troublewillfindme

“Why Marvin?”

He tucks her into bed, the plush Martian cuddled in her arms.

He is relieved to be home. The clean up operation had gone off without a hitch, and he easily made his return flight. He’s always known the importance of tying up loose ends, but given that this particular one pertained to the place where he’d found Sally, he’d taken extra care.

It had been a short trip, and Jack had stayed at the house. Sally and Jane had been in good hands, hands that would have known what to do if something had come up. He’d known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they were safe — or as close as he could reasonably guarantee.

But it didn’t change the facts: he’d missed them.

“Why Marvin?” She considers the question. “He’s little. Like me! And he has a dog, too. Just like me!”

“Kiddo, I hate to burst your bubble, but Jane’s not green.”

She giggles.

He’d always heard that children change your life, but it so often came with a kind of dripping sanctimony that he’d written it off, something to say when you needed to make yourself feel more important. He knows now, though, that the statement bears some truth.

His routine is different now. He wakes up, and he has a little person to wake up. He makes himself coffee, and pours her a glass of juice. He gets dressed, and she gets dressed, though he inevitably has to remind her left shoe, left foot, or some variation thereof.

They’re quiet things, ordinary things, but he has come to value them so much.

“Besides,” he continues. “Tweety Bird’s little, too.” He settles on the edge of her bed. “And unlike Marvin, not trying to blow up the planet. You have some secret ambition you’d like to tell me about?”

“No,” she laughs. “But I’m not that little!”

“Mmmm,” he intones, bringing in his best skepticism. “I’ll remember that when you start talking about earth-shattering ka-booms.”

He leans over and presses a kiss to her forehead. “Night, kiddo. Try not to let Marvin have too much fun.”

She wraps her arms around his neck. “Night, Dad.”

Yeah, it’s good to be back.