Lidi snorted in frustration, slamming her phone on the
table. "Who does that asshat think he's conversing with? An evolved baboon
with brains in his butt? I swear, if that jerk even thinks about firing me, I
will – "
"Who's going to fire you, Mom?"
Startled, Lidi jumped in her seat at the sound of her
daughter's voice coming from right beside her where just moments ago, there had
been nothing but an empty spot on the couch. "For Christ's sake, Dina!
Don't ever sneak up on me like that, will ya? Where the hell do you come from
anyway? Aren't you supposed to be at school?"
Dina flashed a mischievous smile at
her mother. "I am at school, mom. At least, my other self is,
who operates on autopilot now, by the way. But do not worry, though. My
classmates will never notice the difference. You know that she's not the real me.
Well, technically, she is. She's an exact copy of me. The same amount of atoms,
the same composition of Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and many other elements I
don't feel like naming. Just like the one enjoying a well-deserved holiday in
Paris at the moment, shop spreeing in the Champs-Elysées. I told her not to
return before scoring a nice pair of boots for me." Dina chuckled heartily
but stopped abruptly when she was hit with a sudden thought. "Or was she
the real me,
and am I merely
a copy on autopilot? Mmm…” Dina took a thinking pose. "This multiplying
really is a crack on the brain."
Lidi gaped with consternation at
her daughter. "You're speaking gibberish."
"I
know. I am, am I?" Dina said. "I should get a handle on these
powers."
Lidi
arched a brow. "What powers?"
Dina gave her mother a joyful
smile. "Was that your boss you were speaking with just now?"
Lidi's face became angry again
while being reminded of the one she just had on the phone. "I'm going to
tell that cocksure I'm going to work for Pinch Of Yum tomorrow if he ever pulls
something like that off again!"
"What did he tell you?"
Dina asked.
Lidi snorted while litting up a
cigarette, inhaling the first draw deeply before blowing it out while speaking
simultaneously. "Stay home and get paid. That's practically what he told
me. It's like Punk'd. I swear, Dina, If you're in this too, I will –"
"Lucas was honest, Mom."
Dina interrupted her mother. "Your boss's name is Lucas, right?" she
added, noticing puzzlement in her mother's eyes.
"How do you know that? I've
never told you his name." Lidi replied, surprise written on her face.
Dina smiled widely. "Because I
had a little chat with him, and he told me. And even if he didn't, I would
still know his name. Ha! I know everyone's name now! Thanks to these
inexplicable yet awesome powers I now possess, I can even change everyone's
name if I wanted to." Dina said, giggling excitingly.
Lidi narrowed her eyes. "What's this nonsense
talk about powers and such?"
"Don't you understand? I've
made your boss say this, Mom!" Dina giggled like a little girl. "You
can now leisurely rest on your laurels and see the money streaming in every
month. Hell, I could even make him hand over the restaurant to you, exalting
you to the owner and degrading him to a waiter. Then you would
be the boss. Wouldn't that be cool?"
Lidi snorted, flicking some ash off
her cigarette into the ashtray. "Prove it!"
The sound of Lidi's phone going off
broke the momentary silence. She gawked slack-jawed at her daughter as she saw
who was calling—it was her boss.
"Well? Pick it up!" Dina
prompted.
Lidi's thumb soared over to the
flashing icon with the green horn. "Lidi here. Yeah. Sure. Are you
serious? No! Of course, I won't have a problem with it." Lidi cast an
askance look in her daughter's direction as she spoke. "Okay, see you
tomorrow then. No, thank you." She hung up the phone and uttered a
disbelieving chuckle.
"Well?" Dina asked.
"The guy wants me to stop by
tomorrow to draw up the papers that will make me the joint owner." Lidi's
eyes became tiny slits, piercingly staring into her daughter. "Okay,
enough with this crap!" She sprung up. "Where is the goddamn
camera!" Lidi looked fervently to every corner of the room to see if she
could localize a hidden recording device. "You have it mounted somewhere
on your body, haven't you?" Lidi dashed forward and began searching her
daughter's body to see if some camera was attached somewhere. The groping hands
made Dina chuckle.
"Stop it, Mom. Please."
Dina tittered, slamming away her mother's groping hands. "There's no
camera here, I swear. But, look," Dina shoved a mirror in her mother's
face. "your hair's on fire."
Lidi gaped dumbfounded in the
mirror, and a look of shock stretched her eyes wide open as she noticed
prolific flames dancing on top of her head. Then began the screaming and the
failing. "Aaaah! My hair is on fire! My hair is on fire! Help me! Help me!"
Lidi slapped her head in an attempt to put out the flames.
All that Dina did was laugh
heartily. "It doesn't hurt, does it, Mom?" That did not seem to ease
her mother. Hurting or not. The flames were on top of her head, and that fact
alone was enough to prod Lidi into a mindless panic. "And now they are
gone," Dina said, holding the same mirror before her mother's face to
convince her that the flames were gone. Surprisingly, Lidi's coiffure looked
untainted. Not the image Lidi expected to see after witnessing flames eating
away her hair.
"You like blue, mom?"
Dina said as her mother's hair turned blue. "Or you rather prefer green?
Nah, let's go for purple, don't you agree?" Immediately, Lidi's hair
changed color and shifted between various shades of violet.
"How?..." Lidi stared
dumbfounded and a bit frightened at her daughter after seeing the color of her
hair changing just by her daughter's words.
Dina presented a sleek smile. "It's like I said
before, Mom. I have powers. I believe I can do anything."
"Anything?"
Dina nodded proudly.
"Anything, Mom!"
"Turn that clunker of mine
into a brand new Lamborghini."
"Done!" Dina said.
Lidi narrowed her gaze at her
daughter and dashed over to the window to take a look at the carport. Her mouth
dropped open, completely agape, as she saw a sleek-looking black Lamborghini
glistening in the sunlight where a poorly maintained Suzuki Swift stood just
moments ago.
Dina walked up to her mother and wrapped an arm
around her waist, following her gaze through the window. "Does the color
suit you, mom?"
“Am I, am I dreaming?” Lidi said.
"Nope," Dina grinned.
"Although I could turn this into a dream if I wanted to. Then I'll wake
you up and show you the same car standing in front of our house that you dreamt
of. Or, I could flip it all and make your dream your reality and vice versa."
"Can you do all of that?"
Lidi asked.
Dina nodded confidently. "That
and pretty much everything else."
"That sounds a bit disturbing
if you ask me. Dangerous even. What if you jumble up some essential elements of
life? The consequences could be disastrous for millions."
Dina shook her head. "I will
never do such a thing, Mom. Trust me. I won't switch off the sun or
anything." she tittered at her joke.
Lidi's face crinkled as though a
thought suddenly occurred to her. "Where is your brother? I haven't seen
him all day. Has he left the house before I woke up?"
Dina shook her head. "He's
right here with us, Mom. All the time. Aren't you, sweet brother of mine?"
Lidi looked confused as she saw her
daughter turning her head to look at her left shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Lidi asked.
"Looking at Throgg, of
course!"
Lidi looked at her daughter
perplexedly. "On your shoulder?"
Dina nodded. "He's very
tiny," she whispered. "You have to look very closely. But don't
startle him. Wait, let me increase his size a bit."
Lidi's expression morphed from a
look of curiosity to bewilder as she saw a small dot forming on her daughter's
bare shoulder, growing larger by the second.
Lidi's eyes blinked as she began to
recognize her son's features. "Throgg? Is that you?"
The minuscule figure of one inch
tall flailed fervently and emitted high-pitched squeals while standing upon his
kid sister's shoulder.
"I think he's angry,"
Lidi said, looking at her daughter.
"Oh, he's definitely angry,
alright," Dina replied. "Aren't you my big muscular brother of
mine?" she said condescendingly.
"Is this payback?" Lidi
asked.
Dina shook her head. "No, it's
my way of showing affection for him as a sibling. Payback comes later."
Lidi gaped as she saw Throgg
shrinking down again until he was barely visible to the naked eye.
"I must say, while I'm thrilled for you, Dina. I
cannot help but feel anxious about these powers."
Dina
frowned while pulling her chestnut hairdo into a messy bun. "What
for?"
"These
powers. It's the real thing, Dina. If it's true that you can do anything, then
you're basically God."
"God? Hmm..." Dina placed
a finger against her mouth, looking thoughtfully. "I must say, I do like
the sound of that. Anyway, I'm off."
"Where
are you going?"
"Anywhere I want, Mom! See you
later!"
Lidi shook her head in disbelief as
she saw her daughter vanishing in thin air.