Home Again, Home Again | Page 8

very. I realize that I'm wearing the same clothes
I left Earth in, lo those years before. They're hardly the worse for wear
-- when I'm in my exoskeleton on my new planet, I don't bother with
clothes.
#
The ocean seemed too fragile to be real. All that caged water, held
behind a flimsy-seeming sheet of clear foam, the corners joined with
strips of thick gasket-rubber. Standing there at its base, Chet was
terrified that it would burst and drown him -- he actually felt the push
of water, the horrid, dying wriggles of the fish as they were washed
over his body.
"Say there, son. Hello?"
Chet looked up. Nicola Tesla's hair was standing on end, comically. He
realized that his own long, shaggy hair was doing the same. The whole
room felt electric.
"Are you all right?" He had a trace of an accent, like the hint of garlic
in a salad dressing, an odd way of stepping on his vowels.
"Yeh, yeh, fine. I'm fine," Chet said.
"I am pleased to hear that. What is your name, son?"
"Chet. Affeltranger."

"I'm pleased to meet you. My name is Gaylord Ballozos, though that's
not who I am. You see, I'm the channel for Nicola Tesla. Would you
like to see a magic trick?"
Chet nodded. He wondered who Nicola Tesla was, and filed away the
name Gaylord for making fun of, later. In doing so, he began to
normalize the experience, to structure it as a story he could tell the
other kids, after. The guy, the ocean, the hair. Gaylord.
A ball of lightning leapt from Tesla/Ballozos's fingertips and danced
over their heads. It bounced around the room furiously, then stopped to
hover in front of Chet. His clothes stood away from his body, snapping
as though caught in a windstorm. Seen up close, the ball was an infinite
pool of shifting electricity, like an ocean of energy. Tentatively, he
reached out to touch it, and Tesla shouted "Don't!" and the ball
whipped up and away, spearing itself on the point of one of the towers
on the opposite side of the room.
It vanished, leaving a tangy, sharp smell behind.
The story Chet had been telling in his mind disappeared with it. He
stood, shocked speechless.
The guy who thought he was Nicola Tesla chuckled a little, then started
to laugh, actually doubling over and slapping his thighs.
"You can't imagine how long I've waited to show that trick to someone!
Thank you, young Mr. Affeltranger! A million thanks to you, for your
obvious appreciation."
Chet felt a giggle welling up in him, and he did laugh, and when his
lips came together, a spark of static electricity leapt from their seam to
his nose and made him jump, and laugh all the harder.
The guy came forward and pumped his arm in a dry handshake. "I can
see that you and I are kindred spirits. You will have to come and visit
again, very soon, and I will let you see more of my ocean, and maybe
let you see 'Old Sparky,' too. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for

dropping in."
And he ushered Chet out of his apt and closed the door, leaving him in
the featureless hallway of the 125th storey.
#
I had never been as nervous as I was the following Thursday, when my
regular appointment with The Amazing Robotron rolled around again. I
hadn't spoken of the guy who thought he was Nicola Tesla to any of my
gang, and of course not to my parents, but somehow, I felt like I might
end up spilling to The Amazing Robotron.
I don't know why I was worried. The guy hadn't asked me to keep it a
secret, after all, and I had never had any problem holding my tongue
around The Amazing Robotron before.
"Hel-lo, Chet. How have you been?"
"I've been OK."
"Have you been stud-y-ing math-e-mat-ics and phys-ics? I had the
supp-le-ment-al mat-e-rials de-liv-er-ed to your apt yes-ter-day."
"No, I haven't. I don't think I wanna be a pilot no more. One of my buds
tole me that you end up all fugged up with time an' that, that you come
home an' it's the next century an' everyone you know is dead."
"That is one thing that hap-pens to some ex-plor-a-tor-y pilots, Chet.
Have you thought a-bout any o-ther poss-i-bil-i-ties?"
"Kinda. I guess." I tried not to think about the 125th story and the
ocean. I was thinking so hard, I stopped thinking about what I was
saying to The Amazing Robotron. "Maybe I could be a counselor, like,
and help kids."
The Amazing Robotron turned into a pinball machine again, an
unreadable and motionless block. Silent for so long I thought he was
gone, dead as