2

            “Yep, you’re all set, here’s your tickets!” The receptionist handed us two tickets and stamped them with smiley faces.

            “Thanks so much,” Lizzie said, and we left for the entrance to the museum. To my surprise, we hadn’t needed to pay a thing, apparently covered already by Uncle Frank, who I was starting to like more and more.

            “Was that the surprise he was hinting at?” I asked Lizzie. “Free admission?”

            “I doubt it, he told me about that beforehand. Speaking of which, let’s meet him before he gets too busy.”

            We got stamped on the back of our hands with a cute little lightning bolt design. I was impressed, normally these stamps are very faded, but the design was very neat and clear this time around, almost like a temporary tattoo. Upon making it past the front gates, we located a map to find the Theater of Electricity. I was impressed with how big the place was, having three full levels of exhibits, and an impressive number of exhibits per floor. Taking a right from the entrance hall, we entered a massive atrium leading to and from the various exhibits on display. I grinned like an idiot, the whole place was so colorful and… loud. “We probably shouldn’t have come during the weekend,” I noted, seeing just how busy it already was mid-morning.

            “Huh?” Lizzie said, trying to hear me over the crowd and machines. “Oh, yeah, probably. It was Frank who offered Sunday anyways.”

            “Still though, this place is gonna be tons of fun!” I said, squeezing her hand. She squeezed back in return.

            The Theater of Electricity was taller than I expected it to be. There were two floors to it, with the upper floor having balconies you could sit around to watch the show, or hallways leading to nearby exhibits. The main show had these two towers with spherical connected tops. According to the website, it was called the Van de Graaff Generator, generating air-insulated electricity. It was certainly intimidating, and I was very curious what it would look like during the show.

            Looking over a control panel toward the front of the display in front of the audience seating was a man in his fifties with curly brown hair. I quickly recognized him as the same man from the website’s front page, the one who stood epically in the cage surrounded by lightning strikes. He wore a bright red lab coat over a black shirt and pants. Lizzie walked down the stairs that the audience used as seating for the show, eyeing the man. “Uncle Frank!” She called out.

            Uncle Frank!? I thought, eyebrows raised. So he was the one from the website then!

            Frank looked up from the panel and gave a welcoming smile. “Lizzie! You made it!” Leaving the stage, he met his niece at the base of the stage, and they embraced for a hug. “Goodness, you’re tall!” He remarked.

            I raised an eyebrow. Lizzie was not particularly tall, though I suppose not particularly short either. Lizzie just laughed “shut up!” in response.

            “So how are you?” Frank asked, releasing the hug. “It’s been a while!”

            “Long overdue for sure,” Lizzie nodded. “I’m great, thanks for asking. How’s Aunt Marianne?”

            “Hard at work as always. I sure do miss her, but I’m glad you’re here to keep me company for the day,” he said.

            “Of course! Boston’s so packed full of things, it was a great spot for our first vacation. Speaking of which, this is my boyfriend, Beck!” She gestured me over.

            “Ah, there’s the man I’ve been hearing so much about!” exclaimed Frank, extending a hand that I happily accepted. “Nice to finally meet ya.”

            “Nice to meet you too!” My pride was flowing a bit knowing that Lizzie had been boasting about me to her family. Sometimes it felt like Lizzie supported me more than I supported myself. I still wondered how I ended up with someone like her.

            “I hear this is your first trip to Boston,” he said. “Guess that means you’ve never seen a show like this?”

            “No,” I responded. “Lizzie told me it’s kinda like a fireworks show?”

            Frank laughed. “I can see the comparison for sure. Only instead of fireworks, you see a bunch of lightning strike a cage.”

            I remembered the images on the museum website. I pointed at the cage. “You go in that, right?”

            Frank grinned. “It’s exhilarating for sure, I’m sure you’ll love to see it. And on that note, I have a bit of a surprise for you Beck.”

            “You mentioned that” Lizzie said. “What’s the surprise?”

            Frank looked giddy with excitement. “I’ve gotten special permission to have a ‘volunteer’ go into the cage during the show in my place. Beck, I want you to be that volunteer.”

            Lizzie and I both stared in surprise back at Frank. “You… want me in the cage during the show?” I repeated.

            “If you want,” Frank said with a shrug. “It’s incredibly exciting and completely safe. There’s a couple of things to go over before you do, and we’ll make a plan beforehand, but if you’re interested, you’re all set to go.”

            I blinked and turned to the cage, imagining myself inside of it, raising up into the air, and then me staring at the generator as lightning came and struck all around me. I imagined myself flinching at the sudden bright lights, the loud crash that would sound... My heart pounded in excitement and nerves. Could I handle something like that?

            Lizzie nudged me in excitement. “You should totally do it!”

            “Wha- really!?” I said in surprise.

            “This is like a once in a lifetime experience! And it’s totally safe!”

            “Well then why don’t you do it instead?” I asked, before immediately regretting my words. I knew Lizzie well enough to know exactly why she couldn’t be the volunteer instead.

            Frank answered my question anyway. “I would’ve, but considering her family’s history of heart conditions, we wanted to be on the cautious side. Don’t want Lizzie developing any symptoms early, and close proximity to constant lightning strikes is not exactly the kind of thing we want to risk.”

            Lizzie’s mom’s side of the family—the Gomez family—had a history of heart conditions that was long and unfortunately very genetic. Lizzie had lost so many family members through heart attacks, and it was a near guarantee she would inherit a heart disease herself. I remember when she had lost her grandmother to a heart attack not even a year into our relationship. She looked absolutely devastated, even though it wasn’t her first time losing someone to the awful disease. She never got to meet a sister because of CHD. And while she hadn’t officially been diagnosed with the disease herself, it was still a terrifying prospect to know that Lizzie could fall victim at any point. I’ve had nightmares of getting a phone call, hearing a doctor report that she had fallen to an unexpected heart attack, and that I’d never see her again. Anytime that I dreamt that nightmare I would hug Lizzie the next day and told her how much I loved her. I hadn’t meant to bring it up again.

            I gave an apologetic look to Lizzie, but she just nodded like it wasn’t even a question. She turned back to me with a sinister grin. “You’re gonna do it right?”

            “I-I don’t know…” I muttered. “I don’t know if my heart could handle it, let alone Lizzie’s.”

            “How about this then?” Frank said. “Take some time to think, explore what the museum has to offer, and then come to the 2pm show. You’ll see it as normal, with me in the cage and such, and then talk to me after the show. You can decide then if you want to volunteer for the 4pm show.”

            I sighed in relief that I didn’t have to answer right away. I was even more relieved that I had the opportunity to see what I was dealing with before I signed up. I nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds like a good plan.”

            “Alright then sir,” he said with a handshake. “I’ll let you get to it. I’d like to keep chatting with you guys, but I’m still on the clock right now. We’ll talk at dinner afterward, shall we?”

            “Sounds good Frank,” Lizzie smiled, bursting with energy as always. “Nice to catch up with you!”

            “See you at two!” he responded with a wave, returning back to the monitor he was at before.

            Lizzie grabbed my hand. “While we’re here, we can check out some of the electricity stuff.” I smiled and joined her along for the ride, looking back toward the intimidating pair of towers.

            ___