A Wife And Kids

Mateo met his wife at a trade school in Mexico, him a mechanic and her an electrician. They fell in love while working on a project in the school's robotics society.

He has two children, of 21 and 20. His son, the eldest, followed in his parents' footsteps, attending the same trade school and training to become an electrician. He plans to apprentice with his mother and eventually join her as a partner. Mateo's daughter, the youngest, was always more rebellious. Her father's constant absences, while he was away working on oil rigs, inspired a growing resentment for oil companies, and Petrogon in particular. As she grew older, she became an environmentalist, attending and even helping to organise protests against weakening regulations on oil extraction. Now she's studying for a degree in renewable energy at the University of Michigan.

Mateo's visits home always featured tension with his daughter, although her opinion of him mellowed as she grew older. He was always proud of her, though, particularly when she made it into Michigan. He saw the future of his industry in her work.

Mateo's family does not remember his death, nor that he ever went to the Antarctic. They remember only that he once existed, and was loved, and that he now does not, and is grieved. Petrogon returns his body to them, and they bury it, but the funeral is stuttering and hesitant, as the speakers' minds pick their way carefully around the holes they cannot acknowledge. Over time, the feeling that something is missing will fade, and the sadness and longing with it. But for now… whenever his family meets for dinner, his wife still sets an extra place for him.