Davy peered out the front window, trying to see if he could see Micky’s car in the driveway. The little blue convertible was still conspicuously absent, however, and Davy frowned to himself.

He pondered this as he took a quick shower and dressed, debating whether or not to use his mental powers to check on his friend or just leave him alone. He decided on the latter, promising himself that he would if he sensed any danger.

His moral dilemma for the day solved, Davy whistled to himself as he strolled down the steps. Already he could smell bacon and pancakes sizzling on the stove, and he thought to himself how glad he was that Mike had developed into a decent cook. Micky on the other hand…well, he still had to realize that the kitchen was not exactly the same as a makeshift chemistry lab.

Mike had piled a stack of pancakes on the table and was busy cooking a second batch of bacon. A pot of coffee beckoned with soothing smells from the counter nearby.

“Morning,” Davy greeted as he entered the kitchen. “Mmm, that smells good,” he commented, breathing in the fresh aromas. “’Ow long ‘ave you been up?”

Mike pulled the coffee pot off the appliance and poured the black liquid into the waiting mugs. “All night,” he confessed. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“That stinks,” Davy commented as he took one of the mugs and set it on the table. He frowned in thought. “I wonder if Micky stayed out all night?” he wondered aloud. “I didn’t see ‘is car.”

“I didn’t either,” Mike confessed. He scraped the remaining bacon on to a plate and took the syrup out of the cabinet. “I’m anxious to find out how everything went.”

“Me, too.” Davy poured some milk and sugar into his coffee and sat down at the table.

“He’ll probably be home for lunch,” Mike predicted, sawing off a triangle of his pancake.

“Ya think so?” Davy asked, raising an eyebrow in skepticism.

“Yep,” Mike replied, returning to his food without another word. Davy frowned.

The two ate in silence for a while. Mike sifted through the main page of the newspaper and Davy read the comics page and the personals. When they were finished, Davy washed the dishes and then folded up his section of the newspaper while Mike cleared off the table and dried the plates and cups.

They had just finished cleaning up when a knock came at the door.

“I wonder who that is...” Davy thought aloud, but he didn’t wonder for long. Thomas opened the door and entered the Pad without waiting to be let in.

“Hi everybody,” he said.

“Hey Thomas,” Mike replied. He yawned. “I’ll be ready to go in five minutes, okay?”

“Go?” Davy asked. “Go where?”

“Back to the vet’s,” Thomas replied.

“Yeah,” Mike replied, yawning again. “I told Thomas we’d go for awhile, and he wants to hang out for a bit. I was gonna come back here and - ,” he paused again and yawned. “ – take a nap.”

“I’ll take him,” Davy volunteered.

“Really?” Mike asked, yawning again. “You don’t mind?”

“Nah. Besides, I don’t want you to fall asleep at the wheel,” Davy insisted.

“Okay,” Mike replied, stretching a bit. “See y’all later then.” He waved slightly as he headed up the stairs to go back to bed, yawning several times as he walked.

A few moments later, the door shut downstairs. But Mike was already half asleep and his mind barely registered the noise.

”Who are you?” Micky asked the stranger. “Where do you come from?”

“My origin is unimportant,” the man replied. He turned to Peter. “My name is Talek and I am concerned about the boy in your possession.”

“Boy?” Peter asked. “Do you mean Thomas?”

Talek nodded. “That is what he is called here,” he replied.

“What are you worried about him for?” Mike spoke up.

“Because of his importance,” Talek replied. “I am concerned for his well being.”

“He’s doing fine,” Davy informed the visitor. “Just fine.”

“I am aware of his physical well being,” Talek replied. “It is his mind I am concerned about.”

“His mind?” Peter asked.

“Yes. I am concerned that his schooling is less than complete.”

“Well, the school he goes to is pretty decent...”

“Not that sort of schooling,” the man replied. “The sort of schooling most of Earth is unable to give him.”

No one bothered to refute that claim. Thomas most definitely needed some schooling that few could give him.

“You plan to help him?” Mike asked.

“Yes,” Talek replied. He shut his eyes and pressed two of his strangely shaped fingers to his head. He appeared to be concentrating hard. A moment later, a puff of smoke rose in the air, and three red books appeared in Peter’s hands.

Peter glanced down at the books. “These are supposed to help?” he asked. He opened one of them and glanced inside. “They’re not even in English!” he gasped with surprise.

“No,” Talek replied. “But the boy will not have a problem with them.” He smiled slightly. “I will be going now,” he announced.

“Wait,” Mike spoke up. “Why are you so concerned about Thomas?”

“My motives are unimportant,” Talek replied. “It is only what I do that matters.”

“Aren’t you going to meet him?” Micky asked.

“No!” Talek answered sharply. “The boy must not know of my existence until his training is completed.” He frowned. “Tell him nothing of our meeting.”

“But then ‘ow are we supposed to explain the books?” Davy wondered aloud.

Talek blinked twice. Apparently the question had not been posed before. “That is of little concern to me,” he replied. “Only make sure that he know nothing of my existence. We will meet again. Until then he can know nothing. And I can tell you no more. Good-bye.” With that, he was gone.

Mike sat up suddenly, his heart pounding. He heard noises coming from downstairs, and glanced at the clock. He’d been asleep for two hours. It was now just after noon.

“Micky must be home,” he mumbled to himself. He stood up and stared at himself in his mirror. Two brown eyes stared back at him. “Did I just dream what I thought I dreamed?” he wondered to himself.

“Hey Mike?” he heard Micky calling from downstairs. Mike shook his head slightly and shrugged.

’I guess it’ll make sense eventually,’ he thought to himself. ’Almost everything does.’

With a slight frown, Davy strolled through the park, searching for a good bench to sit on. He had much on his mind, and didn’t want to go back to the Pad just yet.

Mostly he was still worried about Peter. According to Joel, the antibiotics they had given him were helping, but the improvement was slow. Thomas reported that his father had felt better the day before than he had the day before that. So there was a bit of progress being made. Joel had said they were considering increasing the dosage, but decided that even a slow recovery was better than none at all.

Davy was also worried about Micky, though the worry was not as severe. He still sensed no danger from his friend, but it was driving him nuts to hold off checking up on him. He tried to push both his worries out of his mind and just concentrate on the day around him. He still had an hour before he was to go back to the Pad for lunch. Joel had told Thomas that they were going to have a pizza for lunch and the boy was welcome to join them, so Davy didn’t have to pick him up until five.

Finally, he located a bench that wasn’t occupied, and sat down, making himself comfortable as he watched the other people. He was trying to keep his mind off his problems. He spotted a few pretty girls, and smiled at each of them, but each time his saw one of them, he was reminded of the mystery girl from the day before, and found himself distracted.

Remembering the mystery girl made him restless, and so he left the car parked near the park and headed to town to stroll around. He made his way aimlessly through the streets, hoping that by some chance he would run into her again.

He had walked around for a full forty five minutes, with no sign of the girl, when he decided to head back towards the park. His stomach was growling and he wanted some lunch – even more than he wanted to find the girl.

The big red car was parked on the far end of the park, so he had to walk back along the paved path to get to it. Old couples and young children passed him on the park, out for a day’s stroll.

He thought he spotted someone near the car from a far distance, but was convinced that his eyes were playing tricks on him. It was probably just a telephone poll or something...

But as he got closer, he could see that there was definitely a human being standing there. And as he moved even nearer, he could see that it was a female human being.

Davy frowned slightly. Was one of his old girlfriends looking for him? Did he owe any of them money? Most of his breakups were amicable, but was he forgetting one? Was one of them mad? But he didn’t sense danger, and decided it was most likely safe. Still, that didn’t explain who she was…

As he walked closer, he could see more of her features. She had shoulder length dark hair, straight and fine. Her eyes…from what he could tell…were big and dark blue – almost purple. She wore a pair of black jeans with some purple patterns embroidered near the ankles, and black boots. A fuzzy dark purple sweater covered the top half of her, edged in black. She also wore a white sun hat with purple flowers and purple edging, which managed to lighten her outfit just enough to make her look a bit less morbid than the rest of her outfit might have suggested.

He got closer, and saw that she was most assuredly waiting for him. He was almost to the car now, and felt a bit awkward. So he approached her.

Turning his charm level up as high as possible, he smiled at the girl politely. “Excuse me,” he said calmly, letting what some girls thought of as a fabulous voice speak for itself. “Were you waiting for me?”

The girl turned to him. Her big bluish-purple eyes stared at him, an expression of confusion clear on her face.

Davy stared. Those eyes...

“I – I don’t know...” the girl confessed, but she didn’t get much farther.

“You don’t know?” Davy asked, still unable to shift his gaze away from her face.

The girl appeared nervous, but she didn’t turn her eyes. “I’m looking for the owner of this car...” She broke off, realizing that he wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying.

“Well, I’m driving it today...” Davy managed to whisper. He stepped closer to her.

“Are you?” She was staring back at him, neither having moved their eyes from each other.

“Yes...” Davy replied softly. “Want to go for a ride?”

The girl didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Sure,” she replied.

Davy nodded, but made no move to get into the car. Instead he took another step closer to the girl. “I’m Davy,” he told her.

The girl nodded, still staring at his eyes.

“Do you have a name?”

She nodded again. “I’m Cecelia.”

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