going to be included.
“Anyhow, I was wondering if you guys would come. If my dad doesn’t have any emergency calls, we’re going to have hang gliding first. Later, there’s going to be a formal dinner, with some other people.”
She waited to be turned down, but Christine nodded. “That sounds like fun. I’ve never been to a Meyerdahl party, but I’ve heard they’re great. Give me the date and time, and I’ll check with my mom.”
“Me, too,” Chet said. “I don’t have a tuxedo, though. My folks say I’m growing too fast for the investment. Would just nice clothes do? I mean, you did say ‘formal.’”
Stephanie nodded. “Not that formal. Just dress up, sit down, like that. Not a picnic or buffet.”
She was turning to make sure Toby knew he was included in the invitation when she realized that what she’d taken for a group of three-Toby, Christine, and Chet-had actually been four. Jessica Pherris had been standing where the height of the others, combined with the partially folded hang gliders, had hidden her from Stephanie.
Stephanie wrestled for a moment with her worse self, but, remembering how Frank’s deliberate “not- inviting” had stung, she knew she didn’t want to act the same.
“Toby, Jessica,” she said, “you’ll come, too, won’t you? I mean, if you’re free.”
Toby glowed. Jessica, perhaps having noticed Stephanie’s hesitation, paused.
“I’ll check with my folks,” she said. “We’re new to Sphinx, new to the whole Star Kingdom, actually. What’s formal wear here?”
Christine laughed. “On Manticore proper it would be a tuxedo, but this is a colony planet. Stephanie’s folks will probably be fine with anything other than your kick-arounds.”
Stephanie hurried to second this. “My folks just wanted to make clear this wasn’t just a hang-gliding outing. They love to cook. I think they’re planning a whole banquet built around symbolic foods.”
Jessica looked relieved. “Okay. Hey, thanks. That’s nice of you. Listen, I’ve got to run. I promised my mom I’d help her with her garden.”
That sounded interesting, but before Stephanie could ask more, Jessica had dashed off. Only after she was gone and Stephanie was collecting Lionheart from the spike-thorn tree did she remember something.
Frank hadn’t invited Jessica to go with him and the others, either. She’d thought Jessica and Trudy were tight, but neither Trudy nor Becky had asked her to come along.
Of course, Stephanie thought as she walked over to where she’d promised to meet her dad, they were two guys, two girls. Maybe Becky and Trudy didn’t want the competition. Jessica’s almost as well-developed as Trudy, though she doesn’t show it off the same way. Maybe Becky doesn’t want her around Frank. Christine implied…
Her brain spun as she tried to work out all these permutations. Calculus, she decided, was easier than human relations, a whole, lot easier.
From where he scampered along beside her, Lionheart responded with a heartfelt, “Bleek!”
The days leading up to Stephanie’s birthday went very well. Even with her doubts, Stephanie couldn’t help but be excited. Back on Meyerdahl, especially when Stephanie had been really small, birthdays had always been a big deal. She’d been ten, almost eleven when they’d moved to Sphinx, and that greater age, combined with separation from their usual circle of friends and family, and the fact that both her parents had been really, really busy had led to birthdays becoming family celebrations.
She’d been on Sphinx for almost a third of her life now, and had almost forgotten the big fuss Meyerdahl made at fifteen. The celebration was heavily influenced by the ancient Spanish quincea n era, with the emphasis being on reaching adulthood, rather than marriageability. However, a good many of Meyerdahl’s original colonists had been of German extraction. Like many of those who left their homeland, they kept to old traditions more faithfully than did those they had left behind. Germans, as Stephanie confirmed when she double-checked one of her mother’s passing comments on the net, had actually invented the individual birthday celebration, complete with cake and candles.
Over the last few days, several of her parents’ conversations had broken off when Stephanie had come into the room. Having no desire to ruin any planned surprise, she’d even taken to making sure she whistled or talked to Lionheart so they’d have warning.
Then, on very day of the party, the whole thing was nearly ruined. Over a mid-morning snack, meant to hold them all until lunch, Marjorie Harrington turned to Stephanie.
“I hope you don’t mind, dear, but I invited another couple of people to your party.”
“Oh?” Stephanie managed around a full mouth.
“First, I was delivering some autumn squash plants to one of the holdings and I saw a girl I recognized from your hang-gliding club. She looked so lonely, sitting there by herself, that I asked if she would like to come to your birthday party.”
Richard Harrington asked, “Which holding was this?”
“The Franchitti holding. The girl’s name is Trudy.” Marjorie saw the twin looks of surprise on her husband and daughter’s face and misunderstood. “I’m not crazy about that family in general and I know a Franchitti was responsible for the recent fire, but I didn’t think this girl could be blamed.”
Stephanie’s appetite vanished and she put her sandwich down.
“Trudy Franchitti is coming here. Oh, happy, happy birthday to me…”
“Stephanie!” Marjorie Harrington was shocked.
Richard Harrington cut in. “Stephanie and Trudy don’t get along. Never have.”
Marjorie Harrington blinked. “I had no idea.”
“You wouldn’t,” Stephanie said. “You never pay attention to what I say. I told you that the kids here were utter and complete nulls. You just decide I’m poorly socialized. Now I’m going to have to put up with Trudy and her constantly reminding everyone that her father was among the first native born children on Sphinx. Happy, happy…”
“Stephanie!” The snap in Richard Harrington’s voice made it clear he thought his daughter had overstepped. “Don’t speak to your mother that way. Maybe if you talked to her more often she’d have a better understanding. Instead, you universally condemn everyone as zorks and nulls. I only know how you feel about Trudy because I coach the hang-gliding club when I can-and because Mayor Sapristos told me that he ended up putting the two of you on separate teams because you wouldn’t play nice together.”
Stephanie ground her teeth at the phrase, “play nice,” but she could see her dad was really peeved. She knew he loved her, but he loved her mom, too, and hated when they butted heads. Besides, technically, the description was accurate-at least on Trudy’s side.
Richard Harrington continued. “Stephanie, one of the reasons fifteenth birthdays are a big deal-not just on Meyerdahl, but in a lot of cultures-is that especially in pre-tech civilizations, they marked the beginning of adulthood. I suppose your challenge on this birthday will be to act like an adult…even if Trudy, who is older than you, does not.”
He quirked the corner of his mouth in a little smile. “She certainly does act adult in some ways, but I must agree, in others, she is a zip in the brains department.”
Marjorie Harrington took a deep breath. “And I apologize, Stephanie. I should have asked first. I suppose my ‘warm fuzzies’ over this whole birthday celebration got ahead of me.”
Stephanie knew what was expected. Even though butterflies were churning around the bits of sandwich she’d eaten, she managed.
“Thanks, Mom. That’s nice of you to say. I’ll do my best. Honest.” She couldn’t resist adding, “But really, Trudy is a perfect example of evolution in reverse.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Marjorie Harrington hesitated. “I hope I haven’t screwed up again, but remember I said I’d invited some ‘people.’”
Stephanie nodded, thinking, Please, please, please not Stan or Frank…I could handle Becky, but not Stan or Frank…
“It’s not another girl,” Marjorie Harrington went on and Stephanie’s heart sank further. “It’s Anders Whittaker. His dad will be dropping him off sometime between hang gliding and dinner.”
Stephanie wouldn’t have believed the butterflies in her gut could get any worse, but now they were dancing and interweaving, this time in a happy bouncing dance.
