Answering Ascension

by Amy Proebstel

  “She didn’t say it out loud. She sure thought it loud enough though,” Juila answered easily.

  “Are you saying you can hear people’s thoughts?” Amanda asked with concern.

  “Sure, everybody on Acaim does it,” Jena stated.

  “Well nobody does it here. You might want to curb that skill before you find yourself getting into trouble,” Amanda directed.

  The laughter died down as the girls digested this new twist. They had never considered not reading somebody’s mind. It could be fun to try and figure out what a person was thinking without seeking it out for themselves.

  Amanda stopped at one of the large strip malls and parked the truck. They entered the first clothing store, and Amanda watched with amusement as the girls picked through the various items. They laughed at the different patterns and colors. Jena pulled one particularly ugly shirt off of the rack and asked, “Do people really wear stuff like this?”

  Amanda laughed and replied, “Unfortunately, yes. Those people are usually only wanting to draw attention to themselves. I think we’ll stick with more conservative colors and styles if you don’t mind!”

  Jena agreed with her mother’s opinion.

  Several hours passed as the girls amassed bags of clothes and school supplies. Amanda was never one to like shopping, but the girls seemed to be having lots of fun, so she enjoyed the process for their sakes. It was almost time for bed when they finally arrived back home. They were all exhausted but pleased with their new purchases.

  The girls laid out all of their new outfits around the living room floor and matched tops to bottoms. They excitedly examined one another’s choices and decided they would probably share the majority of it.

  Riccan came out of his office when he heard a commotion from the other room. He walked around the corner and took a step back at the masses of clothes around the whole room. “Wow, somebody’s been busy!” he declared as he spotted Amanda and walked over to give her a kiss welcoming her home.

  “We’d like to give you a fashion show,” Juila declared.

  Amanda laughed and said, “Okay. Let’s save it for tomorrow, shall we? I’m exhausted!” Amanda dropped onto the couch and sighed with relief as she set her feet up on the coffee table. Now she remembered why she hated shopping, her feet and back ached abominably. She looked out the window and saw the hot tub beckoning her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The next afternoon the girls hauled their bags of clothes back down the stairs and dropped them on the living room floor. Jena and Juila were both broadly smiling as Jena announced, “It’s time for the fashion show!”

  Amanda smiled at their enthusiasm and said, “Take your clothes into the study and change in there. We’ll be sitting here on the couch to review.”

  The girls spent the next hour traipsing through the living room modeling their newest looks. They giggled and pranced along and acted like the young girls they still were. Amanda and Riccan thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon activity. Finally, the girls announced the last change of clothes and Amanda’s stomach growled loudly.

  “I believe it’s time for lunch,” Riccan announced. “Do you want me to make something or do you want to go out for pizza?”

  Amanda considered and then said, “I think pizza would be a fun experience for the girls. I wish it were faster, though. I’m starving!”

  “I can call in our order so it’ll at least be started while we drive down there,” Riccan suggested.

  “That would be perfect!” Amanda smiled up at her husband who had already started to walk across the room to get the phone. “You know what I want. You should order a couple of different selections for the girls to try. They don’t even know what they like yet,” Amanda suggested.

  “Good point,” Riccan replied. He decided to order three pizzas with different toppings on each half to give them a good selection from which to choose.

  Only a few minutes later they were piling into the 4-Runner and leaving the house. The girls had chosen to wear the last outfits they had tried on to go out in. Amanda approved. Riccan drove, Amanda was in the passenger seat, and the girls both sat in the back seat.

  Again, the girls kept their faces plastered to the windows to take in all of the scenery along the way. They commented on the palm trees and other greenery which was different from what they knew in Tuala. The traffic signal lights were another thing they commented on, which prompted another lesson so the girls would understand how to avoid getting run over by a car should they be using the sidewalks.

  Amanda was beginning to appreciate the number of things she took for granted from being raised on Earth. There was so much for her children to learn. She did not envy their position. When she had thought she was in Tuala, she had felt at a loss for the differences, but she had just been in a dream. Her girls were in reality where their mistakes could have serious consequences. If she thought about it too much, she might not let them leave the house!

  At the restaurant, the girls’ reaction to the new food was as fun as Amanda had expected. As it turned out, Juila preferred the beef and pineapple, which was Amanda’s favorite. Jena preferred the taco pizza, which was Riccan’s favorite. The other versions were also tried and eaten. They ended up with several to-go boxes and had a lively ride home.

  The girls kept a constant chatter from the back seat. Riccan had taken a circuitous route home so they could see more of the town in which they resided. Several jumbo jets took off from the nearby Miami International Airport which caused the girls to stare in awe at the enormous, winged crafts with the loud engines.

  Riccan smiled at their concerned comments and said, “Just wait until I take you flying in my Cessna!”

  “What’s a Cessna?” Jena asked.

  “It’s a type of airplane used here on Earth. It’s their equivalent of a telepod,” he explained.

  Amanda snorted at his simplistic explanation. She knew there was no comparison between the two aircraft. Soon enough the girls would be able to come to the same conclusion.

  Riccan grinned at his wife’s reaction and shrugged his shoulders, “It’s the best explanation I can think of until they can see it for themselves.”

  “I guess,” Amanda laughed.

  Chapter Nine

  THE MORNING OF their first day of school finally arrived, and the nervous girls attempted to eat their breakfast. Neither really had much appetite, but their mom had insisted they give it a try. Their school bags were packed and waiting by the garage door.

  Finally, Amanda gave up on watching them push their food around and announced, “Let’s get going. I want to make sure we have all of the admission stuff taken care of before the first class starts.”

  Immediately, the dishes in front of the girls disappeared. They both had taken care of their own dirty bowls with an instinctive thought. They hopped off their chairs in unison and walked with matching strides toward the garage.

  Again they parked in front of the main office, and the girls piled out of the vehicle with their bags in tow. As soon as they walked up to the reception desk, Amanda noticed the girl who had given them the tour sitting in a chair off to the side.

  Sofia had been waiting to meet with the new girls. She had felt an odd connection with them and had decided she was going to try to be their friend. Meeting them in the office had seemed like the best way to get their friendship started. She knew what it was like to be new to a school. Her own parents had moved to the United States only five years before. When she started going to the grade school, she had not even known English.

  Jena and Juila had been looking at the receptionist and had not noticed the young girl waiting for them. Amanda rested her forearms on the credenza and waited for the receptionist to get off the phone. She leaned toward her girls and said, “Why don’t you go and say hi to Sofia? This could take a while.”

  The girls suddenly looked around and finally spotted the only person they knew at the school. They both smiled the same smile and walked over to the girl. “Hi
, Sofia,” Juila said when they got close enough.

  “Hi. I hope you don’t mind me waiting for you two,” she said, suddenly feeling shy.

  “No way! It’s good to see someone we know,” Jena spoke hurriedly so the girl could stop feeling guilty. Oops, Jena thought to herself, Mom told us not to read people’s minds. She smiled and sat down next to Sofia.

  Juila sat down on the other side of Sofia and said, “I don’t think we told you our names before. I’m Juila Stel, and this is Jena.”

  “Your mother had mentioned your names, but I’m pleased to meet you, Juila and Jena,” she responded and looked at each girl as she said their names. “My name is Sofia Castillo.”

  “I noticed your words sound different from other people we’ve met. Are you from a different place?” Jena asked kindly.

  Sofia tried to figure out what Jena was talking about when she realized she meant her accent. She laughed and said, “Yes, my accent is from Argentina where my family is from originally. We immigrated to Florida five years ago when there got to be too much fighting in our home country. My parents thought it would be safer for me to grow up in America and get a better education.”

  The girls both nodded but did not understand all of the things they had been told. They had decided, before arriving at the school, that they would not ask too many unusual questions. Instead, they would make a mental list of things to either look up on the internet themselves or ask their parents when they got home. Sofia just supplied the first two things on their list.

  They spent the next ten minutes visiting with Sofia while their mom finally got to start talking to the receptionist. Eventually, their mom turned and gestured for them to come up to the desk. They rushed across the room, wondering what was going to happen next.

  The receptionist stood up and held out a piece of paper and asked, “Which one of you is Juila?”

  Juila raised her hand slightly and said, “Me.”

  The receptionist set the paper down in front of her and said, “This is your class schedule. And this,” she handed her a separate slip of paper, “is your locker combination. You and your sister will be able to share a locker, so the combination is the same for both of you.”

  Juila hastily looked down at the schedule of classes and saw there were seven. 1. College Writing, 2. Biology, 3. American Government, 4. AP US History, lunch period, 5. College Algebra, 6. English III, and 7. Health.

  Jena received her list of classes and immediately noticed they were slightly different than her sister’s: 1. College Writing, 2. Biology, 3. Spanish I, 4. American Government, lunch period, 5. College Algebra, 6. English III, and 7. Health.

  The receptionist said, “The room locations are listed next to each class. If you have any trouble with any of them, come back to me, and we’ll see if we can move you to something else. Have a nice day!” The phone rang, effectively dismissing them, as she sat down to take the call.

  Sofia came up behind them and asked, “Can I see your schedules? We might have some classes together. I can also show you where your locker is located.”

  The girls turned their schedule papers around, and Sofia looked at them carefully. Her expression changed when she saw she had at least three classes with each girl. She told them and then asked what locker number they had been assigned. “Cool, that’s really close to mine. We don’t have much time before first period, so we should get going.”

  Juila and Jena both turned and hugged their mother goodbye. They were eager to get started with school, but also sad to be separated from the mother they had just found. Sofia urged them to hurry, so they rushed their farewell and followed their new friend.

  They turned down several hallways and arrived at their locker. Sofia showed them how the combination lock worked and they got to look inside a school locker for the first time. It seemed awfully small for two people to share.

  Almost as if the students materialized from nowhere, the trio was surrounded by masses of kids walking in every direction. Jena wished they could have gotten to their first class before the crush of people kept them from being able to see how to get to the room. Thankfully, Sofia shared the same class, so she walked with them.

  They milled through the room and found open seats before the final bell rang. Juila noticed that Sofia was sitting two seats ahead of her in the next row over. It seemed silly, but Juila was grateful to have at least one familiar face other than her own sister.

  The teacher began lecturing on writing techniques, and Juila soon discovered the lesson was nearly identical to the class she had already completed on Tuala. She was glad at least this one class would not be too taxing on her time. Jena might have other ideas since she never did care for free-writing. Her twin much preferred to read other people’s writing to making stuff up on her own.

  When class let out, Sofia practically ran them to their class since she did not share it with them. They waited at the front of the room to be assigned their seats at the tall, black lab tables. Both of the girls were eager to find out what this class covered as they were fairly certain they did not have the equivalent on Tuala. The teacher walked backward and pulled a rolling a cart into the classroom containing jars with floating dead animals in them. Jena had to jump out of the way before the teacher bumped into her.

  Just as the teacher moved past the twins, he stopped and said, “Oh, hello there, girls.” He looked at both of them carefully and asked, “Are you twins?”

  The girls nodded and said, “I’m Juila,” and “I’m Jena,” at the same time.

  “I see,” he stated and then said, “just pick any empty table. After I pass out the specimens for today, I’ll be passing out the textbooks.”

  The girls thanked the teacher and wove their way around the desks and standing students until they got to their table. They pulled out the lab stools and sat down. Soon, the teacher deposited one of the jars onto their table as well as a tray of various metal implements. Jena leaned forward to peer into the yellowish liquid. She turned up her nose and whispered to Juila, “I think it’s a frog.”

  “Yuck,” Juila replied. “I wonder what we’re going to do with it.”

  They had not been as quiet as they imagined since a young boy at the table in front of them turned around and announced, “You’re going to cut it up and identify its parts.” He grinned when he saw the looks of disgust on their faces. He noticed how pretty they both were and asked, “Hey, you’re new here. Where did you transfer from?”

  Juila was the first to regain her composure and replied politely, “South Africa.”

  The kid laughed and said, “Good one! Really, where did you come from?”

  Jena answered with more authority, “We really did just come from South Africa where we’ve had all of our schooling, up until today.”

  The boy looked at her more seriously and said, “Wow, that’s cool. I’ve never met anyone from Africa. I thought they were all supposed to be black there. You guys don’t look black at all.”

  Now it was Juila’s turn to laugh. The studying she had done on the internet paid off as she declared, “South Africa is mostly populated by white people who descended from Europe and England hundreds of years ago. You should look it up on the internet.”

  The class bell rang, and the teacher started to lecture about the different parts of the frog they were to identify before the end of the day’s class. He passed out a worksheet with numbered arrows so they could write in their answers. As he went by the girl’s table, he dropped off two rather large, hardbound books. He said, “We’re working on chapter three right now. You’ll find it will help you figure out the answers to the worksheet.”

  “Thank you,” they replied in unison.

  The teacher gave them another stare before he moved on to the next table to hand them the worksheet.

  “You get to fish it out,” Jena declared.

  “Fine. You get to be the one to cut into it,” Juila rebutted.

  Jena wished she had offered to remove it from the cont
ainer.

  Juila unscrewed the lid to the jar and almost gagged when the smell of formaldehyde rose from the container. She looked around to see what the other kids were doing and then used the tongs to pull the stiff frog from the disgusting liquid. She immediately dropped it onto the desktop before replacing the lid on the jar. It lessened the smell, but with everyone in the room doing the same thing, it lingered like a disgusting funk around them all.

  “You cut, and I’ll mark the worksheet,” Juila offered sweetly.

  Jena replied, “Thanks.” She picked up the scalpel she had seen the other kids use, and cut into the frog. Soon enough, her fascination with the different organs captured her attention and she no longer cared about the smell or the fact she was dissecting something which used to be alive.

  The rest of the day went by along the same vein. At lunch, they sat with Sofia and a friend of hers, named Valentina, and then had one more class with Sofia before the day ended. As the last bell rang for the day, Jena and Juila wondered what they were supposed to do. They had never discussed how they were getting home. At their locker, they debated the problem between themselves, “Do you think we should call Mom and find out if she’s coming to get us?”

  “I don’t know. I would have thought she’d have mentioned if she were coming to get us,” Juila stated.

  Sofia walked up to them and said, “Are you going to ride the bus home?”

  “There’s a bus that goes to our house?” Jena asked with a surprised expression.

  Sofia could not help but giggle and said, “Almost all of the kids take a bus to get home. Where do you live? Maybe I can help you figure out which one gets you closest to your house and then you can walk the rest of the way from the stop.”

  Jena felt rather stupid with her first question about the bus. She nodded for Sofia to help them while Juila told her their address.

  Sofia brightened and declared, “You only live a couple of blocks from me! Come on; we can all take the same bus.” She began weaving her way expertly through the throngs of kids milling around. She walked through a gate in a chain-link fence and down the row of bright yellow busses. When she got to the one with the number fifty-seven she turned and said, “This is our bus. We take the same one home every day. Bus forty-eight comes around and picks us up in the morning at the same place fifty-seven drops us off.” She mounted the three large steps and started walking down the aisle.