Memories of You by Margot Dalton

watched as their small hands flew over the keyboards. He nodded at Jon and gave him a shy smile, then turned back to the two computer monitors.
    “Hi, Daddy,” Amy said absently, offering her cheek for a kiss without turning around. “We’re looking at beetles.”
    Jon patted her head fondly. The twins had been deeply interested in beetles for the past few weeks, and now had a small collection of them lumbering around a plant-filled terrarium in the kitchen at home.
    “This is awesome,” Ari said. “Look, Daddy.”
    He waved his hand at a cut-out diagram of an army tank on the screen, showing the inside of the turret and the undercarriage.
    Jon leaned forward to study the diagram. “What’s that got to do with beetles?”
    “They noticed a similarity.” The young student shook his ponytail, looking dazed. “Now they’ve started pulling stuff off the Internet, checking design components of military tanks and comparing them to the natural structure of beetles.”
    “See, Daddy?” Amy showed him a beetle on her screen, then enlarged the image so it was proportionate to Ari’s tank. “They’re just the same.”
    “Next we’re comparing dragonflies and helicopters,” Ari said happily.
    “In a couple more years they’ll probably be ableto design a jumbo jet, Mr. Campbell.” Gordon took Jon’s elbow and drew him away from the computers. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he muttered in awe.
    Jon glanced over at the curly dark heads of his children. “They’re just little kids,” he told the young man in a low voice. “Don’t treat them like they’re different, okay? I want their lives to be as normal as possible.”
    “That’s what Dr. Klassen and Dr. Pritchard keep telling us. But it’s really hard not to get excited about what they can do.”
    Amy looked over her shoulder. “Are you going home now, Daddy?”
    “In a few minutes. I don’t have any classes this afternoon. Why?”
    “Tell Margaret we want meat loaf for supper. She promised yesterday, but sometimes she forgets.”
    “And no cheese melted on top of it,” Ari warned. “That’s so yucky.”
    Jon and Gordon exchanged an amused glance and went back to watch the computers for a few more minutes, chatting with the two children and enjoying their animated discussion.
    He had been right to bring them here, Jon thought. Despite their homesickness, as well as the general upheaval in his family life, all of his children needed this kind of challenge and mental stimulation.
    He glanced at the door wistfully, hoping Camilla might change her mind and decide to come down and visit. But it clearly wasn’t going to happen today.Finally he got up, kissed both children and left the room, heading out to the parking lot.
    Jon settled behind the wheel and took out the sheet of paper with Enrique Valeros’s address. He stared at it, debating.
    Maybe it was none of his business. After all, the kid was living on his own, older than Steven, taking a full load of classes. Maybe he wouldn’t appreciate a classmate coming around and poking into his personal affairs.
    But Camilla had mentioned being concerned enough to stop at the boy’s apartment. The thought of his elegant professor actually entering such a squalid neighborhood was the deciding factor for Jon. He shifted his car into gear, drove south on Crowchild Trail and crossed the river, then turned and headed for the downtown core.
    The building where Enrique lived was so dilapidated and filthy that Jon hesitated in the foyer for a few minutes, looking around at the smeared walls and broken floor, the shards of glass and discarded hypodermic needles behind the radiator.
    Jon made his way downstairs into the basement, where the squalor was even worse. He paused outside Enrique’s apartment and knocked but there was no answer. Jon waited, shifting restlessly on his feet. He knocked again, then tried the doorknob. The door was unlocked and swung open loosely, sagging on a broken upper