Once Upon A Time

Chapter 1

July 2006

Marie smiled. She was ecstatic to show Patrick what she had been working on for the past year. He had already seen some of her work and corrected her math errors on numerous equations, but he had no idea what the implications of it all meant. Of course, she was hesitant to test it but inanimate objects would be of no use and animals were not an option. She and Patrick shared the same views on animal testing.

They could go themselves, but the dangers involved were enormous. They had no clue what to expect. Nothing like this had been done before. They could even die. Marie shook her head to stop that train of thought. No need to bring down her mood just yet. Let her talk to Patrick first.

She left her work area and locked the shed. Patrick built this space for them to share almost twenty-five years ago, when they were in their early 20s. A dividing wall inside split the space into two workshops where Patrick could do his carpentry and she could do lab work in peace. At first, Patrick tried to keep his workshop neat and tidy by having storage compartments labeled. Eventually, though, his workshop became more and more cluttered but in a way that made sense to him. Marie's lab was immaculate. All her equipment was organized based on function. Anyone could enter and begin using her space with ease.

Crossing the garden, she entered the old Victorian home they had inherited from Patrick's great grandmother.

"Patrick?" She called, entering the kitchen. "Honey, where are you?"

"In the study." She heard a voice respond.

"Come out here. I have something to show you." Footsteps and the sound of a closing door told Marie that Patrick was coming. His salt and pepper hair came into view first, followed by his smiling face soon after, rounding the corner of the stairs.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Come out to my work shop, I'll show you." He followed her outside again, laughing inside at how excited Marie was. She was like a puppy with a new toy. She kept glancing back to make sure he was following, talking the whole way.

"So you know the stuff I've been working on? Well, I got it. I got it! You will never believe what I figured out! This is history-in-the-making! No else alive has figured out how to do this. But I did. You have to see! Come on. Come ON!" Marie was basically pulling him into the shed by that time. She had gotten herself excited again at the prospects before them. Getting behind Patrick, Marie covered his eyes with her hands as well as she could. It was not easy when he was over half a foot taller than her. She directed him through the room, avoiding most of the obstacles.

"Ow!"

"Sorry! Oops, watch your step. Ok, here we are. Annndd... Ta da!" Marie pulled her hands away with a flourish. "What do you think?"

Patrick stood uncertainly in front of the tall box in front of him. It was almost like an old phone booth, but it had wires flowing from it to a nearby computer that had lines of code scrolling down it's screen. "Umm.. well..." Marie's face fell.

"You don't like it."

"No! No, no, no, no, no! Nothing like that. It's just, well."

"What? Just say it, Patrick!"

"What is it?"

September 2016

"Kids, get ready! The bus comes in ten minutes! Jack, get your butt out of bed in the next minute or so help me, I will get a bucket of ice water and dump it on your head. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Marie. I think the whole neighborhood heard you." Patrick said from behind her. "I'm off to work now." She turned around and gave him a kiss.

"Okay. Have a good day. Stay safe. So you have your lunch?" He held up the brown paper bag containing the lunch she packed for him as answer. He waved goodbye as he shut the door and started down the street. Marie turned back to the stairs she had been yelling up. "Jack? Are you up?"

She heard a groan followed by a thump. "Yes, mom."

"Good! You now have eight minutes!" The downstairs was a flutter of activity, as it was every morning. The kids got ready for school at the same time Patrick prepared for work, while Marie tried to keep everyone on track. Finally, she got all four kids standing by the door. Marie inspected the clothes of each of her children. Collars were flipped down. Shirts tucked in. Shoes tied.

Ruth was the oldest one at 14 years of age. She helped out around the house a lot and took care of the younger ones. The two littlest were so close in age they were almost twins, although they looked nothing alike. They were named Alice and Charles, or Charley. Jack was the middle child. He preferred to sleep in and avoided his chores as much as possible. Marie was trying to cure him of that.

"Alright. Everyone have their bags and their lunch?" Everyone nodded. Marie looked up and saw the bus out the window. "Alright, time to go." She gave each one a kiss on the head before they left for the nearby school. She watched them get on the bus before going inside to start cleaning up.