“And now, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our valedictorian, Adam Finch.”

As the Dean of Archeology announced his name, Adam walked up to the podium with a broad smile on his face.  He barely noticed the heavy robe and hood that signified his doctorate degree.  The small crowd gathered for the graduation ceremony clapped politely as he stepped up to the podium.  Over the noise of the applause he could hear his mother yell his name.  She was waving excitedly from the first row, obviously telling everyone around her that Adam was her son.  As he waved back, he prayed she wasn’t also playing matchmaker.  The last thing he needed right now was another blind date with one of her friend’s daughters.

Adam kept his speech fairly short and to the point.  He had taken a few public speaking courses and knew the speaker was always more interested in his topic than the audience.  The key to a successful speech was to keep it one third as long as you think it should be.  After his speech, the rest of the ceremony went well.  The usual handshakes and congratulations accompanied him out of the auditorium.

At the party afterwards, his mother revealed she had indeed been matchmaking.  Apparently he now had a date for Saturday nightwith the 18 year old daughter of a woman she had sat next to at the graduation.  “I knew you wouldn’t have any plans yet, so I just had to arrange it when she told me about her lovely daughter,” his mother explained.

Adam sighed.  This promised to be unpleasant.  “Mom, I do have plans for Saturday night.  I’ll be off planet then, remember?  I’m headed to Actinious 4 tomorrow morning to study the ancient ruins there.  We talked about this.”

Immediately her eyes filled with tears.  She didn’t actually start crying, but she gave him a tortured look designed to punch straight into his heart.  “You mentioned it, dear, but I didn’t think you had decided yet.”  She sniffled a little.  “With your father gone, bless his soul, I’ll be all alone here without you.”  Wiping her eyes with a handkerchief, she looked up at him expectantly.  “Can’t you find a job close to home?”

“Mom, I’m an archeologist.  I need to go study ancient ruins, new discoveries.  There haven’t been any unstudied discoveries on this planet in centuries.”  Adam sighed under his breath.  He had hoped to avoid this discussion, or at least have it in private.  Already other people at the party were starting to notice and wonder what was going on.

“Adam Ewing Finch,” his mother’s voice went from weepy to stern.  More heads turned as she got louder.  “You know perfectly well that you could find work here.  You could teach at the university.  I know Dr. Williams was quite interested in giving you a position.  He told me so himself.  Or you could work in a museum.  They always need archeologists.  Especially brilliant handsome ones like you.”  She patted his face gently and smiled weepily at him.

“Mom,” Adam jerked his head away as, despite himself, his voice rose.  “I don’t want to teach.  I don’t want to work in a museum.  I want to explore the universe.  I want to discover new and exciting things.”  He pointed dramatically at the sky.  “There is an entire universe of amazing discoveries just waiting for me, and I’m going to go find them.”

Now his mother broke down in tears.  She buried her head in her hands and sobbed bitterly.  Her tears did not prevent her from getting in the last word, however.  As she turned away, she said between sobs.  “Fine then, just forget everything I’ve done for you all these years.  Forget that I carried you inside my body for nine months.  That I went through hours of back labor just to have you.  That I raised you all on my own when your father, bless his soul, died.  That I paid for your education.  Just forget all of it.  Leave me here, alone and unloved, to worry every night.  To wonder when I’ll get the call that your ship exploded or you were eaten by some horrible alien or murdered by pirates.  I know when I'm not wanted.  I’ll just leave and not bother you any more.”

With those final words she fled, sobbing.  Adam started after her, but realized it was futile.  When she got like this, all he could do was let her settle down on her own.  He looked around, embarrassed, at the guests who were staring at him.  After a few moments, the party continued half-heartedly.

The next morning, he visited his mother one more time.  She had taken to her bed, certain she was dying.  She lay quietly sighing and looking wan.  Adam came over and kissed her gently on the forehead.  “Mom, I’m headed to the downport.  I promise to write as often as I can.  I love you.”

She looked up at him weakly.  “Can’t you at least wait until I die?” she said in a frail voice.  “With the terrible shock of your abandonment, I'm sure it won’t be long now.”  She raised her hand to touch his face briefly, then let it drop back on the blanket as if she had no strength left.

Adam sighed in exasperation forcing himself to stay strong, he looked down at her.  “Mom, you aren’t dying.  You’re just mad at me.  We both know you are stronger than I’ve ever been.  You’ll probably out live me.  Now give me a kiss and I’ll write to you soon.”  A snap of fire was visible in his mother’s eyes for a second, then she kissed him weakly and laid her head back down.

Less than half an hour later Adam was at the downport.  He had only two bags and a necklace with an arrowhead on it.  Despite his mother’s theatrics, he had a broad smile on his face as he headed off to the elevator to the starport and adventure.