Page 58 of Space Cowgirl: Houston, All Systems Go
A few boys snicker while others look confused.
With a smirk, she ups the ante. “I also met Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.”
“Whoa, really?”
“What’re they like?”
“Did they have a whole entourage?”
“Did they bringtheirwives?”
Younger kids, poles or worms in their hands, bounce on their tiptoes in the soft shoreline. Even the older kids, usually too cool to show enthusiasm, perk up, waiting for the answers.
I think about what Jules mentioned, about doing this more full-time, and the idea makes me happy. But it also makes me remember my dad walking away from the ranch and his responsibilities at the suggestion of a woman. My mom.
“They didn’t come at the same time, a few years apart. They were researching their rolls for upcoming movies.” She grins at the older guys, who turn pink on sight. “And unfortunately no, no wives.” The kid comes back with the worm and Jules hunkers down on her haunches to watch him bait the hook. When he’s done, Jules eyes him. “Good job, kid.”
He turns fire engine red. It should make me feel better that I’m not the only one who blushes around Jules, but then that would lump me with pre-teens, so it doesn’t.
A kid with glasses that remind me of my soon-to-be sister-in-law speaks up. “What about the Big Bang cast? One of their characters became an astronaut. Did you meet them?”
Jules stands, her long legs, clad in low slung, loose jeans which are tucked into her ever present motorcycle boots, straightening. She hands off the newly baited pole to one of the youngest kids. “Nah, that was all Mike Massamino. He’s hilarious. You guys would like him.”
“Do you think he would? Meet us, you mean?”
“Why not? You guys are great.”
Twenty-some bird-like chests puff up.
“I’ll make a call, see if I can set up a tour. Mike started working in DC mostly as a public speaker and consultant. But I’ll try and schedule it for when he’s in town.” She grabs another pole and gestures to another kid to bait it. “I can walk you through the ISS simulator, see if I can get the engineering directorate to show you how Robonaut works, and the new Mars lander.” Again she hands off the baited hook.
Under the guise of making sure everyone can bait a hook, I’m pretty sure Jules masterminded a way not to touch the worms.
“Here, Ms. Starr.” I grab a pole from the tall bucket between us. “Let me hold a pole for you to bait.”
Not missing a beat, she simply raises an arched brow at me. “And deprive these men of a chance to show me what they’ve learned out here on the West Ranch?” At the thought of not being able to impress their new hero, all the kids glare at me. “Never.” She snatches the pole from me and gestures to another kid to get a worm from the bucket.
The evil smirk she throws my way when she squats down to watch the kid bait the line tells me to do better next time.
The kid with the newly baited pole looks up at her from under blond bangs. “Have you ever almost died?”
The question gut punches me, and I try and hide my reaction by bending down into the bait bucket set up along the shore.
Instead of laughing it off, like I thought she would, Jules quiets and her smile fades. “In the Air Force, my planes have taken hits. I even had to eject once over enemy territory. So I guess you could say yeah, I’ve almost died.” Her gaze fixates somewhere on the other side of the pond. “A lot of my friends weren’t as lucky. A lot of them never came back from deployment.” Lips, moments ago lifted in a smile, turn down. “And I’ve witnessed friends get shot down over seas.” She blinks a few times, coming back to the present.
Every kid’s eyes stay glued to Jules, standing at the edge of the tall grass before the embankment, the usual youthful chatterboxes now quiet. A slight breeze skims the water, ripples emerging from where frogs jump and minnows swim.
The same kid, pole in hand, too young to understand the finality of death, pipes up, “What about going into space? That’s dangerous too, isn’t it?”
A smile, this one looking more forced than before, spreads across her face. “Yeah, you could say that. There is a lot unknown about space. And even what is known can be dangerous. Equipment failure, human error, that kind of thing.” She ruffles the blond kid’s head. “That’s why we need people like you guys to grow up and be engineers, scientists, maybe even astronauts to help us out.”
A bigger kid scoffs. “You thinkwecould work at NASA?”
“Yeah, why not?”
Jules’ genuine look of confusion makes the kid pause. “Well, I mean, we’repoor. We don’t have money for fancy schools and all that.”
A shrug. “So? Neither did I.”
