This choice: Your father disappeared, leaving just you, your mother, and your sisters • Go Back...Chapter #5You have a solution to the family's money p... by: Yote   Nothing has been the same since the accident at your dad's lab, not least of all dad. The rupture of multiple containment units had drenched him in a cocktail of almost every commercially available, industrial, or untested chemical, mutagen, and nanite yet invented by science, converting him from a loving husband and brilliant research scientist to an empty-headed, glow-in-the-dark, bonsai poodle girl. By the time they'd dug him out of the wreckage, the transformation was locked, the damage to both his cell and his mind both irreversible. The only person in the world with the know-how to reverse it, himself, now spends his days in the park, sniffing dog butts.
In many ways it's like he actually died, but in some ways it's worse. Even though he's almost entirely gone in both body and soul, none of those left behind have been unable to move on, to grieve. It's affected everybody, your mother especially. She's not like she was. Whereas before she'd had the patient of a saint, now she has become emotional, short-tempered and stressed, no matter how much you try to help her out. You know things have been hard and you know the (eternally ongoing) court case against the company is getting to her, draining what little money and time she has left. Of course you still love her. But there are times when you wonder if she hasn't completely cracked. Like lost the plot altogether.
Take two weeks ago for instance. Billy and Kimmy had been up to their usual tricks, racing around the house, taking it in turns to be the chaser and the chasee, until one of them, inevitably, ran into something. The tinkle of breaking glass had brought Debbie, who saw the broken picture frame and flew instantly into a rage. She had pinned the blame squarely on Billy. Bundling the two of them into the car, she'd disappeared into town for the rest of the day. When she returned, there was no Billy. Only two Kimmies.
"But why do I have do be like Kimmy?" KimmyTwo had wailed on her first day.
"Because girls are nicer," Debbie had replied. "I don't have the time to be raising boys."
She'd actually said that. Right in front of you. When you'd tried to object to her Billy's treatment, she'd turned her anger on you and, in the interests of your manhood, you'd backed down. Billy had remained Kimmy the Second. To his merit, he'd adapted to girlhood quickly and the twins were back to their old selves by the next day, only this time they got away with twice as much now that your mum couldn't tell them apart.
Your older brother Donnie, seeing the way things were going and self-serving as always, had left the house soon after, leaving you to bear the brunt of her moods. Tessa remained and towards her Debbie was as kind and motherly as ever.
What worried you most was the way she was treating dad, or what was left of him. Perhaps it was a sign she was moving on, perhaps it was healthy, but with each day she treated him less and less like the husband he had been and more like the ditzy poodle he had become. Today you return from school to discover that, after one wee-wee accident too many, your mother has attached a shock collar around his tiny neck.
"You made me do this, Donald," she says angrily. "I've told you time and time again that the bedroom is not a toilet. If you want to act like an animal, then I suppose I'll have to start treating you like one."
You can't let her do this to him, can you? You should say something.
---------------
You don't say anything as she points the remote at your poor, transformed dad, jolting the little dog with static electricity, causing it to yelp and tremble with fright. There really is nothing you can say, certainly nothing she'll listen to. The company signed ownership exclusively over to your mum - he's her pet, and you have no say in the matter of his training.
Besides, you have a plan that you think could be a solution to your family's financial problems. and that's all you want to worry about at the moment. If it succeeds, it may help to relieve some of the pressure your mum is under. Then things can go back to the way they were...
The plan is...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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