My Brother-In-Law Is From Outer Space

Kiva is six weeks old today!  I can hardly believe how quickly the last six weeks have gone by. Here it is, nearly the end of March already, and I haven't shared any news with you guys at all since the day Kiva was born. Well, I'm going to remedy that right now, because I've got some absolutely huge news to tell you. I can't exactly say it's good news – at least not from my perspective – but I can definitely say it's significant.

Let me do the quick household update first, though, okay? I'm sure you guys will want to know what's going on with Rommie and Michael these days, especially since the news is good. Michael finally agreed that he and Rommie should attend couples' counselling. The entire household breathed a collective sigh of relief when we found out about that. We all really want them to work things out, mainly for them but also for us. The tension around here when Michael came over to see his kids was getting unbearable.

Personally, I think our parents might've had something to do with convincing Michael that the only way to fix things is to get professional help. In the long run, though, it doesn't really matter how he came to the decision. The important thing is that he's willing to try and make the situation better.

On the subject of our parents, they came for a visit just after Kiva was born. They were here to meet Kiva, of course, but their real purpose in coming was so that they could take Skyla and Pax back to the country with them for an extended stay. My mother's idea was for Sini and me to be able to focus on Kiva without having to worry about the demands of our other kids. I have to say, it was great to be able to do that. I missed Pax and Skyla like crazy all the time they were gone but, looking back on it, I think following Mum's plan was in everyone's best interests.

Pax and Skyla came home last weekend. Skyla is unimpressed by her baby sister, to say the least, but Pax is just as much in love with her as he was on the day she was born. Now that we've got Kiva's routine established, it's easier for us to let Pax help us take care of her. He loves doing things for her, although there's some stuff which he maintains is not in his job description. For instance, he's totally grossed out by the reality of diaper-changing and there's no way we'll ever convince him to help with the actual changing part, but he's great at fetching things like baby powder and wet wipes. Pax loves to dress his baby sister. He's utterly fascinated by how small her clothes are and is particularly enamoured of her tiny socks. Yesterday, Pax learned how to give Kiva a bath. We'd never let him do that unsupervised, but Sini and I both think he should be allowed to help as much as he wants to, as long as one of us is there to keep an eye on things.

One might think that the highlight of yesterday was Pax's adventure in baby washing and, if yesterday had been an average day, that probably would have been the high point. As I'm sure you've figured out by now, however, I'm about to tell you that yesterday was not an average day.

Oh, it started out normally enough. We all got up and had breakfast, and then Pax played with Skyla while Sini fed Kiva and I got ready for school. Sini seemed a little restless and I thought Pax was a little more energetic than usual, but I just chalked that up to the bad weather and their inability to get out of the house for a few days. In my wildest dreams I couldn't have imagined it to be a forerunner of a Big Event. But it was. Little did I realize that Pax's and Sini's unusual moods were really the first sign of the biggest Big Event ever.

The day proceeded fairly typically once I'd left for campus. Sini called me at lunchtime to say that she wanted me to pick up more diapers and some apple juice on my way home, and then Pax got on the phone to tell me all about Kiva's bath and that he'd dressed her all by himself afterwards. I only had one afternoon class because the later afternoon one had been cancelled, so I said I'd be home around two o'clock. We all exchanged goodbyes, and I went off to my class.

It was after class that things got crazy.

I arrived home with the items Sini had asked for, anticipating nothing other than the usual welcoming reception from my wife.  However, the welcoming committee turned out to be Beau who came clattering down the front steps and intercepted me before I ever set foot inside the house.

"Hey, Beau," I said.  "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"How'd you know it was me?" he said. "It's downright scary how you do that. I didn't even say anything yet, and you knew."

"Cowboy boots.  If you wore different shoes, you might be able to trick me."

"I doubt that."

I laughed. "Maybe you can work on it."

"Yeah," Beau said.  

I could hear him shuffling his boots on the sidewalk in a way that usually signalled either impatience or mental discomfort.  I said, "Are you in a hurry to be somewhere?"

"Sorta," he said. "Honestly, I'm kinda in a hurry not to be here."

"Did something happen?  You and Georgia didn't have a fight, did you?"

"No, it's nothin' like that.  Me and Georgia are fine, but...I guess you could say somethin' happened around here all right. It's...uh...kinda crazy in the house right now.  You might not wanna go in."

"What do you mean?  Why wouldn't I want to go in?"  

"Okay, maybe you do want to go in, but there's somethin' you should know first."

"Okay," I said.  "What is it?"

“Well...” he began, but then paused to take in a huge, audible breath before plunging ahead with, “The house is plum full-up with folks from outer space, and every single one of 'em is naked as a jaybird, and they're all chirpin' and talkin' their funny language and...and I think they're fixin' to eat up all the popcorn and chips in the place.”

That was, quite possibly, the largest number of words I'd ever heard my friend Beau Ransom string together at one time. As if the shock of hearing Beau make such a speech wasn't enough, the actual content of his announcement was the thing that really blew my mind. It took me several seconds to process everything he'd said. Finally, I managed, “People...from outer space?”

“Yeah,” Beau said.

I don't know why I felt so shocked. I mean, I live with people from another planet after all, and we always knew it was a possibility that more people from their world might return for them some day. Maybe it was the part about the place being 'plum full-up' that got me. How many aliens does it take to make a house 'plum full-up' with them?

“People like Sini and Pax?” I asked, just to be sure. I've learned from experience that it's never a good idea to assume anything, especially where aliens are involved.

“Yeah. I think they might be Pax's relations, come to fetch him home. Oh...and there's a blue one, and he speaks English, and he...uh...was wearin' one of Sapphire's big mixin' bowls on his head when I left.”

“Sounds like a party,” I said.

“That's one way of puttin' it.”

“How many of them are there?”

“Four,” Beau said. “There's three men and a lady. Well, there's six if you count Sini and Pax. The biggest green one, I think he's in charge 'cause he's actin' all official, like maybe he wants us to take him to our leader.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. It's like an invasion from outer space or somethin'. You know, like in the movies.”

“Did you say they were chirping?”

“They're all makin' that sound Pax makes when somebody gives him candy.”

Definitely not a threat, I decided. In my admittedly limited experience, I've observed that Erisans only chirp when they're excited or happy about something. Pax does chirp for candy. He also chirps about trips to the mall, french fries with ketchup, socks fresh from the dryer, and meeting his friends at the park to play soccer. Sini most frequently chirps for reasons I probably shouldn't talk about on the internet. They make entirely different noises when they're angry or trying to intimidate someone. I've heard Sini use her intimidation noise on Michael quite a few times, and I've been on the receiving end of it once or twice myself. Anyway, four chirping Erisans did not, in my opinion, seem likely to be an invasion force from outer space.

“I'd better see what's going on,” I said.

“Good luck with that,” said Beau. “I'm gonna meet Georgia at her work and hang out there for a while for some...uh...normal conversation. No offense, but...y'know...”

“Yeah, I know,” I said, even though I didn't really. Beau seemed pretty anxious to leave and I couldn't tell if he was scared, confused, or just plain freaked out by the exponential increase of bodies in the house. Lamely, I said, “Tell Georgia hello from me.”

“Yeah,” Beau said, and retreated hastily down the street without another word.

I entered the house to discover a general party atmosphere. The air was filled with the scent of microwave popcorn. There was indeed a lot of chirping going on and a lot of talking in both Erisan and English. I made my way to the kitchen where most of the activity seemed to be concentrated. Judging by the noise level alone, I would've guessed there were a lot more than six people in the kitchen. Most of the voices were unfamiliar to me but I did manage to pick out Sini's voice. I set down my shopping bags at the threshold between the hallway and kitchen, and then advanced a little further toward the noisy group.

“Sini!” I called into the din.

I expected her to come over to me, or at least to call out my name in response so I'd know she was there. She didn't approach me, but someone else did, and by the time I realized it wasn't her I had no time to do anything but stand there and be surprised.

“Brother!” crowed an exuberant voice. Then, someone who was most assuredly not my brother threw his arms around me in an embrace far too intimate for strangers, and greeted me with a kiss. On the mouth. It was a quick closed-lip kiss, but that wasn't the the point. The perpetrator was conspicuously naked and unquestionably male and, as you guys know, that's not the direction in which I swing.

I struggled away from the stranger, pushing him from me even as I stumbled backward. I gasped out, “What the hell...?”

“You are Tyler?” said the man.

“Yeah, I'm Tyler. Who the hell are you?”

“Sini described you perfectly,” he said, nonchalant as you please. His English was flawless but his inflection was a lot like Sini's. “I am sorry we did not call ahead, but your telecommunications are incompatible with ours. We hope we are not imposing.”

“Imposing?” I blurted. “Imposing? Who the hell are you, and what's going on around here?”

“You are angry,” said the man.

“What gave you the first clue?”

“I...can feel you,” he said, sounding somewhat surprised, as if he'd just then realized what he was capable of. “I feel your anger. We believed we could not do this. It is an amazing discovery!”

“How would you like to discover a good swift kick in the–”

“Tyler!” Finally, there was Sini, appearing at my side and catching me by the hand. “I can feel you too, do not forget. You must be nice to your brother-in-law.”

“Brother-in-law?”

“This is Kiro Taz,” she said. “My brother. In Earth culture, this makes him your brother-in-law, does it not?”

“Uh...yeah.”

“We are bonded, so in Erisan culture he is now your brother as well.”

“Great. As if having one crazy brother wasn't enough?”

“You have a crazy brother?” Kiro asked. “Is he really insane?”

“No. Michael is not insane.”

“Is he pretty like you? Can I meet him?”

“He's married,” I said, and thereafter did my best to ignore my newly acquired and immensely annoying brother-in-law.  “Sini, seriously, what's going on around here?”

“Our people have come to rescue us,” Sini informed me, and then chirped a few times, evidently just to make sure I knew she was excited. “Is it not wonderful news?”

“But, you don't need to be rescued,” I said, feeling dumbfounded.

“I know that, but they did not,” Sini said. “Oh, Tyler...it is miraculous! Captain Piri is alive and he convinced our government that Pax and I were alive too, and a ship has finally come for us. They say you and Skyla and Kiva can come with us too.”

“Come with you?”

“To our world,” she said.

“Hang on. You're leaving? Don't you think we should talk about this?”

“Yes, we will talk about it. There is time. Kiro and the others are going to stay here tonight.”

“Here, as in here in the house? Sapphire's going to love that.”

“We would sleep outside, but it is too cold,” Kiro said.

“I didn't expect you to sleep outside, but I presume there's a spaceship or something, right?”

Kiro laughed. “Of course there is a ship, but would you not wish to spend the night if you landed on a new planet for the first time?”

“I don't know. I've only ever been on this planet.”

“More's the pity,” said my brother-in-law, and then added proudly. “I have used an Earth expression! Am I not...totally awesome?”

“Uh...” I said.

“I am cool like that,” Kiro said. “It is the way I roll.”

Before I had a chance to make any kind of comment on my brother-in-law's self-declared awesomeness, Sini pulled at my hand and said, “Come and meet the others. Captain Piri really wants to meet you.”

Any excuse to get away from Kiro Taz, I thought and then instantly felt guilty. I didn't know the guy. It was unfair to decide I didn't like him after only five minutes in his presence. Of course, he had managed to push a great many of my metaphorical buttons during that five minutes, but still... My conscience reminded me that first impressions aren't everything and, after all, Kiro was standing among strangers on a planet that was entirely new to him. I might not make such a great first impression either if I were visiting an alien world.

I allowed Sini to lead me across the room where it seemed that most of our guests were gathered near the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. My ears caught the unmistakeable rustling of chip bags and a lot of crunching noises. The popcorn smell was strongest over there as well. Beau was right. These guys really did seem to be enjoying our snack foods, and I didn't doubt that they were capable, as Beau had surmised, of eating up all the chips and popcorn in the place.

I was able to pick out four distinct voices, one of which belonged to Pax. Three of the four, including Pax, were speaking Erisan. The fourth just seemed to be making random squeaks and chirps that didn't sound quite...normal. I don't know how I knew that, but something about the fourth Erisan voice seemed odd to me.

I didn't get to contemplate it for very long because I suddenly found myself having to brace for impact as Pax jumped up from his place on the floor with the other Erisans and launched himself at me. I caught him in an awkward hug. He chirped repeatedly and he was trembling all over.

“Take it easy, buddy,” I admonished him. “You know you're too big to tackle me like that.”

“Tyler! My family came!” he practically shouted, completely ignoring my gentle scolding. “I so happy!”

“Inside v–” I began and then thought, to hell with it. Our kitchen was full of alien visitors and I was worried about Pax raising his voice in the house? I shrugged and then settled on, “I can feel you being happy.”

“We has lots of good energy around here today!”

“I can tell. Will you introduce me to your family?”

“Yes!” He released me from his dangerously enthusiastic embrace. Then he grabbed my hand and tugged me down so that I ended up kneeling. I supposed that was only logical since it seemed that everyone else was sitting on the floor.

I said, “Be careful, Pax.”

“Sorry,” he said, but he didn't seem the least bit contrite. He let go my hand and I guessed he was pointing as he introduced his parents. “This Suvi. She my mother. Piri, my father, and Jex, my other father.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, because I couldn't think of anything else.

Pax laughed, and I felt his fingers come to rest on my forearm. "This Tyler," he said, presumably to his three parents. "He my other other father."

"Do any of you speak English?" I asked.

None of them had the opportunity to answer as Pax piped up. "Yes! Piri and Suvi speak a little. Piri say they learned it on the ship.”

“I think Captain Piri knows the most,” Sini said from behind me. “I was teaching him...before.”

Before, as in Piri's first voyage to our solar system, before the disastrous events that left Pax and Sini stranded on an alien planet with the belief that Piri and all their other shipmates were lost to them forever. Sini and Pax don't like to talk about that. Even at that moment, with Captain Piri alive and whole in front of them, it seemed that Sini couldn't bring herself to make more than a vague reference to it.

I couldn't blame her, really. There was no way I could even begin to imagine what it must've been like for her to think that she was all alone in a strange and virtually unknown place with no hope of ever seeing her people again. Now, to have four of them here in our kitchen with who knows how many others in a ship somewhere relatively near, must've made the years she'd been on our world seem like a surreal dream to her. I know that's probably what I'd be thinking if I were hopelessly lost and then somebody I thought was dead suddenly appeared and promised to take me home.

The whole thing was enough to make my head spin. It was far too much to process then and there, so I decided the best thing to do was to try and focus only on what was happening in the moment. Captain Piri wanted to meet me. Sini and Pax wanted me to meet him. Fair enough.

I said, “Which one of you is Captain Piri?”

"Piri here," came the resonant reply. Piri's voice is rich and strong, and a little deeper than I'd imagined an Erisan voice could be. "I touch?"

"You want to touch me?" I said.

Pax chirped and then said something to his father in Erisan. He told me, "I tell him to only touch the hands. I say it not nice to touch Earth people everywhere."

"Thank you," I said. "You can tell him that he can touch me if he wants to. They can all touch me if they want to.”

“Okay,” Pax said. He relayed that information to his parents and then he instructed me to hold out my hand, palm up. An Erisan's first touch is always on the palm of someone's hand, he explained. Evidently, under normal circumstances, it moves on from there. I did as Pax advised and, a moment later, somebody was stroking my palm lightly with a fingertip.

“Piri?” I ventured.

“This good?” Piri said. “It...okay?”

“Yes. It's okay.”

“You feel like me,” he said.

He sounded astonished, and I wondered what he'd expected Earth people to feel like. Beside Piri, one of the others gave a derisive little snort. I guessed it was Suvi, since the next thing I heard was a female voice saying, “It have skin like us. It feel like us.”

“He,” I corrected automatically. “Not it. I'm a guy. Uh...male. You know.”

Suvi snorted again. “Male? I not see male. You–” she trailed off into her own language.

Whatever Suvi had said must've been funny because Pax and Sini were both giggling. Sini said, “She does not believe you are male, Tyler. It is because of your clothes. She cannot see that you are male.”

“Well, I'm not going to prove it to her,” I said, which only caused my wife to laugh harder.

From somewhere off to my right I heard Kiro say, “Will you prove it to me?”

“No,” I said.

Suvi declined to touch me after that little exchange, so that left only Jex who hadn't yet been properly introduced. Jex seemed nervous, and both Pax and Piri had to coax him a little before he would consent to place his fingertips against my palm. I said hello to him. He didn't respond, and I wondered if he was too shy to speak or if he simply hadn't understood what I was saying. When I tried again to speak to him, he made a soft, nondescript moaning sound which I could not interpret.

“Is he okay?” I asked.

“He fine,” Pax said. “He always make that noise when he confused.”

“You and Sini don't make that noise when you're confused.”

“Jex different,” Pax said. “He...um...blind in the ears."

Despite the situation, I laughed out loud at that.  "He's what?"

"He doesn't hear anything,” Pax said. “His ears don't work. It sort of like being blind, but different."

"Very different, in my opinion," I said. "When people can't hear, we say they're deaf."

"Deaf. Jex...deaf."

That explained why his vocalizations seemed so unusual. He couldn't hear himself making the non-word sounds, so he had no way of knowing that his noises were different than everyone else's. I asked Pax, "How can I talk to him? I'd like to say hello."

"Jex talk with signs, but...that not very good for you," Pax said. "Maybe you can do..." he finished up with a word in Erisan.

"What's that?"

"We do something in our minds," Pax said. "I not know...I don't know if there a word in English, but it like...I think about what I want to say and Jex hear me with his mind." 

"Telepathy?" I turned toward Sini. "I thought you guys couldn't do that."

"Most people cannot," Sini said. "Jex is of the Emri." 

"The what?"

"The Emri. It is...a religion? No...I do not think that is the right word. A philosophical group or perhaps...an order? Anyone who is gifted with certain mental powers must be sent to live with the Emri, and they have many rules for themselves. They do not believe in technology and they have rituals.  I do not know if that is the right word, either."

"What kind of rituals?"

"Secret ones."

"Everything a big secret with the Emri," Pax said, "They live in a castle and they not ever allowed to leave, except to buy food and soap and stuff, and then they go back right away.  And normal people not ever allowed to go in. I saw it one time, from the outside, and I got scared and Jex got scared too, and then Suvi say we both silly."

"Many people are afraid of the Emri," Sini said.  "I do not think being scared was silly at all."

"Pax, if the Emri can't leave and other people can't get in, how did Jex end up with you?" I asked.

"It a true love story," Pax said dramatically, and I could almost picture him clasping his hands together and pretending to swoon. "Piri ran away with him in the night. It like in a fairy tale where the prince gets rescued."

I don't know of any fairy tales where the prince gets rescued but, then again, I've never heard any Erisan fairy tales.  Maybe in Erisan stories, princes need saving just as often as princesses do. I wonder if Erisan has a phrase equivalent to 'damsel in distress' that they use for guys in those rescue-the-prince stories? In any case I'm pretty sure I understood what Pax meant, and I have to say I was intrigued. There were about a million questions I wanted to ask.

As it turned out, I wasn't the only one with rampant curiosity that needed satisfying. Despite Pax's warning about not touching me anywhere except the hands, once Jex got over his initial shyness he seemed unable to restrain himself. He touched my forearm and then my shoulder. I let him. He wanted to touch my ears next and made an almost-chirp of delight when he discovered their shape. The next place his fingers came to rest was on my face. I held perfectly still while he drew a line from my cheek to my jaw with the tip of one finger.

All of a sudden, he let out an alarmed-sounding squeak. His hand dropped away from me, and I felt a slight shifting of air and heard a scuffling sound as he scooted backwards across the floor. Piri said something in their language, and Suvi offered another one of her dismissive snorts.

“What's wrong?” I asked. “What happened?”

“Hair,” said Piri.

“Hair?”

“On your face,” Sini explained, coming to the rescue of both of us. “Jex realized you have hair on your face. It startled him.”

“I don't–” was my immediate reaction, but then I remembered that I hadn't shaved that morning and I was sporting a day's growth of stubble. I reached up to brush a hand across my own chin. For me, a day-old beard doesn't really amount to much and I couldn't see what was so startling about it. Maybe if I hadn't shaved for a week, that'd be something to talk about. I said, “Okay. Facial hair. What's the big deal about that?”

“Erisan males do not have it,” Sini said. “He says it is very...alien.”

“It seems you have made an excellent first impression, brother,” Kiro said far too cheerfully as he dropped onto the floor beside me. “A hairy pink alien. You are like something from an adventure story. It is all very exciting.”

“You–” I began.

“May I touch your face hair as well?” Kiro asked.

“No!” I said. “And don't call me brother.”

“But, I am your brother now,” Kiro said. “What should I call you, if not brother?”

“I have a name. You could try using that.”

"You are angry again."

I sighed. “No, I'm not angry. I'm just...overwhelmed, I guess. It's not every day that people from another world land in your kitchen. I mean, it's a lot to take in.”

“We did not land inside.”

“You know what I mean.”

“It is overwhelming for us also,” Kiro said. “I have read and watched everything that our observer ships have ever recorded about your world and I have studied your language, but it did not prepare me for the reality of being here. It is the same for Piri and the others.”

“Yeah, I suppose it is.”

“You may be comforted that we will not be here very long. Once we are gone, you may resume your life as it was, and we will resume ours.”

“About that–”

“Tyler, I think we should talk about that later,” Sini interrupted. “In private.”

“Fine.”

“Right now, we must make sure everyone is comfortable,” she went on. “We must be certain to cook enough vegetables for dinner, and we must decide where everyone will sleep tonight.”

I didn't bother to point out that Sapphire was the one who would ultimately decide where – and if – our otherworldly visitors would be staying.  I could just picture Sapphire's reaction when she found out these guys intended to crash here for the night. It was hard to imagine her saying no, but I was sure she'd have questions that would require straight answers. Kiro, the Erisans' de facto spokesperson, didn't seem capable of straight answers, so that encounter ought to be fun. Truth be told, I really didn't want to be around for it.

Abruptly, I said, “They're not sleeping in our room.”

“I would like to see your room,” Kiro said.

“There's no way--”

“I will show you, Kiro,” Pax cut me off in mid-protest. “I can show you our beds, and my toys and Skyla's toys, and all my socks!”

“Socks?” Kiro echoed.

“Socks are cool and awesome,” Pax said. “They one of my favourite Earth things. I also like ice cream and soccer. Oh...and ketchup! You have not lived until you eat vegetables with ketchup.”

“Perhaps I will try this...ketchup,” Kiro remarked. “We would all like to wash. Do you have a bathing pool here?”

“It not a pool exactly,” Pax told him. “It like a small box and only one person can fit in. Come with me. I show you.”

“Okay,” Kiro said.

“Tyler, you come too,” Pax said. “You can tell about the parts I don't know.”

“What is there to tell that you don't know?” I said. “You can do it by yourself.”

“But–”

“Pax,” Sini said, and then continued in Erisan. It sounded like she was scolding him.

Pax spoke to her in the same language and then said something to Kiro, who also replied in Erisan. Then, Kiro got up from his place on the floor, and I heard him and Pax heading for the stairs together.

That was the point at which Piri and Suvi both started talking at once. I caught Pax's name and the words for child and parent, but that was all. Sini's response was none too gentle, and I didn't even want to guess what she might've been saying to her former captain and his wife...partner...whatever.

At that moment, Beau's desire to escape suddenly made sense to me. As if the mere idea of our house being overrun by aliens wasn't jarring enough, the tangle of unfamiliar voices shouting unintelligible words was almost too much. Hoping I would go unnoticed, I retraced my path through the kitchen and back to the front door. Maybe I'd just slip my boots and coat on again and go for a walk around the block.

I might've been able to make a clean getaway if Cassie and Radek hadn't chosen that exact moment to arrive home from school.

Cassie asked me more or less the same question as I'd asked Beau when I caught him leaving, and I gave her pretty much the same answer; our house was full of aliens. Cassie's reaction to the news, however, was vastly different than mine had been. She let out a little squeal and said, “Is it Pax's family? I'll bet he's so excited! He has two dads, you know.”

“I know,” I said. “I've met them, and his mother.”

“Oh my gosh! Really? It's really Pax's family? I have to see them!” and with that, she raced past me in the direction of the kitchen. I don't think she even took her boots off.

Radek let out an audible sigh. “It's going to be totally mad around here from now on, isn't it?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I imagine so.”

'Madness' wasn't an adequate description to cover the chaos that ensued once the rest of our roommates found their way home from work or school. 

I think Sapphire was just as shocked as I had been to encounter our visitors, although I have to say she handled it a lot better than I did.   I'm not sure she was entirely pleased with the idea of letting them spend the night but, as I predicted, she didn't refuse them.   Piri solved the problem of where they'd all sleep by informing Sapphire that the living room would work just fine for their needs.  Actually, what he said was, "We sleep this room." But, I think Sapphire got the message.  The issue of what to feed them for breakfast was also settled by Piri who declared, "Tomorrow eat here.  Coffee and Earth foods." 

Coffee.  As if they aren't already energetic enough.

I noticed Sapphire never asked how the Erisans knew about coffee.  Maybe she just figured some things were better left unknown.  

For the remainder of the afternoon and evening, our house was a scene of utter pandemonium.  The Erisans wanted to meet  - and touch - all the Earth people, and everyone seemed eager to share details of their respective worlds.  Piri fell madly in love at first sight with my piano, and Kiro fell madly in love at first sight with Remi.  Thanks in no small part to Cassie, Jex began a love affair with chocolate.  Suvi tried (unsuccessfully) to make first contact with Sapphire's dog.

Through this mad tapestry of conversation and cultural exchange, the common thread was the subject of Pax and Sini's return to Eris.  Sini and Pax chattered excitedly about it with the other Erisans and with our roommates.  Pax announced at one point that when he returned to his home, he would go to school and learn how to be a starship pilot like his father.   Sini, much to my astonishment, also said she'd like to return to work in space.   I had no response for that, but it didn't seem to matter.  Nearly everyone was ignoring me, including Sini.

When it was finally time for bed, I was only too grateful to seek the sanctuary of our room.  Sini came upstairs with me.  I was looking forward to snuggling under the covers with her, safely away from the crowd downstairs but, as things turned out, Sini had other ideas.   She'd only come to our room to take off her clothes. She intended to sleep with her brother and the rest of our visitors.  As you might've guessed, I didn't take that revelation very well.  

Now, as I'm writing this, the only people here in my room are Skyla and me. Pax, Sini and Kiva are all in the living room with the other Erisans.  The aliens came prepared with some kind of inflatable cushions to sleep on and a neat little machine like a tiny air compressor to inflate them with. Sapphire provided them with a few blankets and sleeping bags and they constructed an impressive nest in which, apparently, they're all sleeping together.

Nobody invited me to join them. Sini did try to take Skyla with her, but Skyla wasn't buying into the plan at all. She clung to me and screamed as if she were in mortal danger and refused even to let Sini touch her. Eventually, Sini gave up attempting to convince her to go downstairs and just left her with me.

Maybe I overreacted, but the moment Sini walked out the door of our room I felt as if she'd abandoned Skyla and me. I couldn't do anything to prevent the dull ache in my chest and the tightness in my throat as I listened to her footfalls recede. Maybe it was the stress of the day catching up with me, or maybe it was Sini's choice to sleep with her brother and friends instead of with me that was the proverbial last straw but, whatever the reason, I decided I didn't have the will to fight my emotional response. It was too much of an effort to keep myself from crying. I guess that's a pretty unmanly thing to admit, but it's true. There was no one but Skyla to witness it, and she wouldn't judge me for my tears. Besides, she was generating plenty of her own.

Sitting on the floor with Skyla in my arms, I rocked us both back and forth for a while. Ironically, it was Skyla who stopped crying first, but she let me hold her until my tears were spent. Afterwards, I tucked us both into our beds and Skyla quickly fell asleep.

I lay awake for a long time, listening to the sounds of the house and trying to make sense of my jumbled thoughts. Part of me had hoped Sini would come back when she sensed how upset I was, but she didn't. I supposed she wasn't paying attention to any of my emotions just then, and thinking of that made my feelings of abandonment grow even more acute.   In desperation, I tried to distract myself with other thoughts, but my mind kept coming back to this one idea. She would rather be with them than with me.

Of course she'd rather be with them, the rational part of my brain retorted. These are her people.

Intellectually, I knew that made sense, but understanding it didn't make it hurt any less.

The same two thoughts chased each other around my brain for what felt like hours until I was utterly exhausted. At last, my body lost its battle with consciousness and I fell asleep.  My sleep wasn't particularly restful. It was plagued with bad dreams. I knew I must've been thrashing around a lot because I woke from a particularly vivid nightmare to discover my body was right on the edge of the mattress and my arm was hanging over the side of the bed.

I gave up on trying to get any more rest after that. I climbed out of bed to check on Skyla and found that she, at least, was dozing peacefully. Satisfied that Skyla was all right, I concluded that the time might best be used in writing down everything that had happened during the day.  I apologize if what I've written here doesn't make a lot of sense.  I'm still trying to sort it out, myself.  

I'll confess that I'm not sure how I should feel right now. On one hand, I'm pleased to see Sini and Pax so happy to be reunited with their long-lost family members, but on the other hand I can't shake the sense of dread that comes over me when I realize that all our lives were irrevocably changed today by the presence of these people in our home. We can never, as Kiro suggested, resume our lives as they were, and that idea scares me a lot. I mean, how can my life ever be the same as it was before, now that I'm living with the knowledge that my brother-in-law is from outer space? There's just no easy way to assimilate a fact like that.

And what if Sini decides to leave with them? Sini and I haven't talked about it yet, and maybe that's a good thing because I have no idea what I might say. This afternoon she seemed to take it as a foregone conclusion that the girls and I would leave too, but I'm not sure that would be the best thing for any of us. I know that I once said I'd leave everything I'd ever known to be able to stay with Sini and I'm sure I meant it at the time but, when I said that, I don't think I believed something like this could really happen.  Now, I'm not certain I can make that choice, either for me or my daughters.   

One of the worst things about all this is there's no one I can ask for advice or help.   I'd say it's a safe bet that no other person in the entire world has ever been faced with the decision of whether or not to follow his spouse into outer space and take up residence on an alien planet.  This is a situation unique to me.  It's terrifying to contemplate, but even if Sini and I talk about it, I am the one who must ultimately choose if I will go or stay. 

I don't know what to do.

If you love something, let it go...

But I can't...I can't...and I don't know how I could ever bring myself to leave everyone and everything that's familiar.  Do you see the impossibility of it all?

I'm going to stop writing now.   I will let you know what happens tomorrow.   My maternal grandmother, Nanna Seraphine, was fond of saying that things always look better in the morning.   I hope Nanna's counsel turns out to be right this time.