“There are those who believe, that life here, began out there….”
FATHERS and SONS
A fourteen year old boy ran across an empty field, chasing after the baseball his father had just hit into the distance. The sun had set already, and the dusk sky was dimming as the boy ran toward a large tree at the other end of the field. His father, wanting to make sure his son was alright, followed the quickly becoming young man. He became a little winded as he followed his son.
“I’m getting old for this,” the father, out of breath, told his son as caught up to the boy, who was now sitting beneath the tree where the ball had come to a stop.
“Nah,” the boy replied, “you’re just lazy. Just as mom always tells you.”
“Wait a second,” the man, Martin Bennett, said to his son. Martin sat next to his son, their backs up against the tree. “You’re supposed to be on my side.” Martin said to his fourteen year old son, Kevin.
“C’mon dad,” Kevin said, “you don’t go to the gym any more, and look,” Kevin said, pointing at his dads gut.
“Hey,” Martin told his son. “I’ve worked long and hard to get this small gut. A little toning, that’s all I need.” Martin said. “But I can still hit the ball pretty good.”
“Yeah,” Kevin said, “I thought I could slip a change-up by you.”
“Your change-up is getting better, son,” Martin said. “But remember, your arm motion is supposed to the same or it comes in as a flat fastball that even your sister could it.”
The two sat back and gazed back at their house. They lived on a two-acre plot of land in Andale Kansas. Sara, Martin’s wife, Kevin’s mom, was a local elementary school teacher. Martin designed software, and Kevin was the typical fourteen-year old who was starting to dream of the life ahead of him.
“This weekend,” Kevin said, “Mr. Winters is going to let me fly with him when he dusts crops over in Jacob County.”
“Yes, I know, and I wish I could come and see.” Martin said. “But I have a business trip to Los Angeles. But I promise I’ll look at the pictures as soon as your mom emails them to me.”
Kevin looked at the distance stars.
“Dad,” Martin said, “do you think there is life out there.”
Martin sighed. “I don’t know. At least, if Star Trek is true, they’ll all pretty much look like us but with different shaped heads.”
“Jesus Christ, dad,” Kevin said, “If there are any aliens they’ll either look like centipedes with blood all over them, or Angela.”
“First off,” Martin said to his son, “Stop cussing like that.”
“Jesus Christ isn’t a cuss word,” Kevin came back with.
“Yeah, well,” Martin said, “It is still disrespectful. Second of all, you’re twelve sister is at that age where if you say things like she looks like an alien, she’s gonna bitch about it to mom and then I have to bitch about it to you.”
“Dad,” Kevin said, “Bitch is a cuss word.”
“Yeah,” Martin said, “And I’m an adult and have earned the right to say it. When you turn eighteen you can say them too, but for now,” Martin said, “you’re just a fourteen year old kid.”
“You didn’t answer me,” Kevin said. “Do you think there are aliens out there somewhere, and do you think they’ve been here?”
Martin thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” Martin finally said. “It would be foolish to think we’re all there is.”
“You sound like Jodie Foster,” Kevin said.
Suddenly they heard Sara calling for them to come inside.
“Come on you two,” Sara called to them from the back yard. “You’re going to sick. I ordered some pizza, so get your butts in here.”
“We better go,” Martin said. “We don’t want her getting mad.”
“Yeah, I know dad, especially when it is her time of the month.” Kevin added.
Martin laughed. “You better not let her hear you say that, or believe me, you’ll be the one sleeping in the dog house.”
The headed back to the house, and looked forward to eating the pizza Sara had ordered.
--
Later that night, Martin kissed his wife, and removed her glasses. She had fallen asleep in bed while playing her DS game system. She had pretty much conquered Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader. He put her game system, and glasses, next to her on the light stand.
He went out into the house and made sure the doors were locked. He looked in on Angela, his daughter, and saw that she was fast asleep, and as usual, sleeping in a horizontal position across a vertical bed. He repositioned her, kissed her forehead, and then left her room and closed the door.
Martin looked in on Kevin, who also, was fast asleep. The walls of his son’s bedroom were no longer populated by superhero posters, but with scantily clad Maxim models. Martin looked at the brunette on the closet door, and nodded. His son had good tastes.
As Martin headed back to his room to get some sleep himself, he heard a beeping noise coming from his office room. It was a beeping sound he never thought he would hear again. He entered his office, and opened his closet. He reached up to the top shelf, and found the object. It was a small black box, and it was beeping. He pushed a button to stop the blinking light, and beeping sound. He pressed another button. A small microphone slid out, and pointed up.
“This better be good,” Martin said into the microphone.
“
And hello to you,” the voice said. “
How have you been?”
“Just great, Liam. Now what was so important you had to contact me after all this time?” Martin asked.
There was a pause.
“
I have found another clue,” Liam said. “I think we are one more step closer to finding the Battlestar Genesis.”
“You’ve said that before,” Martin said. “And then we tired of your endless searching, and we all went our own ways.”
“
Yeah,” Liam replied, “
but this time I think I have something. And, more importantly, I’m not the only who is searching for it.”
Worry came over Martin’s face. “Who else would be looking for the Genesis?”
“
I don’t know, but I thought you would find that part interesting.”
Martin nodded. “Yeah, I do. I will meet you in LA this weekend. Contact the others, but tell them to just standby until I see your clue.”
Martin closed the device.
What his Earth-born son, Kevin, didn’t realize was that his father, Martin, was actually an alien from space, and that he, Kevin, was half alien as well. If only he knew, Martin thought with a smile. But Kevin could never know the truth. Both their lives depended on it, as did his daughter Angela, who was also half-alien. In fact, the only one in the family who was really 100% human was Sara. And Sara had no idea that her kids were aliens, a fact that Martin was sure to piss her off, no matter what time of the month it was.
Continued…
Battlestar Genesis
with the Farrah Fawcett hairstyles 
