And So We Moved, a Cantrell: The Early Years Save “Lulu,” Joseph said. Seeing her frown at his chosen nickname for her, he began again, gently taking her by the shoulders. “Louise, I know you’re in ...
The Disparity In Time, On Vulcan, a Cantrell: The Early Years, Part One Update
Settling into their new home, on this hot, arid planet that was completely foreign to her; Louise found it necessary to create a routine that best suited her young family. Something of which her own mother used to do whenever the Ilsen’s were stationed on yet another foreign planet inside the United Federation of Planets. Her father was an Admiral in Starfleet. They moved a lot when she was growing up. Still, this was her very first time on Vulcan.
She was quick to note the days were longer here, taking this into consideration as she calculated her schedule. Seems it took this planet a bit more time to rotate than Earth. They went from a twenty-four hour day to a whopping thirty-two hour one. The sun rose at about six-forty-seven in the am and set at about eight-twenty-nine pm. While she worried her children weren’t sleeping through the entire night, once she realized the disparity in time, she relaxed and figured out a way to make certain her boys got their obligatory twelve hours’ sleep.
Despite the heat during the daylight hours, when the sun finally set, it quickly grew horribly cold. So much so, the couple added a stove very similar to the ancient Benjamin Franklin stove, just to assist their heater while it was yet dark outside. Louise realized they arrived smack in the middle of Vulcan’s winter. And quite dismayed they still had weeks to go. The months turned out to be longer, too.
Regardless of her efforts, soon time was but a passing concept on Vulcan. “Joseph,” she began one evening after they had dined. The dishes cleared away for the evening, she was sitting in the Livingroom, and he was at their tiny dining room table, grading papers. “I’m very confused.”
He looked up from the papers to give her his full attention. “About what, my dear?”
“My system is still on Earth’s time after all of this time. Days — weeks have gone by as far as I can tell, anyway. Erik is getting bigger and bigger, yet I confess I have no clue just how old he is. Shouldn’t he be crawling by now? Or has he slowed down to Vulcan time?”
“No, he seems to be on track, as best as I can tell. You just need to stop fretting. He’s perfectly healthy and completing the expected milestones.”
“That’s true, he’s able to roll over from his stomach to his back.”
“Ans from his back to his stomach, too. So, see? He’s perfectly fine.”
*~~*~~*~*~~*
In spite of her fears, Erik was very busy completing milestone after milestone, mostly on his own, too. Pretty soon he was able to actually hold and shake a toy, too. Without him dropping it on his head. This was a worry, given how gravity tended to defeat him.
“Joseph, why are we taking so many pictures of the baby? He's not our first, you know." “Precisely because he's not our first. Have you ever gone through your family's photo albums and your siblings are all complaining in your ear, the baby pictures are all about you Where are the pictures of them?" "I'm an only child,” Louise said, “Oh, look, he’s got complete command over that toy. Gravity or not,” Louise said.
“Oh, look, he’s got complete command over that toy. Gravity or not,” Louise said.
“Overachiever, that one,” Joseph said.
“Oh, don’t pin that one on him, please,” Louise said. “Although I will confess, he’s a lot like you. Very enterprising.”
Soon, with a little help, he was sitting up on his own.
This set up an entirely new problem; they only had one highchair and Aaron would frown whenever Erik was using it. “No, mine,” he would say, and all but stomp his foot. Little brother turned out to be one messy eater, too. Before anyone else could use the baby chair, it had to be polished to perfection, which also made things complicated. Louise couldn’t just switch out babies. Fortunately, Aaron was able to grab a serving for himself and was fond of sitting on one of the living room chairs, to her chagrin. A light gray fabric. Who in their right mind would use that fabric in a family home?
Not their style preference, but the furniture came with the house, so they only had to purchase a crib and a toddler bed, making things a tad easier on them. She hoped that neither of her children would manage to irrevocably stain the upholstery, since the couple could ill-afford to replace it.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*
To help them both reconcile the time differential, Joseph found an App, of the Terran Calendar they both were more familiar with; 2259, which was nearly at its end. “Oh, my Christmas is almost upon us,” She said, examining the tabular array on the app. “Has it really been almost a year since we left Earth?” Most of this time, true enough, had been spent in outer space, she conceded.
“I’m afraid so,” Joseph said. “See? Time is flying.”
“That means Erik is almost a full year old. And he’s still not crawling.”
Joseph smiled and said, “He’ll be fine, stop worrying, you’ll give yourself an ulcer. Besides, he’s found his own way to get around. He creeps like no baby I have ever seen. As for the upcoming holiday, I shall soon have a surprise for you.”
The day before Christmas arrived, Joseph pushed open their front door, "Louise, it’s here,” he called joyfully as he carried the freshly cut pine tree through the doorway. He set it in the middle of their small living room. Tears moistened Louise’s blue eyes. “Oh, Joseph you are a wonder!”
“I just love Christmas, is all.”
The couple worked well into the evening, getting the tree dressed, as well as the house, which quickly became a family Tradition for them. In just a few hours they finished just to realize they had Christmas services to attend, in a short while, as they crawled into bed to catch a bit of shut eye.
Working so hard and so late, getting up the next morning was a bit of a chore. But they managed and off they went to the holiday services at Saint Paul’s Little Church in the Province. Joseph quickly joined the choir, baby Erik harnessed to his back. Having been a choir director at their Earth parish, Joseph even offered his services as an Assistant director, if needed.
The music seemed to excite Erik. Louise glanced over at the choir to see his tiny arms waving in time to the a Capella choir, as if he was the director. This warmed his mother’s heart.
