February Exclusive - Typo - Part 2

‘Mom’.

Jessica stands by her mother’s bed and whispers.

‘Mom’.

She doesn’t want to raise her voice – inside voice, please – but this is an emergency.

What kind of emergency?

A time-travel one. A reverse Uno card one. Jessica snorts, and it’s half a laugh, the rest a gag. She may just need to barf.

Mom opens her eyes. “What is it, honey? What time is it?”

Jessica looks to the LCD display on Mom’s nightstand. Red numbers that tell Jessica it’s much too early.

“Three twenty,” she says. She feels her face warm.

Mom sighs. “It’s the middle of the night,” she mutters. And then she says, “Can’t sleep?”

Jessica nods. She’s never managed to feel so wide awake, and completely spaced out, at the same time.

Mom gives her a knowing look. “Excited about your party.”

Jessica shakes her head. What party does she have when she turns 12? It can’t have been anything too spectacular, no memories come to her mind. Not like the talent show. Not like watching Big Bang Theory with Mom after dinner tonight. Not like-

“So, what’s wrong?” asks Mom.

Ah yes. She needs a reason for the interruption. Not cool, waking up your mother at 3:20 AM.

Jessica considers the possibilities.

My tummy hurts. No, too babyish.

I had a bad dream. See above.

I wet the bed. Come on. Seriously?

I think I’m a time-traveler, and tonight I’m supposed to be going out with my boyfriend, but now I’m in 6th grade. Huh. That’s the honest truth, but it sounds more than a little cray-cray.

“Jessie?”

Jessica purses her lips. No one has called her that in years. Her mother doesn’t see the grown-up Jessica, the version that is feeling more and more unlikely by the second.

She glances at the clock, sees that a minute has gone by. Into the future, or still in the past?

I need your help, Jessica should say. Something unbelievable has happened, but I need you to believe me all the same. Because I want my boyfriend back. I want my degree from

Instead, Jessica rounds her shoulders, turns her feet inward, hangs her head and mumbles, “My head hurts.”

Mom looks at her. Jessica remembers the look; the one that says Mom is deciding whether Jessica is a big girl or a little one. Whether she should be firm or soft.

“Maybe you’re dehydrated,” says Mom. “Go get yourself a drink of water.” Ah. She has evidently decided to be firm, which makes Jessica a big girl.

But that means going back to her bed, her wrong bed, in her wrong body. And then what? Fix this thing all by herself?

She can feel the origin story of a giggle, way back in her throat. She’ll laugh out loud, and then Mom will go from firm to pissed, and maybe there won’t even be a party after that.

“Mom,” says Jessica. She hangs her head, lets her hair fall in front of her face. And she plays her joker. “Mommy, I don’t feel good.”

She plays on the name, on the wheedling tone. 12? She could be six. She could be next to nothing at all.

Mom sighs. She pulls back the comforter. “Come on.”

From firm to soft. Hasn’t that always been the way?

Jessica scrambles into bed beside her mother, produces a sigh of her own as she is pulled against Mom’s chest.

“Where’s Daddy?” Jessica mumbles, sighing more deeply as Mom strokes her hair.

“Daddy’s in Greenville, remember.”

Jessica inhales the scents of her mother’s hair and skin. She could be a baby right now; she could be just a whisper of a thing.

“That’s miles and miles away. What about my party?” Jessica asks. She sounds like a brat; she sounds perfectly spoiled and needy.

Mom kisses the top of her head. “He’s flying back tomorrow. Well, in a few hours now, I guess.” She fusses with the top of Jessica’s flannel pajamas. “These are much too big for you, honey.” She strokes Jessica’s back. “Maybe you’ll get new jammies for your birthday.”

Jessica smiles. She’s all for new pajamas. A lot of her friends have been getting onesies, fuzzy one-piece pajamas that look like the ones babies wear but are actually really fun and cool. Two of the girls wore onesies to school on Valentine’s day.

Mom continues to rub Jessica’s back, and Jessica knows that if she pretends to fall asleep, Mom will let her stay in bed instead of making her go back to her room.

She slows her breathing, lets her mouth fall open. And then she can’t resist asking, “Daddy’s definitely gonna be here for my party?”

Mom squeezes her daughter. “Daddy wouldn’t miss your birthday for the world.”

Jessica nods with confidence. That’s a fact. Daddy loves Jessie, he loves his little girl. She sighs again as the details of her 12th birthday party come back into view. Twelve! That’s so old!

And even as she gets back to the business of pretending to be asleep, a new question bubbles lazily in her mind. “Will Daddy do the tie dye?”

Mom laughs gently. “I think he’ll probably just watch. Tie dye’s not exactly Daddy’s style.”

That’s true. Jessica’s father isn’t much for stuff like that. He doesn’t even like watching Dancing With The Stars.

Mom says, “But your friends are going to love their party favors.”

“Mmm. Mommy?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“The rev…the reverse card in Uno. What’s it do?”

Mom laughs. “The things that pop into your silly head!” She hugs her daughter close. “The card with the arrows, it changes the direction of the game. So if you’re going forward, then the reverse card sends it back the other way.”

“Yeah,” Jessica mumbles. She knows that already.

She feels her whole body relax, and she fits so perfectly in her mother’s arms. So perfectly safe and small. And before she can remember to pretend, Jessica is fast asleep for real.