Human Sister

resonant sound of a frog’s jumping into water—all of those things are complicated patterns constructed out of our collective experience and memory. Nothing in the present would seem like anything but for its being constructed out of this memory. It is memory that fills the present with meaning. It is memory that keeps each moment from being alone.”
    And then Michael laid his head on Elio’s shoulder, and Elio leaned his head on Michael’s head, and for an instant I had the impression that they looked like lovers.

    Grandpa immediately began giving us a crash course in what we would need to know for our journey to, and our life in, Anzen. Because Elio had to continue attending his university courses, his training would be more superficial than Michael’s and mine.
    Grandpa told Michael that we were entering a dangerous phase in our lives and that he, Michael, would have to begin acting more mature—no more hiding from difficulties behind his hands, no more crying and carrying on as a child. He would have to be as responsible for our care as we were for his. I felt certain that Michael would immediately adjust according to Grandpa’s instructions, and for a moment—a brief moment, because I knew that Grandpa was right—I felt I was losing a child who would from that day forward be a man.
    Over and over, Michael and I simulated piloting the Lefcort cruiser, launching the submersibles, and docking at Anzen under varying conditions. During these simulations, Michael’s superior abilities became clear. It took me nearly three times as long as he to achieve a passing score on the simulations. While I struggled to keep up with Grandpa’s training schedule, Michael leapt ahead to study the design and maintenance of all systems in Anzen and the submersibles.
    I had always felt that despite his greater gifts—in fact, because of them—Michael’s world probably would become even more challenging than mine. Now, as I watched him work, I was pleased and proud to see him reject coasting along by using his gifts simply to keep up with me. It was clear that he would use his talents to meet whatever challenges lay ahead.
    Preparations for our descent to Anzen proceeded on schedule until Grandpa returned home early from work the next Wednesday afternoon. When he entered Michael’s area, he said he wanted to speak with Grandma privately. He told Michael to go to his bedroom, and he told me to go outside and wait.
    A half-hour passed before Grandma came out. When she did, she shuffled by me without saying a word and went to lie on her bed. Frightened by her exhausted and defeated appearance, I ran to Gatekeeper.
    Grandpa sat stoically at the study table. I hurried to him. “What’s wrong?”
    He patted the chair beside him. “Please, sit. You’ve always risen appropriately to every occasion, and I’m certain you will do so now. Renner called a meeting this morning of everyone working on the project. Beginning immediately, each of our homes will be placed under guard around the clock. Nothing and no one will come or go without being searched. Furthermore, everyone working on the project except me is prohibited from going anywhere unless accompanied by a military guard.”
    “Why not you?”
    “I have opposed the project more openly than anyone else, so my special treatment is that I am to gather whatever personal belongings I want, have a quick dinner with my family, and leave here, escorted by the guard who is waiting for me outside, no later than 1930 this evening—just over three hours from now. I will not be permitted to leave the Livermore lab again until after the military operations are completed in September.”
    He smiled at me. “Of course, under the circumstances, I cannot go with you to Anzen. Nor will we be able to smuggle Michael out the house door as planned. You will have to cut through the wall of your bedroom and dig up to the vineyard directly above. You should begin immediately after I leave. Work very quietly so as to avoid detection by any sensors that might be directed at the front of the house. Then the three of you will have to sneak to Bodega Bay and from there to Anzen.”
    “But if we disappear,” I said, “they’ll ask you what happened to us and where we went, and you’ll have to tell them. You can’t resist the algetor, isn’t that right?”
    He looked at me with what I can only describe as pure, calm love. “Honey, as soon as you escape, they’ll never get a chance to