Mother was scrupulous. She took Alessandra with her when she went to both of the neighbors' houses where chickens were kept, and thanked them for not calling the police on her, and paid them for the eggs she had taken. They tried to refuse, but she insisted that she could not leave town with such a debt unpaid, that their kindness was still counted for them in heaven, and there was kissing and crying and Mother walked, not in her pretend fairy way, but light of step, a woman who has had a burden taken from her shoulders.
Two weeks later, Alessandra was on the net at school and she learned something that made her gasp out loud, right there in the library, so that several people rushed toward her and she had to flick to another view and then they were all sure she had been looking at pornography but she didn't care, she couldn't wait to get home and tell Mother the news.
"Do you know who the governor of our colony is going to be?"
Mother did not know. "Does it matter? He'll be an old fat man. Or a bold adventurer."
"What if it's not a man at all? What if it's a boy, a mere boy of thirteen or fourteen, a boy so brilliantly smart and good that he saved the human race?"
"What are you saying?"
"They've announced the crew of our colony ship. The pilot of the ship will be Mazer Rackham, and the governor of the colony will be Ender Wiggin."
Now it was Mother's turn to gasp. "A boy? They make a boy the governor?"
"He commanded the fleet in the war, he can certainly govern a colony," said Alessandra.
"A boy. A little boy."
"Not so little. My age."
Mother turned to her. "What, you're so big?"
"I'm big enough, you know. As you said—of childbearing age!"
Mother's face turned reflective. "And the same age as Ender Wiggin."
Alessandra felt her face turning red. "Mother! Don't think what I know you're thinking!"
"And why not think it? He'll have to marry somebody on that distant lonely world. Why not you?" Then Mother's face also turned red and she fluttered her hands against her cheeks. "Oh, oh, Alessandra, I was so afraid to tell you, and now I'm glad, and you'll be glad!"
"Tell me what?"
"You know how we decided to sleep through the voyage? Well, I got to the office to turn in the paper, but I saw that I had accidentally checked the other box, to stay awake and study and be in the first wave of colonists. And I thought, What if they don't let me change the paper? And I decided, I'll make them change it! But when I sat there with the woman I became afraid and I didn't even mention it, I just turned it in like a coward. But now I see I wasn't a coward, it was God guiding my hand, it truly was. Because now you'll be awake through the whole voyage. How many fourteen-year-olds will there be on the ship, awake? You and Ender, that's what I think. The two of you."
"He's not going to fall in love with a stupid girl like me."
"You get very good grades and besides, a smart boy isn't looking for a girl who is even smarter, he's looking for a girl who will love him. He's a soldier who will never come home from the war. You will become his friend. A good friend. It will be years before it's time for him and you to marry. But when that time comes he'll know you."
"Maybe you'll marry Mazer Rackham."
"If he's lucky," said Mother. "But I'll be content with whatever old man asks me, as long as I can see you happy."
"I will not marry Ender Wiggin, Mother. Don't hope for what isn't possible."
"Don't you dare tell me what to hope for. But I will be content for you merely to become his friend."
"I'll be content merely to see him and not wet my pants. He's the most famous human being in the world, the greatest hero in all of history."
"Not wetting your pants, that's a good first step. Wet pants don't make a good impression."
The school year ended. They received instructions and tickets. They would take the train to Napoli and then fly to Kenya, where the colonists from Europe and Africa were gathering to take the shuttle into space. Their last few days were spent in doing all the things they loved to do in Monopoli—going to the wharf, to the little parks where she had played as a child, to the library, saying good-bye to everything that had been pleasant about their lives in the city. To Father's grave, to lay their last flowers there. "I wish you could have come with us," whispered Mother, but Alessandra wondered—if he had not died, would they have needed to go into space to find happiness?
They got home late on their last night in Monopoli, and when they reached the flat, there was Grandmother on the front stoop of the building. She rose to her feet the moment she saw them and began screaming, even before they were near enough to hear what she was saying.
"Let's not go back," said Alessandra. "There's nothing there that we need."
"We need clothing for the journey to Kenya," said Mother. "And besides, I'm not afraid of her."
