The fleet gets going right on time. Bora and Thao stay here with one of the speedboats to finish up some details and grab us a lunch for later today. I wave goodbye to them from the deck, then break out the bag of pastries from the French restaurant that I grabbed instead of stopping for breakfast. I pass the bag around to Evan, Valerie, Louise and Andrea who are sitting with me as the cats start to motor upstream. Marc and Chad are a couple of boats behind, leading the Geologists in putting the next filter together. Once we move out from the city, the sibs on my boat and I take turns popping power poles along the shore as we eat our croissants and other goodies.
“These chocolate ones are great. Good pick Noah,” Valerie says as she pops the last flaky bite into her mouth.
“Thanks,” I reply. “What did you all get up to after the party? Anything fun?”
Valerie laughs. “Evan and I are still being very good, if that’s what you’re implying, thank you very much.”
“Well, mostly good,” Evan says with a grin. Valerie takes a swing and hits him in the arm. “I meant very good,” he corrects. “We were very, very good last night.”
I laugh. “I was more intending that question for Louise and Andrea. I already figured you two were off being very good.”
“I talked to my mother on the phone last night,” Louise says quietly. The laughing stops and I turn to give her my full attention. “She was finally ready for it.”
“Good for you!” I say and Evan and Valerie echo it. Andrea claps excitedly and pops off some little fireworks with a wave of her hand.
“Yeah, it was good,” Louise agrees, her voice gaining confidence. “And thanks for being supportive. I know not all of us have been able to make contact yet, or even have mothers to talk to. She’s really great. We talked for a couple of hours. I really feel like I got to know her. She said she even wants me to come meet her family some time next year.”
“That’s wonderful,” Evan says, popping another pole into existence along the shore. “I’m still in limbo on mine. The last report I got from the legal team said they tracked her down to the country she’s in, but haven’t been able to contact her directly yet.”
“Well that’s still something!” Louise exclaims joyfully. “Details, now! Where is she? Is it where she’s from?”
“Yes, and it turns out I’m Samoan,” he says. “Bet you never would have guessed that.”
“I would have put my money on Tonga,” I say. “Do you know anything else about her?”
“Pretty standard Butler mother story, from what the report said. She was a recent immigrant, talented, attractive, and broke. She took the deal, then ended up going back to Samoa afterwards with her wad of cash. The report said it looks like she’s revitalized the economy of her whole village since she got there, so I guess that’s cool.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“I hope you get to talk to her soon,” Louise says.
“Maybe,” he responds. “I don’t even know if she wants any contact, though. I’ll have the lawyers reach out first and see. I’ve wanted to just know who she was for so long, part of me wants to just leave it here. You know, keep the mother I’ve built up in my head intact.”
“Yeah, but then you won’t ever meet her, which I know you want to do,” Valerie says.
“Yeah, I know,” he says with a sigh. “I should. It’ll probably be good.”
“I like your plan to have the lawyers check first,” I say, raising another pole from the ground on the bank. “I’d go with that.”
He nods and finishes off the last of the pastries.
“Oh, before I forget,” I say, changing the subject. “Did anyone notice if Chad was drinking a lot last night? Not judging, I just need to know.”
“Yeah, I was at his table,” Louise volunteers. “He and the agriculture minister were having a lively discussion about local versus imported beers and ended up trying several of each. He wasn’t getting totally plastered, or I would have stopped him, but I think he was pretty impaired.”
Shit. My broken brain is getting worse. I tell them about my conversation with Chad last night, leaving out the most embarrassing parts for my brother. He deserves a little dignity. Just a little.
“So, yeah,” I conclude. “I think this means I’m even more disabled than I used to be. He was definitely drunk when we talked last night, and I honestly didn’t notice it at all at the time.”
Valerie gives me an odd look, but doesn’t say anything. That’s right, she still doesn’t know how I’m broken. Of course I forgot that. I should give Evan the go-ahead to tell her about it, since I really don’t feel like having that conversation now. She’s basically family now, and I trust her as much as any of my sibs who know.
“So you didn’t think he was acting weird?” Louise asks.
“Well, I did notice that. I just didn’t connect it to anything else. It’s always the connections that seem to fail for me.”
“Sorry, man,” Evan says.
“What do your diagnostics look like? Did you check for any major remodeling?” Louise asks. She seems more worried about it than I am.
Valerie looks even more confused, but doesn’t say anything. Yeah, I really should let her into the circle of trust on this.
“Yeah, I checked, but things are always shifting around in my cortex. There haven’t been any huge changes lately, so I didn’t think it should be a big deal.”
“Let me check your scans when we get home where we have some better equipment,” Louise says. “There’s got to be something we can do to stabilize you.”
“I think it would probably stop if I used my implant less, but I’m not taking that as an option, since I need it to compensate for the damage I’ve already done to myself. On the upside, I can read from my stored memory really fast these days, so it’s almost like being a real boy.”
“I guess that’s good,” Louise says slowly, her concerned look saying the opposite.
“Don’t break yourself man, we need you,” Evan says, putting a huge hand on my shoulder. “We even like you sometimes.”
“Thanks brother, you know how to make a guy feel special.”
“Any time,” he says, moving his hand to point towards the shore and raise another power pole from the earth.