We were halfway down to the bus stop when Uncle Dave came running up behind us. He’d been staying the night in the guest room and he must have heard us leaving. "Where do you think you’re going?" he asked, and he was a bit mad at us.

"Down to the boatyards," Muffin said.

"No, you aren’t. Get back to the house."

"Uncle Dave," Muffin said, "it’s time."

"Time for what?"

"The Eschaton."

"Where do you pick up these words, Muffin? You’re talking about the end of the world."

"I know." The first bus of the day was just turning onto our street two corners down. "Come to the boatyards with us, Uncle Dave. It’ll be okay."

Uncle Dave thought about it. I guess he decided it was easier to give in than to fight with her. That’s what I always think too. You can’t win an argument with Muffin, and if you try anything else, she bites and scratches and uses her knees. "All right," Uncle Dave said, "but we’re going to phone your parents and tell them where you are, the first chance we get."

"So talk to me about the Eschaton," Uncle Dave said on the bus. We were the only ones on it except for a red-haired lady wearing a Donut Queen uniform.

"Well," Muffin said, thinking things over, "you know how Daddy talks about astronomy things moving? Like the moon goes around the earth and the earth goes around the sun and the sun moves with the stars in the galaxy and the galaxy is moving too?"

"Yes..."

"Well, where is everything going?"

Uncle Dave shrugged. "The way your father tells it, everything just moves, that’s all. It’s not going anywhere in particular."

"That’s stupid. Daddy doesn’t understand teleology." She waved her hand at the world out the window. "Everything’s going to where it’s supposed to end up."

Uncle Dave asked, "What happens when things reach the place they’re going?"