by Robin Roseau
I waved a finger at her. “Is that the game we’re playing, Mom? Grandma, have you ever noticed how many dogs there are in this neighborhood.”
“Selena, we need an onion chopped up,” Mom said. “Take care of it.” She pointed to the island, the cutting board and chef’s knife waiting. I eyed the onion then Mom then tried to decide if she was messing with me because I’d messed with her.
“I can do that,” Grandma said.
“No, no,” Mom replied. “Selena’s knife skills are quite good. She’ll take care of it.”
“I’ve got this, Grandma. Chopped?”
“Chopped,” Mom said. “Not diced.”
“Right.”
* * * *
I was just finishing with the onion when the front doorbell rang. Mom grabbed Grandma’s chair and turned her around. I finished what I was doing, washed the knife, then my hands, and then followed them out to the foyer.
Calypso and Aurora were there, the two hugging Mom tightly. I only saw two of four daughters. Grandma had captured the hand of the youngest, Mary, who was eying her warily. I wondered if she even remembered my Grandma Evie, and now this weird old lady was holding her hand captive. I bounced over. “Hey, Mary,” I said. “Ready for an awesome slumber party?”
She took her hand from Grandma and ran to me, tossing her arms around me. She was tall for her age, really tall, I thought, but we hugged for a moment, and by the time she released me, daughters three and four were pulling the last of the suitcases inside.
Between Mom and her friends, they’d had five daughters in total. Mom had me. Calypso had Joy, who was three years younger than I was, and Mary, who had been a surprise. Aurora had Gail, two years younger than me, and Anne, three years younger than that. And so, we now ranged from Mary, seven, to me at fifteen. And we’d been friends of a sort for a while. Seeing me, Gail squealed and ran to me, hugging tightly. Then Anne and Joy got hugs, too, and the five of us stood in a ragged row, arms around each other, me in the middle, as we watched our Moms.
Aurora broke off from the three-way hug and knelt down in front of Grandma. “How are you doing, Evie?”
“Don’t mind the chair,” Grandma replied. “Give me a hug, you.”
Grandma got hugs, first from Aurora and then Calypso.
Then Mom announced, “The girls get the basement. They can take their stuff down later. Let’s haul your things upstairs. Mom?”
“Maybe someone can wheel me to the living room,” Grandma said.
“I can,” Gail said. She stepped into place and turned Grandma around. I picked up a suitcase and led the way upstairs.
* * * *
Dinner was served picnic-style in the basement. Mom almost changed the plan, but Grandma said, “Nonsense. I’m not an invalid.” And then she led the way downstairs, although Mom hurried over to help her, backing away only when Grandma hissed at her, just like a cat. I thought it was funny.
After dinner and cleanup, we played silly party games for a while. And then Mom said, “So. Tomorrow.”
“The Mall!” Mary said, bouncing up and down a little. “Mom said she’ll buy me a new outfit.”
“Like there’s no shopping in Boston,” her big sister muttered.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to rain,” Mom said. “But Sunday we can do something outside.” Then she stood and started cleaning up. I didn’t wait to be told and dived in to help her. Five minutes later, with Mom hovering around Grandma Evie, the adults were upstairs, and five teenage girls had the basement to ourselves.
Well, we were declaring Mary an honorary teenager.
We had a nice time.
The Moms came back downstairs a couple of hours later, insisting it was time to tuck us into bed. Together, we set out the camp pads on the carpeted floors then rolled out our sleeping bags, five of us side-by-side. Calypso did an obvious breath check on Mary, but Joy had already made sure she had brushed her teeth. Then we climbed into bed.
Mom knelt down beside me, tucking the sleeping bag under my chin, then leaned down and kissed my forehead before whispering into my ear, “I love you. Remember: Mary is still pretty young and needs her sleep. Don’t stay up all night.”
“We won’t.”
“I want you to write your paper in the morning, so I’ll come down and get you up.”
“Ma-ah-om.”
“Don’t argue now.”
“All right,” I replied. “I didn’t say ‘goodnight’ to Grandma.”
“She’s already asleep. Good night, Darling. I love you.”
“Love you, Mom.”
Beside me, two more women were saying similar things to their own daughters.
* * * *
We had a nice weekend. The Mall on Saturday, some time to play, and then Mothers and Daughters in the evening. We watched a movie, all of us cuddled up with our respective parent. It was sweet.
Sunday we went to a park. We played a variety of games, ate picnic food, and then eventually got home.
And then, somewhere, an alarm went off. We all froze.
And then I looked around, confused. From the looks, I wasn’t the only one. Evie had her head bowed. Mary looked at least twice as confused as I felt. Gail was looking at Aurora, her mouth opening and closing a few times.
I locked gazes with Pandora. “Were we all Altered?” I asked. My voice broke.
“Yes,” she said. “All of us.”
“You’re not my mother.”
“No, Selena.”
I stared for a moment, then I jumped to my feet and ran upstairs to my bedroom. I was there, the door slammed, before I realized the simple truth: this wasn’t my bedroom. Nothing in the room was mine, not one thing. I’d never been in this house before Friday.
I stood there, staring straight ahead, not knowing what to do. Then the door opened. I didn’t turn, but I felt hands on my shoulders. “Thank you.”
“Was it as real for you as it was for me?” I asked, my voice ragged.
“Yes. May I hug you, Selena?”
I thought for a moment then nodded. She wrapped her arms around me and laid her head against my shoulder. I clasped her hands in front of me, unsure what to say, unsure how to react.
“Why?” I asked.
“We’ve all put careers ahead of families,” she explained. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t know. Are they?”
“Calypso is crying. Joy and Mary are cuddling with her. Everyone else was awfully quiet. I was worried about you.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Do you need to take care of your friends?”
“Right now, I think I need to take care of you.”
I turned in her arms, and we looked into each other’s eyes. “I’m not sure I’m your responsibility.”
“You’re a guest in my house, and that makes you my responsibility. Furthermore, maybe I’m taking care of myself.”
I wrapped my arms around her, and we held each other for a while. She thanked me three or four more times.
“Did they know what you were going to do?”
“Yes.”
“Evie and Joy?”
“No. I thought you meant Calypso and Aurora.”
“Well, I did, but that was a separate question.”
“They didn’t know. Would you have agreed?”
“Yes,” I said. “Pandora, I think you would have been a good mother.”
“I don’t know about that. All five of you were programmed to be especially sweet daughters. It’s easy to be a good parent when your daughter is perfect.”
I didn’t say anything to that. Maybe she was right. Oh, probably she was right.
“You’re not married.”
“Calypso and Aurora both were. I’ve never found a man I found sufficiently interesting to give much of my attention. There are days I wish I were gay.”
I laughed, and we separated. But she cupped my cheek. “Thank you.”
“You’ve said that at least a half-dozen times. You’re welcome.” I paused. “
This doesn’t all make sense. Isn’t it going to be even harder?”
“Maybe,” she replied. “But we all know this was the fantasy version, that real motherhood is a lot different, at least some of the time. Calypso really wanted kids. She and her husband tried, but she nearly died, and the doctors forbid another attempt.”
“Adoption?”
“She would have, except she and her husband began having real problems.”
“That’s too bad.”
“What else doesn’t make sense?”
“You accepted your daughters all sight unseen.”
“That isn’t true. Evie and Joy sent photos of the people they were going to ask, and explained about each of you a little. I wish your friend, the Asian woman, had agreed.”
“She might have, if she’d known what it was. It was the unknown that put her off. It almost put all of us off.”
“Mind on the Road recommended it this way,” she said. “Recommended. Ha. Insisted. They want to keep people guessing.”
“So, when it’s something less fun, people don’t necessarily know?”
“Maybe. Was it horrible?”
“No, Pandora. It wasn’t at all horrible. It was nice.” I laughed. “They put Evie in a wheelchair. She even moved like an old lady with a broken hip. Your idea?”
“I didn’t know about that part. Calypso and Aurora arrived Thursday, and they Altered us. I was going to have two daughters. They changed it. I have a poor relationship with my mother. I guess they decided to give me something different.”
“You seem pretty okay.”
“I’ll probably cry a little in bed tonight, or after the girls leave. They’re here for a few more days.”
I looked around. “Why does this room look like it belongs to a teenage girl?”
“Mind on the Road did it. It’s normally my craft room.”
I nodded. “I’m fine, Pandora. Should we check on everyone else?”
In response, she pulled me back into her arms. I let her, and we hugged again. She didn’t thank me again, simply held me tightly. “I owe you a gift,” she said, releasing me.
“You don’t owe me a thing,” I replied. I kissed her cheek. “If you want to be friends, I’d like that, but it might be harder for you than for me. You can get my number from Evie and Joy.”
“I might,” she said. “But you might be right, too.” She set her hands on my shoulders and laughed. “I can’t believe I actually believed you were my 15-year-old daughter.”
“Almost old enough to teach to drive. I can’t believe I had to write a paper for school.”
She laughed.
I kissed her cheek then let her bring me downstairs.
* * * *
We left a half hour later. I laughed when I realized that Calypso and Aurora had arrived with their “daughters” while driving Evie and Joy’s cars. As soon as we were on the road, I told Joy’s car, “Call Evie.”
Joy’s car negotiated with Joy’s phone. Her phone called Evie’s phone, and then there was more negotiation on that side. Joy gave me a look but said nothing. Then Evie asked, “Is everything okay?”
“We’re going to my place, Evie,” I said. “Drop off any of your passengers who want to be alone.”
“See you there,” she said, not arguing.
Twenty minutes later found six of us in my living room. Anne received proper introductions, and I brewed coffee and tea. I served everyone then stood before them. “How is everyone doing?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said first.
“I could use a cuddle.”
“Me,” Mary said before anyone else could. She made room in her chair, and we squished together. I wrapped around her a little, and she held me lightly.
“Am I too heavy?”
“No,” she whispered back.
“Selena?” Joy prompted.
“I’m feeling exceedingly needy,” I said. “And I bet I’m not the only one. That’s all. If you guys need cuddles, I’m sure there’s someone else willing to cuddle with you.”
There was some shifting, and when I looked, everyone was touching someone else. Evie was holding Anne. Gail’s head was in Joy’s lap, but she was holding hands with Evie, her legs stretched out across Gail’s lap, her feet in Anne’s. I closed my eyes and settled into Mary just a little more.
No one spoke for a while until Joy asked, “Are you guys all right?”
“Seven,” Mary said. “They made me seven years old. I’m wearing a Hello Kitty outfit, for crying out loud.”
“You rock the Hello Kitty look,” Evie replied. “They put me in a wheel chair. Want to trade next time?”
“Yes, I do. With Selena.”
I laughed. I wasn’t the only one.
“You were a very mature seven-year-old,” Joy offered.
“And tall,” I added. “Don’t forget tall.”
“I’d like a serious answer,” Joy said. “Who regrets the weekend?”
There was a pause, and I said, “I’d do it again.” There were a few “Yeahs”, but Evie and Mary were quiet. I leaned away and looked at her. “Mary?”
She looked up at me. “Come back here.” She pulled me into place again. “Yeah, I’d do it again.”
“Even if you knew you were going to be seven?”
“I’d rather be older,” she said. “But if it’s seven or nothing, yeah. I’m fine. It’s just… I had a better relationship with Calypso than I have with my real mom. That’s just weird, ‘cause Mom and I get along pretty good.”
“I know the feeling,” I agreed.
“I’m fine,” Mary said. “Evie?”
“I would rather have been a teenager,” Evie said. “But I had an awesome granddaughter.” I snorted. “And…” She started to cry.
There was some shifting, and Evie found herself held by Joy with Anne and Gail cuddled against them as well. “Joy,” Evie whispered.
“We should talk about kids sometime.”
“Not yet,” Evie said. “But someday?”
“Someday,” Joy said. “I think you’d be a great Mom.”
“I’ve never even thought about kids before,” Evie said. “I mean, yeah, it’s come up, but I’ve always been, ‘It’s not for me.’”
“We’ll talk about it, Dove,” Joy said. “But we’re not making any decisions when coming down from being Altered.”
“I know,” Evie said. “I love you so much.”
The two kissed and murmured at each other for a minute. I whispered to Mary, “Am I getting heavy?”
“No. I’ll tell you when I’m ready for you to get up. Please don’t leave me yet.”
“I won’t, then.”
“Evie,” Mary said. “Joy. If you want to practice being mothers, I’d let you.”
Everyone laughed, but then we all agreed but discussed ways to make it closer to reality. Finally Evie said, “Oh, please. We Know People. If our kids start sniffing around drugs, we’d get them permanently Altered so fast, their shadows won’t catch up.”
It wasn’t much longer before Anne said she wouldn’t mind heading home and asked if she should call for a Lyft. That resulted in everyone standing up, but then Mary whispered to me, “Will you drive me?”
“Sure,” I said.
We saw everyone out, but then Mary took my hand and pulled me back into the house. I turned to her. “You’re not all right, are you?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Will you go out with me?”
“Yes. I can offer tentative agreement either of the coming weekends, but Tara is trying to take me away.”
“Tuesday, dinner and a movie. My treat.”
“We can go Dutch.”
She shook her head. “My treat. This is important to me.”
“All right,” I said.
“Pick you up at 5:30? I want you to dress for me.”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.” She moved closer and kissed my cheek. “Please drive me home. Will you be okay alone?”
“Yeah. I’m f
ine, Mary. You?”
“I’m fine. But next time, you’re the seven-year-old.”
I laughed. “Fair enough.” I gestured. “I have never in my life dressed this way.”
She looked down at herself. “I did. I was totally cute.”
“I believe you.”
* * * *
I got home and made a small bite and then made a phone call. “Hello, Selena.”
“Hey, Mom,” I said. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. Did you have a good weekend?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll tell you about it.” I settled to the sofa. “Mom, do you regret not having more kids?”
“No. Where is this coming from?”
“Do you worry about grandkids?”
She didn’t answer immediately. There was a pause, and then she said, “When I realized you liked girls, I was worried for you.”
“I know. But you were cool about it.”
“Probably because the signs were there, so when you finally told me, I sort of already knew.”
“Still. Thank you for being cool.”
“You’re welcome. I worried for you.”
“And worried about grandbabies.”
“A little, but I did a little investigation. Honey, are you pregnant?”
I laughed. “Mom, I have never in my life done the sorts of things that lead to pregnancy.”
“I didn’t think you had. Where is this coming from?”
I told her about the weekend. She listened quietly and didn’t chastise me for letting someone mess with my mind. Then she surprised me. “Barb and I went to one of those places.” Barb was my aunt.
“One of what places?”
“One of those Altered places.” I think my mouth opened and closed a few times, but I didn’t say anything. “It was… nice.”
“What did you do?”
“We were Greek goddesses.”
I laughed. “I bet you were, and I can see why that would be fun.”
“It was. Honey, you’re not making decisions tonight, are you?”
“No. I wouldn’t do that. I just… I saw those women, Mom. Pandora looked like she was on the edge of tears when we left, and Calypso cried earlier. Mom, I don’t want to be a single mom. I watched you. It wasn’t easy for you.”
“I’d do it again if it meant I got you.”
“I love you, too,” I said.