Irish for 7 years old now. I was getting news. Not just because I had to start putting her into training for my job. But she wouldn't have the choice that her mother and I had wanted for her. Things went looking good.
I still am looking for that form to change that law. The dreaded Straight's Law. I had to come up with a plan if I didn't see that form come across my desk.
I didn't want to be the one to put my name on the change. If people knew that I was the one who changed the law. If they saw that it was my name on the form. I could be targeted, or worse, be killed.
That was a hot dog. The law would be changed. But Iris wouldn't have a dad and Florence would be without a husband. I couldn't do that to them.
But Iris was reaching that critical age. You know the age that I'm talking about. Florence and I have tried to prepare for it. We tried to prepare Iris for it.
We as parents both saw the woman that she was growing up to become. She made her own decisions. Her own choices. She is going to make a great captain. If that is what she wanted to do.
But... Straight Law said that was what she should do. That she should be of captain. But what if she wanted to choose her mother's career path? She had to have that choice. Everybody deserves to make that choice.
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One day Iris came up to me and said ", Daddy I want to be a ballerina."
It was time. Time for the talk. Florence and I had to sit her down and talk to her. We had to tell her about what was expected of her. What the law had expected of her. We had to tell her that she was going to follow in my footsteps. She couldn't become a ballerina. It was to be the hardest thing I would have to do as a father. The hardest thing that Florence would have to do as a mother.
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Sounds nice set Iris down and we started to have "the talk" with her. We were interrupted by a voice on the intercom telling me to come to the bridge. That my presence was requested.
I was annoyed. But part of me was relieved. I looked at forms then look at Iris and said ", I'm sorry. We will have to continue some other time." I look back at Florence and she just said "Go."
I rushed out of the room and jogged to the bridge to see what the problem was. When I got on the bridge. I was greeted with an image on The view screen of a strange purple nebula with flashing blue lightning coming from it. It was right in our path.
When I called for an analysis I was answered good ", is the plasma cloud like none we have ever seen. The cloud is over 750 ft by 1,250 ft high it would take 3 months to get around it and get back on course. What should we do captain?"
I asked if we could go through it. The answer to my question was, yes. Then the second response came. "It would not only take us one month to get through it. But, the radiation alone would kill us."
I had a decision to make. Did we wait it out or risk certain death? Did we travel through it, or not?
Our ship wasn't equipped to handle a great deal of radiation. Only small amounts. That is why this decision was so tough. Whenever I face a hard decision like this I ran it by Florence first. But this was a decision about the lives of everybody on board.
I figured that I would have my first officer help me with this one. And help me she did. But before we arrived at the decision that we did. We struggled for 3 days.
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This was a great distraction from having to talk with iris. It really helped get my mind off of it. We traveled through the nebula for a month and a half. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Only two people died from the radiation poisoning and one person was sick with radiation poisoning. If we didn't get out when we had. I was told by the doctor that there would have been three deaths.
One of those people that had died was my mother, Romey. I don't talk about her often. Nor should i. She was a drug addict and was always leaving me and my brother to chase down her next fix.
The decision was a hard one to make. I didn't want to risk the lives of everybody on board. But I had no choice we needed to find our new home.
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Soon Iris had forgotten about our talk. As did Florence and I. we never did have that talk. Florence and I even hoped that she would give up on that dream of being a ballerina. Iris didn't.
Iris held on to that dream for a while. She danced around the living room all the time. She would have made a wonderful ballerina. But Florence 9 knew the truth of what she was going to become. Unless something happened.
For tonight took her to dance classes all the time. We tried to keep talks of Straight's Law away from her little ears. We didn't want her to know anything about it until it was time for her to know.
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All right with those growing up. She was becoming her own person. I knew that she was still young yet. That she was still 7 years old. But a parent could still tell. Boys were coming soon. I was dreading that most of all.
You never give thought to this when they're just babies. Nobody ever does. It was when they get close to that age where they start liking boys. And Iris was just at that age where she just tolerated them.
Now I not only have to worry about Captain things. Or worry if straight slow would ever get changed. I had to worry about this now too. Being me sucked. Being a father suck too. But I loved it.
I know those two things are conflicting. Fatherhood usually is. There have been many times when I want to say yes to iris. I just said no to pacify her mother. Sometimes I agreed with florence. Other times I feel bad that I said no.
But ask Captain I was starship you had to stand by your decision. No, matter, what. I think that is what made it stressful sometimes. Because I wasn't like that at home. Even though I know I try to be.
I always try to bring a little part of my life into my life as a father. As you can probably tell. It doesn't always work. But I wish it did. Oh, do I wish it did! My life would be much simpler. Let me tell you!
