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LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY
Part 2 - And the Geek shall inherit the earth...
It was a long drive back from Elko, but he couldn’t remember when he’d had a better time in the car. Being the only
one who had flown in to Reno to meet up with the family for their annual trip to Uncle’s Gil’s cabin, it was left to him to
drive back to Las Vegas with his parents. They had dropped Beth off at the airport in Reno so that she could fly back
to L.A. for school and then started off on the seemingly endless drive to Las Vegas; the city of his birth.

Whenever someone found out where he was from he would get the same three questions; how can you grow up in
Sin City and be so normal, isn’t the heat just totally unbearable, and how many mob guys did you know? The heat
question always cracked him up, because he was usually being asked that as he stood in the middle of a tropical
forest, and his answer was always the same; “It prepared me for my work, since it’s much easier to go from the fire
into the frying pan, than the other way around.” Afterwards, he would go on to explain about the astounding device
known as the air conditioner, and he was always careful to inflect heaping amounts of the sarcastic wit he’d inherited
from his mother.

The mob question was another great avenue with which he could exercise his humor muscles, but the first question
was definitely the easiest. He would look them right in the eye, and testify with complete sincerity, “My parents.”

When the other kids were pushing the boundaries of safety and sanity in regards to their relationships with their
parents, Michael had always known, without a doubt, that if his parents wanted him to do something a certain way,
than that’s what he was going to do. He and his siblings had an unshakeable faith in their parents’ judgment, and no
amount of peer pressure was ever going to persuade them otherwise.

Now, that’s not to say that they didn’t get into their fair share of trouble, because after all, they did enjoy a little
mischief. By and large, they were all good kids, and they knew the source of that goodness came from their parents.
On the drive back to Vegas, Michael was reminded of that in full clarity.

As soon as Beth was safely seen into the airport, with the appropriate amount of concern from her parents (as well
as a little money slipped into a pocket), they began to talk about their own days back in Los Angeles as soon as they
got back into the car. He once again heard the story of how they met, and how their mutual friends did everything but
lock them in a room to get them together. He was doing the driving that day, but his father still leaned forward and
laid a hand over his mother’s shoulder as she told the story about when they first knew that it was the real thing. Even
after more than thirty years together, and twenty-nine years of marriage, his parents still felt a desire and a need to
demonstrate their affections in those little gestures.

“I swear to you, it took three guys to hold your Uncle Robert back when he found out your father and I were dating. He
was convinced that something sinister was going on if your Pop was keeping it from him, but the truth was, we were
all afraid he was going to come uncorked no matter who I was dating.”

His father felt a need to elaborate and so he cut into her story, “He was exceptionally protective of your mother back
then.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn he was under direct orders from my father or something.” His mother’s amused
laughter filled the interior of the Tahoe, and soothed his soul. “But once I got him calmed down and told him what was
really happening, the big monster got all weepy and hugged everybody. And I’ve only ever seen him like that five
times in my life.”

It seemed like such a strange number to spout off, so Michael felt compelled to ask, “What happened the other
times?”

His mother looked back over her shoulder at his father and he smiled when the man answered for her. “The first time
he held you kids after you were born. Turned into a big girl every time he got a little bundle into those meat hooks he
calls hands.”

Hearing his parents explain that quirk about his Uncle Robert did wonders to warm his heart. The big burly man with
the deep booming voice had always been a constant fixture in their lives, but he never really understood how the
man fit into their strange little family dynamic. The most he had ever put together was that he was there because he
was Uncle Carter’s partner, so he never imagined that Uncle Robert was really the reason they had all gotten
together in the first place.

After he asked his parents about the relationship, he was surprised to learn that Robert was introduced to Carter by
his father, and that he was the one who introduced his mother to Carter. He always knew that Carter was his father’s
best friend, but to find out that Robert had acted as big brother to both of his parents, independently from one
another, explained why they were two of his godparents in perfect clarity.

Michael knew exactly why Uncle Gil and Aunt Sara were their godparents, and it was pretty obvious why Aunt Cath
and Uncle ‘Rick also acted that capacity, but it was always a mystery to him about his other two Uncles. Uncle Gil
was a real connection to his grandfather, while Aunt Sara and his mother were as close as any two sisters could be.
When it came to Uncle ‘Rick, Michael was almost embarrassed to admit that he was nearly twelve years old before
he realized that the man wasn’t really his father’s brother. Not to mention that, until he was fourteen and doing a
genetics project for school, he honestly believed that Aunt Cath was his grandmother’s little sister.

After they stopped for fuel at the halfway mark, the conversation naturally drifted into the story of his birth. He once
again heard about how miserable his mother got while being pregnant with monster twins in the middle of a Nevada
summer. He listened as they retold the moment of his birth, quickly followed by his brother Patrick, and he loved
being able to hold that little fact over his brother’s head. But what he hadn’t ever heard before was the fact that his
mother had actually been in the hospital for the last two weeks before they were born because of complications.

Of all the things she could have left out of the story, knowing that his mother risked her own life to give him and his
brother more time, and a better chance at leading healthy lives made him treasure the woman beside him even
more than he ever had before.

He had to work to coax the rest of the story out of his parents, but eventually they told him that she began to have
difficulty breathing because of the strain of his and Patrick’s combined weight on her system. That was also when he
learned that his mother had almost died less than a year before they were born.

There had always been little mentions about some kind of problem at the morgue and his mother having to go to the
hospital a few times because of work, but neither he, nor his siblings were ever told the whole story. His father went
on to explain that the last thing they ever wanted their children to inherit was a sense of guilt over something they had
no control over, or a feeling of indebtedness over the perceived sacrifices they made in the name of parenthood.
Hearing their explanation gave Michael yet another reason to keep his family up on that pedestal.

When they finally reached the family home in Summerlin, Michael was beat. He had driven the whole way, and been
shocked to the core from his conversations with his parents. He helped to unpack the car, but when he tried to help
his mother put some of the things away in the kitchen, she immediately handed him a bottle of apple juice and sent
him to his room to rest. He made sure to crack a little joke about how long it had been since he was sent to his room
for anything, but she came right back at him with, “Keep it up and I’ll ground you, too.”

It might not have been his idea to lie down, but apparently his mother knew him better than he thought, because the
moment his head hit the pillow he was out like a light. And when he didn’t wake again until three in the morning, he
was reminded why he had not really missed the cabin trip the year before; that fold out couch in the great room was
murder. Instead of getting up, he simply shucked his clothes and crawled under the sheets to finish out the night in
perfect slumber.

The trill sounds of a cicada filled his senses the next day, and he had to think twice about where he really was until he
realized it was actually his cell phone going off. He grabbed for the phone and brought it to his ear, even though he
kept his face partially buried in the pillow. “Yeah,” was the only answer he was able to muster.

As he listened to the recorded message asking him to hold the line for the party placing the ship to shore call, he
struggled to roll over in the bed. “Hey! I thought you weren’t going to be…No kidding?!... No, that’s awesome…End
of the week…Um, hold on, I need to find…” He slapped at the nightstand in the hopes that his trusty pad of paper
was still there. True to form, his mother left his room in pristine condition, which included a pad and pencil lying on
the bedside table. “Yeah, Flight 4520 out of San Diego, got it…Friday at four-fifteen…No, that’s not a problem at
all…Do you want me to get us a room or…Really?...Well, Jimmy’s in town and I’m pretty sure Momma’s got plans for
the weeken…Okay, okay, I got it…If you’re ready, than so am I.” His face showed the evidence of his pleasure with
the answers he received. “Right, so I’ll pick you up and we’ll have dinner with Momma and Poppa Friday night?... No,
it’s probably better one on one first…Well, you have to remember, not only are there two of me, but I have younger,
much worse siblings.” He laughed at the response and unconsciously nodded his head in agreement. “Right
then…Friday night…See you then, babe.”

As he finished writing down all of the details, Michael glanced at his watch and almost passed out. It was nearly
noon. He decided that the jet lag must have finally caught up with him. He drank the last little bit of juice from the
bottle his mother handed him the night before and leapt up from the bed. With some fresh clothes from his duffle bag
and the towel he grabbed from the closet, Michael headed for the shower. He had a lot of work to do in the next few
days if he was going to help his mother before the real fun began, and it wasn’t going to happen if he continued to
sleep the day away.

Freshly showered and rubbing the last of the water out of his slightly shaggy hair, Michael walked out into the living
room. Before he could take one more step into the room, his mother called out from the kitchen, “Put that towel in the
hamper before you walk through the house.” He looked at the towel in his hands and then around the room. He
guessed that the whole “Mom’s got eyes in the back of her head” thing never went away.

After putting the wet towel in the hamper he made his way into the kitchen; first because that was where his mother
was hiding, and second because his stomach was busy reminding him just how long it had been since he last ate.
When he turned the corner, he found his mother in a familiar scene. Once again the table was covered in
photographs and scrapbooking supplies.

Before he got any closer, his mother pointed at a plate on the end of the island, and said, “I fixed it when I heard you
get in the shower.” On the plate was one of his mother’s famous deli sandwiches, complete with a Kosher Dill
Pickle. He grabbed the plate and was about to move toward a chair when she added, “There’s some of that
Tommyknocker’s Root Beer you like, and I think your father restocked his Fat Tires, as well.”

Michael could only shake his head at his mother’s ability to predict his needs, just as she always had when he was
growing up. He reached into the fridge and selected a root beer. “Since I’m barely awake, I think a beer for breakfast
might be pushing it, Momma.”

“Sorry, I’m used to Danny’s night schedule, I guess.” She chuckled as she continued to work on the pastel colored
page in front of her.

He walked over to her and looked over his mother’s shoulder to see what it was she doing, and that was when he
saw a page filled to capacity with baby photos. “Damn! Do we really have that many midgets floating around?”
She laughed at his exclamation, “Some of these midgets have midgets of their own now.” Her head shook with her
answer, but with it came the recognition of his own baby picture.

“Oh wow… Are those everyone’s?” He grabbed for the chair behind her and scooted it up so that he could be close
without disturbing her work.

His mother pointed to the writing by every picture and asked, “What do you think?”

As he scanned the page, he found his full name and his birthdate, with the same scenario repeated alongside nearly
every photo. He looked over the whole thing and found his and Patrick’s, along with the rest of his siblings. There
were also photos of his cousins Lilli and Max, and all of Greg’s kids, but down in the bottom right corner were just a
series of photos and first names. When he inspected them a little closer he recognized all of his nieces and
nephews, Max’s two kids, Lindsey’s two and Niko’s baby girl. He quickly realized that his mother was making a
page with all of the baby pictures of the family’s offspring.

“Hey, Mom… You missed one.”

“No I didn’t… I even found that picture Jimmy took of Devon and Micah when he first met Emily.” She went back over
the page to make sure she wasn’t mistaken, but Michael only laughed.

“You got Lindsey’s kids, but not Lindsey.” His mother gave him a disapproving glare and he asked, “What, doesn’t
she count?”

“Well, of course she counts, but I don’t have any pictures of Lindsey when she was a baby. Besides, having her little
ones should count for more.” His mother blushed slightly at being called out for her omission. “Honestly, the girl was
a teenager when I met her, so I really don’t ever think of her in the same breath as you kids. I mean, she did babysit
for you little monsters at some point.”

“Sounds good to me… But that’s still a lot of midgets.” He sat back in his chair and took a bite out of his sandwich.

His mother shrugged off his comment and shot back with, “Just doing our part to increase the geek population.”

Michael nearly choked with laughter. His mother had a real talent for one liners, and he loved every moment of it.

“Yeah, well, I really like the layout. Especially with Lilli and Max in prime focus. Aunt Sara is really gonna like that you
included all of Greg’s midgets, too.” His mother nodded at his analysis of her work.

“In a lot of ways, Greg means a lot to the both of them. And he has always looked to your Uncle Gil as his mentor,
even now.” She looked back to smile at her son and added, “We may not have the most traditional family dynamic,
Mikey, but we’re nothing if not devoted and loyal.”

“Don’t I know it… Doesn’t matter where we are either.” The thought sparked a memory which he shared, “From the
moment they found out I was moving to D.C., Nick and R.J. were right there helping me find an apartment, having me
over to dinner when I was in town, inviting me to parties to show me around. R.J. even got her friend Jack to help me
write my grant proposal for the Cantilever Group endowment. And Bethie is over at Greg and Kirsten’s every Sunday
for dinner since she started at UCLA.”

“We’ve got a good bunch, don’t we?” The pride in his mother’s smile warmed his heart. She was right, they were
definitely not conventional, but they had to be the most functional family he had ever known. They pulled together in
times of need, they supported each other in every trial, and in the good times the celebrations were the stuff of
legends.

“Sure do…” His mind was sent back to the time when his baby sister was born. “I remember when Bethie was born,
and everyone made it to town within ten hours of Pop putting out the call. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.
It was like the whole world stopped until he came out of that delivery room to tell everyone it was a girl.”

His mother turned in her chair and put her hand on his arm. “Yeah, it was a pretty remarkable thing, huh?” Michael
watched as his mother’s eyes became glassy with unshed tears. “It still amazes me… She’ll always be my little
miracle child.”

Regret began to fill his heart when he realized why his mother had gotten so choked up. A few years after his brother
Daniel was born his mother endured a series of miscarriages which caused his parents to abandon their dreams for
a houseful of kids.

His parents had always planned on having at least six, with dreams of kids in the double digits. They both grew up
feeling very alone, his mother an only child (outside of the short time with the brother he was named for) and his
father spent the majority of his life in the care of the monks. Neither really had any aunts and uncles, but made do
with the acquired family they were blessed to find. His parents wanted more for their own children, they wanted to
give them a true family, with all of the benefits and liabilities that came with it. And while they had succeeded in this
goal, it still fell short of their dreams. They never spoke of the miscarriages, but Michael knew that it affected them
both deeply. He saw it anytime someone brought out the baby pictures.

“Hey, Momma…” Michael decided to deflect his mother’s memories to something else related to the pictures. “You
mentioned something back at the cabin about Aunt Sara having some trouble when she was pregnant with Max.
What did you mean?”

“I did?” She seemed surprised that she had let that slip, but quickly recovered and began to explain, “Well, she had a
lot of trouble with nausea in the beginning. And it wasn’t just in the morning. You know how little she is anyway, well
she lost like fifteen pounds, and had us all more than a little worried.”

“Aunt Sara doesn’t have fifteen pounds to lose… Not without chopping off a limb or something.”

His mother laughed at his exclamation and answered, “Right, which is why we were all on guard with her. Drove her
completely crazy for the whole pregnancy. Then, once she started putting on weight again, she started putting on a
lot of weight. She got downright huge at the end. The doctor eventually had to put her on bedrest. When she went into
labor a month early, I thought your Uncle Gil was going to come unglued. As it turned out, little Max was fine. He just
wasn’t exactly what they were planning on.”

That last statement had him confused and so he asked, “Did they think they were having a girl, or what?”

“Oh no… They knew it was going to be a boy. Fought for eight straight months on what his name was going to be.
No, your Aunt Sara gave birth to a nine pound baby, four weeks early.”

“DAMN! And he was early?!” Michael tried to process just how big his aunt must have been by the end of the
pregnancy. “Are there any pictures of that?”

“Of Max, yeah… But no one wanted to face the firing squad by even thinking of pointing a camera in your Aunt Sara’
s direction. But you remember how big Tammy got when she was pregnant with the twins?” He nodded at the
comparison and she continued, “Well, add about ten-fifteen inches to that waistline and you’re probably close to how
big around she got.”

“Wow… That was huge!”

Before his mother could respond, a woman with perfectly cut, short white hair came in through the back door to ask.  
“What was huge?” She didn’t wait for an answer once she found the face that went with the voice. “Mikey! Your
mother didn’t tell me you came back with her!”

She instantly rushed over to wrap him up in a big hug the moment he took to his feet. “Sorry, Aunt Cath… It was a
last minute decision.”

“Well, then I’m glad things changed… I haven’t seen you in so long!” She leaned back to get a good look at him and
immediately noticed the face full of scruff. She reached up to tug on the facial hair. “And what’s all this about?”

“Keeps the biters away when I’m crawling around in the muck.” She gave him one of her trademark smirks and
shook her head.

“Just so long as this isn’t some bizarre attempt to live life like your crazy uncle.” He laughed. His Aunt Cath had spent
an entire lifetime giving his Uncle Gil grief about something, but they all knew it was meant with love. He just thought
that Uncle Gil might have been happier if she didn’t care quite so much.

“No worries there… Though I have found myself quoting obscure classical literature a lot more lately.” She swatted
him playfully and shook her head again.

“Defintely gets his sense of humor from you.” Aunt Cath patted his mother on the shoulder as she looked down to
see the page she just finished. “Oh wow! That turned out great, Steph.” She slipped on her glasses and looked a
little more closely at the photos. “Oh… I love that picture of Lily. She just looks so precious there. Not the little stinker
she is now.”

His mother shot him a quick wink over her shoulder and then said, “Must be taking after those broads she’s named
after.”

“Don’t say things like that!” She swatted his mother and grabbed the chair beside her to get a closer look at what
was going on. “I don’t even want to think about that one.”

“I don’t know… You turned out pretty good, Aunt Cath.” He got up and took his plate to the kitchen sink.

“And I want to make damn sure nobody else goes through that again.” The stern look on her gracefully aging face
told him volumes about the sacrifices she made to insure that fact. When he was growing up, he possessed an
unbending faith in the fact that he would be safe, if his Aunt Cath had anything to say about it. Nobody got through
her.

He watched on for a while as his mother and Catherine poured over each of the baby pictures, and shared their
pregnancy horror stories. Michael knew he had no business speaking up during their little estrogen explosion.

They talked about swollen ankles, raging hormones, mood swings, who got the biggest, who had the biggest baby,
and what they did to bounce back after the baby was born. He listened to them for a long time, marveling at how it
seemed as though the years were melting away from their faces, and delighted at the sparkle that filled their eyes.
But as they continued talking, something struck him for the first time.

“Hey, how come Nick and R.J. never had any kids?” Their stunned looks almost made him wish he’d kept his mouth
shut, so he tried to make up for it. “I mean, I know that R.J. traveled a lot, and they were kind of older when they got
together, but it’s not like they were old, or anything. ‘Cause isn’t she the same age as Aunt Sara?” Their continued
silence made him increasingly nervous. “Don’t look at me like that.”

His mother got up from her seat and leaned over his back to wrap her arms around his shoulders. “It’s not that,
Michael. It’s just that it’s not something we really talk about.”

He shook his head with his confusion and asked, “But why?”

Aunt Cath took the lead from there on out. “Well, because things got a little crazy over that one. Hell, they almost
cancelled the wedding and everything.” He watched as she folded her arms over her chest and shook her head in
disgust. “Neeley said it got really ugly when Nick took her down to Texas to meet the sisters. I guess they were
convinced Nick was throwing his life away by getting involved with somebody who couldn’t have kids.”

“Wait… What do you mean, ‘couldn’t have kids?’” This was the first Michael had ever heard about that and he
wanted some clarification.

“Honey, the woman was bounced off of an eighteen wheeler.” She saw the confusion he was experiencing and
asked, “What did you think the scooter and braces were all about?”

“I don’t know, I guess I just never really thought about it.”

His mother shook her head and patted his shoulder. “Guess that means I did a little too a good a job with you kids,
huh?”

“I guess so… I mean, I missed that stuff with R.J., thought that Uncle ‘Rick was really Pop’s brother, and it never even
occurred to me that there was anything different about Carter and Robert, or Neeley and Lanie from any of the other
couples in our family.” His mother and aunt chuckled at his analysis. “However, it did provide for an endless source
of amusement for my friends in college.”

Leaning over to kiss the top of his head, his mother mused, “It’s doing a pretty good job for us, too.”

Aunt Cath looked on for a moment and then asked, “You really thought Warrick was Thomas’ brother?” When he
blushed, she just laughed a little more. “He would’ve liked to hear that.”

At her words, Michael regretted having mentioned his Uncle ‘Rick with her there. It had been just over two years
since the man who had been such a big part of their lives passed away quietly in his sleep, just the way he always
wanted. His Aunt Cath took the whole thing really hard, quit working, and for a little while his mother worried over her
well being. But when Lindsey and her daughter were involved in a car accident, it seemed to snap Catherine right
out her depression.

In no time flat she was calling all the shots, making sure that everyone was taken care of, and directing the course of
treatment for both of them during their recovery. His mother told him that it was when the chips were down that
Catherine really shined. And once everyone was fine and healthy again, she went back to work, but instead of
working in the lab, she decided to head into what he had often referred to as the family business; academia. His
Aunt Cath starting writing a textbook for the graduate program that Uncle Gil was still monitoring, and began giving
lectures all over the country to encourage and support other women to enter into the world of forensics.

He watched when a new expression fell over her face as she changed gears. “As for Nick and R.J…. I’m pretty sure
they got their fill of kids helping her friend Jack with his brood. Not to mention all of those college kids out at the
research site before that.”

“I can believe that… Jack’s youngest is quite the piece of work.” He grinned at the memory of his conversation with
R.J. about the unconventional teenager. “R.J. says that Andy is payback for all the hell that both of his parents raised.”

“From what Sara has told me about Angela, I can definitely believe that one.” His mother handed the completed
page to Catherine and they all waited for the verdict.

“Did I miss something?”

It was obvious that her question had confused both of them, but his mother was the one to ask, “What are you talking
about?”

“This one, down at the bottom…” She pointed to the picture of the tiny little girl completely swaddled in pink with the
name “Lisabet” written beside it. “Who the hell is that one?”

Laughing at the expression on the older woman’s face, his mother tried to explain. “That’s Niko’s little girl… Born
about two months ago… Greg sent pictures to everyone.”

“Oh good lord! The world really is coming to an end.” Normally, her exclamation would have been comical, but it was
an odd reaction to his mother’s description of the baby’s identity.

“What makes you say that?”

“Are you kidding?” Catherine rolled her eyes and then removed her glasses when she answered herself. “Greg
Sanders is somebody’s grandfather!”

The howls of laughter that followed were enough to bring to the two women to tears. As Michael watched them
pouring over the other pictures, he was grateful that his mother and father were able to create a family around them,
in the absence of the ones they were denied by the accident of birth. He was even more grateful for his own accident
of birth, for being blessed with so many people to share the milestones of his life.

He must have had a strange look on his face, because his Aunt Cath reached out and squeezed his knee to get his
attention. “Mikey… Did you notice how Paddie’s twins did the same thing you two used to do when you slept?”

He looked at the page and saw that Christian and Carri were huddled together in the picture, much the way he and
his brother appeared in their photo. “I think it had more to do with how our parents laid us down, Aunt Cath.” Once he
was back in the present, he finished his remark with a wink.

“Don’t look at me… I put you guys down at opposite ends of the bassinet, but you always ended up snuggling
together.” His mother got up from the table and went to the refrigerator. “Of course, when you were a little older, I
think it had more to do with being able to plot better in closer proximity.”

Catherine gave him that raised eyebrow and he held up his hands in defeat as he exclaimed, “I plead the fifth on that
one.”

“I object… Wait, what are we talking about first?” A blonde whirlwind came in through the backdoor, but Michael
instantly recognized the voice.

“They were trying to get me to give up twin secrets, Linds.” He got up and wrapped the woman in a hug before she
could get any closer to the table. “You gotta help me out. They’re trying to gang up on me.”

“Don’t ask her for help… She’ll just make you her slave for the whole freakin’ summer for not doing anything.”
Immediately following after Lindsey, with a sullen scowl firmly entrenched on her normally cherubic face, was the
voice of teenage discontent.

“Well, hello to you, too, Sunshine.” Lindsey stepped back from Michael’s embrace, but he kept an arm over her
shoulders. “Is that any way to greet the guy who brings you back presents from the Yucatán?”

The girl’s face instantly morphed from the angry beast to an excited sprite without missing a beat. She dropped the
box onto the chair at the end of the table and dove into Michael with her arms wrapped around his midsection.
“Mikey!!! Nobody told me you were back!”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if they told you, silly girl.” He pulled playfully on her ponytail and brought her face up so that
he could stick his tongue out at her.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… Where’re my presents?”

“Lily Catherine Campbell… Where are your manners?” Lindsey struck a pose with her hands firmly planted on her
hips and Michael watched as his mother elbowed Catherine with her amusement.

“Same place my positive attitude is being kept, Mo-ther.” The roll of the girl’s eyes, along with the deliberate shake
of her head also reminded them of another woman in the room.

“Keep it up, and you’ll spend your senior year under house arrest.”

“Before the eyes start rolling out of your heads… How about you go get that package sitting the library, Lily?”
Michael stepped in to mediate between the two very strong women.

With Lily conspicuously out of earshot, he leaned in to Lindsey and whispered, “They make ‘em like that so that you
want to send them away to college, ya know?”

“You have no idea, Mike.” Lindsey melted into his embrace again as he chuckled at her response.

As Lily made her way back into the room, carrying the brown paper wrapped box, she asked, “So, which was it this
time, Mikey; spiders or roaches?”

“It’s the Yucatan, Squirt… So, there’s a little of both. However, the project I was working on was for researching the
population structure, seasonality, and habitat use of the green lynx spider, otherwise known as Peucetia Viridans
Oxyopidae. But I was able to catalogue a couple of new mantids for my collection, and I came back with a great
butterfly specimen for Uncle Gil.” He wrung his hands together as he grew more excited with the description of the
insect in question. “I found the most perfect specimen of Heliconius chartonius that I’ve ever seen. The stripes are so
vivid and the wingspan is one of the most symmetrical I’ve ever even heard about. I’ve got it packed in a special box
until I can get it properly mounted in a really nice case for the big party.”

Lindsey turned to his mother and asked, “Is it just me, or does he turn into a nine year old right before your eyes
when he starts talking bugs?”

Without missing a beat, she came back with yet another dose of wit. “You give him way more credit than I do, Linds. I
was thinking more like two years old.”

Catherine wasn’t one to be left out of the fun, so she added her own commentary. “Just further proof that he’s
becoming his Uncle.”
The continuing years of the Discovery Series storyline as the family gets ready for a big event.
The family storyteller gathers up some photos and shares a perspective on the past.
(including a "photo album" scrapbook) GSR/Yo!Bling/Etc.
*Rated PG for Most Everyone.