The Surly Bonds

Chapter 10

An unusually cold morning hits Southern California on January 28, 1986. At 6:51AM PST, Annie springs out of bed minutes before her alarm clock is set to ring. She switches it off after it emits its inaugural beep, and runs to the bathroom, accidentally slamming the door. The sun has yet to shine through the windows, but the artificial lighting in the bathroom proves adequate for Annie's needs. Mary slowly awakes as she hears Annie rustling inside the bathroom, and her loud footsteps crash down the hallway. Trying to turn over and resume her slumber, Richard nudges her. She hides underneath the bed sheet. "You said you'd take her to school this morning," Richard reminds her.

Mary slowly plants her two feet on the ground and yawns. She stretches her arms and rises, lumbering to the door. Annie pours herself cereal, drowning in milk, and surrounded by chunks of banana. She stirs the cereal, watching the cereal debris from the bottom of the bag spin in the sea of the white opaque liquid. She chomps down on her spoon, crunching the broken rice squares in her mouth noisily. Mary throws on a jacket and shakes her keys as she enters the kitchen. "Ready to go?" she asks.

Annie dumps the remainder of her cereal into the sink and rinses the bowl clean. She grabs her bag on the kitchen table and follows Mary out the door. Annie frolics to the car, the not-so-reliant blue 1978 Dodge Challenger.

Annie bundles up in her jacket, rubbing her hands together to resolve the issue of warmth. Mary enters the vehicle and places her palm on the icy steering wheel. Her hands recoil. Mary places the key in the ignition, and the car sputters. The more she turns the key in the ignition, the more it struggles. Annie looks at her NASA watch frequently; it reads 7:39AM. She suggests, "Maybe I should just walk to school."

"I'll have it started in a sec," Mary assures her.

Suddenly the car rumbles, and the engine activates. Mary cheers, and steps on the accelerator. The car zooms out of the driveway, and down the street. Driving recklessly, Mary weaves in and around the other cars on the two-lane road. She overtakes the school buses to reach J. Young Middle School before eight o'clock. Annie leaps out of the car and closes the door. Mary calls out from inside, "Have fun today. I'll be watching the launch from my office."

Annie smiles and waves, walking toward the school entrance. Mary shifts the car into drive, but it stalls, creating a loud, unsettling noise. Annie turns around and sees Mary aggressively turning the key. She forcefully turns the key in the ignition, but it does not make a sound. She hits the steering wheel once and turns to Annie. "It'll be fine. Needs the magic touch."

Annie enters Room 39 and sits in the front row. A handful of students quietly congregate at the empty desks, while Mrs. Krantz, the jolly older blonde woman with an eccentric scarf collection, sits at her desk. More students from different grade levels enter the room. They greet her as she fiddles with the TV in the quest for decent reception. Mrs. Krantz searches the channels to try and find live coverage of the shuttle launch. On the chalkboard, YOUNG ASTRONAUT COUNCIL 8:00 is written neatly in white chalk, and underneath it the words GO CHRISTA! with a sketch of the space shuttle. A poster for the TEACHER IN SPACE PROGRAM hangs on the wall next to the chalkboard. The class is nearly filled, and a buzz of contained excitement circulates throughout the room.

Mrs. Krantz adjusts her glasses as she continues to find the channel and obtain a clear picture. She stops switching channels when she lands on a live broadcast, with minimal interference. A news report comes on about South Africa, Angola, and The European Space Agency. "I wonder why they don't have the launch on," Mrs. Krantz says to herself.

The broadcast shows the Challenger spacecraft sitting on the launch pad. The broadcast feed switches from the CNN studios to live coverage at Cape Canaveral. Challenger shimmers in the Florida sun, the heat haze causing a disorienting wavy motion on screen. Black birds float in view of the camera capturing the space shuttle, quickly flying away. The students wait impatiently for the moment of launch. "Two minutes, forty-four seconds," the broadcaster announces.