All three spots were equatorial and had lower fuel consumption than anywhere in the United States or Europe. And all three had eastern coasts, which would be nice, since it meant that a failed rocket would drop into water instead of—
The phone rustled and clattered as someone picked it up. “Dr. York?”
“Yes.”
“One moment, I have your aunt here.”
“Thank you.” I set the pages down on the coffee table and closed my eyes, waiting.
The phone rustled, then a voice like an aged and beloved canary flitted through the line. “Anselma?”
“Aunt Esther.” My voice cracked and the room blurred behind yet another veil of maddening tears. It was like hearing a ghost. What do you say to someone you thought was dead? For that matter, she must have thought the same of me until she saw me on Mr. Wizard. What came out of my mouth was a banal and safe social noise. “How are you?”
“Well … well, well, well. As I live and breathe. Isn’t it wonderful to hear your voice.”
“I’m sorry. I only just got the letter. I didn’t know.”
“Lands, child, I didn’t know you were alive, either. After Rose and I got out of Charleston, well—I thought it was just the two of us.”
It was good that there was a phone line between us. At the sound of my grandmother’s name, I had to move the phone away from my mouth and cover it for a moment. She had lived. When I read the letter— She had been living with a sister, who has since passed away—I hadn’t known which sister.
Goddamn it. My grandmother had survived the tidal waves that swamped Charleston, and I had done nothing to find her.
TWENTY-EIGHT
ASTRONAUTS SUFFER BONE LOSS
Special to The National Times.
KANSAS CITY, KS, April 18, 1957—The medical report on the astronauts who recently spent 43 days aboard the Lunetta orbiting space platform illustrated how their organisms responded to the unprecedented conditions of prolonged life in space. The astronauts were found, for example, to have about 14 percent fewer red cells in their blood when they returned. Projecting the impact of such changes on future astronauts coming back after a long stay in space suggests that these returnees could become instant invalids on Earth. One goal of Lunetta will be to see whether increased exercise in space slows down these adjustments so that future spacemen can become earthmen again with minimal trouble.
When I put the phone down, Nathaniel looked up from the newspaper he had been reading. He’d long since finished putting the dishes away.
“That sounded like a good phone call.”
“She’s doing well.” Standing, I rubbed my forehead, still a little shocked. “But I don’t think she’s happy there. I was thinking…”
“You want her to move in with us?” He lowered the paper and leaned back in his chair. “What about going to live with Hershel?”
I shrugged, crossing to join him at the table. “Sure. She could. But he already has two kids, and I don’t know that they need another mouth to feed.”
He grunted and drummed his fingers on the table. “We’d need a bigger place … and I’m willing to do that…”
“But?” The studio was fine for the two of us, but adding a third really would be too much.
“We can’t afford a house yet, and paying more in rent for a larger place…” He spread his hands, trying not to call attention to the fact that we’d spent our savings to cover the damage to the plane in the air show. “It’s something to think about.”
“Housing prices have come down. We haven’t really looked for a place in a while, and there are those new subdivisions out by the Sunflower facility.”
“It’s not just … My hesitation isn’t just about the space. If the IAC is moving the launch facilities to Brazil, then that might not be a good choice for Aunt Esther.” Nathaniel shrugged. “I mean, I could continue to work at Sunflower doing designs. For a while anyway.”
“Oh.” I gnawed the inside of my lip, thinking. “Well, we aren’t likely to make that move for at least a year while they do construction. Right?”
“More likely two, since we still have to pick the site.” Nathaniel sat forward in his chair and took my hand. “But if you’re accepted as an astronaut, then … I know what their training schedule is like. Is that going to be fair to her?”
“You think I should leave her in a nursing home?” I’d just found my aunt again, and now he expected me to leave her with strangers?
“God, no.” He ran his free hand over his hair. “But if Hershel is willing to take her in, that might be a better choice in the long run. We don’t have to make any decisions now, but it’s worth thinking about.”
Two weeks after I spoke with my aunt. Two weeks after I called Hershel to let him know that she was alive. Two weeks later, I was on the phone with my brother again, holding another letter in my shaking hand.
I had taken a Miltown, but that only slowed my heart from a gallop to a trot.
“National Weather Center, Hershel Wexler speaking.”
“Hey, it’s Elma … Have you got a minute?” The black plastic of the phone trapped sweat in my palm.
“What’s wrong?” Through the receiver, I could hear the sound of his office door shutting.
“I was just invited to move into the first round of testing for the astronaut program.” The letter still shook in my hand. I’d somehow thought that they would tell me at work, but I’d gotten a form letter along with … I didn’t know how many other women.
“Mazel tov! Wait until I tell Rachel. She’s going to be … over the moon.”
I groaned at the joke. “You are the worst.”
“Seriously, though, I’m so proud of you. When do you go in?”
“Well, that’s the problem.” I finally sat down on the sofa and put the letter on the coffee table in front of me. “It’s the week we’re scheduled to go visit Aunt Esther. And it’s five full days of testing.”
“Oh.” Hershel shuffled some papers on his desk. He sighed. “Well, let me see if I can change my vacation request.”
“I’m sorry.” I twisted the cord in my hand.
“Or … there’s really no reason for us both to go. You could do the testing and then come out to visit once we’ve got her settled.”
The room seemed to get colder. “I thought—I thought we were going to decide that once we saw her in person. You know. And talked to the nursing staff about what she needed?”
Hershel laughed in my ear. “Yeah. Well … at that point the concern had been your schedule, not whether you were on the planet.”
“We don’t know that I’m going to get in.”
“Please. Elma. They’d be idiots not to hire you, for publicity reasons, if nothing else.”
“That’s not how the space agency works.” Everything about the space program was complex and dangerous. There’s no way they would fly someone unqualified just for publicity reasons—at least not until things were established. “Everyone who goes up now has to be able to work. Who knows what testing will show?”
“Right. Uh-huh. You’ll owe me the newest Blackhawk comic if I’m right. Which I am.” My big brother could sound so cocksure sometimes. “And you also needed time to find a new place, right? That’s why we were waiting until next month.”
“Yes…” The newspaper lay across the room on the kitchen table, still folded in a tidy bundle. Nathaniel and I would have to go through the classified ads tonight.
“Do you really want to be house-shopping and moving while preparing for these tests?”