Page 62 of Etched in Stone
“Please, I was just trying to get-” Ray came out of one of the rooms.
“Pee. Otherwise, I'm gonna let loose all over the floor of your new ship.”
“Our new ship.”
“Well, our baby is sitting on my bladder, so point the way, buster.”
Ray guided her toward a room. She bypassed the giant bed and headed straight for the bathroom.
She hiked up her dress and nearly cried when she saw the huge sunken bath and the rain shower that were practically identical to the ones she'd drawn almost a year ago. There was even a fedora angled on one edge of the bathtub.
“Took me a while to manage the autograv safeties. Didn't want you to drown if we lost gravity,”
Ray said. “What are you crying for? You don't like it? I can change it.”
Ray rung his hands and stared around the bathroom like he was trying to figure out what to take a sledge hammer to first.
“I love it! These are happy tears. I'd hug you but I'm still peeing!” Jesse said.
Ray sighed with relief. Jesse finished emptying her bladder.
“I thought water was a scarce commodity.”
“Yeah, you'll have to wait until we make a stop somewhere to fill the tanks. Everything's set up for both water and waterless cleaning,” Ray said. “I'd show you the engine room next, but I think most of that would be over your head.”
“Pretty much.”
“This is our bedroom,” Ray said, leading her back out. She’d been in such a rush to pee that she hadn’t really been paying attention.
She saw the crib in the corner with a mobile of spaceships flying above it. They had agreed to keep the baby in their room for the first few months. She'd spent nearly a month gathering up the right colors and shapes to make the mobile while Ray had a made the crib.
“Now why don't I show you your room?”
“I thought this was my room?”
“This is our room. Your room,” he said.
Ray took her hand and guided her to another room. She had one thing to say. It had really good light.
“I know you can't exactly have natural lighting on a ship traveling between stars, but I hope this will be sufficient. This is maximum. You can totally change it. And I had to guess at most of the supplies or make due. It's hard to find some of the pigments and the resins here. I'm sure with a few more months, I can finish it to nearly what you had at Olivia's.”
He'd built her a studio on the ship. The tears started to come again. This time, he enfolded her in his arms and wings and held her while she tried to stop sniveling.
“Good tears?” Ray asked.
“I love you,” Jesse stated.
“I know.”
“We'll fly the stars collecting art supplies,” he said after a long moment.
“That sounds ridiculous.”
“You know, we could even go back to Earth. They might have made enough progress to join the civilized world. After all, it’s been over thirty years.”
“Probably not.”
Ray shrugged. “Probably not, but we love them anyway.”
THE END
