Chapter Nineteen

With the stunning revelations of her mother still ringing in her ears, Melody returned to Academie Le Tour and immediately embarked on her journey of self-discovery. "He teaches here?" she asked herself as her internet search for Dr. Marcel Hyden revealed he was currently the dean of the astronomy department. Determined to learn everything she could about this man, almost to the point of obsession, she clicked on the link to his faculty page, and first read his biography. As a child and teenager, he was fascinated with the stars, and he'd spend hours with his telescope stargazing. Hmm, sounds familiar, she thought as she continued to read. The author of several books on the origin of the universe and alien conspiracy theory, he'd begun his career as a physics professor at Sim State University after graduating from La Fiesta Tech with his degree in astronomy. "I read some of those books!" Melody thought to herself in disbelief.
Then her eyes fell to his portrait and she looked at it in astonishment. She saw her eyes, her nose, her cheekbones, reflected in him. No, this can't be, she thought to herself, this is probably just a coincidence. But then she looked at the portrait again. Could her mother have been telling the truth? Was this man her biological father? After her weekend at home, there were suddenly more questions than answers. And Melody, she was even more confused than ever before.
In the meantime, though, Melody enveloped herself in her coursework and her extracurricular interests in paranormal activity. Those came as naturally to her as breathing. Now that she was in college, she felt free to pursue her passion, encouraged by her dorm mates, who had given her a nickname -- "Star Girl." With the help of Edwin Sharpe, the dorm's resident computer guru, she built a website on her personal space on the campus server dedicated to alien abductions and other astrophysical phenomena, enlisting others to talk about their experiences. She even designed all of the artwork. In the first week her website got over twenty thousand hits.
Every day after classes, she would log on to see if anyone else had shared a story. One tale, however, made Melody think long and hard. "My mother was abducted by aliens," the person wrote, "and she never returned. I miss her terribly. She's missed important events of my life -- my wedding, the birth of my child, my brother's birthday..."
Just why was she abducted? What did the abductors actually want from her? And more importantly, why was she allowed to return, relatively unscathed? These were questions she was allowed to ponder for the first time since it happened, and these were questions she vowed she would spend the rest of her life trying to answer.

Edwin watched in awe as Melody unwrapped her telescope. "Wow, is that a Farstar e3?"
Melody grinned. "Yep."
"Cool! I wanted one, but my parents couldn't afford it. Too busy paying for private school for Roxie and me." Edwin walked outside with her. "I know a great vantage point, where you could see far into the galaxies."
Melody looked around. "This is great! Too bad at home we didn't have a balcony, so I had to settle for the back hallway with the window to try and see through."
Edwin turned to Melody, his cheeks flushed, "I know I can talk to you," he said, twisting his greenish T-shirt in his hands, "but I think there is life out there, you know. That's why I was so happy when you asked me to help you set up that web page."
Melody looked at him in the moonlight, half-expecting a snort of derision, but he stood there, a solemn expression on his face. She knew she was face-to-face with a kindred spirit.

Melody ate breakfast the next morning with Marla. The dorm cook had made pipin' hot pancakes and Melody tried to resist them in order to keep the figure she'd worked so hard to build, but no avail. She scarfed them down. After an intriguing conversation about the ancient Greek sculptures in their art history class, Marla asked, "Mel, how was your dad's funeral?"
Marla took a good long look at Melody's face. It was a blank slate, completely unreadable. Beneath Melody's thick lenses, her brown eyes were dull -- the only giveaway that her suite mate was conflicted about her situation. Marla didn't want to push, for fear of being rebuffed, but she was hopelessly drawn to this young woman, so lost she was in her own thoughts.
"That bad, huh?" Marla muttered, looking down at her pancakes, which had barely been touched.
Melody shook her head. "He wasn't my father," she whispered.
Marla's eyes popped open. "Are you serious?" she asked.
Melody's stare told Marla all she needed to know.
"Oh my gosh. Your mother told you?"
"Yeah," replied Melody quietly.
"Well, could you tell me who he is?"
"My mother said, some professor."
"Well, I could help you find information on him, if that's what you want --"Melody shook her head. "No, I think I need to do this on my own."
Marla put her hand on Melody's. "Well, you know where I am, where we all are -- all your friends."
Melody was confused. "What friends?"
"You have a lot more than you think you do." Marla smiled. "I'm late for my biology class. See ya later."

After her own classes, Melody set up camp in the spacious Le Tour library, and for a bookworm like herself, it was like she'd arrived in heaven. Books were stacked high to the ceiling, on every subject imaginable. She wanted to read them all, but that was for another time. Now, though, she had one thing on her mind, and that was to check out every book on the solar system that Dr. Marcel Hyden had ever written, and there were quite a few of those.
So she went up to the computer, where the card catalogs were kept now, and looked up everything they had at the library that he'd written.
"The science section is in the five hundreds right?" she said to herself as she searched shelf after shelf. This was unlike any research project she'd ever undertaken. She emerged from the bookshelves with a stack of books piled almost to her forehead.
Edwin sat in a corner with his nose stuck in a book. "Hey, Mel, that's quite a bit of heavy reading you've got there. Doing some research?"
Melody replied, "Sort of... yes, actually."
Edwin smiled knowingly, putting his own book down and picking up the topmost book. "Dr. Marcel Hyden," he reminisced, "I've read that one. He's amazing, you know, the way he explains the 'big bang'. That's how I got into astronomy. His books are very comprehensive yet thought-provoking."
With that Melody's eyes widened with decided interest as she walked up to the counter to check them out. "Are you going to read all those books?" the checker asked.
Melody grinned. "If I don't, I'll die trying."
When she got back to her dorm, she found an email. "Hi Melody, I found your email address in the student directory. How have you been? I heard about your dad, I'm so sorry about that. I'm writing this note to tell you I haven't stopped thinking about you, and I'm really sorry for what happened on prom night. I lost my head and my cool. Please forgive me. Dirk."
Melody took a deep breath. She didn't know what to think. She wanted to forget everything that had happened before her arrival at Le Tour. But somehow, at least one small piece of her past had managed to follow her. What did Dirk want from her, exactly? she wondered. And why had he taken the time to find her email address and contact her?
Clicking off the computer, Melody began to immerse herself in the writings of the man her mother said was her biological father. She tried to get a feel for his voice, how he must sound. She also tried to picture him in her mind, what he must look like.
While searching for more information on Dr. Hyden's astronomy seminars on the notice boards, she came across another announcement, this one advertising free driving lessons at this dinky auto shop downtown. Hmm, Melody thought to herself, I think I might check this out.

So the next day, which was a Saturday, Melody called the cab and asked the driver to drive her to this place downtown. When she got there, she saw an advertisement for free driving lessons.
Looking around the dinky auto shop, careful not to get any of her clothes dirty, Melody spotted Chaz Whippler from the dorm and wondered what he was doing there.
Chaz (short for Charles Lee) Whippler was the son of an auto mechanic. He certainly didn't fit the profile of a 'typical' Le Tour student. A self-proclaimed expert on looking for love in all the wrong places, he was dressed in baggy shorts and a hoodie, with stringy blond neck-length hair. He'd spent his weekends working there when he wasn't on campus trying to lure every woman to his bed.
Melody looked at Chaz with a feeling of foreboding as he wiped his grimy hands on an oil rag, her eyes glued to a smudge of axle grease streaked across his cheek. "Yeah, baby," Chaz grinned to himself, "these ladies just can't get enough of me."
"I was told you offered free driving lessons?" asked Melody, pointing her words in the direction of Chaz, who seemed briefly distracted.
He hurriedly wiped the grease off his face as he spied Melody standing in front of him. "And?" he asked.
"I've come to take you up on that."
"Aren't you at Le Tour?" he asked her. "Don't you know how to drive already?"
Melody looked at him sheepishly.
"Don't tell me you're one of those nose-in-a-book types who wanna see what the real world's got to offer --"
Melody glared at him, impatiently. "Let's just begin my first lesson."
"Oooh, touchy!" Chaz wrapped his arm around Melody's shoulder. Melody, squirming away, removed his arm and reluctantly followed him. Chaz immediately got the clue that he was dealing with a different kettle of fish.
Chaz and Melody found themselves inside one of the many cars littering the shop. Chaz was in the driver's seat and Melody took the passenger. Stealing a close-up look at her, Chaz thought, hey, if you get rid of the glasses she's pretty cute. I wonder what else she's hiding underneath that T-shirt and jeans. She might have a great body.
What am I doing? Melody thought to herself. What the heck am I doing?
After Chaz explained to her the basic parts of a car, he told them to switch sides. With Melody trying to remember which part was the shift and which part was the brakes, she nervously sat down behind the steering wheel.
"Don't tell me you've never driven a car before," Chaz said, "not even for pretend? All kids do that."
For one of the first times in her life, Melody was clueless. Putting her hands on the steering wheel, she then shifted the lever all the way to the bottom.
"What are you doing?" Chaz asked in astonishment. "You're supposed to start the car off before you shift it into gear."
"Start it off?" asked Melody, befuddled. "Where are the keys?"
Chaz dangled them in front of her. Jerking them out of his hands, Melody then wondered, "Now where do they go?"
"In the ignition, smartass."
"Okay, ignition," Melody said to nobody in particular, unsure if anyone heard her, "where's the ignition?"
"You see that keyhole behind the windshield wiper?"
Melody was still confused. But finally she found the keyhole and inserted the key. "Okay, now what?"
"You turn it!" Chaz couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
Exhaling deeply, Melody turned the key to the ignition, starting the car. "Okay, okay, now what?" Before she could speak, though, the car careened off the driveway, through the sidewalk, and into a nearby tree. Chaz had to shift it again to prevent further disaster.
The car sputtered into action, the gear lever sticking, as Melody ground it into first. There was a definite groan, followed by a clunk.
"What was that?" she asked, looking nervously around.
"That's okay," came the reply. It was difficult to see who was the most scared -- Melody, sitting behind the wheel of a car for the first time, or Chaz, who'd volunteered to help her with lessons.
Spitting out choking black plumes of carbon smoke, the car jerked forward.
His face turning white, Chaz sighed. "We've got a long way to go."
But Melody walked away determined. I'm going to get this, she thought to herself, if it's the last thing I do.

On Monday, returning to the dorm, Chaz approached Melody, who was studying in the dorm library. "Listen, since I'm teaching you how to drive a car, you think it's possible you could tutor me in freshman math? I know you're smart and all --"
"Who said I was smart?" asked Melody.
"Oh come on. I know you're smart, I've seen you up on the balcony with the telescope and stuff. Besides, you even look the part, the glasses and all."
"Who says because a person wears glasses that means they're smart?"
"Well you obviously are, Melody Tinker," Chaz laughed. "Now, could you help me?"
How does he know my name? Melody thought to herself as she also pondered Chaz's question. "What do you need help in?" she asked.
Chaz looked at Melody with a plaintive face. "Everything. Those formulas are so confusing to me."
Melody sat down, opposite Chaz, and sighed. "Let me see your assignments." She realized that the concepts he was currently studying in freshman math, she had already covered in high school. Melody liked math and numbers, and was drawn to its exactness.
"Pi is nearly infinite," she began, "it's been calculated to billions of digits. But for the purpose of this exercise, and our lesson today, we're going to use five digits, pi equals 3.14159..."
Chaz listened to Melody talk, amazed. Not by the subject matter, of course, dry as it was, but he found himself fascinated by her. He watched her eyes, the same ones that looked like deer in headlights when sitting behind the wheel of a car, become radiant and full of life when explaining complex mathematical equations, and was amazed by the dichotomy between the two. At that moment he realized that they could be of great help to each other.