In the shadows behind a car across the road, she could have sworn she saw a pair of yellow eyes. Too big to belong to a cat or a dog. She tried to focus as much as she could but the eyes had vanished. “…weird…” Emma frowned, shrugged and shut the curtains. Must be a stray dog. Or a cayote? I’ll ask Ben tomorrow.
“Emma! Dinner’s ready!” Her mother shouted. She grimaced and took a deep breath to steady herself. Everyone is bubbling with joy, love and excitement and I need to work really hard as to not bring them down. Feeling like a fraud Emma fixed a smile on her face and made her way down. I’ll find a job as soon as possible. Even if It’s so I can get my own place and not have to worry about walking in on my mother and Ben sucking face like a pair of teens. With a shudder she headed downstairs. Dear lord how will I survive this?
“-Wednesday.”
“What?” Emma grumbled as she brushed her teeth. She was delighted to find that this place had three bathrooms. Joanna and Ben’s room, and her room, had an en-suite bathroom. There was also a large family bathroom which everyone was happy for Beth to use, as she was a massive fan of bubble baths and long showers. It meant for the first time in her life, there was no queue to use the bathroom. “Why would I be Wednesday?” Every bedroom, and the kitchen downstairs, had a dark grey wireless house phone in it, so Emma had hers pressed to her right ear and brushed her teeth with her left. Her sleeping shorts and tank top were no longer ideal as she shivered and decided to buy some thermals as soon as she could. The sun was out in Glen Valley, but being it was colder here than she was used to.
“Because you’re the dark, broody jaded one.” Emma glowered at her half asleep reflection in the mirror like her friend Cassey was the one she was looking at. “Think about it? Joanna and Ben are Morticia and Gomez Addams, creepily all over each other, and Pugsley is bonkers and follows Wednesday around like a puppy. So Beth is Pugsley, and you’re Wednesday.” Emma had to chuckle at that. Cassey was a fellow nursing student, though she was destined to go in a different direction to Emma. Veterinary nursing, specifically. They didn’t share any classess back at Seattle U, but they did share a dorm room, and therefore became fast friends over the last 3 years. It was why she made a point of calling her perky blonde friend to let her know how her world had been shaken up like an etch a sketch.
“Alright, but if I’m Wednesday, that makes you batty uncle fester! Handing me the TNT and leading me astray.” Emma spat her toothpaste out and chuckled. She washed her face and pressed her fingertips to the dark bags under her eyes.
“Well I can’t be that much or a role model for you, or you would have done what any sane person would have done and said hell no to this freak show.”
“Well, I wanted to stick my heels in. I really did. I started to.” Emma took a brush to her coppery hair and braided it over her left shoulder. “But Ma gave me the puppy eyes and she had backup from my doe eyed sister so, you know.” She shrugged for no one’s benefit and rooted around her sparce new chest of draws for some clothes for the day. On her placements she had always worn blue scrubs, and on campus her outfit consisted of jeans and a hoodie. So she didn’t have much of a wardrobe to transport, and therefore not many options for today. Most of her clothes were for running in, honestly.
“Weak!” Cassy teased her, making her laugh as she put on her sensible undies and supportive sports bra. Might as well be prepared to have a quick costume change so I can go out for a run later. Lord knows being paraded around Ben’s home town and having to play nice all day will make me need the outlet later anyway. “But seriously, is this apprenticeship legit?”
“I intend to find out exactly that, as soon as possible.” She hopped into a pair of dark blue jeans, her running trainers and pink nylon long sleeves shirt, with a black wind resistant jacket over the top. She was nearly dressed perfectly for a run, bar the jeans. Emma wasn’t about to run around in spandex jeggings in what could be her first meeting with Deloris. “Ben’s giving us the tour today, and Mayor creep said that Deloris, the old and only midwife in town, was usually at the clinic. So I’m going to try my best to find where that is, and then make sure she’s actually certified to take me on as her apprentice.” Emma rolled her eyes as she stood by her window and opened the curtains. She absently looked out to where she saw the dog in the shadows last night, but of course it wasn’t there now. Instead she saw droves of mums and their kids heading to school.
“Didn’t you say she was like 80?”
“70.” Emma corrected, but her attention was being drawn to the families walking and laughing up the road. It would be an idyllic scene in itself, like any from the suburbs, except she noticed something really strange. Each family group was far too big. The national average in America was to have 1.9, or rather 2 children, with some obviously having more or less. But with a confusion Emma leaned closer and started to silently count some of the clusters of children vying for their mother or father’s attention. The average number she got was closer to eight! Some of those poor mothers were leading a row of over ten little ducklings in cute little high visibility vests to their destination. It wasn’t just mothers and fathers she saw, but single parents, and several couples that were same sex leading equally large groups of children down the street. Quick as a whippet Emma held the phone tight and headed downstairs. She pushed the front door open and stood in the doorway. Low and behold, she hadn’t been seeing things through her window. Does Glen Valley not believe in birth control?! But then, what about the same sex couples? Emma inclined her head and put on a polite smile as she waved back at a few friendly passers-by who welcomed her to the neighbourhood. Is there an insemination clinic or very successful adoption agency in this little town somewhere?
“-still there?”
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