Liberty Lee woke up and could smell grilling coming from down the hall. Was the place on fire? That's all she needed after the house was broken into and vandalised last weekend. She put on her clothes and went to investigate the source of the smell...as she got closer to the back garden gate, she could see her housemate, Travis Scott, flipping chicken drumsticks and sweetcorn cobs on the BBQ.
"Seriously, Travis? A full on BBQ grill for breakfast?" she said, stepping outside.
"Damn straight...if breakfast is the most important meal of the day then it should be the best, and I love the smell of grilling in the morning. Is Summer up yet?"
"I haven't heard a stirring from her room" said Liberty. "I must admit, that smells good...dish it up!"
"Here you go" said Travis. "An old Scott family recipe"
"I hope it's better than the Scott family fruitcake" said Liberty. "I must admit this tastes good"
"So what have you got on today?" asked Travis.
"It's going to be a manic kind of day today and for the next two weeks. We're go for launch on the 16th and we're working around the clock to get things ready for then" said Liberty, referring to her job at NASA.
"Which one are we up to now....Gemini?" asked Travis.
"Eight. This is a big one...well, they all are really but this one's going to be the first docking of two spacecraft"
"I thought we'd already done that?" asked Travis.
"No...Gemini 6 and 7 rendezvoused in space, but didn't dock. This time Armstrong and Scott are going to dock with an unmanned craft called Agena and that's never been done before"
"And why is that important?"
"Because if we can dock two craft together, we can dock the planned command module and lunar module on Apollo and make the moon landing possible." Liberty rolled her eyes at the idea that Travis couldn't grasp this concept.
"Well, remember, some of my circuit boards and wiring will be in those spaceships you fly" said Travis.
"They're space CRAFT, not spaceships. This isn't Forbidden Planet. And if your handiwork is in our capsules, heaven help the astronauts!" she joked.
"Anyway, speaking of circuit boards...I've just got to finish soldering some...let's continue our conversation in my workspace" said Travis, getting up.
"You've left all the dishes behind...again!" said Liberty.
"Details, details!"
"I hear Action caught the person who vandalised our house, that's good news" said Liberty.
"Did he? I haven't seen him lately...well that's good news at least. Wow, the amount of time we spent cleaning the place up...we lost a whole weekend."
"Well hello sleepyhead!" said Liberty as Summer Holliday entered the room.
"Morning...hmmm, this is really tasty, did you cook this Travis?" said Summer, sitting down on Travis' bed.
"I did. Did you have a late night, Summer?"
"Very...there was a huge amount of damage and mess that we missed tidying up so I stayed up to 2am getting rid of it."
"Guys...I think we need a cleaner" said Liberty. "We spent so much time cleaning this house...I don't mean the damage but just every day there's so much to do and I work long hours, Summer does as well and Travis...well, you never tidy up after yourself"
"Can we afford it?" said Summer.
"Three incomes...we should be able to comfortably"
"OK, I'll put the call in. I know a good cleaning agency" said Summer.
"Well, I can't hang around here chatting...I've got space to conquer!" said Liberty getting up and leaving.
"Yep, I've got to go soon as well" said Travis.
Summer looked at Travis and for a brief moment their eyes met. Summer took a breath. "Travis....do you ever think about...."
"Think about what?" he said, looking away suddenly and trying to find a bag to put his soldered circuits in.
"Well, you know...about settling down"
"I've got no one to settle down with...ah, that bag will do"
"But if you DID have someone...someone you perhaps know already...would you?"
"That's a bit hypothetical. When are you home this evening?"
"Six pm...will you be here?"
"No, I'm working 'till 7."
"Do you fancy going out somewhere this evening?"
Travis' eyes widened...was he being manoeuvred into a date with Summer? "Do you mean....just you and me?"
Summer paused but baulked. "Oh no...I was going to invite the whole street to check out the new Orange Peel club. You know, all us friends"
"Oh I'd be up for that" said Travis, relieved. Summer chided herself for weakening by making it a group event. Travis grabbed his bag and said "until then, have a good day"
After Travis left, Summer flopped on his bed and ruminated on this latest missed opportunity. "Every. Single. Time I blow it" she thought. "Maybe I should put Travis out of my mind and find someone else who I'm not going to self-sabotage my chances with"
All three went off to work but Summer was the first one home. She rang around all the other houses in Foundry Cove and to her joy everyone was up for going to visit the Orange Peel club.
"Wow, this place is great!" said their newest neighbour, Barbara Dubois.
"I must admit even I'm impressed" said Julia Epstein.
"It'll do" said John Action.
The friends all hit the dance floor but it was Summer who impressed the most with her groovy moves. As she was holding court in the middle, Travis walked in and his jaw hit the floor. She was terrific!
Summer beckoned Travis over and, dutifully, he went right to the middle where he did his favourite dance...the indifferent bop. "I'll get the drinks in" he said after one dance.
The friends stayed for around 3 hours until tiredness, at least, overcame Travis and Summer. Most of them, except Action, came home as well and the group shared a taxi home to the street. Once inside, Summer and Travis grabbed a bite to eat.
"I didn't know you were a good dancer" said Travis.
"I did junior ballet" she replied. "Did you enjoy yourself?"
"I did...we should go again" he said. Summer's eyes widened. "...with Liberty next time"
"Yes...always with others" said Summer to herself. Maybe it was that Travis preferred Liberty to her? What will she do?
