Unmarked

Chapter 25

"Hey, mom, what are you doing?" Lavina said, walking up behind her.

"I am looking at the Andromeda galaxy."

"The Andromeda galaxy?"

"Mhm, I am studying a few of the stars. The lab wants me to track them for a little while."

"And you can see that with your telescope?"

"Yes, but this one is a bit more powerful than the ones that are open to the public." Amilia looked over to Lavina. Lavina sat down next to her and looked at her notebook.

"You must be really good at math."

"Hm? Well, I suppose so. But I'm just tracking the declination and right ascension to make sure I have the right star."

"Oh."

"You're lost aren't you."

"Kind of."

"Well, hm." Amilia put her hand to her chin. "The declination is essentially degrees and the right ascension is essentially time. You see, the Andromeda galaxy is at right ascension zero hours, forty-two minutes and forty-four point three seconds. And the declination is positive forty-one degrees, sixteen feet and, uh" She looked down to her notebook, "Nine inches. So I just line my telescope up to the right coordinates and come out at just the right time, and I can see the galaxy and the stars within it."

"Ok."

Amilia laughed. "What are you doing out here, anyway, have you gotten sick of your brother already?"

"No, I'm just sick of sitting around."

"Oh, I see. Well, you know where the shed is, if you'd like to grab something from there."

"Well," Lavina started.

"Yes, honey?"

"Where's dad? I haven't seen him in a few days."

"Who, Oglm?"

"Yeah."

"Oh," She paused and then sighed. "He kind of moved out."

"M- m- moved out?!"

"Here, come sit." Amilia patted next to her. Lavina sat down next to her. "I had mentioned that I had enough money to go ahead and buy my own house, but nothing was really close to here. So he said not to worry, that he had a place. I asked him where, of course, and he told me his place. Oglm said that he didn't need the space much anymore and that it was about time to retire anyway."

"But, but where is he?!"

"He is in the Market, so you can visit him anytime you want, I won't stop you." Amilia ruffled her hair. "He has a place right near his smithing shop."

"I thought you said he retired."

"He did. He's still going to take in orders, just not as many. He still needs some flow of income." Amilia looked to Lavina. "You alright, Lavina?"

"Yeah." She put her hand on Lavina's back and rubbed up and down.

"I'm sure he'll come and visit." Lavina looked up to Amilia.

"Do you think my other dad will come and visit?"

"I don't know, Lavina. I don't think he'll visit unless his work takes him here for some reason." She paused to look at her. "He is a very busy man. Like I told you, he's a businessman, but now, he's just higher up."

"Higher up?"

"Oh yeah, he said he's making almost one hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. Not to account for his nearly ten grand bonus."

"Oh wow."

"Yeah, but that also means he can't take too many days off, either. He gets the vacation he gets and he spends it with his family, and that's alright. I'm sure the three of us can figure out something to do together when mine comes around."

Lavina gasped. "We could go on a PGA tour!"

"PGA? You mean golf?"

"Yes!" Lavina jumped up and ran to the shed. She grabbed a golf club bag, tossed it over her side and came back to Amilia. She set it down and then took out a club and a golf ball. She also grabbed a tiny flag and ran some few feet in front of her and stuck it in the ground. She came back to her mother, grabbed the club and hit the ball.

"Wow, what a good hit!" Lavina grabbed her mom by the arm.

"Come on, come on. Let's go see where it landed."

"Alright." Amilia got up and followed Lavina. The ball was only a few inches from the hole.

"Aw, I really thought it would be closer."

"That's- that's still really, really good Lavina. You're definitely much better than me, I've never touched the game."

"Oh, well, thank you." Lavina tapped the ball with her club and the ball hit the flag.

"What is it called?"

"A double eagle."

"Wow, and you know the termanology too, bravo." Amilia clapped.

Lavina laughed. "Yeah, I loved golf as a kid, I've been playing it since I was ten."

"Well, I would say it's been a good six years then."

"Yeah, it has."

"Have you ever looked into the Cardinal county golf team?"

"The county has a golf team?"

"Last I heard they did." She looked to Lavina. "How about you go put those clubs back and get ready for bed and I will come in and we can all watch a movie."

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Lavina said, excited. She quickly put away the golf bag and then rushed upstairs and changed. She knocked on Anghi's door. "Hey, mom's coming in, come on downstairs!" Lavina rushed down the stairs and sat on the couch. Anghi joined her and then Amilia turned on the TV. Lavina cuddled up to her mom as the commercials began.