To his surprise, his mother was still in bed. He tapped the door twice and walked in.
Give her one nudge and then let her sleep. She has had a lot on her plate lately; she deserves the rest.
“Mom,” he whispered.
She reached under her pillow. He knew she kept a pistol stuck to the wall behind the mattress. She had one in the drawer of the nightstand too, and a knife wrapped inside the pillow as well. Dad, on the other hand, was armed to the teeth. Cameron and Mom used to joke that he could accidentally discharge a shotgun if he just rolled in his sleep.
Both parents had worried about having so many guns around him when he was young and considered removing them entirely from the house. It took Tao, controlling a four year-old child, giving them an hour-long lecture exhibiting how much influence he had over Cameron before they acquiesced. They were in the middle of a war, after all.
His mother yawned. “Oh, yeah, I promised, didn’t I?”
“If you need rest…”
“No, no.” She sat up. “I could use the workout.”
A few minutes later, they were stretching against the wooden fence leading down to the main road. She wore several layers of clothing that covered every part of her body except for her face. She looked disapprovingly at his thin long-sleeve shirt and running pants.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
“You’ll overheat,” he responded.
She chuckled. “I don’t know how hard you think I’m actually going to go. I’m just here to instruct.”
You have two hours. Make the most of them.
They started jogging down the dirt road leading into the forest. Once they reached the wooded area, Jill tapped Cameron on the shoulder. “Tag, you’re it.”
She took off, barreling through the thickets and hurdling over logs, weaving in and out of tree trunks. He gave chase, following her not at a direct angle, but just a bit off to the side. The truth was, he was much faster than she was these days and could catch her within thirty paces. However, this was an old game and easily one of his favorite pastimes. It wouldn’t be right if he spoiled it too quickly.
Adjust to the elevation.
Cameron watched the dip as his mother jumped feet first into a ditch, only looking at the ground while she was in the air. She bounded to the side right as she landed, turning sharply away from him. He switched angles to follow. She grabbed a tree branch overhead and flipped herself smoothly onto it, then disappeared behind the trunk. He followed her up, but by the time he got onto the branch and looked around, he had somehow lost her. It took him a second to locate her again, but, by that time, she was already several meters away, running in another direction.
Seems Jill still has tricks up her sleeves. Careful with the soft mud on the right.
Cameron leaped off the high branch and rolled out of his landing. Within seconds, he had split the distance between them. One moment, he was twenty meters behind her. The next, she had disappeared again. Cameron maintained his trajectory for another fifteen meters before he came to a stop and listened. Nothing.
Watch out!
It was too late. Jill, lying in wait on the ground, tapped him on the foot with her hand imitating the shape of a pistol. “Bang.” Grinning, she tousled his hair as he helped her up. She held up one finger and then took off again.
Cameron gave her the requisite five seconds before going after her. This time, she headed toward Melon Hill, a series of mossy boulders and rises that looked like a giant watermelon patch. She scaled a boulder twice her height in two bounds and disappeared over the top. Cameron followed, taking a few more tries to claw up before he was able to get a solid handhold on the ledge.
“Use angles, dear,” she called to him. “You went a little too vertical that time.” Then she jumped off another boulder and was gone.
Use your core muscles more when you lift your feet.
Cameron leaped from boulder to boulder and ran parallel to her as she dove around the side of an old collapsed stone wall. He took three big jumps across two rocks and a hill, and landed on the wall. Again, she had disappeared.
“I think she’s cheating,” he said, perplexed.
Did Jill invent an invisibility cloak in her spare time?
He sped down the length of the wall, balancing on its narrow ledge. He still didn’t see her. He backtracked. “Where the hell did she go?”
Watch the language. I promised your dad. Here’s a clue. Look at the ground.
Cameron noticed it a second later. There was a footprint in the mud. He jumped down and checked the bushes. A pebble bounced off his shoulder. He spun around and saw Mom coming out of the opposite bush on the trail, a ghillie cover wrapped around her shoulder. She held up two fingers.
“You did cheat!”
She shrugged, a smile from ear to ear. “I’m triple your age. I’m allowed to cheat.”
She has a point. There is no such thing in reality as fair play.
They continued the game for another hour. Jill was able to rack up a four-to-one advantage before she began to tire. Cameron was eventually able to catch up before they finally took a break. Next, she worked on his balance, both on his feet and while standing on his hands. She had him jump from rock to rock, always landing on only one foot. Then, she had him do handstands while on the stone wall, knocking one of his hands off, forcing him to quickly shift his weight.
By the time they were done, he was exhausted. Cameron looked at his mom as they walked back toward the farmhouse. Even at her age, she was able to keep pace with him. How could he ever fight the Genjix? He felt that he should have put up a better fight. His frustration boiled up. He didn’t feel that he had improved much over the past six months.
She is in her forties. Hardly an advanced age.
“Well, relative to me. I should be in my prime.”
You are fifteen. Easily ten to fifteen more years before your prime.
He wasn’t convinced, though. He would have to just practice harder.
Maybe your father is right. I put so many expectations on you. I am pushing you too hard.
“Obviously not hard enough. I suck.”
You are starting to sound like your father more and more every day. Have a pity-party on your own time.
“Has Roen called in?” he asked.
She shook her head, looking a little distracted. “Not yet. Your father should have reached Ontario by now. I’m surprised he hasn’t pinged me yet. I’m sure he’s just running a little late.” She emphasized the “your father” part of her sentence. He took the hint.
“Mom, why does Dad push me so hard but doesn’t want me to join the Prophus?”
She sighed. “Your father has a very complicated relationship with all this.” She gestured all around them and then tapped his forehead. “Especially that alien in you.”
“He doesn’t like Tao?”
“Oh, he loves Tao. He had always just hoped for something more for you than becoming an agent.”
“Well, it’s not his decision.”
She nodded. “That’s true. It’s yours. Or is it Tao’s? In either case, his way of coping with your becoming an agent is to either make you the best agent possible, or dissuade you from becoming one altogether. Why do you think he bought you that cello?”
“I’m tone deaf.”
“Yes, dear, we are all painfully, painfully aware of that.”
They reached the house and Cameron rushed upstairs to wash off the grime. If he could get ready in the next twenty minutes, he could take the bus for once. He had tried to skip the shower, but Jill would have none of that. He guessed it was for the better. Most of the other kids thought he was weird already. Stinking up the class wasn’t going to earn him any more points. He rushed through the shower, and then rushed out, throwing on whatever clothes he had readily at hand. He came down with five minutes to spare and saw Mom staring out the window, coffee in hand.