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Chapter 20 continued...

XL decided that he had spent enough time helping Florence. So he told his dad, "I don't want to go, dad. Spring is a busy time, and I don't want to go travelling now. Can't she take responsibility for her own future? We found her son and daughter, and the rest should be up to her. Please tell her she must find some other way to go than in Saucer1."

"We never offered to take her in Saucer1, XL" answered Max. "That was Beeba's idea. I don't need to tell her anything."

"So it's all fine," said XL. "She won't be disappointed about the ride because we never offered."

"But she will be disappointed to miss the opportunity to see Susan and Fred," said Beeba.

"You don't know that she won't find a way," said XL. "Maybe they can come to fetch her. They are her family, after all."

"That may be a solution," said Beeba. "But I'm not sure if they would do it. We see how hesitant Fred has been about the reunion."

"Well, Saucer1 may not be any better," replied XL. "You know that she is afraid of flying. And Saucer1 is still licensed as an experimental flying machine, because it is the only one. So she probably wouldn't come anyway."

"You may be right," said Max. "But if you asked her, and explained to her that it is safe, she may be willing. She knows you well and trusts you."

"But I just don't want to do that, dad," said XL.

"It's your decision," answered Max.

"Well, I for one am disappointed," said Beeba. "We have gone to so much trouble to help her, and now we stop just before success is at hand? Max, tell XL that he has to help her one more time!"

"Sometimes people need to learn to make decisions for themselves," said Max. "I told him it was his decision, and I am not going to push him into this. If he does it, he must choose it himself."

"Well, I'm not going to choose it," answered XL, stubbornly.

"Suit yourself," said Beeba, "but I don't think it is a good choice. Please promise me that you will at least give it some more thought."

"I'll do that much," said XL.

"You know," said Beeba, "that you don't necessarily have to decide immediately. There are still a few weeks before the reunion. Until then, you can do a 'rewind' on this whole discussion, start over, and make a different decision."

"Beeba," said XL, "you treat life as if it were a story book. You think you can change the story, just by going back a chapter and then picking a new end for the book."

"But you can do that, XL," said Beeba, "so please do it before it's too late!"

"I'll think about it," replied XL.

"O.K.," said Beeba. "Look, it's late, I've got to go now," he continued, as he stood up and walked toward the door.

Beeba returned home. Meanwhile XL finished up some homework, and after a while it was time for bed.

In the days that followed, XL was busy with school, and homework, school outings and parties, and playing with his friends. He hardly thought about Florence at all.

One day, about a week before the reunion was scheduled to occur, Anna had an opportunity to see Florence briefly. Anna had stopped by Florence's house to deliver some flowers that Larissa picked for her out of her garden. Larissa was a wonderful gardener, and there were many nice spring flowers in her garden this year, plus some spare flowers that she gave away to friends. Larissa drove by car with Anna to Florence's home. When Anna dropped off the flowers, she asked Florence if she had found a way to travel to the reunion.

Florence told her that she had not. The result was that the reunion was cancelled. "It was inconvenient for Fred to come to Susan's house that weekend," she said, "because his family planned to leave for Europe soon after that. When he realized that I wouldn't be able to come, he and Susan decided to leave their visit to some other time."

It seemed to Anna that Florence was very disappointed. Anna talked to her mother about it on the way home. "Surely Florence could have found some way to get there," she said. "It don't think she even tried. It just doesn't make sense."

"Sometimes people let barriers stand in their way, even when the barrier is not insurmountable," answered Larissa. "Florence may be afraid that the reunion would not go well, and that her son and daughter might not be reconciled to her. Add that anxiety to the anxiety about getting there in her wheel chair, and it is too much for her to face alone. I think she needs some help and encouragement."

That was the last that Anna and XL saw of Florence that spring and summer. When school was over, XL and his family left on a vacation for a couple of weeks. After that there were other activities that occupied their time.

Beeba and XL were still friends, so they got together frequently over the summer to play together. They were such good friends, that they would have many more adventures together into the future.

Finally fall arrived and it was time for school. Again they were very busy. Florence lived far away, and they didn't have much opportunity to pass by that way. One fall day, as XL and Beeba met at school, Beeba asked XL, "Say, do you know whether Florence ever met up with her son or daughter?"

"No," said XL. "I wouldn't have happened in the summer, but it might happen sometime."

"It's kind of disappointing, don't you think XL, that we didn't manage to get them together, and we don't know if it will ever happen."

"I suppose so," said XL. "But at least we found them for her. She has their address, so they are no longer lost to her."

"The next time we help someone," said Beeba, "I want to take it right to the end, so we can be satisfied that we are successful."

"O.K.," said XL. "I agree. Next time."

-- The End --

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