07:22 (Washington Time)
Monday, August 31, 1987 ‘C’
Parking lot of the Congressional School
3229 Sleepy Hollow Road, Falls Church
Virginia, U.S.A.
There were already quite a few cars in the parking lot of the Little School, the low, brown brick building which housed the classrooms for the children from kindergarten age to grade four, when Ingrid landed in front of it in her aircar. The few parents and children still outside stared at once at the Hiller AIRCAR which, while not as rare as a few months ago, was still not a common sight. Shutting down the engine, Ingrid then smiled to her daughter, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
‘’Ready for your first day of school, Nancy?’’
‘’Yesss!’’ nearly shouted Nancy, all excited.
‘’Then, let’s get in: I will accompany you inside. Don’t forget your school bag and lunch box. And also don’t forget about what I said concerning not bragging to other children.’’
‘’Yes, Mommy!’’ replied Nancy in a nearly exasperated tone: Ingrid had been hammering for days already that notion of staying modest and discrete with other children and not to brag about all her knowledge and skills. Both then stepped out of the aircar as curious young children and a few adults congregated around the aircraft. One man who was accompanying a handsome young boy attracted the attention of Ingrid at once: he appeared to be carrying a holstered handgun under his buttoned vest. However, Ingrid didn’t stare at him and instead discretely glanced at him a few times as she helped Nancy take out her school backpack and her lunch box. If she went by her first impressions and instincts, she would say that the man was a mobster. However, the way he deferred to the young boy he was accompanying made him either a driver or a bodyguard, rather than a parent. She also heard the boy and the man speak in Italian. Putting that data aside for the moment, Ingrid accompanied Nancy inside the brick building, where a mature woman greeted her and the other parents escorting in children.
‘’Good morning and welcome to the Congressional School for this first day of the school year. The waiting and study lounge for the Extended Hours Program students is down this hallway, second door to the right. Your children will be able to wait there for the start of classes.’’
‘’Thank you, miss!’’ replied Ingrid while smiling to the woman. One feature of the Congressional School she particularly appreciated was its Extended Hours Program, or EHP, which allowed parents to safely drop off their children earlier than at normal hours, meaning that she could bring in Nancy as early as seven in the morning instead of the standard arrival time between 07:45 and 08:00. The EHP also permitted her to pick up Nancy anytime between 15:30 and 18:00, instead of at the usual classes closing time of 15:30. For a single parent like her, this was a lifesaver and prevented a lot of headaches for her as she could not afford to constantly arrive late for work at the White House: you simply did not make the President of the United States wait for you.
The EHP lounge proved to be a large room, well lit by a number of windows, and containing a number of sofas, long tables and chairs, plus a number of refrigerators where the young students could put their lunch boxes. There were also two adjacent bathrooms for the children, a water fountain and a row of six microwave ovens on a long counter with sink. Putting Nancy’s lunch box in one of the refrigerators, Ingrid then led her to one of the tables, where three more children aged between nine and ten already sat. The boy accompanied by the armed man was one of those three children. Ingrid gave a last kiss to her daughter while caressing her hair.
‘’I will be back to pick you up before six, sweetie. Have a nice day at school.’’
‘’I am already impatient to start classes, Mommy.’’ replied Nancy before kissing Ingrid on the cheek. Walking out of the lounge, Ingrid let the armed man, who was also leaving, pass by her before whispering to him.
‘’Is there a particular reason why you needed to come to this school with a weapon, mister?’’
The man hesitated and slowed down while tensing up and looking at her sideways.
‘’Who are you to ask, miss, and how did you know that I am armed?’’
‘’Long practice and experience, mister. My name is Ingrid Dows, ex-General Ingrid Dows, of the United States Space Corps. So, why are you armed and should I be worried about you?’’
The man, a tall and beefy one as befitted a bodyguard, sucked air in before answering her.
‘’I am the driver and bodyguard for my employer’s son, miss. Mister Bocelli happens to have a lot of business competitors who could potentially try to hurt him via his son Leonardo. You won’t have to worry about me in this school: I am here to defend, not to hurt.’’
‘’That I can understand and accept, mister. Forget that I asked.’’
‘’By the way, miss, your helicopter, or whatever it is, is a truly fascinating machine.’’
‘’Thank you! It is a Hiller AIRCAR, built in California. However, one needs to hold an aircraft or helicopter piloting license to be allowed to fly it around.’’
‘’So, you are a military pilot, right?’’
Ingrid gently smiled at the man’s question.
‘’I am retired now. Just look for my name in newspaper archives and you will see who I am. By the way, how should I call you, mister?’’
‘’Nick! Nick Donatello, Misses Dows. How could you be retired already? You look to be no more than 25 years-old.’’
‘’I will be 62 years-old in a week, Nick. As I said, just look for my name and you will understand. Have a good day, Nick.’’
‘’Uh, you too, Misses Dows.’’
Ingrid then returned to her aircar, went in it and took off, flying towards the East and the White House, watched by a fascinated Nick.
‘’Wow! Talk about an interesting woman!’’ said to himself the bodyguard before returning to his Cadillac and leaving as well.
In the EHP lounge, Nancy quickly started conversing with the other three children sitting at her table. She then found out that they were all going to be part of the same fourth-grade class. They were in turn astonished to learn that she would be in their class.
‘’But, how old are you? You can’t be nine or ten?’’ asked a pretty Asian girl named Lucy Wong. Nancy grinned in response.
‘’Nope! I am four and a half years-old. I am starting in fourth-grade because my admission test results were too high for me to simply start in kindergarten.’’
‘’So, you can already read, write and count, right?’’ asked a blond boy with soft manners name Karl Wienermeyer.
‘’Of course I can! I wouldn’t be in fourth-grade if not!’’
The third child at her table, a handsome but shy boy with shiny black hair cut short, then spoke for the first time, offering his right hand for a shake.
‘’Hello, Nancy! My name is Leonardo Bocelli. You nearly speak like a big person, I must say.’’
‘’Maybe I am!’’ replied maliciously Nancy. Is this your first year at this school, like in my case?’’
‘’Oh no! My father enrolled me here three years ago. Lucy and Karl are also in their third or fourth years here.’’
‘’And how is this place, guys?’’
‘’It is wonderful!’’ answered at once with enthusiasm Lucy Wong. The teachers are all very nice and I get to practice and play my violin in class three times a week.’’
‘’You like music? I also love music!’’
‘’Oh? What instrument do you play?’’
‘’Quite a few, but my favorites are the qanun and the barbat.’’
‘’Qanun? Barbat? Uh, I don’t know those instruments.’’
‘’They are old Persian musical instruments, Lucy. The qanun is a sort of zither, a plank-like string instrument, while the barbat is a variant of the lute.’’
‘’Oh, I see! Do you plan to bring your instruments to the school?’’
‘’I sure do! Do they have a safe place to store our instruments here at school?’’
‘’Yes, they do: they have individual lockers in the music room which you can lock by using your own padlock.’’
‘’Great! Then I will bring my qanun and barbat with me tomorrow. I hope that the music teacher is a nice person. I have seen plenty of stern music teachers.’’
Lucy Wong sighed on hearing that.
‘’Me too! My old music teacher in Hong Kong was not a very nice one and was very severe when I made mistakes.’’
‘’Oh!’’ simply said Nancy, not insisting on that, before looking at Karl and Leonardo. ‘’And you guys? Do you play music too?’’
‘’Uh, I prefer poetry, drawing and pottery making.’’ answered Karl Wienermeyer.
‘’I like cars.’’ said in turn Leonardo Bocelli. ‘’One day, I will be a car designer and I will make fast cars, like Enzo Ferrari.’’
‘’Hey, my mother is an engineer.’’ replied Nancy, warming up. ‘’She in fact helped design the aircar I came in. Maybe I could convince her to give you a ride in it.’’
‘’Really?’’ said Leonardo, a big grin appearing at once on his face. ‘’That would be great!’’
‘’Could I come too?’’ asked timidly Lucy Wong.
‘’Why not? Maybe I should ask my mother to arrange for a group tour for our class. Her aircar should easily accommodate five more children in addition to me. I will talk to her tonight about that.’’
‘’Yes! I would love to fly!’’ nearly shouted Leonardo.
A few minutes before eight o’clock, teachers walked into the lounge and called a list of their assigned students before leading them to their classrooms. Nancy ended up with twelve other students, including Leonardo, Lucy and Karl, in a classroom and facing a jovial woman in her early forties who beamed while eyeing her pupils.
‘’Welcome to my fourth-grade class, children! For those who don’t know me, I am Kerry Welsh and I have been teaching here at the Congressional School for eight years. We will now start this first day of the school year with a morning meeting circle, where you will all be able to present yourselves to your comrades. Let’s go sit at that large work table, kids.’’
Welsh, who had been briefed carefully by Director Devers about Nancy, watched her discretely as she scrambled with the twelve other, much bigger children, to sit around the meeting table. Once they were all sitting around the table, Welsh looked at her list of students.
‘’I will now call you up in alphabetical order. You will then get up and present yourselves in a few words. No need to make it lengthy but at least give your name, age, place of birth and your main interests in life. Thomas Blackburn, I believe that you are first.’’
An African-American boy with coffee-color skin then got up from his chair and started speaking in a timid voice.
‘’Hello! My name is Thomas Blackburn and I am ten years-old. I was born in Chicago. I like mathematics but, most of all, I like sports, especially football. My father works at the State Department.’’
‘’Very good, Thomas!’’ said the teacher. ‘’Leonardo, you are next.’’
‘’Yes, Misses Welsh!’’ replied the boy before getting up and looking around the table at the other students before starting to speak.
‘’My name is Leonardo Bocelli and I am nine. I was born here in Washington and my father is a businessman. I like cars a lot, along with cooking. My mother shows me her Italian recipes. I dream of one day becoming a car designer.’’
Leonardo then sat down, applauded by a few of the students, including Nancy. A thin redhead with freckles and wearing glasses was called up next and spoke in a tiny, timid voice.
‘’Hello everybody! My name is Cynthia Breckenridge and I am ten. I was born in Arlington and my father is a bank manager. I like sciences in general, but am especially interested in chemistry and biology. I hope one day to become a chemist.’’
‘’Excellent! Annie, you’re next!’’
An average-looking girl wearing glasses got up next.
‘’Hi! I am Annie Crossfield and I am ten years old. I was born in Philadelphia and my father is the owner of the Capitol Skyline Hotel in Washington. I am interested in biology and want to become a doctor.’’
‘’A fine goal, Annie. Nancy, you are next.’’
Nancy actually got up and climbed on her chair in order to be visible to all, due to her small height. The other students were especially attentive to her presentation, as many wondered how such a young girl could be in a fourth-grade class. However, Nancy still had in mind the warning from her mother not to brag around. Still, the little she said was quite enough.
‘’Hello! My name is Nancy Dows and I am four and a half. I was born on a spaceship, the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS, while it was halfway between Jupiter and Saturn and heading towards Saturn. I spent the first two years and four months of my life in Space, until the PROMETHEUS arrived back in Earth orbit. My mother was the ship commander and the commander of the United States Space Corps but she has since retired from the military and now works in the White House as a special advisor for President Bush. I love music and I play a number of instruments. I also like boys a lot.’’
Her last words started a concert of giggles and of falsely offended gasps and exclamations as she sat down, while Kerry Welsh eyed her with a smirk.
‘’Now, that’s quite a declaration, Nancy, especially for your age. Yes, Kim?’’
‘’Can I ask a question to Nancy, Misses Welsh?’’ asked an Asian girl.
‘’Certainly, Kim! Go ahead!’’
The girl, who wore long, silky black hair going down her back, then smiled to Nancy.
‘’Hello! I am Kimi Park and am interested in astronomy. Did you have to wear a spacesuit during your time in Space?’’
‘’Only when I went for spacewalks with the other children of the ship and when I went for a rover excursion on the surface of Titan, the biggest moon of Saturn.’’
‘’Ooh, you lucky you! Do you have pictures of your trip?’’
‘’Yes, I do! Misses Welsh, could I bring pictures tomorrow, to show them to the class.’’
‘’That would actually make for an excellent first class presentation, Nancy. You are most welcome to do so.’’
‘’Thank you, Misses Welsh.’’ Happily replied Nancy, with a redhead girl named Elizabeth Holloway called next to present herself.
15:30 (Washington Time)
Fourth-grade classroom
The ringing of the bell announcing the end of the classes for the day started just after Kerry Welsh had finished giving her instructions for the next day.
‘’Alright, children! Classes are over for today. You can go out to take your buses or go to the Extended Hours Lounge to wait there for your ride home. Have a good evening!’’
‘’You too, Misses Welsh!’’ said in unison the boys and girls before they grabbed their things and left the classroom. However, Nancy stayed behind for a moment and went to her teacher.
‘’Misses Welsh, could I bring one of my musical instruments tomorrow? I would like to practice with it while I wait in the Extended Hours Lounge before and after school.’’
‘’I don’t see a problem with that, Nancy. You can lock it in your classroom’s individual locker when not using it.’’
‘’Thank you, Misses Welsh!’’
Nancy was about to turn around when her teacher spoke again.
‘’Please wait a moment, Nancy: I have something to say to you. Mister Devers told me about your very special abilities, including the fact that you tend to think like an adult.’’
‘’If you want to tell me about not playing sexual games with the boys of this school, then don’t worry, Misses Welsh: my mother already warned me about that.’’
Kerry Welsh was left speechless for a moment by Nancy’s declaration.
‘’How did you know that this was what I wanted to say?’’
‘’I cheated and read your mind, Misses Walsh. Sorry! Can I go now?’’
‘’Uh, yes, you may go, Nancy.’’
‘’Thank you, Misses Walsh.’’ replied Nancy before walking out of the classroom with her school bag, leaving behind a disturbed Kerry Walsh, who however reassured herself quickly: Nancy had stayed perfectly polite all the time today and, while unusually mature for her age, had interacted and played with the other children without a problem. If Nancy truly proved to be able to control her special abilities, then things should go smoothly.
Going to the Extended Hours Lounge, Nancy joined up with four other students of her class with which she had quickly become friends. Sitting at the table occupied by Leonardo Bocelli, Lucy Wong, Karl Wienermeyer and Kimi Park, she looked first at Leonardo.
‘’At what time is your driver supposed to come and get you, Leo?’’
‘’He should be here at around five, Nancy: he usually has some errands to run for my father before he can come and pick me up. And you? When is your mother due here?’’
‘’At about the same time. She often has to work past normal hours, because she has to serve the President when he needs her advice, but she promised me that she would find a way to free herself and get me here no later than six and preferably at around five.’’
‘’That sounds like my father.’’ said with a sigh Kimi Park. ‘’He works at the State Department and he also often has to work late.’’
‘’He works at the State Department?! My older sister Hien also works for the State Department, but she got a promotion about three years ago and now works at the American embassy in Vietnam. My mother and I went to visit her in Hanoi last year, during her annual vacation period.’’
‘’Uh, how old is your sister, if she works at an embassy?’’ asked Kimi, a bit confused. Nancy gave her a disarming smile as she answered her.
‘’She is forty now. My mommy adopted her at the age of five, while Mommy was serving on a mission in Vietnam. You do know about my mommy, right?’’
‘’Uh, not really.’’
‘’Then, let me tell you her story.’’ said Nancy before launching in a long discourse, while her new friends listened on, fascinated.
Ingrid actually showed up at the lounge at close to five o’clock. Lucy Wong looked with disbelief at Ingrid before whispering to Nancy.
‘’Your mother is really 61 years-old?’’
‘’Yes, I swear! She will probably stay like this for many more years.’’
‘’Wow! My mother would be jealous of her.’’
‘’Most of the other women ARE jealous of me, girl.’’ said Ingrid, smiling, before looking down at Nancy. ‘’Won’t you present to me your new friends?’’
‘’Of course, Mommy! They are Lucy Wong, Leonardo Bocelli, Karl Wienermeyer and Kimi Park. I already told them about you.’’
‘’Really? I hope that they are not thinking now that I am a sort of witch.’’
‘’You are a national heroine, not a witch, madam.’’ replied with assurance Karl Wienermeyer, making Ingrid’s smile widen.
‘’You have a way with words, Karl.’’
‘’I like poetry, madam.’’
‘’And you seem to have a talent for it, Karl. Ready to go, Nancy?’’
‘’Yes, Mommy!’’
As Nancy was picking up her school bag, Nick Donatello showed up as well in the lounge, prompting Leonardo in jumping off his chair and pick up his own bag. He and Nancy waved goodbye to Kimi and Lucy before walking out of the lounge. When the two children came out of the school building with Ingrid and Nick, they saw that a small crowd had formed around the Hiller AIRCAR. That reminded Nancy about something.
‘’Uh, Mommy, I told my friends that maybe you could give them a tour in your aircar.’’
‘’I would be pleased to do that, Nancy, but first I will have to obtain permission from their parents to let them ride in my aircar. Doing otherwise would be showing disrespect to your friends’ parents.’’
Nick Donatello, who strongly believe in family traditions and parental authority, nodded his head in appreciation.
‘’Thank you for saying that, Misses Dows. Mister Bocelli would have appreciated your words.’’
‘’Then, could you pass to him this request? Does he authorize his son to have a short trip in my aircar?’’
‘’I will certainly pass your request to him, Misses Dows. Come, Leonardo! Time to go home!’’
‘’Bye, Nancy! See you tomorrow!’’ said Leonardo while waving at Nancy as he accompanied the driver to his parked Cadillac. Ingrid then sat Nancy in her aircar and strapped her in, then sat in the pilot’s seat after asking the crowd of children and adults to step away. Starting her engine, she then rolled on the ground for some fifty meters, time to be well clear of any bystander, then made the aircar jump in the air, watched by the fascinated onlookers. Since the school was no more than ten kilometers from their home, Ingrid stayed in helicopter mode instead of transiting to the faster level flying mode.
‘’So, how was your first day of school, Nancy?’’
‘’It was really nice, Mommy. My classmates are nice and so is our teacher, Misses Welsh. Uh, I promised them that I would bring them some pictures of our trip in Space. Could you help me tonight to choose which photos I should bring to school tomorrow?’’
‘’Sure! In fact, I think that we will be able to add a few things to bring as well, Nancy. Your comrades should find them all very interesting.’’
07:10 (Washington Time)
Tuesday, September 1, 1987 ‘C’
Parking lot of the ‘Little School’ building
Congressional School, 3229 Sleepy Hollow Road
Falls Church, Virginia
When Ingrid and Nancy stepped out of their aircar in the parking lot facing the ‘Little School’ building, both had their hands quite full, with Ingrid carrying the kind of large but thin case of the kind used by artists to carry paintings and sketches around, plus a large rigid suitcase, while Nancy carried both her school backpack and her carrying case for her practice barbat. Instead of going straight to the waiting lounge, Ingrid intercepted one of the school supervisors near the entrance of the school.
‘’Excuse me, miss. Could you please unlock Misses Welsh’s fourth-grade classroom for us? We need to put these things inside it and secure them there: they are parts of a presentation this morning.’’
‘’No problem, miss. Follow me!’’
‘’Thank you!’’
They then followed the female supervisor to Nancy’s classroom, where they were able to leave their items under lock. With Nancy keeping her practice barbat with her, Ingrid kissed her on the head before leaving for the White House.
‘’Have a nice day, sweety. I should be back by five this afternoon. Then, I will be able to give a short ride to your friends.’’
‘’They should love it, Mommy!’’
‘’I believe so. Be nice with them, Nancy.’’
On that, Ingrid walked out and returned to her aircar. Nancy watched her leave with a pinch in her heart, then went to the waiting lounge with her barbat. There, she found that only Leonardo and Lucy were already there.
‘’Hello Leo! Hello Lucy! I brought my practice barbat with me today. Would you like to see me play it?’’
‘’Yes!’’ said enthusiastically Lucy Wong, herself an apprentice musician. ‘’Show us your barbat!’’
Nancy executed herself at once, opening her carrying case and taking out her barbat to show it to her friends. Lucy Wong’s eyes gleamed as she examined the barbat.
‘’Wow! It is a really beautiful instrument. Where did you buy it?’’
‘’My mother bought it for me, along with other musical instruments, while we were visiting Isfahan, in Iran.’’ answered Nancy, pride in her voice. Karl Wienermeyer looked at her with envious eyes.
‘’You visited Iran? You lucky you!’’
‘’It was definitely a very nice place to visit. But let me show you how my barbat sounds.’’
Sitting down and putting her barbat in her lap, Nancy then thought for a moment about what to play, finally deciding on an old Persian soft ballad. The moment she started to play, the other children in the lounge, along with the adult supervisor present, stopped whatever they were doing and stared at her. Nancy then surprised and impressed her friends by also singing softly in Farsi to accompany her music. The lounge supervisor listened on for a moment, then quickly walked out of the lounge, returning after a minute with Jennifer Kirkpatrick, the music teacher for third and fourth grade students. Kirkpatrick applauded with the young students in the lounge when Nancy finished playing and singing her first piece. Lucy Wong, on her part, enthusiastically clapped her hands and urged her on.
‘’That was beautiful! Please play another song, Nancy!’’
‘’Okay! This time, I will play and sing a very old Polish medieval love ballad which was played around by the traveling musicians of the time.’’
Concentrating for a moment in order to remember souvenirs from her past life as Amalia Kupinski, a 13th Century Polish woman aristocrat, Nancy then started playing her barbat while singing in Old Polish, listened on by the other students and by a fascinated Jennifer Kirkpatrick, who whispered to the lounge supervisor.
‘’That little girl has an incredible musical talent. And to be able to sing in two foreign languages… She definitely deserves some special attention as a musician.’’
Nancy beamed with pride and joy at the end of her last performance as the students and the adults applauded her: for her, music was truly what she loved the most to do and, contrary to what some would think, she had not played and sung just to show off. Jennifer Kirkpatrick then approached her as she was replacing her barbat in its carrying case.
‘’That was really wonderful playing and singing, Nancy. In what languages did you sing?’’
‘’In Farsi, Old Polish and Hindi, Misses Kirkpatrick.’’
That left the music teacher stunned: those three languages came from widely separated foreign cultures with no connections between them. How could a toddler girl know three such languages? She however had not been briefed about Nancy by Director Devers, contrary to Kelly Welsh.
‘’Uh, that’s quite a feat, Nancy. Are you able to sing in other languages as well?’’
Nancy, realizing that Kirkpatrick did not know about her abilities, then restrained herself.
‘’A couple, Missed Kirkpatrick. I have an ability for both languages and music.’’
‘’I could see that, Nancy. Both your playing and singing were beautiful. I can’t wait to have you in our first music class of the year, on Thursday.’’
‘’Thank you, Misses Kirkpatrick. I am also looking forward to that class.’’
‘’Then, see you on Thursday, little Nancy.’’ replied Kirkpatrick before walking out of the lounge. Once out in the hallway, she accelerated to a near run, in a hurry to report this to Director Devers.
A bit before eight, Kerry Welsh came to the lounge and collected her students there, then led them to their fourth-grade classroom to start the day of schooling. Their first activity was a morning meeting circle, where they discussed what they were going to do during the day. During that meeting, Nancy’s display of Space photos and souvenirs was enthusiastically voted as their next activity. Helped by her teacher and a few of the students, Nancy then took out of their carrying cases a collection of sixteen large, poster-sized high-quality color photos taken during the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS’ five-year mission to the Outer Solar System, plus a collection of smaller photos of that mission. Next out of their case were nine plastic toy models of the PROMETHEUS, its rovers, the AURORA space station and of a number of other spaceship models. Not surprisingly, the boys concentrated their interest on the toy models, while the girls went for the photos and posters. Nancy took a good hour to describe and explain the photos and posters and answer the myriad of questions thrown at her. What she said at the end made Kerry Welsh most happy.
‘’Those were all obtained or bought by my mother after the PROMETHEUS returned to Earth. Misses Welsh, my mother would wish to donate those posters and toy models to the sc