ZOE GALAXY: The Invitation

Chapter Three: Spit Promise

That day, a few weeks before her thirteenth birthday, as the birds were beginning to wake up and chirp, Zoe's dad knocked on her door.

"Kiddo, you up?" He peeked into her room wearing a kid's party hat.

"Hi, daddy. Why are you wearing that birthday hat? It's not my birthday yet," Zoe said sleepily as she sat up in her bed. He was holding a present in his hands. "Is that for me?"

"For you, my royal princess." He lifted the present high in the air as he danced his way into her room, giving her a big toothy smile. Zoe thought her dad had very funny teeth. They all seemed too big for his mouth, especially the front two that protruded over his lower lip. They were almost twice the size of the rest. When she'd asked him why his teeth were so big, he told her that he had another life where big teeth came in handy.

A life where he was a rabbit.

In his human life he was her dad, which was the best thing in the world. And in his rabbit life he lived in the wild, slept under the stars, ate carrots and lettuce right from the ground, and had all kinds of magical adventures. Over the years he'd told her many stories about Abby Rabbit. Stories that had made Zoe want to be an adventurous toothy rabbit just like her dad. At thirteen, she was too old to believe the stories were real, but she still liked hearing them and calling him Rabbit.

"You mean rebel, Rabbit!" she corrected him as he kissed her forehead. She didn't want to be a princess anymore. That was for little girls. She wanted to ride Harley motorcycles and wear a black leather jacket with fringe. "Are you going to miss my party?" Zoe folded her arms and jutted her chin forward. Her dad never gave her a birthday present early.

"I would be crazy to miss your disco party, wouldn't I?" He launched into a cool disco dance groove making her laughter pour out like fizzy soda. Her dad was so funny.

"You sure would be crazy." She threatened him with her knuckle sandwich.

"But just in case a certain Rabbit gets detained by a secret, but oh-so-important mission..." He held out the gift and sat down on her pink princess canopy bed.

She refused the gift, crossing her arms in front of her. "How long will you be gone this time?" she demanded. She hated it when he left. His trips were getting longer and longer. Last time he left for twenty-nine days. Twenty-nine days too long, in her opinion.

"I'm going to come back as soon as I can, kiddo." He took her braid and tickled the end of her nose with it.

She pushed his hand away. "But you are coming back, right?" she said a little concerned. She didn't like how her dad's eyes looked, watery and drooping. Plus, she was getting a really uncomfortable ache in her chest.

"Of course I'm coming back. You don't think I'd leave you here without anyone fun to hang out with, do you?" he said, ribbing her gently with his elbow. Zoe giggled.

It was true that her mom had gotten quite serious over the last year. She always seemed to be upset about something, or giving the two of them lectures on God and doing the right thing, stuff like that. Her mom used to be fun, but not since she decided to become a Pastor. If you asked Zoe, she'd tell you that being a Pastor was the least fun thing in the world, and that she wouldn't be a Pastor if you paid her a billion bucks.

"Promise you’re coming back."

"Spit promise." He spit in his hand and held it out to her.

"Gross, daddy! I'm too old for that now!" But Zoe spit in her hand anyway and they shook on it. "Okay. I'll miss you though. Make sure you come back soon, as soon as you can."