm over
with all this, "one day he'll walk through the
door, and I'll give him a big hug, and everything
will be all better". No, it wasn't going to happen,
but if I could just find out what happened to him,
then I'd be satisfied.
When I went to the government, they were so
secretive about the operation, that it was like I
had done something wrong to make them upset at me.
They wouldn't even tell me who was on the mission
with my father. Was he alone? Did someone go with
him? Would someone be able to give me information
about what happened on this "unknown planet" he was
visiting?
I flew down, from Queens, New York, to D.C.,
where I tried contacting NASA representatives to
retrieve information about what happened to my
father so many years ago. I did get a hold of one
of their Junior representatives. All he said to me
was, "Why are you trying to find out what happened
to your father, when it happened so long ago? Why
don't you just live with it?" That just set me off.
"You know, I haven't seen my father since I was six
years old, and I have never met my mother.
Everything I have ever accomplished in life is
because someone told me I couldn't. I'll never be
satisfied until I find out what happened to my
father, and why you are hiding it from me!" I hung
up the phone, and sat down. I was so furious, I
thought I was going to fall over.
Of all things, I would not give up now. I'd come
back at them, stronger, and angrier than ever. That
night, I started drawing, and drawing, and
sketching, and sketching some more, trying to come
up with a design for a spaceship that would be able
to take me to this unknown planet. I knew two
things, the name of the planet was Chasaret,
(pronounced: jha-zah-ray), and the ocean was called
Oobleck. The Oobleck had unique properties, which
made it difficult to predict how it would react to
certain type of materials. This is where I made a
few phone calls, and asked a couple of favors. My
father was good friends with a scientist who
happened to have done extensive research on the
properties of the Oobleck. I gave him a call, and
he faxed me some of his research notes and
experiment write-ups. It was apple pie for me, not
hard at all. Then I called another of my father's
old scientist buddies, who worked on designing the
spaceship that my father (and maybe his crew) used
to fly to Chasaret. He said he had the designs for
the spaceship, but that he'd call me back before he
faxed it over to my apartment. I continued
sketching, when the phone rang. I picked it up,
thinking that it would be Dr. Schroder, the
scientist that designed the spaceship, but instead
it was…Nathan.
"Hello?" I heard at the other end of the
line.
"Oh, hi" I said, sort-of disappointed it wasn't
Dr. Schroder.
"Aren't you happy to hear my voice?" he asked,
irritated.
"Well, yeah, I guess, but it's just that I'm
waiting for a call from someone, and I'm really
depending on that call. It's something important."
I said.
"So important that you can't tell me what it's
about?! You know, I'm tired of you always being so
self-absorbed with all this stuff about your dad.
He died so long ago. You just have to learn to live
with it, okay? You never have time for us. You
never have time to spend with me. I feel left out,
and you don't even care, now do you…?" his
voice trailed off.
That was it. "It's over! I never want to hear
from you again, okay? I care about my dad. Even
though he's probably dead, I still love him, and
the memories I have of him. I'll never get to see
him again, so I at least want to know what happened
to him. You have no idea how it feels, and you have
no right to say you feel left out when we can see
each other whenever we want to, but I'll never be
able to speak to my father again. If you're going
to be like this, it's over. You know what,
regardless of whether you're going to be like this,
it's still over between us, okay?" I slammed the
phone down so hard that it bounced right back up.
Then I slammed it down again, and made sure it
stayed put. Dr. Schroder never did call back that
night, but in the morning when I woke up, seeing
that I had fallen asleep while working late, I saw
his designs in the fax machine's "receiving" tray.
I had finished my designs, even without Dr.
Schroder's examples to help me. The only thing left
was to introduce my plans to NASA, and get it
approved so that I could go and find out for myself
what became of my father.
So, I went back to D.C., to NASA's headquarters,
to speak with them about my plan. As I was getting
onto the elevator, to go to one of the higher
levels, I spotted a tall, strong looking man. But
when I saw his face, he was really young, around my
age, and he was handsome. I was trying not to make
eye contact with anyone, but it wasn't very hard,
because the NASA offices were on the 4th level. To
my surprise, that cute boy got off right behind me.
I walked to the front desk, and said, "Excuse me,
I'd like to speak to the head of NASA." The rather
plump, short lady sitting at the front desk,
carelessly looked up, and gave me a puzzled look,
almost as if she was going to break into hysterical
laughter at any second.
"Well ex-cuse me lil' darlin', but who do you
think you are prancin' right on in here, like
you're somebody so special. Unless you got an
appointment, Missus Johansson ain't seein' ya.
Matter o' fact, ain't nobody gon' wan' see you,
with that attitude you got there." Louise said. Not
that she introduced herself, but the scruffy metal
nametag she was wearing read "Louise", in messy
engraving. I was about to say something, any-thing,
but I had no idea what to say. There must have been
somewhat of a line behind of me, because as soon as
I knew it, Louise said, "Next in line, please!"
As I turned around, there was that same boy. He
looked at me and smiled. Then he got out of "line",
and started walking towards me. Did I look that
pitiful?
"I heard what Louise told you," he said, "Oh
yeah, my name is Collin. Collin Johansson, my
mother is Miss Cheryl Johansson, the head of NASA.
You wanted to meet my mother, didn't you?" I looked
up, hopeful, because maybe, just maybe he could
help me.
"Yes, actually, I'd really like to meet your
mother. You see, my father, Allan Lopez went on a
mission to the planet Chasaret, and he never
returned. No one has ever been willing to tell me
what happened to him, and if he even had a crew
with him on the mission. I'd like to speak with
your mother to see if I'd be able to go to
Chasaret, and find out myself, or at least have
someone tell me what happened to my father. I need
to know," I told him.
"Well, I can help you with at least one thing,
I'll introduce you to my mother, and maybe we can
talk things over dinner tonight. What do you
think?" he said, hopeful. I was surprised, did he
just ask me out on a date? He must've read my
thoughts, because he added in, "You know, just to
get to know each other a little better."
I replied, "Um, sure. Now, let's meet your
mother."
All the way down the long, wide, well-lit
hallway, was "Mrs. C. Johansson's office". We both
entered, and sat down in front of her desk. She
turned around, and looked suspiciously at me.
"Mother, this is my friend, Ashleigh Lopez. She'd
like to talk to you about the mission her father,
Allan Lopez went on." Collin said, trying to break
the tension.
Mrs. Johansson said, "First of all, I'd like to
tell you that your father was a very honorable man.
Well…what would you like to discuss about his
mission?"
I sighed, then started, "I'd like to know if he
went alone, or with a crew, and if he, or any of
his crew survived, or returned from the mission.
I've been dying to know this since I was six, and I
was told that he'd never return."
"Well, Miss Lopez, your father did not go alone,
he had a small crew, made up of 4 men, including
himself. The three other men were Jason Andersen,
Anthony Smalls, and Lindsey Armstrong. All these
men left behind wives and children, and like your
father, they all died." Mrs. Johansson's voice grew
shakier. At this point, I felt like I was six all
over again, and the memory of my babysitter telling
me my father wasn't coming home replayed in my mind
continuously. The tears streamed down my face, and
like raindrops falling from sky, nothing could stop
them. Mrs. Johansson continued, "According to
recordings, and footage from the crew's last day,
your father's crew was trying to take samples from
the ocean, when they got stuck, and started to
drown. Your father, who was on land, at the time,
tried with all his might to get them out, and
ultimately gave his life trying to save his crew,
his friends. They all drowned, and their spaceship
was never found either. It was a mistake, so the
government didn't want anyone to know about the
mission. They just pretended like it never happened
in the first place." Now, I couldn't stop the
tears. I always knew in my heart that my father was
gone, but until now, that hope was like a candle in
the wind, a bright light that suddenly disappeared.
All I could think of now, was what my father had
said right before he left, "I'll be back before you
know it, I promise baby."
[Animation]
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