A Birthday Gone Wrong Part 1

Remembering

By Dave Church

Crono grumbled. He was carrying a keg full of water along the edge of a cliff back to his house. It was a sunny day, and he was sweating. He put down the keg for a minute, and looked around. It was a hot enough day without the added weight of the keg. He had to carry it back to his home, because his mother needed hot water, and all they had was cold water. He looked down at the beach below and was surprised by what he saw.

It was Phil, working on Epoch. With Lucca injured (Author’s Note: see birthright, my previous story), he was the resident mechanic.

He must have learned something from Lucca, Crono thought. He saw that his head was under Epoch, and that he seemed to be trying to adjust something. Phil was wearing civilian’s clothes, a white shirt, with a brown vest, and light tan pants. Crono suddenly got an idea. Phil was near the cliffside, and his legs were sticking out from under Epoch.

Crono rubbed his hands together.

He hefted the keg up, and quickly dumped all the water down on Phil. It was about 15 metres down to where Phil was. He then put down the keg on the cliffside.

Before he could see the water hit Phil, Crono broke for home, laughing most of the way.

.

A few minutes later, Crono, who was up in his room laughing, satisfied with the prank, heard his mother come up the stairs.

“There’s someone at the door for you,” she said. Crono put on a straight face and headed down.

What Crono saw when he opened the door was a soaking wet Phil, looking somewhat angry. “Do you, perchance, know what happened to me?”

“What did you do, jump in the water?” Crono said, keeping a straight face.

“No. Someone poured water on me. It was warm water, too.” said Phil, calming down.

Crono shook his head. “No. Nothing about that, I’m afraid. Probably some of the town kids looking for a laugh.” He looked toward Phil, inquiring, “Would you like to dry off here?”

“Nah,” said Phil, throwing his hands up. “I just want to get that evil scumbag who had half a mind to….” He kept muttering to himself as Crono closed the door. Crono then fell on the floor, holding his sides, laughing hard.

His mother came up to him. “Did you get that water?”

Crono blurted out between laughs, “No, they were out.” Crono smiled as he went up to his room. One accomplishment for the day…

.

Lucca sat in her bed, resting. She was in a medical dome, recovering from the injury she suffered while fighting Bane. Even with 24th century technology, a neck wound was still near fatal and needed recovery time. She had been there about a week, and Robo was near her side almost the whole time.

Robo was looking through some ancient texts nearby, and suddenly stood up. “Uh oh,” he said.

“What?” Lucca said weakly, wondering what the robot had found.

“Glenn’s birthday is tomorrow, according to this text.” Robo asked. He brought the text over to her.

Lucca looked at it. “It’s right! I remember him telling me this.” Lucca almost smacked her head, but Robo managed to stop her before she inflicted self-injury. Robo knew that in her condition, that could be bad.

“We must tell the others,” Robo declared.

“How?” Lucca replied sitting up in her bed.

Just as Lucca finished off that sentence, she could hear the Epoch landing outside. Soon after, Crono, Marle, and Phil made their way in. “Hi Lucca!” Phil said.

Crono nodded toward Lucca, and Marle waved from the door.

Lucca muttered a weak “Hi,” which was received with smiles from the trio. Lucca noticed that Phil seemed a bit damp. Phil went over beside her bed and took her hand.

Lucca smiled in response to this.

Robo stopped Crono and Marle. “Glenn’s birthday is tomorrow!”

Crono was startled. “Is it?”

Marle clasped her hands to her mouth. “We have to get everyone and go celebrate it with him!”

Crono went over to Phil and put a hand on his shoulder. “We’re gonna have to cut this visit short.”

Phil looked at him. “Why?”

“Glenn’s birthday is tomorrow.”

Phil gave Crono a strange look.

Crono snapped his fingers. “Right, you haven’t met him. Marle, please take him back in Epoch and give him a case history on Glenn.”

Marle nodded, smiling. “Ok! Come on!”

Phil followed Marle out. “When Glenn was a boy, he…”

Crono could not hear the rest of it, as the duo took off.

Robo decided to give himself something to do. “I must head to the supply dome for more fluid. If you’ll excuse me…”

That left Crono and Lucca alone in the dome. They hadn’t spoken since she was injured.

Crono went to her bedside, and knelt down. “I’m…”

Lucca stopped him. “I know. Marle expressed that on your behalf.”

Crono was startled. “She did?”

Lucca nodded. “She told me about what got in the way there. You know, the memory…”

Crono mouthed, “yes,” as Lucca continued.

“Anyway, this stuff happens. And I’m glad you got him back for what he did.”

Crono took her hand in between his, and made a mental note to thank Marle for what she did. Crono was rarely at ease in those situations, and Marle helped him tremendously by explaining to Lucca.

“You almost got killed,” Crono said, his face softening. “If Phil hadn’t gotten you here…”

Lucca completed the thought. “You told him to get me some help,” she pointed.

“He was the one who carried it out,” Crono replied.

Lucca nodded, agreeing. “He’s been great. He stayed with me a whole day once, and kept talking most of the way.”

Crono raised an eyebrow, and thought he saw feelings between Lucca and Phil in their infancy. He heard Epoch landing outside just as Robo came back in.

Robo called Atropos over, and told her to watch over Lucca. Robo and Crono ran out to meet Marle in Epoch.

As Crono and Robo strapped themselves in, Crono said, “Let’s go,” as Marle powered up the Epoch.

The trio went to gather the group….

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