Story:Depart

Sari looked out the window at the patchy morning sky and sighed. Too many clouds to see the suns; not enough clouds for rain. The most melancholy kind of day. As she turned around her mother was there, donning her work jacket.

"Careful, or your face will get stuck that way." Her mother smiled; Sari did not. Usually she couldn't resist her mother's smile, but something about today turned that loving smile into something noxious to Sari.

She rolled her eyes and clomped to the table for breakfast. *I'll bet breakfast is just as patchy and morose as the rest of this day.*

"I made your favorite, maple papeda!" That smile again. *She thinks she can win me over with maple syrup*. Sari stabbed her spoon into the bowl and took a bite. After a long silence, her mother sighed and walked back to the kitchen.

When her mother returned, Sari burst out, "I'm not going to school today." She hesitated, "Mr. Pierre is letting us have a field research day."

Her mother frowned slightly, "Is that so? I didn't hear anything about it. I'll just check with him."

"Oh, no. He's very busy. He said you shouldn't do that."

Worst. Lie. Ever. *What am I doing?*

There was a long silence. Sari took another bite of the papeda just for something to do. It actually was very good. She tried hard not to enjoy it as she knew her plan for the day was ruined by her poor deceit. Which is why she didn't see the strange sparkle in her mother's eye.

"Alright. We won't bother him then. I'll grab you a bag for your field study. What is your assignment?"

"Uhh, assignment?" Sari was caught completely off guard.

"Yes," her mother slowly replied, "for the field research."

"Oh, that assignment, I thought you meant another assignment," she chuckled nervously. "I'm supposed to make observations and measurements of how the UV/infrared balance affects the growth rate of the sorghum and if local humidity is a mediating factor in any correlation."

"Hmm, sounds interesting, and useful. You know, I didn't learn any of that until I was almost...13. You're lucky to have Mr. Pierre. You'll be filling in it at my lab in no time."

Her mom stood up, kissed her on the forehead, and went in search of a bag. Sari sat, dumbfounded. *How did Mom not see right through that?*

She quickly gobbled down the rest of her breakfast, put on her boots and gloves and ran to her room.

Sari went to her closet, moved aside a box, dug through some socks, and pulled out her prized possession - a holocamera. She gazed at it for a moment, but quickly hid it under her jacket as she heard her mom approach.

"I think this will do. I packed some water and snacks." Sari’s mother gave her the bag and then a hug. Then she stood back to look at her daughter. It was an odd look with a sad sort of smile. "Love you. See you at dinner."

Her mother turned and left. Sari heard the front door open and close. She stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. *I guess I never actually thought it would work.*

She snapped out of her thoughts and ran out of the house. Sari looked off to the east at the sorghum fields, then quickly made her way north, away from the settlement. She couldn't believe it. She had all day to explore the caves she had found by the waterfall. Sari knew her mom and dad and basically everyone else wanted her to be a scientist, but science was too easy.

She wanted to explore, exploring was never easy and never boring, and she wasn't supposed to do it. That probably had something to do with it.