Getting Away

September 2029 - Oasis Springs, Nevada
Craig/Morris family - Tucker is 42, Cynthia is 41, Raven is 3

Tucker is working hard at the research station when he spots two runners on the property.

“Hello,” Tucker says when he stops the female runner. “This is private property. You can’t run here.”

“This is a free country,” the woman snaps at him. “I can run wherever I want and you can’t stop me.”

Tucker is annoyed as she snaps at him, thinking laws don’t apply to her. “I can run wherever I want,” he says in a high-pitched whiny voice. “It doesn’t even matter if I get hit by a laser while I’m here. It’s a free country.”

The woman glares at him. “I’ll be calling your supervisor and issuing a complaint.”

Tucker shrugs. “Do what you want. But get off this property before I do aim a laser at you.”

The woman shoots one more evil glare and then runs off, getting away from the property as fast as she can.

When he’s not chasing people off the laboratory property, Tucker spends his time at work developing devices requested by the government.

He’s been working on a handheld device that will change the make of the things it’s aimed at and turn them into something else.

Tucker doesn’t know why the military has requested this, but his experiment works and it easily changes furniture in the lounge into a much nicer replacement. Maybe he should do this to all the lounge furniture to get a nice update instead of this rundown look that the higher ups say they don’t have the money to upgrade.

Tucker is spending a lot of his time working on the space craft the government has requested. It’s hard work, and he is curious about what the government plans for this, but he focuses on getting the work done between testing rocks and chemicals in the lab.

After a long day at work full of testing and rocket building, Tucker goes home to enjoy his family.

 

Raven is growing so quickly, and now she loves to sit on the couch with her daddy, babbling away in that baby talk. He doesn’t mind if he can’t yet understand everything she says.

And then he tucks her into bed, giving her a kiss and wishing sweet dreams for the little one in his family. Violet used to look just like this so long ago, and even though they didn’t plan to have another baby after Violet was off to college, he certainly enjoys that they did get another surprise with this one.

Cynthia stays busy at home while Tucker is working at the lab. She’s been getting a lot of requests for flower arrangements so she spends a lot of time working on those.

And of course she also has Raven to tend to. Cynthia never imagined being a stay at home mom, but this is the second time doing it and she still feels like she needs help at times. It’s not that she doesn’t love Raven, but she had never planned this! She did the toddler stage 16 years ago with Violet. It’s a hard part of life at times and she’s always happy when Tucker gets home to take over his part in parenting.

***

The bathroom sink springs a leak that morning and Cynthia grumbles to herself as she mops up puddles and fixes the faucet.

Tucker walks in and sees her hard at work. “Hey, I’ve been thinking that we could take a little getaway and maybe go to Paradise City to visit Lucas.” Tucker enjoys having his niece Madison just down the road and working with her at the lab, and now it’s even better to have more family nearby.

“Maybe we can,” Cynthia says as she finishes the faucet repair. She lets out a loud sigh. “It would be nice to get away for a little while.”

“I’ll call Lucas and let him know we’re coming for a visit,” Tucker says with a wide smile.

***

Tucker and Cynthia drive an hour away to Paradise City to visit their nephew Lucas Craig and his family. Cynthia and Andrea get into talk and gossip right away.

Lucas is trying to finish up some work so he can focus on his family time, but Elliott and Raven both try to get his attention away from the computer screen.

Tucker decides to help out and does the grilling in Lucas’s place. It also gives him a break from the ladies’ nonstop talking along with the toddlers’ nonstop babbling!

Raven is in love with her little cousin Elliott.

But Elliott isn’t feeling the same way.

“Aww,” Andrea says as she looks over at the two of them. Elliott tries to climb onto one of the little cushions to get away from his loving cousin, but Raven stays right behind him. “Aren’t they so cute?”

“If they’re nice to each other maybe they’ll grow up to be best friends,” Cynthia says. Elliott lets out a whine when Raven tries to climb onto the seat with him. “Raven, leave him alone,” she tells her toddler.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Andrea says. “They have to learn each other’s personalities so they can be friends.” Elliott cries again when Raven won’t leave him alone. “They’ll get along soon,” Andrea insists.

Since Elliott doesn’t want to play with her, Raven finds the family’s little dog in the kitchen.

She immediately runs over to him, calling out, “Puppy!”

Mojo lets her pick him up, enjoying the hugs and kisses she gives him.

When the burgers are ready, the adults sit at the table to talk while the toddlers sit nearby at a little table.

Cynthia asks Andrea about her acting and the job she’s working in right now.

Andrea sighs. “It’s not what I’ve been hoping for. I keep getting a lot of jobs in commercials for either kids toys or prescription medicines. When am I going to get a real job to push my career forward?”

“She won’t listen to me,” Lucas says. “I keep telling her that her stardom will come soon.”

“Yeah,” Tucker says. “Soon you’ll be famous and won’t have time for family grills like this.” He gives her a wide grin. “But it’s okay because then I can get my name out there by telling everyone you’re part of my family.”

Elliott enjoys hanging onto Uncle Tucker’s shoulders and pretending to fly around the room.

But Raven sees it and isn’t very happy that Elliott is getting all the attention.

So Lucas picks up his little cousin and gives her just as much attention as Elliott. It’s been a fun day hanging out together and catching up on family ties. Now that they live so close together they plan to spend more time like this so the toddlers can grow up together.

———–

If you look back at the Craig family tree, you can see that Raven is actually first cousins with Lucas, so Elliott is her first cousin once removed. But being so close in age makes them feel like closer cousins!