THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!

THE ONLY BUTTERFLIES

WRITTEN BY ZARIUS

"Way to go kid" Grandma Tracy said to herself, beaming with pride as she took a look at Alan's graduation notification.

The youngest of the boys had taken his first steps towards manhood.

And with the Zero X-L now ready for launch, he was about to take his first steps beyond what he was used to.

He was about to go somewhere only her son had ever been to, all of them were.

"Mind if I have a latte with you?" said a strict, yet pleasant voice from behind her. Grandma turned, it was Kayo, having just got up.

"We're all due to meet in the lounge to discuss the launch, I need something to sooth the jitters" Kayo said.

"Sleep in your clothes again huh?" said Grandma.

"You'd be surprised at the kind of wild habits you pick up around Alan"

"I'm surprised he got any of his homework done keeping up with you on all those games, I thought you had more restraint than that" Grandma noted.

"Yeah, well, it's hard to keep yourself focused on your studies when you have a job that elevates you above all essential educational requirements, what else is he going to do after all?" Kayo said.

Grandma poured her and Kayo cups of hot lattes and sat at the bar, handing one over to her.

"My boy should never stop learning, and he shouldn't be encouraged to drop his studies just because you feel he's already graduated. There's a lot more life can throw at you, and there comes a time where your mind is willing, but the body is unable to go with the flow. You need to be ready for a life beyond the rescue"

"The Tracy clan are so used to it, I can imagine their devotion to the rescue going on forever" Kayo said, taking a sip of the latte and reacting warmly to the creamy concoction as it slid into her belly.

"Kayo, tell me just one thing...why Alan?"

"I don't know what you mean"

"Don't be so coy with me, I've got sharp ears, you're playing games all right, just not the type you play with consoles...why him and not someone else that's more your speed?"

"Like?"

"You helped Scott come out of his shell, he was so pent up, so tense with worry, he needed the kind of release you gave him on that mission with the snake venom. He told me he felt like a kid again"

"I have that sort of effect, but remember, Scott did mock my phobia of butterflies, and even told Virgil rather than keep it secret between us. He kept pressuring me about it, and when I caved and gave him the information, on strictest confidence, he blabbed it to the whole of International Rescue. Even Alan teased me about it"

"Which explains all the times I found him lying on the couch last month" noted Grandma.

"I don't blame him really, he's young"

"A little too young if you ask me"

"He also learns, which I guess is what makes you so proud of him, of all the boys... they've exceeded expectations, and I'm just lucky I'm able to share in their graduation. I've grown a lot too, I came from a turbulent family tie that threatened to tarnish me to one that has set my soul soaring, and now it sets sail to the very stars themselves. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, with anyone else, than with Alan. With all of them"

A voice swiftly interrupted the two.

"Kayo, we need to assemble everyone, now"

"Coming Scott" Kayo said.

"Kayo, one other thing" said Grandma

Kayo turned her head gently.

"Yes?" she said.

Grandma thought for but a moment, conjuring up the perfect analogy for what her boys, and Kayo, had grown into, where they had been, and where they were going.

"The only butterflies you need never be afraid of are us, and yourself"

She hoped their lives would not soon be as brief as those fabulous creatures.