“And Easter Island,” Lisa added.
Solomon looked up at them the way he should’ve—like they weren’t making any sense—and then let out a little laugh.
“Well, Clark,” he said, “as you can see, I don’t get out much. So, please explain to me why water polo is fun.”
“Water polo? I thought I was just on a really bad swim team.”
Lisa rolled her eyes at Solomon, who was, of course, laughing with Clark. These two were a match made in bad joke heaven.
“I’ve been trying to get a laugh like that out of him for a long time,” Lisa said, crossing her arms.
“Can I ask you guys something?” Solomon said, his expression suddenly grave.
“Sure.”
“How do you do it? These things are killing me.”
He raised one leg and pointed to his shoe. It looked about a size too big and was a little out of style. This made her like him even more.
“You’re going to have to get used to them again,” Lisa said. “Your feet have become too delicate.”
“Virgin feet,” Clark added without hesitation.
“Great band name,” Solomon said.
“Clark Robbins and the Virgin Feet,” Lisa said.
“I like it.” Clark nodded. “Or maybe just Virgin Foot.”
“Ew,” Lisa said. “You made it weird.”
“Did I?” he asked Solomon.
“Kind of.”
“Okay . . . okay,” Clark said. “Can I ask you something, dude?”
“Yeah,” Solomon said, looking a little worried.
“You never leave the house? Like, not even a foot? In secret maybe?”
“Clark,” Lisa snapped.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Clark continued. “You could do worse. I mean . . . if you have to be inside all the time, at least your house is nice. But, don’t you ever want to go out there?”
“Well, yeah,” Solomon said, looking toward Lisa. “Does he not know about the pool?”
He pointed toward the glass door to their left and out to the large hole in the yard.
“You think I’m just here to play chess?” Clark said. “I was promised pool parties and babes in bikinis and Star Trek marathons.”
“You were promised maybe one and a half of those things,” Lisa corrected.
“Fair enough. It’s going to be awesome, man. It’s our only real defense against global warming.”
“Swimming?” Solomon asked.
“You get in a pool and tell me the world’s on fire. I don’t think so.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Solomon said.
“Oh yeah,” Lisa said. “Clark doesn’t believe in global warming. It’s the only thing he thinks his mom’s right about.”
“Well, she also thinks I’m smart. Which I can’t argue with.”
“He doesn’t always try to be this funny,” Lisa said. “This is Nervous Clark. A string of one-liners.”
“Guilty,” Clark said.
“Why would you be nervous?” Solomon asked.
“Meeting new people, you know,” Clark said.
“Tell him what else,” Lisa urged.
“Oh yeah,” Clark said. “I hope this isn’t rude and I know we just got here and all, but I hear word of a holodeck and I need that dream to come true whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay, umm . . . sure, we can go see it if you want,” Solomon said, standing up.
“Maybe I should sit this one out,” Lisa joked.
“Never,” Clark said.
Lisa had a hard time buying Clark’s excitement as they followed Solomon through the kitchen and to the garage door. And she thought it looked like Solomon was just as excited as he was. When he’d shown her, he was almost embarrassed.
They stepped inside and Clark tightened his grasp on Lisa’s hand before letting it go. He stood in the center of the room and slowly turned all the way around, looking at the floor, walls, and ceiling with this awestruck expression on his face. Solomon had that same look, but not because of the room. He stared right at Clark until he caught Lisa’s eye and snapped out of it. When he closed the door, the room was pitch-black, except for the tape.
“Incredible,” Clark said in a whisper, like he’d be saying it to himself even if no one else were around.
“It’s kind of ridiculous, I guess,” Solomon said.
“Not at all,” Clark argued. “Not even a little.”
Lisa stood close enough to Clark to see him close his eyes for a second and then open them back up.
“Okay, quick,” he said. “If you could be any character on The Next Generation who would you be?”
“Easy,” Solomon said. “Data. For sure.”
“That makes sense,” Clark said.
“You?”
“I always liked Wesley Crusher.”
“What?” Solomon was appalled. “Nobody likes Wesley Crusher.”
“Why not?” Lisa asked.
“Because he’s a total Mary Sue,” Solomon said. “He’s too perfect.”