"Hold that light steady," Lisa barked.
"Sorry," Lacy said.
They were in the basement of the abandoned Victorian in Oak Grove, shafts of hot summer sun falling through the cracks in the ceiling overhead and dust disturbed by their movements clogging the heated air. Lisa knelt inside the tube with a screwdriver clutched in her hand and the guts of the machine laid bare. She paused every so often to swipe the back of her hand across her forehead. Lacy trained the beam where Lisa had indicated and held it.
It was late afternoon and they had been here for what felt like hours. Lisa brought an array of tools in a battered metal toolbox and had given the tube a thorough work-up before beginning. She marveled at the craftsmanship and the technological specifications like a geek salivating over an especially great stack of Pokemon cards. "I'm a genius," she muttered to herself.
Lisa quickly located the source of the problem in the internal reactor. Firstly, the plug had come undone. Lacy knew that but she didn't quite realize that the plug wasn't meant to power anything, it was meant to keep the fabric of space-time "open" to facilitate the machine coming back through it. Current!Lisa compared it to Moses parting the Red Sea. "Once that connection was lost, the machine switched over to its secondary power source so that it could get back through once ordered. However the circuits overloaded and the whole thing malfunctioned. I'm surprised my future self didn't anticipate that. I surmise that she was so excited by the prospect of time travel that she simply overlooked it. I, too, get sloppy and make mistakes when I'm excited."
"How can we fix it?" Lacy asked.
"Future me will handle that on her end," Lisa said. "I have to reconfigure the core processor and bypass some of the systems. It's a simple fix, really, but time consuming."
Presently, Lisa asked, "What time is it?
In order to check, Lacy would have to move the flashlight. "About 3:30," she said from memory.
"As expected, I won't be done before we have to leave," Lisa said. "But I'll wrap up tomorrow and send you on your way." She wiped her forehead again, took a deep breath, and hesitated. "What am I like in the future?"
The genuine curiosity - and fearful uncertainty - in Lisa's voice caught Lacy off guard. "Well," Lacy said after collecting her thoughts, "you're very smart -"
"I figured," Lisa said.
"But you also know how to have fun. You told me once that you spent the first half of your life being uptight and that you wanted to loosen up a little bit."
Lisa chuckled. "So I've gone soft in the head."
Ignoring her, Lacy continued. "After Mom and Dad d-died, you didn't really know how to, you know, act with me, but you tried your best and I...I really appreciate it. You've always been there for me when I needed it and...you're a great aunt."
For a long time, Lisa considered her words, then let out a deep breath. "That's not who I am now. I tend to be self-centered and arrogant. I realize these are flaws but I struggle with them."
"I know," Lacy said, "you told me that. You still have a lot of growing up to do. No offense. You are a thirty-four year old woman in my timeline."
Something about that struck Lisa as funny and she laughed. "Everyone changes, I suppose." She replaced the panel and stood up. "Let's go. We'll come back tomorrow."
Lisa packed her tools into her toolbox, snapped it closed, and followed Lacy out of the machine. She looked around the cellar and hummed to herself. "This would make a good place for a lab."
As if on cue, Lisa's cell rang.
"That's Lori," she said.
Outside, Vanzilla was parked at the curb, Lori sitting impatiently behind the wheel. Lacy had heard so much about Vanzilla - the sticky seat, the springy seat, the single working speaker, the strange smell - that it had become something of a legend in her mind, and actually getting to ride in it was really cool. She sat by the window and gazed out at the passing countryside as Lori drove them back into Royal Woods.
Lola and Lana were playing in the front yard when they pulled into the driveway. As soon as Lacy was out of the van, Mom appeared and dragged her into a game of HORSE. Lacy shot first and Mom watched. "Huh. Your lay-up is exactly like mine. Kind of weird."
"Hereditary," Lacy said.
Before dinner, Mom gave her a change of clothes so that Grandma could wash what she was wearing. In red basketball shorts and a red jersey, she looked so much like her mother that it was uncanny. "Strong genes," Grandpa said from his chair.
Lacy caught Mom stealing a suspicious sidelong glance at Lisa.
Grandpa made his infamous beans and franks for dinner, and Lacy cringed right along with everyone else when he sat it in the middle of the dining room table. She was hungry from all the basketballing she did with Mom, so she ate it anyway.
That evening, she, Mom, and Dad sat on the edge of Dad's bed and played Call of Honor: Homefront, the most boring entry in the whole Call of Honor series. You play as an old lady during WWII and your mission is to observe rationing laws and sell war bonds door to door. You could choose to sell rationed items on the black market, but if you were caught, you'd be branded a traitor and get a GAME OVER. Lacy put in a cheat code from memory and automatically unloaded half of her war bond stock. Dad's jaw dropped and he looked at her like she had two heads and one just did something amazing. "How did you do that?"
"I just...put in the cheat," Lacy said.
"This game is brand new," Dad said, "the cheats aren't even public yet."
Lacy didn't know how to respond to that. "Uh...I know a guy."
"What guy?"
"A guy from the video game company."
"What's his name?"
"Um...Steve...n."
Dad's brow furrowed. "Steven. I don't know anyone named Steven and I know all of the developers of my favorite games."
"He's a consultant. So he doesn't get top billing. He works behind the scenes."
An incredulous look flashed across Dad's face, and Lacy had the feeling he was onto her. "I gotta go," she said. She jumped to her feet and hurried out.
"Marge!"
Why did Lisa call her that anyway? Of all the names she could have picked, she went with Marge. Wasn't that the name of the blue haired lady from The Simpsons? Lacy thought it was but didn't know. Back in 2041, The Simpsons was in season fifty but only old people watched it, and even most of them did it out of nostalgia, not because it was any good.
Lacy made it three steps into the hall before Lana blindsided her. "We gotta finish off that Jeep."
"But it's dark," Lacy said.
Lana grinned. "I know."
Fifteen minutes later, Lacy was back to holding a flashlight while someone worked. Ugh, she hated this. Lana propped the Power wheel up on cinder blocks and slid underneath it on a wheeled backboard. Lacy's arm eventually grew tired and began to shake, and Lana snapped at her the same way Lisa had. "Stop moving."
"My arm hurts."
"Oh, don't be a baby."
No sooner had she finished with Lana than Lucy grabbed her. "I need help summoning Baal."
"Who's that?"
"You'll see."
They knelt around a pentagram in Lucy's room by candlelight. Lucy read Latin verses from an old leather bound book, and Lacy repeated them as best she could, which wasn't very well at all.
Lola rescued her for another tea party, but in the middle of it, Luna and Luan came in, each wanting Lacy for their own purposes. Leni and Lori joined the mix, and before long, a full-blown fight broke out over who got Lacy next. Lacy wasn't used to this sort of pandemonium and started to freak out.
While her aunts were preoccupied with one another, Lacy retreated to Lisa's room. Lily was already asleep in her crib and sucking her thumb, and Lisa was at her computer, fingers flying across the keyboard. Lacy sat on the edge of Lisa's bed. She went back to the look Mom had given Lisa earlier, and to the way Dad kept pressing her over the cheat code, and she frowned to herself. "I think Mom and Dad know something's up."
"Nonsense," Lisa said, "they're none the wiser."
Famous last words, for just as soon as she was done speaking, the door slammed open and Mom and Dad came in.
Oh no.
"I know something's up," Mom said, looking from Lacy to Lisa.
"Nothing is, in fact, up," Lisa said, "now if you'll excuse -"
Mom cut her off. "Marge throws balls like I do, she runs like I do, she does my end zone victory dance -"
"She uses some of the same expressions I use," Dad put in.
"And," Mom said and reached into her pocket, "there's this."
She held something up.
Lisa favored her with a blank stare. "A quarter?"
Mom walked over and shoved it into Lisa's face. "I found this in the washer. It must have come out of Marge's pants when Mom washed them. Look at the year on it. 2039."
Darn it.
They were so busted.
"What gives, Lise?" Mom asked. "Is Marge me from some alternate future reality? I bet she's me from some alternate future reality."
Lisa pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Close."
"Who is she?" Dad asked.
Silence held sway.
It was Lacy who finally broke it. "I'm...your d-daughter."
Mom went rigid, then spun around and looked at Lacy. "My daughter?"
Lacy nodded sheepishly. "And…"
"And what?" Mom asked. A hint of fear crept into her voice. "And what?"
Lacy motioned to Dad with her eyes. Mom looked from her to him and back again, baffled. Then it hit her and her face twisted in disgust. "What the fuck?"
Before Lacy could reply, Lisa said, "Lacy - Marge is not her real name - is yours and Lincoln's daughter. She came back from the year 2041." She shot Lacy a firm look. If your parents find out, she told Lacy yesterday, under no circumstances are you to mention their deaths. It might upset the balance of the universe. "Isn't that right, Lacy?"
Dad's face was completely white and he looked like he had just seen a ghost. Mom's was frozen in a look of horrified disbelief. "Okay," Mom said, "you're telling me that me and Lincoln...have a kid together in the future?"
"Yes," Lisa said.
"Bull."
Lisa gestured to Lacy. "She's sitting right there, Lynn."
"How?" Mom asked.
"I don't know," Lisa said. "You and Lincoln lied to her. She was under the impression that you met in high school."
Mom and Dad sat heavily on either side of Lacy, ther jaws slack in matching expressions of amazement. They looked at each other, then quickly away. "I know this is a lot to take in," Lisa said. "But your daughter travelled a long way to see you, the least you can do is close your mouths and spend some time with her."
Lacy rubbed the back of her neck, feeling put on the spot. Mom collected her thoughts, then turned to Lacy. "So...no wonder you're so good at football. I taught you. Right?"
"Yeah," Lacy said and smiled at the memory of Mom teaching her how to catch, "you taught me everything I know. And Dad taught me video games."
A blush touched Dad's cheeks and he scratched. "I'm not, uh, used to being called that," he said when he realized Mom was grinning at his embarrassment.
"You taught me other things too," Lacy said. "Like how to ride a bike. And how to multiply. I had a lot of trouble with that at first."
Mom chuckled."I feel you there. Lincoln's a math wiz. He can do almost anything."
"Except build a bed," Lacy said and giggled. Realizing Mom and Dad didn't know what she was talking about, she said, "One time he tried to build me a canopy bed. Long story short, he almost cut his fingers off and my mattress was on the floor for a month."
That made Mom laugh. "That sounds like Lincln alright."
"He used to read me bedtime stories too," Lacy said. "And he would do the voices and make sound effects." She teared up and swallowed a wad of emotion. "Then one day I thought I was too old for stories but...I really miss them."
She blotted her eyes with the heel of her palm. Dad looked at her uncomfortably, then gave her shoulder a stiff pat.
"Lacy is returning to the future tomorrow," Lisa, "so I suggest you spend time with her now."
Mom and Dad looked at each other. She was thirteen and he was eleven. Neither one knew anything about being parents and had never even imagined themselves in such a role. Yet here they were, a brother and sister suddenly thrust into being the parents of a twelve year old. "Sure," Mom said, "uh...sounds fun."
First, they ate popsicles in the kitchen. "Wanna race?" Mom asked Lacy.
"You're on," Lacy replied.
They both crammed their popsicles into their mouths and tried to beat the other. When they were finished, they both slapped their hands to their heads. "BRAIN FREEZE!" they cried in unison.
Next, they watched one of Lacy's favorite movies on Dad's laptop. Frozen. Her real favorite was Frozen 4 but it hadn't been made yet, so they had to settle. Lacy sat between her parents and ate handfuls of popcorn. Dad mussed her hair occasionally, and Mom gave her a noogie, making her cry out in pain. "Sorry," Mom said with a sheepish smile. "I'm still getting used to this whole mom thing."
After the movie, Lacy and Leni colored pictures at the dining room table. Lacy drew a football for Mom and a scene from Grave Robber 64 for Dad. At first, she felt kind of dumb treating kids her own age like parents, but over the course of the evening, their age ceased to matter. Just as Lisa, they weren't exactly the people they would become later on, but she could see flashes of them, and after two weeks of missing them dearly, that was good enough for her.
Mom and Dad too warmed to the arrangement. At the beginning, they were awkward and uncomfortable, like children taking their first uneven steps, but they began to loosen up. They horseplayed with Lacy and each other; Lacy rolled her eyes at how dumb they acted; and Dad did whatever he could to make Lacy laugh. After a while, he was almost like old times again, and Lacy forgot all about the past two weeks.
They capped their night off with Dad reading her a bedtime story just like he used to. Lacy lay in his bed, scrunched between him and Mom, and he read aloud from an Ace Savvy comic. He even did the voices, and Lacy giggled at him because his voice was squeaky and high-pitched.
Before he was done, Lacy fell asleep.
And in her sleep, she smiled.
