Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Mother (as in maternal parent) (04/24/08)
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TITLE: Beautiful Lulu | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jan Ackerson
04/28/08 -
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She charms me for months, while I constantly swallow my guilt. The hospital chaplain has given me a Biblical Module for my Auditory Implant, and I listen to its calming words whenever I’m feeding Lulu or soothing her fitful sleep.
One day when Lulu is five months old, my spirit shifts in adjustment to the words that whisper in my ear. Guilt is covered by grace.
I embark on a year of scrupulous frugality, saving every credit I can, and finally I contact ModifiTime with a proposal.
While I wait to hear from them, Lulu learns to take stumbling steps, but only by gripping tightly to my fingers. Her entire vocabulary is mama, mama.
Two weeks before Lulu’s second birthday, I am rubbing her tummy and studying her face—her cheeks are flatter than the pinchable pink pads of the babbling toddlers who run around my silent Lulu in the park. I bend to kiss her; she is still my little elf. A musical tone in my Implant signals an incoming message.
“Justine Wickes,” says the artificial voice, “ModifiTime has approved your application for a Time Change as both minimal and beneficial. The stipulated amount of credits has been removed from your account. Report to any ModifiTime Center in order to effect your Time Change. Good luck.”
I dress Lulu in pale pink, and we set out immediately for the ModifiTime Center downtown. The smiling receptionist scans the IdentiChip embedded in my wrist. After a few seconds, she speaks. “Ms. Wickes, you’re in Room 3. Please listen carefully to the instructions before you proceed with your Time Change.” She indicates a play area, walls aglow with animated cartoons. “We have excellent RoboNannies. Shall I take your little girl?”
I pass Lulu’s hand to the receptionist and watch her teetering steps into the playroom. Behind me, the doors are numbered with digital displays. I enter Room 3 with Lulu’s face emblazoned behind my eyes.
As the door closes silently behind me, instructions stream into my Implant.
“Spend no more than two minutes out of Time. Touch only the items listed in your proposal. Speak no more than ten words. Remember, you cannot be seen outside of Time. Your words may or may not be heard, depending on noise and distraction at your destination. Take only the actions submitted in your proposal. Your actions may or may not change Time. If your actions do not change Time, no refund will be given.”
I tell the Walls my destination in Time and Space.
And I am there, with no transition whatsoever.
It is the kitchen of my own apartment, and for a disorienting moment I believe that Room 3 has malfunctioned. But a closer look reveals that it is my apartment from nearly three years ago. There is nothing of Lulu here: no colorful plush toys, no framed holographs.
With only seconds to accomplish my Time Change, I take a hesitant step into my own living room and watch myself. Justine is on the couch, weeping. I remember what she has just learned: She is pregnant.
She does not want to be pregnant.
She reaches for a bottle on the end table, a bottle half-full of a rich amber liquid.
This is my moment. With tingling feet I take three strides, and I sweep the bottle onto the floor. Whiskey and broken glass mingle on hardwood.
Justine looks around, startled. As she picks up the largest pieces of glass, I stoop close to her and whisper in her ear. “Don’t drink it, Justine. Don’t drink. Her name is Lulu.”
And as Justine searches for the source of this maybe-a-voice that is obviously not her Implant, I am suddenly back in Room 3 where soft yellow words are crawling across the wall. TIME CHANGE COMPLETE. PLEASE EXIT.
I head toward the playroom, my throat aching.
Lulu-but-not-Lulu runs to me, sure-footed, clutching a hand puppet. “Look, mama!” she says, and I can see that her features have refined, sharpened, brightened. “Kitty cat! Kiss kitty cat, mama!”
I gather my new Lulu and Kitty Cat into my arms and kiss them both.
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You did a good job of projecting what was coming with the ModifiTime. I was relatively certain she wanted to change something she had done which had caused her daughter's abnormalities.
But the story left me wondering...did she really want the "new & improved" Lulu? Hadn't she grown to love the daughter she originally gave birth to?
Very creative story for the topic.
This is marvelous! You have certainly slam dunked with this one. Jan, there is nothing weird about this. It is a piece of science fiction at its best. Well done doesn't even begin to cover it.
The only area that seemed awkward to me was this:
"With only seconds to accomplish my Time Change, I take a hesitant step into my own living room and watch myself. Justine is on the couch, weeping. I remember
what she has just learned: She is pregnant.
She does not want to be pregnant.
She reaches for a bottle on the end table, a bottle half-full of a rich amber liquid."
Rereading carefully, it was clear that Justine was referring to herself in third person, but I wonder if it might have worked as well or better had you had her continue to speak in first person, but switched to past tense to indicate that it is her younger self speaking.
A place like Modifitime could make a bundle, but how many of us would go broke trying to patch up our lives?
Are you sure you're not sentimental? :-)
Makes me wonder if you would do this for Jericho if you could :)
Or - for that matter, if I would do it for Marc.
Excellent piece, Jan.
I was a bit confused at who she was looking at in the apartment. At first I thought it was a friend, but then it all made sense to me after I read on a bit farther.
Very good lesson told here. I tis so sad when little ones have to be born with problems because of poor decisions made by the parents.
Thank you for sharing this wonderfully unique and thought provoking entry.
Well done!
Your topic is sobering, though, as there is a young girl in my family who has fetal alcohol syndrome. You described her very well as an infant and toddler. Unfortunately, her mother was not able to modify time.
Thank you for sharing this.
I know there must be some ethical issues involved with the possiblity of having such a time machine...but for now, the writing and what it evokes is challenging enough.
Laury