A few days later, Erin walked up to the team who were standing outside their tent. “Honey, I’m home.” said Erin, her armor dented, dirty and covered in both her own blood and the blood of the gophers.
“Erin?” said Vivo, standing up and walking to her.
“Wait, this is probably easier than scrubbing the armor.” said Erin, deactivating the armor from the ring. Blood, dirt and gopher mass fell around her into the dirt. Erin stood wearing the same clothes she had left the Cowffee cup in.
“Damn, I need a shower, I’m rank.” said Erin.
Vivo hugged smelly Erin and squeezed her. “I’m just glad your back, how’s the baby?” asked Vivo.
“I’m sure he or she is probably tired of field rations. Therese, Kara, Ben, Ed, I’m going to go find a shower before we do any more hugs.” said Erin, walking off as quickly as she came. Vivo knew something bad happened out there for Erin to walk away like that.
“How am I going to explain missing the first week of college?” Therese asked Ed. She was trying to change the subject and prevent awkward silence.
“How about me, I am supposed to be working there.” answered Ed, unsure what to say.
“I guess we’ll have to find some brilliant hacker to fake our attendance records.” said Kara, elbowing Ben.
“I’m telling you, I don’t know what you are talking about.” said Ben.
“I don’t know, and we need to take Buck back and bury him too.” Vivo said, frowning with everyone who had lost a friend with Buck gone.
“Diggie says Therese’s ship won’t be fixed for a long time, but Erin’s is ready if we all want to fly back anytime we can.” said Kara.
“It was nice to be home, but I can’t wait to get back to earth. Mom and dad got back safe, they wanted you all to know that.” said Therese.
“You know, we could just stop by one of those gold-filled asteroids and bribe the college the old fashioned way.” Ben suggested.
“I’m okay with that.” Kara said, squeezing Ben in a hug.
“Definitely.” said Ed.
“What’s the Space-Girl rule book say?” Ben asked Therese. She was their moral compass by default.
“I’m not going to look, we’ll grab the gold, but just remember, it all goes to bribing a public institution to falsify our attendance records, I don’t want us to be corrupted by it. Worse case, maybe we could buy them a new gym or something.” Therese decided. The group laughed at the irony but truth of the decision.
“Start packing, when Erin’s clean, we’ll leave.” said Vivo walking off.
The group stood and looked around, glad to be leaving such a terrible event on such a beautiful world.
“Ben, Ben wait, I was told you like cookies.” Space-Girl Rachel said walking over from a mess tent. “Try this.” said Rachel handing Ben a cookie. Ben’s face lit up as he bit into it and chewed.
“I’m not kidding this is the best cookie I have ever eaten, and I have eaten a lot of cookies. I have never tasted anything like it, what is it?” Ben asked the Space-Girl.
“Ranbar or something, it is an herb the rabbits grow, it is like a weed here, but so tasteful. Smell you later.” said Rachel walking away quickly. Ben whiffed his shirt, she was right he needed to do laundry.
“You know, this cookie, could solve all my problems, I need to get some of this Ranbar before we go.” said Ben walking off with Kara.
“Just us peanut, want to go find a cup of coffee?” asked Ed.
“If you don’t tell the principal, I think I know where we can find a bottle of whiskey, Kara or Erin can fly us home.” said Therese.
“I won’t tell that prick shit.” said Ed.
Therese pulled out a bottle of rabbit-made whiskey. “The best on Haremar, or at least I was told.” said Therese.
“I am sure there are two cups in that mess tent.” said Ed, walking over to the mess tent with Therese, and holding the door open for her. A Marine private started saying something about the alcohol in the mess tent, but the Sergeant ended it by handing Ed two glasses.
“We’re moving up, first paper, now plastic.” said Therese.
“If this whiskey is any good it won’t matter, and if it isn’t good, it will matter less.” Ed replied.
The two sat at a table and proceeded to drink excessively. Captain Lionhead came over to the two and asked them, “Have you ever been drunk with a rabbit?”
“No, but now that you mention it, I’d like to try.” said Therese, sliding the bottle over to him, and the Marine Sergeant tossed him a cup.
“Welcome home, we hope you’ll visit more often. To a green spring, gopher blood makes the grass grow.” toasted the rabbit captain.
Ed and Therese raised their glasses and drank again. The three survivors drank into the evening. Therese was finally able to speak a little about her capture and imprisonment by the Gophers, and how the largest would pick up her cage to shake it and make her bounce against the bars. Therese then stopped talking, covered her ears, cried and poured another glass and started sipping it. Lionhead and Ed sat powerless to help her, they could only be there for her, but that was all she wanted at that moment. Therese’s body hurt, her heart ached, the voices yelled and the whiskey was needed as it numbed the pain of living.
Unknown to Therese, her mother was an alcoholic from a planet with a predisposition to alcoholism and Therese herself was born in withdrawals, but she wouldn’t have cared if anyone told her. Years of mental illness, being picked on, her capture and everything else were numbed by her new old friend.
Therese slept the trip back to earth, and when awakened she staggered with enough support to Peter’s car and somehow she made it to bed because she awoke there. The terrible headache she awoke with was worth the numbing her life pain the night before. Peter had a cup of coffee waiting for her as he always did, but instead of making her happy as the coffee always had, she was saddened that she felt like a burden to him. Therese climbed out of bed, slowly but deliberately, and staggered into the bathroom and washed her face.
“Fuck me, we have class don’t we.” said Therese, losing her balance and stumbling as she walked into the kitchen. Ana laughed. Therese’s head hurt, she closed her eyes and sipped her coffee. Peter knew she had fought and been hurt on Haremar, and the loss of Buck hurt him too, but Peter didn’t like seeing Therese hungover.
“Do you have any aspirin?” asked Therese, without looking up. Peter grabbed a couple baby aspirins and put them in her hand, Therese took them and swallowed them without opening her eyes.
“Can’t you use your ring?” asked Peter.
“I forgot about that.” Therese said, adjusting her ring and a warm light came out and she started feeling better. “Thank you.” said Therese.
“Do you want breakfast?” Peter asked Therese.
“Maybe later, my head hurts.” said Therese.
“I got Ana ready, Vivo said we could drop her off at the store on the way to class.” said Peter.
“Oh good.” said Therese, without looking up.
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“Why don’t you go take a shower, we have time.” Peter suggested.
“Yah, that’s a good idea.” said Therese, her ring was helping her feel better, although it was better at wounds and broken bones than hangovers. Therese stumbled, and made her way to the bathroom, stepping into the shower before it warmed up. Therese then remembered to remove her clothes. She took the clothes off and left them in the shower, washed and stepped out. Therese looked in the mirror and saw she was still bruised all over from the Gopher King crushing her, but most of all she hated herself for Buck dying.
Therese forced herself to dress, but she did mechanically and out of habit. She started brushing her hair and then dropped the brush and left it on the floor. She found socks and put her shoes on, and started crying in frustration when she couldn’t find her backpack.
“It’s in the car, I have our backpacks in the car.” Peter told Therese.
“Thank you, I’m sorry, it’s a bad morning.” said Therese. Peter shrugged, picked up Ana and went out to the car. Therese followed, glad Peter was driving, she slumped down in her seat in the car and shut her eyes.
Peter drove the car carefully, and Therese did not awaken when he stopped and took Ana in to Vivo at the store. Finally, upon reaching the college, Peter awakened Therese. “Hey babe, we’re here.”
Therese awoke, and squinted her eyes, the light was even brighter outside. “Okay, okay, I’m here.” Therese said, climbing out of the car, glad to see Kara.
“She’s hungover.” Peter told Kara.
“I guess we all learn sometime.” said Kara. Peter shrugged, he didn’t like this, and felt like a single parent with two kids now. “She’ll get better.” Encouraged Kara. Peter simply shrugged again. Both Peter and Lara felt like they failed Therese.
The trio made their way to Mr. Shank’s class, and they were greeted with a cup of coffee for each of them. “Remind me to never try to out drink a rabbit again.” Therese told Mr. Shank.
“Only if you return the favor.” said Ed, drinking his coffee.
Ed struggled to teach the class, because he missed Buck, but he carried on. The college president was more than happy to learn that Ed and the students missed class because they were securing a grant for a new administration building from a wealthy alumni, so at least they were safe with the college, but Ed missed Buck. The two men had quickly become old friends.
“I am so glad this is over, I’ll see you guys tonight.” said Ed to his team, slumping in his chair and putting his feet up for a nap. The trio left and went to rest before chemistry class and then finally went to that.
“Well look, who decided to finally show up.” Gina said from their lab table, then shook her head when she saw Therese. Gina knew that look.
“Her grandfather passed away, they were very close.” said Kara to Gina to excuse Therese.
“And all of you missed the rest of last week?” Gina asked.
“We were all very close to him.” Peter said. Gina shook her head and wished she was in another group.
“I’ll bring you copies of my notes from last week, I can make them at work.” said Gina.
“Thanks.” said Kara.
“You know, I used to think you three were so cool, how you guys were like a thing when we graduated, just do me a favor and let’s pass this class.” said Gina. She was disappointed in the team.
“We will, sorry about last week.” said Kara. Therese was already sleeping with her head down. The teacher politely ignored her behavior, he didn’t really care if she passed or not. Awaking at the end of class, Therese excused herself from the group and went to go use the restroom and left with Kara.
Therese found it ironic she started feeling better as class ended. No one else in her group found it ironic because she had slept the whole class. “Yah, so Wednesday, I’ll bring you notes, I can make copies at the hospital tonight.” said Gina.
“The hospital, what do you do there?” Peter asked, still trying to figure out what he want’s do so in life.
“I’m a nursing assistant.” said Gina, smacking her gum at Peter. She thought about him, she had dumped Peter when she found out he liked Therese, but she couldn’t because she actually respected Therese even if she was letting her down.
“Is that why you’re going to nursing school?” asked Peter.
“Yeah, It’s a career, I’m a single mom you know, and I don’t think my parents really want to help out forever.” said Gina.
“You’re a mom? I thought that was your brother.” Peter asked confused. If Gina didn’t really know Peter she would be in disbelief at his ignorance.
“You really are oblivious aren’t you. How’s your kid?” asked Gina.
“She’s good, how’d you know?” asked Peter. The boy had done his best to hide that from everyone for Ana’s safety.
“I could see in your backpack from my desk in Shank’s class, we dated? Remember? Your girlfriend, she’s not looking too good. She’s a tough kid, but she needs to keep it together, raising kids is serious, I know.” said Gina.
“She lost her grandfather.” said Peter.
“I’ve lost a lot of people, but nothing gives you a break from being a parent. Yah, I made some stupid choices, I get that, but I don’t want anymore of my stupid choices being her stupid choices. Still, it’s cool you got your kid, I’m sorry whatever happened to the mom.” said Gina.
“Thank you, does her dad help?” asked Peter, of Gina’s son. Peter was still trying to reanalyze his relationship with Gina, the sudden fact that the baby was hers was like an alteration in his timeline.
“You know the cold sores you give me shit about, yah I got that from him, but the best part of him is half of him, and I got him at daycare.” said Gina.
“Look, I am so sorry, I am so sorry I said all that.” said Peter.
“Relax Pete, I get it, you were angry because I was teasing you, and I shared a virus with you, but you are dense. I was just jealous, because I thought you might be like the one guy who understood what it was like for me.” said Gina walking away. Peter stood there confused until he acknowledged Gina was right, he was dense.
Peter found Therese and they drove to the Cowffee cup. Even though Erin didn’t get her summer vacation, you liked leaving early to go home to her pool while the weather was good. Erin greeted them when they came in the door, and then Kara too as she arrived, but Erin seemed flatter than normal although still pleasant.
“Vivo needs to talk to you Therese, why don’t you go over there first, Kara, you can run the store, I just need to go home.” said Erin, grabbing her purse and leaving without looking back.
“She’s not well.” said Kara to Therese.
“It’s been a long week, especially for her, and she knew Buck longer than any of us.” said Therese walking off to find Vivo.
“I don’t like this at all.” said Peter to Kara.
“You’re telling me.” Kara agreed.
“Hey Vivo, Erin said you wanted to see me.” said Therese, walking into the Kookie Mart office.
“Yeah, I have Buck’s will, he drafted it with me a while back. I’m going to read it to you. I leave everything to that girl Therese who work’s for Erin at the Cowffee Cup. Thanks for reminding me I’m not an asshole. Please bury me at sea so I can sleep under the waves until the Resurrection.” read Vivo.
“He insisted on writing it himself, but it seems simple enough, let’s go for a ride.” Vivo said handing Therese a set of house keys.
“Let’s walk there, it isn’t far, and I always liked walking Buck home.” said Therese. Vivo agreed and left walking with Therese. They started walking down the main street, Therese grew sad, thinking of how nice it was walking with Buck as he explained all the buildings and what they used to be to her.
“Wait your cane.” said Therese sticking her arm out in front of Vivo, who stopped but gave her a look of curiosity.
“Sorry, right there on the sidewalk, it raises, sometimes Buck would catch his cane there.” explained Therese.
“It’s okay, thanks for keeping me from tripping.” said Vivo, feeling bad for Therese’s own suffering.
Soon they reached Buck’s house, the weeds had grown a little. “Look here, this is where he took the metal from his lucky hood to make my jewelry box.” Therese pulled Vivo over to the old truck, showing the hole in the hood where he gathered metal. Therese soaked in sadness. “Lucky hood.” she explained to Vivo.
“Lucky hood.” Vivo acknowledged.
Therese slowly, carefully, and deliberately walked up the porch to the front door. She still felt like she was going into someone’s house that wasn’t home. The door opened to the key and they went in.
“There’s a couple things I need to grab now.” said Therese, walking in, taking the dollar she gave buck off the shelf, and then grabbing the picture of him young and in his Navy uniform off his wall. Therese looked around and then grabbed a bottle of whiskey out of the liquor cabinet and put that in her purse too. Vivo was waiting in the front room out of politeness, and Therese went back to him.
“I don’t want to deal with the rest now, do you think you could have someone put an alarm on the house please, I don’t want to leave this house empty.” Therese asked Vivo.
“Of course, I’ll call as soon as we get back to the shop. That’s a good picture.” said Vivo looking at young Buck.
“He lived and died a good man.” Therese said, walking out and locking the door behind them. Vivo helped steady Therese, she was shaking going down the steps.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know him long but these have been the best days of my life before I lost him.” said Therese. They were the best days before her old friend was killed in front of her, she was crushed, and shaken in a cage until Erin could rescue her.
“Let me tell you, despite anything she has ever said, Erin looked forward to seeing him every morning, he did something neither I or Ben was capable of doing.” said Vivo. Therese looked up in question.
“Standing up to Erin.” said Vivo. Therese smiled, she knew that was a truth, both Ben and Vivo would do whatever Erin asked of them, but Buck, he liked to do the opposite, just to irritate her.
“I guess even old men are still boys.” said Therese. Vivo couldn’t argue. They walked silently into the Cowffee Cup, and Therese didn’t say a word as she entered, instead, Therese walked behind the counter, took a ceramic decoration of a cow off the wall, and hung Buck’s picture up, then took the dollar and stapled it to the wall below the picture.
“I like it, but it’s missing something, trust me.” said Kara, grabbing the label maker and typing something out. Kara took the label to the wall and stuck it under Buck’s picture, it read “Customer of the Year.”
“Either Erin will love it, or she’ll fire us.” said Therese.
“I hope love.” Kara said, and Therese nodded in agreement.
Therese went and made herself a coffee and then took the bottle of whiskey and poured a shot in the coffee. Kara threw Therese a stop it look, but Therese replied “It’s Irish.” Therese said.
“And you’re not.” Kara countered.
“I just need this now, you have no idea what it was like, I saw Buck killed, I was captured, hurt, and then the gophers would shake my cage just to watch me bounce. I need to numb the pain.” said Therese. The whiskey was an old terrible friend Therese knew before she breathed her first breath, bad now that that friend was back in her life, she could not let it go. Hidden genes of another world foreign to her called for it. Therese wanted to numb her pain and to escape.
“Just be careful.” said Kara.
“I am, I didn’t drive.” said Therese.
“I think I’m talking about a bit more than that.” Kara said, going back to work.