by Simon Archer
“I think the bacon that I made would be a better choice to start with,” Vila interjected, glaring at Andi. “After all, you don't want to start your day with too much sugar. Some of us know that your health is better off without it.”
Seeing that it would take a little more than subtle placating to calm the girls’ breakfast competition, I reached across the table and took both a blueberry muffin and two strips of bacon and put them on my plate.
“Both will be perfect, ladies,” I said calmly. “What will each of you be having?”
“Pancakes,” they said in unison, as I had expected. For some reason, pancakes were their favorite breakfast food.
“Andi, what kind of syrup did you make this morning?” I asked her.
“Raspberry,” she replied.
“Vila, aren't raspberries your favorite berry?” I pointed out.
“They are,” she responded quietly, slowly looking over at Andi. “Did you use actual berries?” Her tone softened as a slight hint of excitement entered her voice.
“I did!” Andi answered with sudden enthusiasm. “I picked them myself and got only the ones that were the size you told me they should be.”
“The medium-large ones?” Vila squealed.
“Yes!” Andi confirmed.
“Here, Let me try it! Try it with me! I bet it's fantastic!” Vila hurriedly loaded her plate with pancakes and poured the warm raspberry syrup over them. Before she took a bite, she helped Andi fill her plate with pancakes as well. The two of them sampled the syrup together. As they did, both closed their eyes and moaned at how delicious it had turned out.
“That just couldn't get any better!” Andy gushed.
“It's better than bacon!” Vila added.
“But only because you told me which berries to use!” Andi told Vila. The girls continued on with their evaluation of the syrup and with complementing each other.
I sat back in my chair, ate a piece of bacon, and enjoyed their entertaining banter. Some days it felt like I had my own live-in comedy cast. When they had exhausted all topics concerning syrup, the two of them looked over at me. Then they looked at each other and back to me.
“Something's different about you,” Andi said suspiciously. “Vila, don't you think something is different about him this morning?”
“Most certainly,” Vila answered without breaking her gaze. “What do you think it is?”
“I'm not sure,” Andi started. “I'm pretty sure I have seen it somewhere before, though.”
“Me too! I just can't seem to put my finger on where I saw it. Do you have any idea?” Vila asked Andi. I leaned forward slightly and looked at each of the girls.
“I am right here, you know,” I pointed out.
“Shh,” Vila said to me. “We'll figure this out. No need for you to worry about it.”
I considered commenting again but knew that once those two locked in on a topic amongst themselves, there was no getting a word in edgewise.
“It kinda looks like when you met that one prince,” Andi began. “You know, the one that was chasing that girl through the fields. What was his name?”
“Oh! I think I know who you mean. Shoot! What was his name?” Vila tried to remember. The girls had taken to staring at each other instead of me.
“Charles?” Andi suggested.
“No, wrong time,” Vila answered. The two of them sat there, staring at each other without really seeing themselves while they tried to remember. Suddenly, Andi hit the table with her hands.
“Henry! That was it!” she cried out.
“Yes! Henry! He was so taken with that girl! Ah, shoot! What was her name?” Vila puzzled.
“Mary!” Andi yelled joyfully.
“Yes, again! Henry and Mary!” Vila agreed. Both girls looked relieved that they had solved their own mystery, but something occurred to me just then.
“Wait a minute,” I started. “Henry and Mary? And you said Henry was a prince?”
“Yeah, real nice guy,” Vila answered me.
“I may not be the world's greatest history buff, but Mary wasn't perhaps a Princess of Scotland, was she?” I asked hesitantly.
“Actually, I believe she was, now that you mention it,” Andi told me.
“You knew Mary, Queen of Scots? And King Henry?” I asked them, astonished that they were not more excited about the fact.
“I guess we did,” Vila piped up nonchalantly.
“But that still doesn't tell us why Bennett looks like Henry did that day,” Andi puzzled. The two of them fell into silence while I marveled at their lack of excitement about knowing a historically famous couple. They just sat there looking at each other quizzically until Vila snapped her fingers in the air with a flourish.
“I’ve got it!” she yelled. “Henry was engaged to Mary when you met him! He used to chase her everywhere!”
“You are brilliant, Vila!” Andi complimented her. Suddenly both of their faces turned serious, and they slowly directed their gazes at me.
“Bennett?” Andi said slowly, as though she was afraid I was going to run away if she spoke any faster.
“Yes, Andi?” I answered her just as slowly. Both she and Vila leaned towards me until they were only a foot from my face.
“Did you happen to ask Lottie any important questions last night?” she whispered.
“I don't think so,” I whispered back.
Vila scooted her chair closer to me so she wouldn't have to lean so far forward to whisper. “Are you sure? I mean, really think about it. You didn't perhaps ask her anything future-altering?”
“I'm certain. What are you two getting at?” I whispered again as I sat back in my chair to create some distance between us. Never before had I felt so interrogated.
“Well,” Andi tried to look unconcerned. “it's just that Henry was engaged when he had the same look about him that you do this morning. That look was not there when you left last night.”
At last, I connected the dots to what the girls were insinuating.
“Oh, no. I don’t look the same! I’m not engaged if that is what you are asking me!” I was no longer whispering. In fact, my voice was getting louder with each word.
“Well, If you aren't engaged, then you must be thinking about being engaged!” Vila piped up.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” I replied shortly. Heat rose up my neck, and I knew that soon my flushed face would confirm their suspicions. I had no desire to speak about getting engaged at that specific time, so I stood up and started walking towards the kitchen.
“Oh, you do too!” Vila insisted. “Tell us! When are you going to ask her?” The girls jumped up and followed me into the kitchen.
“They are going to look so adorable at their wedding,” Andi gushed to Vila.
“I know, right? I wonder how he'll propose!” Vila wondered breathily.
I realized I had to figure out a way to shut down their commentary again, or there was no way I was going to get out of the conversation.
“No engagement. No wedding. No more talk of it! What I would like to talk about is a possible second wish,” I said loudly enough to make sure they heard me over their own conversation.
They both stopped talking instantly and focused intently on me.
“A wish?” Andi asked to confirm she had heard me correctly. It had been quite a while since I had asked about a wish.
“Yes,” I assured her, seeing that my redirection tactic had worked to my benefit.
“Wow! Okay,” Vila said to me. “What did you want to know exactly?”
Secure in the fact that I’d derailed all this future marriage talk, I went back to my chair and sat down.
“I would like to see what the consequences would be for wishing to be able to see into my future,” I told them.
“That is certainly one we have granted before,” Vila replied as the two of them walked around to stand behind me.
“Do you have any specifications to go along with that? Such as, only wanting to
see into the near future, or to be able to see your entire future?” Andi asked for clarification. Her voice didn't express any specific tone that would tell me her opinion about the wish.
“Let's stick to seeing one to two years ahead for now,” I said.
Without another word, the girls squeezed my shoulders, and suddenly I was sitting on my bed upstairs. My entire body started tingling with excitement. I closed my eyes, and a vision of Lottie bursting into the room came to me. She was smiling bigger than I had ever seen before as she threw herself into my arms. I hopped to my feet and spun her around the room in celebration.
“This is fantastic!” I said to her, joy coursing through me.
“I have something fantastic to tell you too! You go first!” she said when I put her down.
“You’re pregnant! We are going to have a baby girl!” I shouted with the excitement of a fireworks show. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes stared up at me in disbelief before she smiled again.
“How did you know? I haven't told anybody yet!” she laughed back at me. “I wanted you to be the first to find out!”
“I just know! And I couldn't possibly be any more excited about it!” I picked her up again and spun her around the room one more time. “I've already scheduled a prenatal pampering day at your favorite spa for you. I want you to be as comfortable and happy as possible. Anything you want, it's yours!” I was drunk with love, joy, and motivation for the journey she and I were embarking upon.
“I can't believe that you know already! You are absolutely incredible, you know that?” She slid her arms up around my neck, and our lips met. It was the most passionate kiss the two of us had ever shared.
Just as our mouths separated, I felt pressure on my shoulders and found myself standing outside the door of my house with Glen. It took me a moment to catch up with the sudden switch, but when I regained my focus, Glen was telling me not to worry.
“It's vitally important that you do not drive to the airport today,” I said to him. “I'm telling you. I have a bad feeling about you going out there.” It dawned on me that I knew a trip to the airport for Glen would result in a horrific car crash that would take his life.
“Man, driving to the airport is no less dangerous than driving across the street to a gas station!” Glen retorted as he laughed.
“Promise me you won't go,” I demanded of him. He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes at me.
“Fine, I won't go,” he conceded. “I still think you’re nuts, but I won't go.”
“Thank you!” I told him as I patted him on the back while we walked to his car. I felt the girls squeeze me again.
“I'm telling you, you've lost your marbles!” Glen laughed.
I looked around and realized that I was having a completely different conversation with him. The same topic was at hand, however. That time I’d had a vision of him getting into a different crash on his way to drop off his wife's dry cleaning.
“Seriously, Glen. Just give me her clothes, and I will take them for you,” I pleaded with him. “I will have them back before you go home tonight.”
“Good lord, man! Fine, but only because you were right about a crash happening on Airport Road last month,” he gave in at last. “Not that there was a guarantee I would have been part of that crash, but I'll give you this one just because. I never cease to be amazed by the coincidences that happened in your life!”
Relief flooded over me while the two of us walked to the car for me to get his wife's clothes. Then I felt the familiar pressure on my shoulders and was once again standing back by my front door, having yet another conversation with him. That time I could not hear what we were saying before the girls squeezed my shoulders again. I simply knew that the two of us were arguing.
The girls kept flashing me through conversations with Glen, and I watched our demeanors change. In my mind, I knew that each time, I was warning him not to go somewhere because I had seen him being involved in a car accident. The difference was that with each conversation, Glen appeared to grow more impatient and eventually angry with me. Finally, the girls stopped flashing me forward, and I was standing on the curb, and Glen was walking towards a taxi that had just pulled into the drive.
“I don't know when you became such an over-controlling asshole, but what I do know is that I miss the kid that used to be a trusted friend,” Glen yelled back over his shoulder at me.
“Glen, wait!” A horrible sense of loss grew inside my chest as I tried to follow him into the drive, but I felt my shoulders being squeezed once again, and I was standing just inside the door of Lottie’s office suite.
It took me a moment to adjust and get my bearings again. A few deep breaths later, I felt an incredible urge to run to the back, find Lottie, and start spinning her around the room again. I knew she was pregnant again, this time with our third child. Just before I took one step, I heard voices from behind one of the cubicle partitions on the other side of the reception counter.
“That is incredible news!” I recognized the voice as belonging to one of Lottie’s closest girlfriends.
“I’m so happy that my girls will finally be getting the little brother or sister they’ve been begging for!” Lottie's voice rang out with laughter and joy.
“How did Bennett react?” her friend asked. “As excited as he was for your first two, I can only imagine how over the moon that he must be for this one!”
“Oh, I haven't told him yet,” Lottie answered. The excitement in her voice trailed off slightly, replaced with a hint of shame and uncertainty. My heart pounded in my ears as fear swelled inside me.
“Wow, really? Why not? Not that I am complaining about being the first to know, of course!” Her friend’s voice changed, as well. I recognized a distinct tone of caution in it as being one that was usually heard shortly before needing to comfort someone.
“Oh, I know he will be as excited and happy as I am,” Lottie started explaining herself. “I really just wanted someone to share in my surprise with me. I love Bennett’s enthusiasm, and I’m not complaining about the way he treats me by any means, but he just always already knows somehow. I end up feeling like it’s his news to share instead of mine. Does that sound selfish of me?” By the end of her explanation, tears were running down my face.
Not only had I robbed her of a massive joy that she deserved, but I had also done it twice already. The result was not only her need to turn to someone else to feel celebrated properly, I heard the guilt she felt for doing so. I opened my mouth to say something, but they whisked me back to my chair at the dining room table just before the girls let go of my shoulders.
“What the hell was all that?” I yelled at them with all the fear and dread inside me exploding out with my words. Vila and Andi slowly walked around me and took their seats at the table. They each had sympathy and concern in their eyes. Their concern didn’t calm my anger. “That wasn’t a wish preview. That was me fucking up my relationships with two of the most important people in my life!”
“Take just a moment and realize that right now, you are upset about a vision, not anything real,” Andi whispered softly.
I glared at her for several moments before taking a deep breath and processing what she said. As the rage inside me settled, I leaned my elbows on the table and put my face in my hands.
“What you envisioned was an example of how seeing the future causes people to try to change it,” Vila began to explain quietly. “One of the most complicated aspects of a wish like that is that it is always accompanied by the assumption that you have the ability to control the future, instead of just knowing it.”
“Also,” Andi added, “the future is a concept, not an absolute. You see it. You try to change it, which causes you to see a different version which you try to change again… and so on. Most people end up depressed and forlorn because an ability they thought would give them some sort of control actually ends up ruining them by showing they have an absolute lack of control.”
I lifted my head
to look at her. As complicated as their explanations were, they made sense.
“Next time that I ask about a wish that you know has horrific consequences, feel free to simply tell me,” I told them. “I trust the two of you enough to take your word for it. I feel as though I just lived an entire lifetime of sadness and disappointment.”
“Ah, but warnings aren't nearly as powerful,” Andi began, “and are often disregarded, eventually. Vila and I thought long and hard about how the best way to make you give your wishes additional consideration would be before we concluded that merely telling you not to make a certain wish would have less of a chance of being effective.”
A memory of my mother telling me not to touch a hot stove flashed through my mind. She had warned me that I would get burned, and for a while, I heeded that warning. One day, however, I convinced myself that I could touch a hot burner fast enough that it wouldn’t burn me. I was wrong and ended up with my hand bandaged and painful for a week.
Until that moment, I had considered myself to be a daring little kid, regardless of the consequence. The genies’ preview changed my outlook.
“I understand that,” I replied. “Let’s just move on with today, knowing that I will not wish to see the future!”
Both the girls giggled at me and then stood up.
“How about we move on with today, starting by getting you into your game room for your appointment with Carson?” Vila suggested cheerily. I had lost all track of time and was nearly late for my standing Saturday gaming session with my best friend who lived in Australia.
“I think I’ll tell him I can indeed predict the future and that it has shown me that I will whip the crap out of him today!” I joked as I stood up and headed to the other side of my house.
5
Andi and Vila hovered in the doorway hours later as I said goodbye to Carson and logged off our game. I normally never saw them until after I emerged from my game room somewhere between Saturday afternoon and night. That day, it was closer to night time.
“Hey, girls, everything okay?” I asked them as I set my controller to charge. They glanced at each other and then looked at me with nervous smiles.