Hey, congrats to MexicanSwagg, Doomforzombies16, SapphireBlueSea, rosepika13, AlienGhostWizard14, and Rodrigo for identifying the device correctly! Donald did use the Thermal Blaster, which proved to be not that good of a match against Krane.
BTRlover1122, Sharon1234, and Lady Cougar-Trombone, I appreciate your reviews too!
Alright. This may or may not be the last update this week. I think I just broke my personal record of update speed in these past three days. . .
I hope you guys enjoy!
Episode Tag to: Three Minus Bree
Chronicle #034
"Quandary"
05/10/14
9:01 PM
Change is one of those things that are necessary to life. Change is a good thing, for the most part. I mean, without any changes, all living things would just stay the same. Take caterpillars, for example. If they never go into the metamorphosis cycle, they would just remain as caterpillars, eating everything in their path until the end of their life span. Or us, with illnesses. If our immune system never adapt to viruses as simple as common cold, well, let's just say that it's not the best case scenario for everyone in the human race.
On a macro and more complicated scale, changes happen too but unlike in nature, the consequences are not as welcome, maybe not even as necessary, or as great.
Like what happened this week. A lot of missteps in our household, some more tragic than others. How tragic did it get, you ask? Try Eddy in Mom's brain, wreaking havoc all over Mission Creek and the entire coverage area of Channel Four News.
I think it is safe to say that I'm not Mom's favorite kid at this moment.
I did try to help her with damage control. It's not like I could refuse. Her upset mama bear glare (this time, as she's turning against her cub) was enough to get me to call Grandpa to ask what I can do so Grandma will give him another chance. Apparently, Eddy's verbal blind shots when he had Mom 'visit' the Dooley home had caused some truths to spill out of my grandparents. Namely, that Grandma thinks Grandpa is gaining too much weight, and that Grandpa has never liked Grandma's bran fruitcake, though I think Eddy hit us both with that one.
Grandpa asked me to write a love letter that he could give to Grandma over dinner tomorrow night. He said he wanted the letter to sound like it came from him, so I asked him what he wanted in it. That resulted into an hour and a half long conversation filled with awkward expressions of feelings—because my grandfather is the kind of guy who says I love you with exactly two spine-smashing pats on the back—and a summary of a documentary he saw about the Ohio River.
In the end, we came up with something along the lines of "I'm really sorry I said I don't like your fruitcake, but I've always liked everything else that you cook for me. We both have flaws, but it's okay. I loved you forty years with them, and I'll love you forty years more with whatever else comes up along the way. Forgive me…" then he wants a quote from a Maya Angelou or a Pablo Neruda poem, which are her favorites.
I said okay.
He started talking about the upcoming FIFA World Cup after.
Since the letter had become top priority after Mom insisted at breakfast that it become, I spent the whole afternoon today writing a love letter while Big D administered some kind of respiratory test, to be followed by breathing treatments, to Adam and Chase downstairs. The mission with the massive fire had Chase breathing funny last night, and Adam's been coughing too much since they came home. I wanted to help out really bad, but I couldn't.
So solitary confinement it is.
I wasn't alone for very long, though. While I was searching through a poetry database for Maya Angelou stuff, I started to get the feeling that someone was with me. When I looked up from my tablet, I saw Bree sitting across the dining table, watching me. "Uh…hello," I said.
Bree smiled. "Whatcha doing there?"
I sighed. "You will just make fun of me if I told you," I said.
Bree shrugged. "Try me."
"Writing a love letter," I answered later.
Her smile widened. "For Janelle?" she asked.
"No. For my grandmother."
A somewhat quizzed expression came to Bree's face. "Um…"
"No, not like that!" I retracted. "I'm writing this letter so Grandpa can give this to Grandma. He asked me to write one for him so he can give it to her as a peace offering."
Bree nodded slowly when she understood. "Oh. Well, okay," she said.
I went back to searching through the database. "I thought you were supposed to go to the mall with Caitlin this afternoon?" I asked two poems later. I checked the time. "Aren't you going to be late?"
"No. We're not going anymore," Bree said. "She's still mad at me. I think hanging out would be the last thing on her mind."
I nodded. "Okay."
It was quiet for a while. Then, Bree spoke. "Mr. Davenport said I can never be bionic again."
I stopped typing. I looked at her. She wasn't looking back at me. I doubt she could. "I know," I said a little quietly.
She stared at something, or maybe nothing, on the table. She chuckled sadly.
"What?"
"It's just…" she started, "I remembered when you told us about that parallel universe last summer. I was just wondering what it was like in there."
I groaned in disgust. "You wouldn't have liked it. It was horrible there," I said as I started copying a few lines of the poem I chose into the letter.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," I said. I glanced up and saw that she was waiting for me to explain. As I kept on writing, I remembered that I haven't told them much about it after it happened because they were making fun of me. But that time, I didn't think that was what she intended to do. "For one, the Adam, Bree and Chase in that world are completely different from you three."
"How come?" she asked.
I scoffed. "Those guys totally sold me out," I said, careful not to accidentally copy any part of what I was saying into the letter. "Those loons called the feds on me. I shouldn't be surprised, really. They were horrible when I met them the first time. Adam Henderson keeps on spewing out these junks that no one even understands. I mean, he's nicer compared to his siblings, but he's no Adam Davenport. And their Chase. That guy actually seemed like he's bullying me! Can you believe that? He looks a little lacking in the brain area, though. Definitely not Chase Chase. But the person I probably didn't like the most was your version there. The girl is selfish and conceited. And 'Breh' spat on me too. Not on purpose, you know, but still."
Bree was quiet for a while. As I was trying to see why, she smiled. "It doesn't sound like she and I are much different from each other," she commented.
"Come on, Bree. Don't do that," I said, feeling guilty because I really could've watched what I was saying much better. She was probably already feeling bad about Adam and Chase, and I just made it worse by not putting a cap on my yap. "You know that's not true."
Bree shrugged, still defeated. "Why else would I do something as dumb as destroying my chip?" she asked.
"Because you're human and you're prone to making mistakes," I said. I sat up. "Bree Henderson does not regret any mistakes she makes. Unless, of course, the mistake is with her makeup that needs its five minute retouch or with her Forever 21 skirt that's not pink enough. That seems to be the only things she's concerned with." I placed down my pen. "But you. Look at you. You're sleepless over something legitimate. That makes a big separation between you two."
Bree sighed. She thought about what I said for some time, which I hoped was working for the good. "I remembered thinking, as I looked at my chip before I smashed it, that I didn't want it to be the summary of who I am," she said. "I mean, I am made of it, of all these bionics, but I didn't want to be contained in it, you know?" She scoffed. "I don't even make sense."
"No, no. You actually do," I said. I remembered something I read earlier on in the database during my search. "You know, 'you are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot—it's all there.'"
As the words registered to her, Bree gradually lit up. "You think so?" she asked.
I nodded. "Mm-hm," I said. Before Bree could start thinking those actually came from me, I picked up my tablet and started reading the information on it. "…and that's straight from an interview with Maya Angelou on the Oprah magazine, the April 2011 issue."
Bree rolled her eyes and started laughing.
I smiled as I continued writing. "Good. I'm glad that helped," I told her.
"It did," I heard her say.
Thinking that everything was resolved, I started to focus my attention on the letter. It didn't take long for it to be finished. Halfway through my second proofread, Bree talked again. "Leo?"
I looked up, and the expression of loss and desperation on her face caught me by surprise.
The edge of her mouth curled in what I supposed was an attempt to smile, but it never really came. "What am I gonna do?" Bree asked me.
I stared at her, and it came to me right then what situation we are in now. If we can't ever fix this, Adam and Chase would have to adapt from being in a three-bionic team to a two-bionic team, and Bree would have to stay behind, watch in the sidelines, and assist in the best way she can.
Bree will become just like me, a non-bionic that will always hope for the best for her siblings because that's all she can do.
I don't think that should happen. It's just not who she is.
Along with being a good thing, change can be a permanent thing that has irreversible consequences. Again, the caterpillars becoming butterflies. During those two weeks of development in their little chrysalises, a good number of their cells shift into other type of cells, which allow them to form things they didn't have before, like wings. But after they come out as butterflies, cool changes like that are over. There's no turning back, no more reversion into their chubbier, if-you-don't-get-out-of-my-way-I-will-eat-you self. It's just their hole-filled wings and long distance flying.
But this change with Bree, with us—something can be done about it. I have an idea, but it will draw some heat from a good half of my family. I'll probably hold off for now, see what Big D comes up with, but if it doesn't work then I'll need to act on it.
I would have to find Douglas and bring him back to the picture.
Signed,
Leo Francis Dooley
05/11/14
12:01 AM
The Chase Chronicles
In Three Minus Bree, Bree signed-up in an exchange student program that would have taken her to what country? Reviews are appreciated but, really, answers to the question are too! :D