Chapter 19 Uncle & Niece

An excerpt from The Starlover Series Book 1: Project Earth

“Fred, may I have piano lessons?”

“Uh, sure.” He checked the console. “How about you take a remote class?”

“Okay.”

“I can get you an instrument before we leave Earth.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Anything else?”

“How about voice lessons?”

“Okay.” He checked around. “Looks like you can have that as well.”

She smiled. She watched him use the computer console to find a place that would sell him a piano. He looked at her.

“Do you want to come with me? You can help pick out the piano.”

“Okay.”

They left the ship together. They took the train to the store. Lizette was in awe of all the musical instruments surrounding her. She stayed close to her uncle. He led her all the way to the pianos.

“I hope you will be okay with an upright piano. I don’t think I can afford a grand piano.”

“An upright piano will be alright with me.”

“Or, wait, how about an electric one? They are even cheaper and they take up less space.”

“Okay.”

He talked to a sales associate. Soon they were looking at the electric pianos. Lizette wasn’t picky. She just wanted to learn how to play. It took some time but eventually she and her uncle settled on one. It had a full keyboard and they got a sturdy stand for it as well. They made arrangements for delivery to the ship.

Fred and Lizette walked back to the train station. She smiled the whole way back to the ship. He looked out for her and made sure they made it back safely. They went to the kitchen and he fixed a meal for them. They ate in silence.

Starlover announced over the speakers, “Someone is approaching the ship.”

He checked the nearest console. “Oh, it’s the delivery person. I’ll be back.”

He went to the hatch and opened it. He signed for the package. The delivery person set the items inside the hatch. He left and Fred closed the hatch.

“Oh!”

He turned to see his niece examining the packages. He smiled at her.

“Let’s get these to the living room.” He pushed both packages to the living room.

She followed. He opened the packages and soon was putting the stand together. He set the keyboard on top of it. He added the computer screen. He discovered there were a few simple pieces on it already. But neither he nor she knew how to read music.

She started to play it and learned that she could ask the computer to help her learn the notes and start to read music. She didn’t make much progress until her real lessons started. Then she learned how to read music and develop her musical ear. She practiced everyday.

Fred liked to listen to her. It didn’t matter if she was just playing the piano or singing. He could work on various repairs or even cleaning around the ship. After some time had passed, Lizette offered to clean up after herself. Fred tried to teach her. She even asked to learn how to repair things. He took some time to teach her how to repair and how to build.

It was soon clear to both Starlover and Starfire that the two were getting along. Sometimes they had nightmares. Starlover would play some calming music for them and they were able to go back to sleep. Things progressed. Fred thought about taking the ship off of Earth.

He sighed. Could he travel around the solar system with a child on board? He wasn’t sure. They were getting along so far. But did she need to go to school? He still didn’t have an answer. Who could he ask and get a good answer from? He was no expert on children. He never was.