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The aroma of freshly baked apple and blueberry pies filled the air. The delicious scent spread throughout the Kirk family home as Emily opened the oven door and carefully placed each one on a cooling rack. It wasn't often that she baked during the week. Her preference was to rise early Sunday morning and get it done before heading off to church with her family. Living on a farm made for some very busy days. She was a wife and mother, responsible for running the household, as well as, doing her share of work around the farm. This was a rare night that found that besides her to do list being complete, she was also the lone occupant of the house. The decision to use the spare time to do something special for her family was an easy one. Pleased with the end results, Emily smiled as she put out enough forks, plates, and glassware for both her husband and son on the counter next to the pies. She was certain that her husband, Tiberius, would 'sample' several slices from each pie and need at least half a gallon of milk to finish off his midnight snack. She had no doubts that George, at the very least, would attempt to match his father bite for bite. After Double checking that the milk pitcher was full, Emily switched off the kitchen light. Emily switched on the porch light, as she was wont to do, whenever her 'men' would have to navigate the dark Iowa night as they made their way home. Tiberius insisted that the stars gave off plenty of light. He argued that "The Kirks have been using the stars to guide them safely home for hundreds of years." She, who rarely raised her voice shouted, "I don't care. Stars or not, her family wasn't going to be welcomed home by a dark house." It was her belief that she was born distrusting the stars. As a baby the lullaby "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" did not ease her into sleep, nor did it bring sweet dreams. As a small child she did not believe stars possessed special powers to make your wishes come true. And now as a grown woman she did not believe the stars could deliver her family safely home to her. Try as he might, her husband simply could not understand her intense distrust of them. Tiberius was enchanted by these bright points of light, believed them to contain knowledge that would guide mankind to wonderous places. It was these night time adventures with his father that gave George his sense of adventure, his fascination with the stars, the need to go where no man has gone before. Emily laid in bed, thoughts on the 'men' in her life. Tiberius was a loving, honorable, loyal, brave man. Much to her delight, he had passed these traits on to their son. George was all Kirk: fierce, intellitgent, adventurous, curious, fearless, and loyal to a fault. It was his father's guidance on how to integrate all of them that had allowed him to become such a well balanced young man. She couldn't imagine what George would have been like without his father in his life. After the Kelvin, Winona came to live with them. She brought her broken heart, her four year old son, and George's newly born son. Emily thought, " so that's the way of it." Sam was Winona's and Jimmy was George's. For his widow, there was no after, it ended with her husband's death. Something broke inside of Tiberius after George's death, he was just a shell of who he once was. He no longer looked at the stars with wonderment. (just a look at who George was and why Jim was and was not like him..short and sweet) The End