Randy would have liked nothing better than to have been at Lowell Harbor to welcome his father, but the quarantine made that impossible. However, Randy left word for his father to phone him on arrival.  
Hours after the sensational telecast, the radiophone finally buzzed. Randy ran to it, flipped a switch, and listened on the two-way microphone.
 
“Pops!” Randy exclaimed. “Yes, it’s me! How are you?” On and on the excited conversation went.
 
“Isn’t it wonderful, Mom?” Ted said to his mother.
 
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“It certainly is!” she answered. “Your dad and I really believed Randy would never see his father alive again.”
 
Yank had been allowed into the house. He seemed to realize that this was a moment of good times, for he capered about like an animated ball of fur. He even tried to make noises into the mike himself, but Randy playfully pushed him off.
 
Feeling pretty good himself now, Ted thought that if Yank wanted action he’d give it to him. He cuffed the little animal gently along his head. Yank tore after him, catching him near the air lock. Down went the boy and color bear together. Yank growled menacingly but did not impress Ted with his mock ferocity. Yank got on top of Ted, and Ted called for help.
 
Just then Randy’s long conversation with his father ended, and he came over to join the fun. Then the three of them were scrambling and yelling together. Ted halted his play for a moment to look up and see Jill standing in the doorway, her face beaming as though she would like to join the fun. Mrs. Kenton looked around, and her face darkened.
 
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“You’d better get back in that bed, young lady!” her mother threatened.
 
Jill squealed and ran off to bed. Ted saw that his mother was not really angry. She was smiling, and Ted knew she was glad to find that Jill was feeling so much better.
 
The rest of the day passed on the same high note of joy. Where several days ago, everything had been fear and gloom, now everything was rosy. The next day, after Randy had talked with his father again, he was impatient to get out and meet him. Ted, too, was beginning to feel the pinch of the quarantine.
 
The boys went out to take a look at the garden. The stems were high and full of broad leaves. It looked like a miniature jungle here. And in such a short time! Ted checked the atmosphere gauge that showed the percentage of oxygen to carbon dioxide in the greenhouse. The gas from the carbon dioxide tank had to be just so, or the plants would suffocate from an overabundance of oxygen.
 
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When the boys returned to the living room, Mrs. Kenton said to them, “I have a surprise for you two. Turn your heads.”
 
They did so, and when she told them to look around they saw a fully dressed Jill standing there, her cheeks pink and healthy again. Ted hugged his sister as though she had been away a long time and was just getting back.
 
At last, the day that, it had seemed, would never arrive finally did come. Randy was up especially early that morning, saying that he wanted to visit his father before he went to school.
 
The children were in the living room awaiting breakfast.
 
“I’m sure they’ll let you off from school one more day to be with your father, Randy,” Mrs. Kenton called from the kitchen.
 
“Even if they do, I don’t want to lose any time seeing him,” Randy said.
 
Suddenly Jill pointed a shaky finger toward the front door. “L-look, there’s a man at the door?”
 
Ted turned around, startled. “I wonder who...” he began.
 
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But Randy was not puzzled. He ran across the room and flipped the switch that controlled the air lock. A few minutes later a robust man in a space suit entered and pulled off his helmet. He had a rugged, kindly face which showed the effects of the terrible strain he had been under so long. But he was smiling.
 
“Pops!” Randy cried and threw his arms around him.
 
“Boy, what a squeeze you have!” Mr. Matthews grunted. “You’ve grown, Randy.”............