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Chapter 20 continued...

XL decided to help Florence attend the reunion. He could see that Beeba wanted to go, and also it would be a lot more fun to go with his friend on board. So he asked his dad if Beeba could come.

"Absolutely yes," said his dad. "We like having Beeba come along, if it is O.K. with his parents."

"I'll check," said Beeba, "because I think it's a great idea!"

Max went to talk to Anna and Larissa, and when he got back Beeba had already phoned his parents and got permission. Max reported that XL's sister and mom would be pleased to come too.

XL phoned Florence. He used a video call with a wide-angle view set on the camera, so she could see him, Beeba, and Max. When he told her of his offer, she seemed a little bit unsure at first. She wasn't sure if her wheelchair would fit in the elevator, or if she might get airsick when flying. XL assured her that the elevator had been refitted to accommodate a wheelchair, and that she would not get air sick. "Saucer1 has a very smooth ride," he said. "It's not like floating in a ship on an ocean; there are no waves."

"But is it safe," asked Florence?

"It's very safe," Max piped up. "The turbofan has enough power to keep the gondola up all by itself for a short time, even if a major tear caused the airship gas to leak out. In an emergency, the gondola and turbo unit can separate from the rest of the airship, and land softly in a relatively small area."

"O.K.," replied Florence. "I really want to go, and I'm so glad that you will help me. I don't know anyone else I can trust like your family."

They ended the call, and then XL asked his dad, "Why haven't we ever done that trick of splitting the airship?"

"It's only for an emergency," replied Max. "Although it comes apart, it is a real problem to put it all back together again. The top section is designed to exhaust its gas and come down like a parachute in that situation. But it has only a lightweight frame that would get cracked and bent when it hits the ground."

"So you would lose all the gas in that situation?" asked Beeba.

"Yes," said Max. "It's a fire-safe mechanism. Remember that this ship uses hydrogen, and even though each hydrogen bag is separated by inert gas to prevent fire spread, in the worst case all the gas would be exhausted upward and the fire goes with it.

"Saucer1 is really incredible," commented Beeba, "It's too bad that you can't build more of them."

"Well," said Max, "it isn't very fast, so probably there will never be a Saucer2. However, I do have some buyers interested in my special hand-held GPS transponders, and the control software for the search drones too."

"I thought the drones weren't useful from a helicopter because you can't fly them through the downdraft," said XL.

"Partly true," said Max, "but the helicopter can lower a box of them by a rope, and they can fly out from there. We're just working on that design now."

Beeba went home shortly after that conversation. XL finished up a bit of homework and then he went to bed.

The days after that were busy so XL hardly thought about the reunion, until the week arrived when it was time to depart.

There was some stormy weather at the start of the week, and XL knew that his dad wouldn't let Saucer1 be used in a storm. Instead it would be tied down in its countryside parking lot. Fortunately, the weather improved toward the end of the week. So, very early Saturday morning Beeba met XL at his home. He, XL, and XL's family took the elevator up to Saucer1 overhead; then they went to pick up Florence Rose at her home in the nearby village.

As they arrived at the village, the air was calm and the sky was sunny. They had no problem rolling Florence in her wheelchair up a short ramp into the elevator. The ramp folded up, and soon they were in Saucer1. It was still early in the morning, so they ate breakfast in Saucer1 as it headed off for the Northern ranch.

It took a few hours to fly across the prairie, and then the woodland, to the vicinity of Waskesiu. This time, there was no rescue needed, so they were able to fly straight to their destination. XL had taken the coordinates from the map that Susan had sent, and entered them into Saucer1's computer to set the destination. They passed the time much as on their previous trip, except that this time Anna brought some old fashioned board games, which they played for part of the time.

At last they arrived at the location, which was a fair distance beyond Waskesiu, outside of the national park. Saucer1 slowed as it approached the ranch, and began a descent to "elevator height." They could see that the ranch was situated on some low, rolling hills. There was a house and a barn in a wide clearing in the surrounding forest. The clearing was at least as long as a football field and equally wide. There was a white wooden fence that formed a large square in front of the barn, and there were several horses standing in the fenced area.

The house itself was two stories high, and at least twice as wide as a typical house, such as the bungalow that XL lived in. There was a porch on the front, with stairs leading up to some double doors. On each end of the house there were chimneys coming up. XL could see why it was better to have a reunion here than at Florence's small house.

As Saucer1 came to a stop over the front lawn of the house, several people came out the front door. XL recognized Susan, and her two children Dana and Tina. A man was standing beside Susan; no doubt it was her husband Terry.

Anna wheeled Florence into the elevator, where XL and Beeba joined them. That filled the elevator, so Max and Larissa waited on board for the second ride down.

As the elevator was going down, they could see through the Plexiglas walls that some other people were coming out of the house: it was Fred and Sheila, with their children Corrine and Jack.

The elevator came down and the doors slid open. Anna pressed a button, and the wheelchair ramp slid out. She wheeled Florence forward until her chair was on the grass. XL and Beeba followed.

The elevator had come down a fair distance from the house - maybe 30 meters. XL and Beeba stood next to Florence and Anna for a minute. Meanwhile the elevator ramp retracted and the doors closed, and it was on its way back up. Then, all of a sudden, both families began to run toward them. In a few seconds, they were there. Susan ran up to her mother and gave her a big hug. Fred also came up to Florence, greeted her, and then after a slight hesitation he gave her a hug too.

Florence had tears in her eyes, but they were not tears of sadness; they were tears of joy and of gladness that finally they were together again.

This was followed by some introductions. Susan turned to her children and said "Dana and Tina, meet your grandma Florence." They were a little bit timid as they approached their grandma, but she reached open her arms, and as each of the little children came forward she gave them a hug. Then Florence turned to the other children, and invited Corrine and Jack to come forward, and she hugged each of them too.

This was followed by a little bit of small talk, as Sheila asked if Florence had a nice trip, and she replied that she had. Then Terry invited her and her friends to come to the patio at the back of the house, where he had prepared some snacks for everyone.

"Oh, and I must introduce you to my friends, who have helped me immensely," she said. "This is XL and his sister Anna, and his friend Beeba Boeboo. I am so very grateful to them for all their help!"

It was about that moment that the elevator returned, and Max and Larissa stepped out. Florence introduced them too, and all the adults greeted each other and shook hands. Then they all walked to the back of the house as Max pushed the wheelchair.

At the back of the house, behind the patio, Terry and Susan had built a playground complete with swings, a slide, a sand box, and a play-house. Further back in the distance, near the edge of the clearing, there was a pond with a canoe sitting at the edge of it.

XL, Anna, and Beeba sat with the adults eating the snacks that were laid out on a picnic table, while the little children played at the playground. Everyone chatted and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

In the evening, they ate barbecued hamburgers and they roasted marshmallows over a fire. XL observed that Florence seemed to be getting along well with her son and daughter, who chatted about the "old days" when they went on vacations together. Also they talked about some of the funny events that had happened when they were young.

At one point, XL had an opportunity to speak privately to Fred. The two of them were standing at one end of the patio, discussing submarines. Then, as they were finished with that topic, XL asked Fred what made him decide to come to the reunion.

"My sister convinced me," said Fred, "but also I felt badly about the way I had reacted when I first met you. I didn't really want my mother to give me money. In fact, I hoped for the opposite. It was like a test, to see if she would try to buy my love. But afterward I felt really awful about it."

"So," he continued, "when Susan phoned, I was ready to reconsider the idea. Plus she was very persuasive."

After a while, the sun began to set, so the mothers took their little children inside to put them to bed. There were a few clouds floating in the west, which reflected the reddish light of the setting sun. XL's mom, Larissa, commented to the others about how pretty it was.

Darkness came as the sun disappeared, and the sky was filled with stars. Terry shut off the lights around the patio, leaving only a few dim solar lights around the edges. Now they could see all the stars clearly, and see the Milky Way straight overhead. This was something that is not so easily seen in the city, where the city lights prevent a clear view of the night sky.

Beeba pointed in one direction, and asked what the faint pale glow in the sky was. "Is it a cloud? But it's more like the shape of a curtain." he asked.

"That glow is the aurora borealis - the northern lights," answered Terry. "It is only faint today, but you can see it."

Beeba had never seen the northern lights. He was very pleased.

XL and Anna and her parents, along with Beeba, stayed in Saucer1 overnight. They went up the elevator about the same time as everyone else at the ranch went to bed.

The next day, they awoke in time for breakfast, which they had inside the house along with everyone else. Susan had invited them to a pancake breakfast with her family, her brother and his family, and "grandma Florence."

Also in the morning, Susan invited Anna, Beeba, and XL to go horseback riding. "We have some very tame horses, so don't worry," she said. They had a very nice ride through some trails in the trees. They also discovered that there were other fields in behind. Susan's family had some ranch land and also some parts of it were suitable for grain farming. They seemed to have a lot of land.

XL's family had planned to depart right after lunch, because the next day was a school day - one of the few remaining school days this school year. They had expected that they would take Florence back with them. Fred's family also had to go back, because he had work he needed to attend to before their big trip overseas, but they were going back on Monday.

However, Susan lived on the ranch, and she wanted to see more of her mother, so she invited her to stay the whole week. "I have a large van. Your wheel chair will fit in just fine, and we can take you home next week," she told Florence. Florence was very happy about that, and she accepted the invitation.

So, shortly after 1 PM, XL, Anna, Beeba, Max, and Larissa said their good-byes. Susan told them that their family was welcome to visit the ranch anytime - and that she appreciated the effort they undertook to bring her mother to her. After that, XL, his family, and Beeba took the elevator back up to Saucer1.

Once onboard, XL, Beeba, and Anna walked to the front, and Max and Larissa sat nearby at windows on the sides. "I'm pretty pleased the way this turned out," said Anna.

"Me too," said XL, "it's a happy story for them, and I enjoyed visiting with their families."

"It's great the way you two solved the mystery, in order to find them," said Beeba.

"Thanks pal," said XL, "and you were a big part of it."

"I think we shall have many more adventures like this," said Beeba.

"You can count on it," replied XL.

XL reached down on the lighted control panel, and touched the icon that was labelled "Home." Saucer1 began to rise as the front of the airship turned toward the south. He stood looking out the large windows as they floated away from the meadow and over the forest. They were on their way.

-- The End --

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