"Oh no, Grandpa!" Large drops of rain splatted the pavement of the dock. Dennis could feel the rain hitting his bucket hat.

"The fish don't care if it's raining, Dennis," Martin offered. "They're already wet." He patted the small boy's hat and cast his line back out into the water.

"Why do fish eat centipedes, Grandpa? They're gross!" Martin thought Dennis was never at a loss for questions. He was eight years old and a smart kid, if Martin did say so himself, but he was so full of questions about the world. Martin thought he might never find all the answers. He also knew that someday Dennis' quest for knowledge would outgrow even his experience. He didn't know how he'd ever afford college for the boy. He knew he had to find a way, but the boy had lost his parents when Martin lost his oldest son and her wife. It was a terrible crash, but Dennis somehow had come through it just fine. Who ever thought a baby could live through a head-on crash with a semi?

"…and then she told us there was no way anything with that many legs could even exist. I tried to tell her she was wrong…" Dennis stopped short. "Grandpa! Are you even listening to me?" Dennis shoved him playfully with his elbow, a big grin escaping from behind the straight face he tried to hold.

"I'm always listening!" Martin teased back. "You were saying how you knew, long before the invention of nanotechnology, that your design would be far superior to any in the scientific community." Martin raised his fishing pole in a triumphant gesture.

"Oh, Grandpa." Dennis shook his head and laughed. Martin wondered if the boy really understood what he had already survived. And he was very sure that the boy had no idea what was in store for him in the years to come. He'd have great struggles ahead.

Martin only hoped that he could prepare the boy for what was to come. For now, though, he could at least teach him to fish. He put his arm around his grandson and hugged him close. Dennis pushed him away playfully as his pole bent over toward the water.

"I've got one, Grandpa!"




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