Small Problem -11- by Melanie Brown

Small Problem

Part 11

I looked curiously at Cathy. What an odd question. Mom hasn’t done anything to me. “What are you talking about?” I asked. “It’s your turn. Are you going to play?”

Cathy shrugged “You seem different somehow. Your natural snark is missing.” She looked down at the cards she was holding. “Do you have any threes?”

I frowned as I pulled my threes cards from my hand and tossed them to the table. “I just knew you were going to ask that!”

As she put her newly formed book of threes onto the table, Cathy asked, “Are you sure Mom hasn’t given you any medication lately?”

I thought for a moment, annoyed at being distracted from figuring out which cards I need to ask her about. “Oh. Last night on the way home, she gave me some aspirin. Said it would help me relax. They were odd though. They were round pills, not tablets and she removed them from a blister pack she had in her purse. Other than that, nothing. Do you have any kings?”

Cathy frowned. “She gave you pills? Don’t take any more pills from Mom for now. Go fish.”

I frowned back at Cathy as I pulled a card from the deck. “Are you suggesting Mom is trying to poison me? Hey, I know I screwed up big time last night, but poisoning me seems kinda severe.”

Cathy shook her head. “Of course, Mom wouldn’t poison you. Even if she hated you, she wouldn’t want to lose those payments from your former employer. I know that sounds cynical, but it’s true. But they do pay a lot.”

Feeling confused, I asked, “What employer? I’m fourteen. I don’t have a former employer! And what money are you talking about?”

Narrowing her eyes at me, Cathy said, “The company with the stupid long name where you worked on that nanite project?”

I felt my headache returning. “Nanites? What are those?”

Cathy frowned. “You know. Those little robots that changed you into a girl?”

Despite the headache, I laughed. “That’s gotta be the stupidest thing you’ve ever said! I’ve been a girl my whole life! I need to get some aspirin. My headache’s come back.”

Cathy slid out of her chair. “Let me get the aspirin for you.” She stepped over to the kitchen cabinet over the pantry where we keep some common medicine.

I frowned. “I’m perfectly capable of getting aspirin myself.”

Cathy opened the cabinet door. “Humor me.” She pulled out the aspirin bottle and twisted off the bottle’s cap. She dumped some of the bottle’s content into her palm. “What the hell?” She stepped back over to me and held out her hand.

I started to reach for the pills in her hand, but she pulled her hand back. “Are you going to let me have the aspirin or not?”

Cathy shook her head. “No. Not yet.” Pointing at her palm, she asked, “Is this what Mom gave you last night?”” I nodded. “I’ve never seen aspirin pills like this.”

She stepped over to the kitchen’s entrance and shouted, “Mom! Can you come here a minute?”

Mom stepped around the corner and into the kitchen. “What is it, honey?”

Shaking the aspirin bottle and holding out her hand, Cathy demanded, “What is this?”

For a heartbeat, Mom was taken aback. “It’s aspirin, honey. Amanda has been getting headaches lately.”

“Bullshit!” Cathy’s eyes narrowed. “What is this crap? What did you do to my sister? Look at her! She’s a zombie!”

I folded my arms. “I’m not a zombie!”

Mom scowled at Cathy. “Don’t take that tone with me, young lady! Hand me those pills.”

Shaking the bottle, Cathy said, “Nuh uh. What did you do to Amanda?”

“Give me those pills!” growled Mom. Why was Mom acting this way?

Before anyone could react, Cathy dumped the pills down the drain of the kitchen sink. “No!” shouted Cathy. “What do these pills do? Fess up, Mom!”

Looking deflated, Mom said, “Okay, okay. Look. I was just trying to help your sister. Don’t you want a normal sister?”

Pointing at me, Cathy said, “I want my sister back. I don’t know who this is. What did you do?”

Mom sat down at one of the stools in the kitchen. “I thought this would make her better. Amanda’s been out of control lately. I went back to BioSynthIndustrialMedical where your father worked, and talked to a Dr. Patel. I told him what was going on with Amanda. He suspected Amanda was suffering from a conflict in her brain from who she used to be and who she is now. He gave me an experimental behavior modification drug he’s been working on. After seven days of dosing, the change would become permanent.”

Cathy looked wild-eyed from me back to Mom. “Holy shit, Mom! You were drugging your own daughter? How much of this crap have you given her?”

Mom scowled at Cathy again. “Give me a break! You saw how uncontrollable she’d become. Defying me with that Owen boy. Getting arrested was just the icing on the cake. I’ve had the pills for two weeks but was hesitant to use them. I gave her the first dose on the way home from the sheriff’s office.”

“Oh my God, Mom!” shouted Cathy. “I can’t believe you’d drug your own daughter! And and… what if I’d taken it by accident? Would I become a zombie too?”

Tears starting to flow, I sat at one of the kitchen stools. “What did you do to me? How can I ever trust you again?”

Looking over at Cathy, Mom said, “I asked Dr. Patel about that. He said it should just make you more submissive. They haven’t started clinical trials yet. And Amanda, I feel terrible. I was desperate. The effects of your one dose should wear off by the time you go to cheer practice.”

Crying, I ran to my room. As I passed Mom, I shouted, “I hate you!”

Cathy said sourly, “You earned that one, Mom.”

*  *  *

“Has everyone stopped hating me long enough for me to take you guys to cheer practice?” Mom asked loudly from the kitchen.  I was with Cathy in her room getting dressed and putting my make-up on. I frowned when I heard Mom’s voice.

Through the closed door, I shouted, “We were going to take an Uber!”

Mom opened Cathy’s bedroom door and stepped into the room, arms folded. She sighed. “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry? I’ll never do that again. But Amanda, you had driven me to my wit’s end. Michael still felt a two-week stint at Juvi would straighten you out.”

Wrinkling her brow, Cathy asked, “Michael?”

Looking over at Cathy, Mom said, “My date the night of Amanda’s crime spree.”

I rolled my eyes. I could feel my mind was clearing up. “Did you read the report? I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Cathy shook her head. “The only thing a week or two at Juvi would teach Amanda would be how to hot-wire a car.”

Mom shrugged. “He’s gotten results from doing that with his own teen son.”

I frowned at Mom. “Oh. Father of the Year material.”

Mom took my hands. “Amanda, can you ever forgive me? I made a huge mistake, but I didn’t know what to do.”

I suddenly remembered her name. “Charlotte, you were going to erase my memory forever! That’s pretty damned serious!”

Mom lowered her head. “I know. I know. I feel awful about it.”

Cathy grinned at me. “You owe me big time, sis. You’d be a brain-fried zombie if it wasn’t for me!”

Mom looked over at Cathy and grunted. “Dr. Patel said her memories are likely to fade over time anyway. The pills just sped up the process so Amanda could be more like a normal girl.”

Cathy poked Mom’s shoulder. “Amanda is a normal girl. You just won’t treat her like one.”

Mom looked at me. “I’ve apologized every which way from Sunday. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”

I folded my arms again. “I don’t know, Mom. What you did was pretty evil. How can you make it up to me?”

Mom shrugged. “I’ll make chicken fried steak for dinner.”

I grinned at Mom. “Okay.”

*  *  *

End of Part 11 of Small Problem