Page 107 of Earth Girls are Easy… To Dominate
“How could you find someone else? We were engaged up until a few months ago!” He blubbers.
“You can’t get over an engagement that quickly,” says the third lady in line. If she can wear that shade of neon yellow fishnet tights with that shade of neon green tunic, then I can get over an engagement. “The heart doesn’t jump from one love to another.”
“It wasn’t love,” Jimmy corrects her. “But that’s okay, because I don’t love her either. It’s ordained, so love will grow.”
Both women’s eyebrows jump to their hairline. The one in the loud outfit presses her lips together as if holding in her nasty response.
“Jimmy, I did find love. That’s why we’re through,” I reply with a curt nod. “Now, Ma’am, I believe you were next. What can I get you?”
She orders enough food for a football team and balances the heavy tray on her bounty of shopping bags across the food court. Half a dozen kids cheer when she reaches their table. Little hands snatch and jostle the tray. She fights to maintain its balance as the weight distribution changes. Without a single thanks, the kids scamper to the condiment station. The mother sighs as she drops her shopping bags under the table. There’s no corndog left on the tray for her. She plops into a chair only to move once a kid returns to pull it out from under her.
Is this my future? Left without a corndog because I couldn’t carry one more thing on the tray? Her exhausted expression will haunt my dreams, as will her faded clothes and limp hair. She has washed the neon out of her hyper-color shirt. I bet those shopping bags are full of kids’ clothes, games, and school supplies—not cosmetics and the latest fashions. When was the last time she spent an afternoon at the salon, refreshing her perm? I want to ask her if her husband is at work or if she’s a single mom, but how rude would that be?
Her plight dominates my thoughts as I slog through a double shift. By the time the mall closes, I’m ready to drop. My feet sting with pins and needles. The babies kick my insides with frustration—their soft pretzel was hours ago and devoid of real nutrition. At least Mom will have real food left over from their dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll wait to tell them of my predicament until after I eat.
The trash bags seem to smell worse with each trek to the dumpsters. The stench of ketchup follows me with its cloyingsweetness, overpowering the ever-present grease. I may never eat ketchup again after this. I wonder if these babies will eat Earth food? And if not, then what? I’ll have a hard enough time feeding them without alien food aversions. On the spaceship, Var’n had pellets that filled my belly and gave me nutrition. We didn’t eat. What if my babies don’t have the organs to eat?
“Oh, Var’n! I’ve made a mistake. Why did I leave you?” I wail to the night’s sky. It may only be eight o’clock, but it’s already dark. I shouldn’t linger in the parking lot, but I’d hoped to face my parents before I broke down in tears. Rubbing the translation chip fiercely with one hand, I use the other to fling garbage bags into the dumpster. “I made a huge mistake—the biggest mistake of my life. I need to be with you! I miss everything—my purpose with your mini-selves, your love for my body, the freedom to use my words and love myself, and mostly—I miss you! Where are you?”
Is that my imagination, or is the translation chip buzzing in my chest? I flatten my palm over it…and kinda feel vibrations… I rip open the polo shirt buttons and jam my hand inside. Itisbuzzing! “Var’n! Var’n! I’m begging you. Please take me back!”
It buzzes harder, but no green beam surrounds me. My babies swish and kick with my distress. Might as well head to Mom and Dad’s house. My feet ache slightly less than my heart as I traverse the parking lot to the bike rack. How long will I be able to work on my feet all day? If I can’t work, I can’t ask Lisa to float my part of the rent. Even with Johnny paying a third, reducing my portion, I don’t have the savings to take time off. Plus, I get the sinking feeling that the lovebirds would rather I disappear, so they can rent a one-bedroom apartment closer to the mall.
When I release the chain on my bike, it topples over. I cry out in pain as I’m knocked onto my butt. The backs of my thighs scrape against pebbles on the asphalt. One bike drops onto theother, wedging me underneath them. I roll onto my side and lift my legs to protect my belly. My arms shake as I try to lift the bikes off me, but they won’t budge. I’m trapped until someone else comes to retrieve their bike. What if they were all left here for the night? What if a murderer finds me first?
“Help!” I scream. “I’m pinned under the bikes!”
My sobs echo through the dark parking lot. The bikes balance on my hip, but for how long? If I shift a millimeter, they will crash down on my belly and squish my babies. My knees and lower back ache as I maintain the strange position. I lower my upper body to the ground to conserve energy. My heart pounds and my blood pressure soars with panic. Glassy with my tears, the world tints green.
I’m lifted from the Earth with four tangled bicycles. My limbs fall from their confined place, and my body seems to sigh with relief. I’m going to be okay. Var’n will make everything okay. I repeat the phrase like a mantra in hopes this is real, and I haven’t passed out.
“Pet,” Var’n commands from the shadows. “You have earned yourself the punishment of a lifetime.”
“Are you mad at me?” I whimper from my spot on the floor.
“Furious.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t speak up to stay with you. I was flustered between my duties to others and what my heart desired. By the time I chose…my choice was gone.”
“By not using your words as I specifically, repeatedly asked you to, you put the worries of those who only wish to control you over your duty to protect and cherish yourself, you have earned the spanking of a lifetime?—”
“Then you will take me back? Please,” I wail loudly and sob into my forearms.
“I’m not finished!” He yells. I freeze. We stare at one another until a soft hiccup escapes my lips. “And then you will serve alife sentence on this ship, so I can be the one who protects and cherishes you…”
CHAPTER NINE
“Put your clothes into the incinerator chute and have a cycle in the cleansing chamber before meeting me in the bedroom,” Var’n commands before exiting the main room.
Is he playing, or is he that angry? Is this the start of an extended silent treatment? He wouldn’t be so childish and petty, but those were the standard behaviors in my home growing up. My hands shake as I remove my uniform, splattered with corndog grease and stinking to high heaven, and place it in the incineration chute. I can’t help but smile as it slides through the little door. It’s the end of an era. That uniform meant independence, the first step to having a career, and owning my freedom. My next step was leaving the church and Jimmy’s controlling family in my dust.
And now, “Goodbye, Earthly life,” I say as I close the door to the little hatch. It must have been close to full, because the fire inside roars to life. “No turning back now.”
On my way to the cleansing chamber, I can’t help but giggle at the memory of my first walk across with five mini-selves pushing me every step of the way. If I’d known Var’n was waiting on the other side, I’d have run into the glass tube. Funny, the fear of hiding his babies was greater than the fear I felt the dayI was abducted. If I’m honest with myself, I’m more scared of losing Var’n forever than his punishment.
I tiptoe past the cleansing chamber and press my ear to the bedroom door. The door is cracked, so I crouch low to peer inside. Var’n paces behind a mini-self snapping a belt. The rest of his mini-selves follow him in circles, tripping over themselves. I scoot backward toward the hinge as he passes me. Ha! He didn’t notice me.
“She needs this,” he mutters before cracking the whip. “She will torture herself with guilt if punishment isn’t swift and harsh enough to break her conditioning. I want her to move on from this, especially since I forgave her the moment she appeared.”
