Dreaming Of The Moon As An Adult, Fiction Sketch

Words

Illustration by AJ/The Errant Moon [The Errant Muse]

As part of my orientation, I have to convince my corporate-assigned therapist that I will not suddenly become homesick once I get to the moon.

So I told them about my last visit home.

~~~

Mom: “Do you have to go all the way to the moon?”

Me: “I don’t have to. Mom. I get to. It’s a huge career boost to work on the lower gravity experiments directly. I’ll be doing my own research not just working with other people’s data. I’ll be first author on any papers that come out. That’s a good thing.

Dad: You’ll be living with Them.

Me: You mean the lunar residents?

Dad: You know exactly what I mean. Those Moon People.

(I love my parents. I really do. But some of their attitudes are stuck in the worst part of the last century.)

Me: You like the Moon Rats comics. You asked for their collected works for Christmas.

Dad: Well yes, but that doesn’t mean I want my daughter living with them.

Mom: They have sex orgies.

(What other kind of orgies can you have? Food? Multi-channel vid bingeing?)

Me: I doubt they will ask me to join in.

Mom: Don’t sass me, young lady.

(Sass? Who says sass? Were my parents ever young?)

Me: Actually, I’m not sassing you. I will be working with residents, but probably not socializing with them. Residents keep to their own tunnels when they are not keeping the rest of us alive.

(I’m told Moon Rats find yo-yo society to be too bright, too loud, and too cold. Yo-yo, as in Go and Come Back.)

Mom: Won’t you be lonely? You’ll be so far away. We’ll miss you.

Me: I’ll be really busy with work. I won’t have time to be lonely. Besides, it’ll be just like when I’m in the city. We can talk every weekend …

(oh joy)

… All of the lunar companies have the latest in video conferencing. When we talk, it will be so clear it will be like I’m in the room. Remember when David was on submarines? You couldn’t so much as message him for weeks at a time.

(My brother was based out of United Korea. I always wondered what my parents would have done if my perfect brother had come home with a Korean bride. From what some of his war buddies have let drop, it was a close play at the plate.)

Dad: You should be more like your brother …

(Oh, where have I hear that before?)

… He came home. Married a nice woman. Had kids. When you get over this career fling, you can finally settle down.

Mom: There’s a wonderful young man who volunteers as a deacon at church. I could introduce you.

~~

Maybe it’s no surprise that I am willing to move 238,900 miles away.

~~~ curtain ~~~