Fare Well

Part 7 - July 6, 2350 to July 8, 2350

July 6, 2350

Here is exactly what happened today.

The doorbell rang. I opened the door to find a fair-haired young woman smiling at me.

"Are you Tom?"

"Yes. And you are...?"

"I'm the youngest person on Earth," she beamed, like she was the top salesperson for Girl Scout cookies.

I smiled. I was glad to see that completely unrealistic youthful exuberance still existed. Maybe even a little craziness. "What can I do for you, oh youngest person?"

"Actually, I think you're my dad."

I must have stared blankly for a long time. She had to ask if I was ok. "I just .. uhm, I don't know what to think. Do you want to come in?" She motioned to the person in the car waiting for her at the curb and entered the house.

I directed her to the couch and then sat myself in the easy chair. "Let me think out loud for a minute here," I said. "Ok, I did have ... relations (I didn't know how to talk to an 18 year old about these things. At least not any more. At least not one that could be my daughter.) with someone at the last minute. Just before the sterilization. But I don't think ... . Well, what makes you think that I could be your father?"

"DNA," she answered. "I guess I should say that I know you're my father. You're a perfect match."

"How did you get my DNA?"

"I don't know. My friend helped me. Some kind of government agency. But you have to be pretty close to 18 before they'll do it, so I couldn't find you until now."

In a world that seemed to be slipping through my fingers, there was some small comfort in scientific certainty, even if it meant that my life was being turned upside down. She was my daughter. My daughter and Astrid's daughter. My heart leapt. "Please tell me about your mother. Where is she?"

"My mom passed away a couple years ago. I'm not sure what you want to know. How well did you know her?"

"I only knew her for a few hours. I don't know how well I knew her. What did she call herself?"

"You didn't know her name?" She looked at me askance. "Sheri O'Brien. She never got married. That was her maiden name."

"I knew that name but I wondered if she called herself by a different name."

"No."

"Did she talk about where she came from? Who her people were?"

"Sure. She was from Iowa. Her father was Irish and her mother was German."

"She never talked about, hmm, another side of her life? A more exotic fantasy world?"

"I'm not sure what you and she talked about but she never talked that way with me. You know, my mom didn't really remember much about you. In fact, she said she had a kind of amnesia about that whole time. There was something that stuck in her memory about 'Tom' and a night in the desert but she could never really remember much more than that. I tried asking her what you were like, why she liked you, how you met, things like that. She didn't have any answer.

"Sometimes I search my earliest memories to see if there was something she told me about you but there's not. Honestly, you just didn't have any place at all in her life or ours. I'm sorry. I'm sorry she didn't remember you. You must have meant something to her once."

"What's your name?"

"Danielle."

"Danielle. Danielle, I'm sorry too. But I don't think it was her fault. I'm glad you found me. Now what?" I smiled. "My wife and I always wanted a child. Now that I have one, I don't know what to do." I looked at her for a moment. I could see in her Astrid's hair, Astrid's smile. But then maybe those were just Sheri's hair and smile. Who had I loved?