The Addamses at Home
Posted on Tue 1st Jan, 2019 @ 1:25am by Purulence Addams
895 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Oblivion
Location: The Addams Family House
Timeline: In a new reality MD-17?
It was… a Torii gate, perhaps, or a megalithic trilithon rendered in jacinth. A clear and obvious demarcation at the top of a ridge, separating one realm from another. Dawn Addams paused. “Do not release each others’ hands,” she reminded her companions. With a look of determination, she took the last few steps to the ridge, and passed through the gate.
The Echos had been designed to be the perfect spies and assassins. In embodied life, they had simply known what those around them knew; understood their needs and desires and purposes. In the moment when the Witch, her matrilineal descendants, and their friends stepped into the valley they had closed, the Echos turned their attention their way. In that moment, they knew who had arrived, and why. They considered the Witch’s purpose, understood her points, reluctantly agreed.
There was a flash of light, and time was rearranged, reality was changed.
Living in a home with three ... four ... well, three women, because Six couldn't be counted as a woman yet, had both high points and low points. Ischemia was definitely at a low point with it and thinking, once again, of either finding her own place, or maybe getting back to work. There was that interesting case with the AIs on Ardana. It appeared that Ardanans who descended from Stratos-dwellers always had to have someone to see as inferior!
She walked into the library and saw Six sitting quietly on the floor at a corner where two bookcases met. She watched her for a moment, remembering the first time she'd met her. She'd been almost four when Chlamydia brought her to New York to finalize the adoption and introduce the child to her family. Ischemia had never asked her sister for more than she'd cared to tell them ... but why couldn't she remember baby pictures or buying a birth gift for her?
"Six, sweetie, have you seen my sapphire ear hoops by any chance? I thought I left them on the table on the landing of the stairs, but they aren't there." Ischemia shrugged her shoulders, puzzled by what she could have done with the things, and Six was good at finding lost things.
Without looking up from the knucklebones spread randomly before her, Six answered, "Itsy says Bonnie is wearing them."
"Bonnie? Where would she ... never mind, I'll go have a look. Thanks ... and tell Itsy thanks, too."
She backed out of the library and headed for Chlamydia's study. "What would a skeleton want with my earrings? She doesn't even have any ears," Ischemia muttered. Looking up just in time to avoid colliding with Purulence, she sighed. As usual, the youngest sister had her nose in an art book.
"She could hang them from her external auditory meatuses," Purulence said, still poring over her book. She looked up suddenly, realizing that Ischemia had spoken and therefore stood beside her. "Hey! I'm going to make hot chocolate. Do you want any?" She poked her head in through the library doorway. "Six, want some hot chocolate?"
"I should very much enjoy some chocolate, Aunt Purulence," Six said. She looked up from her knucklebones. "Bitsy says I should ask if you desire assistance in preparing the treat?"
"I never turn down help," Purulence said. "Do you want Mexican hot chocolate, peppermint, or plain?" When Purulence made hot chocolate, her recipe meant the real deal, with whipping cream, dark chocolate, a tablespoon of flavored liqueur in each cup, and vanilla extract.
"Dark," Six said. "Dark as sin and twice as bitter."
"That's my girl," Purulence said with a grin, though she preferred her own chocolate with only about 75% cacao. "Espresso in yours, then. Do you want to whip the cream? And would Bitsy like any hot chocolate, seeing as how she's recruiting help?"
Ischemia came out of Chlamydia's study, holding up her ear hoops. "Right, as usual, Six. How Bonnie managed to hook them into her ocular orbitals so the chains dangled the sapphires as if they were teardrops, I have no idea." She looked pointedly at the child. "You wouldn't happen to have any thoughts on that, would you?"
Six tilted her head as if listening. "Bitsy says Boris did it. Boris says Bitsy did it. I rather doubt it was all Boris, as he is rather small, after all."
"Well, they're found now," Purulence said. "Ischemia, chocolate or not? Speak now or forever hold your peace. Is Chlamydia around?"
"She wasn't in her office," the older sister said absently, still trying to work out the mystery. "And ... no, I think I'll forego the chocolate. I have an appointment shortly with the lawyer from Achrady Seven." She looked up at Purulence. "Or did he say Five?"
"Seven," Purulence said. "So why are you meeting with a lawyer? You've got a case?"
Ischemia nodded, "More like he has the case and wants me to take it, but yes, something like that. I don't know that I will." She finished attaching the earrings through her ear lobes. "But I don't know that I won't, either."
Turning to Six, she said, "Enjoy the chocolate, but forget about the sin, dark or otherwise." Tugging on a beribboned braid, she teased, "You are going to have an Addams-normal childhood, if we have to beat it into you."
RSS Feed