What if...

Scott chuckles and shakes his head. "No strings. It's kind of like your dad's cell phone... no strings or wires, but he can talk to your mom even when he's far away."

Splicing two wires, he gives the boy a sidelong glance of amusement. "Tell you what... if you go get me a can of mountain dew out of the refrigerator, I'll let you help straighten out these wires."


Jade pauses her work, a small smile forming as her tear trickled down her cheek, then disappeared. She bit her lip, her back to the stall next to her until she finally answers. "Yeah... yeah, I'd like that, Dan... thank you." She couldn't wait until chores were over so she could be distracted for a little while.


Carson laughs at Misty. "Yeah... your whole family is alike. Can't win against you lot."

Reese stands up from the table. "Well... I'll wait to hear from one of you then but don't wait too long."

Ryder nods. "I'll talk to the guy at the zoo and see what he says. I think this is something I'm interested in doing."

The little group breaks up, and Carson tells Misty to go have Aerith get the food he already had ready for their lunch, and he slips away for a moment. Sliding into a seat next to Thirteen, he gives her a smile. "Hey you." He glances over to Ryder, who had sat across from Thirteen as well. "Got a question for you." Carson spoke to Thirteen, smiling but serious. "Looks like your buddy here is gonna be getting pretty busy. Things around here are picking up a bit too ya know."

Ryder sits back and quirks an eyebrow, wondering what Carson was getting at, but letting him continue with Thirteen.

"We could use some help around here," Carson explains. "Give you a place to be while Ryder works and earn you a few bucks too." He cocks his head, not sure if Thirteen would be willing or ready for something like this. "Safe place to be," he prompts.


Clint stares at his uncle with wide eyes. He blinks, looking at he keys then back to Wes. "I..." He knew that Wes liked his work, and knew he'd been doing a good job but this... "Wow. I don't know what to say."

He slowly, hesitantly takes the keys, just looking at them in his palm. He looks back up at Wes, worry in his eyes. "I... don't know if I'm ready for this, I mean... what if something goes wrong? What if I don't do a good job?"