The Clocks

Genie yawned and stretched. She'd had such a wonderful dream. She couldn't quite grasp what it had been about, but the feeling of something delightful stayed with her like a deliciously scented perfume. Well, no time for woolgathering. She had things to do. She made to get up from her bed and discovered that she couldn't move anything but her head. What the...?

She was flat on her back. She never slept on her back but rather on her side, specifically her left side, so she wouldn't be facing the wall. So why? She was still groggy, which itself was very unusual for her. She slowly turned her head to the left and saw a head pillowed on her left shoulder. Next she turned her head to the right and beheld the same scene.

Hmmm. It seemed that two people were in bed with her and lying partially on top of her. OK. That explained why she couldn't move. The next question was: Who were they? Time to think logically. They looked a lot alike, so they were probably twins. She looked again. Yes, twins. Females for sure. That was good. She wasn't sure what she'd have done if it had turned out that they were boys.

Next question: Which twins? Slowly, almost glacially, she ran through the list of twins she knew, then sorted for females, then for those smaller than she was. Finally she sorted the few who remained by how well she knew them and whether or not they were friends.

Ah! She had it. They had to be Yoko and Hibiki Fukui. Problem solved! Now that she had, she considered going back to sleep. She realized that lying on one's back in bed was quite comfortable, and the twins were nice and warm. She began to drift off when there was a sudden, urgent demand from her body. If she didn't get up and relieve herself, she was going to pee her bed.

That was absolutely unthinkable. She hadn't done that since she was four. Well, maybe five, but still.... She carefully extracted herself from the still sleeping twins and got to her feet. How odd. She felt incredibly weak, but there was nothing for it. Nature called and the call was growing more urgent by the second.

She'd managed to stagger forward about three steps when Mimi appeared to support her the rest of the way. As she closed the door she murmured her thanks then sank down to take care of her business. Once she was finished she let herself out. Nobody there. It really wasn't surprising. Mimi had other things do do in the morning than wait for her while she was on the toilet.

She was still a bit stiff and unsteady, but she was able to manage reasonably well and worked her way along the balcony without losing her balance. Well maybe just once, but she caught the railing and steadied herself.

Her mind had managed to rev itself up just a bit by then and another question she hadn't thought of earlier floated to the surface of her mind. She'd been sleeping with the twins. That was fine. They were friends, not romantic interests. Then she realized that she'd missed something important earlier: WHY were they sleeping with her?

She smiled to herself. Excellent! She'd come up with a good question. Her mother would be proud of her. Now that she knew the question, she needed to figure out how to answer it. That part was easy. The twins were, probably, still lying on her bed. She could ask them!

Congratulating herself for her astuteness, she strode, more steadily now, to her bedroom and found, as expected, that the twins were still there, though they were now sitting upright, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. As Genie opened her mouth to speak to them, a look of horror flashed across each of their faces. They sprang from the bed, ran out the door, split up, and sprinted down the balcony in the direction of the two closest toilets.

How rude! The could at least have said hello. Well, they'd probably be back fairly soon. In the meantime she could pull on a shirt and some sweat pants. She ran her fingers through her hair, or, rather she tried to. OK. After clothes, hair brushing would be needed. It was shortly after she began brushing her hair that her mind finally turned on completely. Her arm froze in mid brush. Oh my! The last thing she remembered was coming home, tripping on the threshold, and something about Mimi being there. After that everything was a blank until she'd awakened.

At that point, the twins meandered back into her room. Genie stayed as she was. She could see them quite well in the mirror and her hands were still busy. They yawned and stretched then Yoko said, "Hiya Genie. Do ya think ya could maybe answer a question for us?"

Genie continued working on her hair. It was a real rat's nest. "Sure Yoko. What is it?"

"Ah, do ya suppose ya could tell us why we were in your bed and not at home?"

Genie's arms froze. It seemed that her mind has temporarily stopped working again. The twins blinked several times, then their gaze focused on Genie's hair. "Oh...my....God!" She wasn't sure which twin had said that, or even if it had been spoken or sent via "twin." Regardless, the result was the same.

The twins descended on Genie, took the brush from her hand, pushed her arms down to her sides, and began attacking her knots. Every so often they pulled a bit too hard. It hurts when that happens. After one particularly unpleasant tug Genie muttered, "Thanks. I think."

The twins shook their heads. They weren't quite awake yet either. They looked at their hands, then at Genie in the mirror, then back at her hair. After that they were much more gentle. It took a while. Genie had very fine, naturally curly hair, which is a major pain when it gets tangled, especially when, like hers, it's worn almost waist length. On the plus side, it was a very dark black, which meant she wouldn't need to cover or dye it if she needed to skulk around at night someday. Likewise, with her skin being a medium-brownish tone, she wouldn't need to put much dark makeup on her face either.

Just as they were finishing, Mimi walked in carrying a tray that smelled of tea and eggs and toast. Mimi was followed by Ailin, who was carrying a light-weight, folding table such as one used for playing cards. It wasn't perfect, but the girls didn't care. There was food in front of them and their stomachs were demanding to be filled...now!

Sven came in last. He was carrying three folding chairs, which he set around the table. The girls needed no further invitation so they genteelly seated themselves and began to eat in a ladylike manner.

(No, of course they didn't. They charged forward like barbarians and attacked the food like a lion taking down a gazelle.)

The three "servants" smiled at each other then withdrew. The girls were obviously doing well enough to be left alone, and each of them had other duties calling them.

Once the edge had been taken off their hunger, and most of the food was gone, Genie turned to the others, "So, ah, you don't remember what happened either?"

The twins looked at each other and had a very brief "twin" conversation. Yoko answered, "Nope. Not a clue. Last thing we remember was that we were feeling totally wiped and were just getting ready ta take a nap...in the morning! Can ya believe that? We hardly ever take naps, much less just a couple hours after we've gotten up for the day."

She looked down at herself. "We do seem to have managed to get into our nightgowns though. Hmm. We'll need ta send someone ta get us some clothes before we go home. There's no way we're walking home like this."

A deep, velvety voice spoke up from behind them, "Do not worry yourselves Misses. These will be adequate for your trip home."

The three of them turned. Ailin was standing by Genie's bed. There were two complete outfits, with matching shoes and stockings lying on the bed.

Genie spoke in "twin," "How does she do that?"

Hibiki answered, "We have no idea either, she just does."

Ailin continued as if there had been no interruption, "I trust that these will be adequate?"

"Oh yes. Definitely. Thank you Ailin."

"It is my pleasure. Now, if you will excuse me."

Before anyone could respond, she had left the room. Genie picked up her tea. She was still thirsty. "You know, now that I think of it, Mimi does the same thing. I mean appearing when you need her and then seeming to vanish into thin air when you don't any more. I wonder how they manage it."

The twins shrugged. They had stuffed the remaining eggs into their mouths and were busy chewing. After the last crumbs had been devoured, the twins dressed. When they were finished and wondering what to do, Miranda and Blair entered the room.

Miranda said, "Sit." The girls did. Miranda and Blair sat on the edge of the bed, then explained exactly what had happened.

By the time they were finished all three girls were wide-eyed with surprise, but their expressions also displayed relief. It wasn't a cure, but they now had a way to buy more time. The next thing that happened took Genie totally by surprise.

The twins jumped to their feet, turned toward Genie and bowed deeply.

Hibiki began to speak, "We are so very, very sorry...."

She paused as a mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes. Then she started over, "We had and have no desire to embroil you in our difficulty, but it has become evident that it is far too late for us to extricate ourselves from this conundrum without your assistance."

Genie responded, "Your distress is not needful, nor is your apology. We are family, both by marriage and by our own choice. Never could I leave my sisters to their own devices in such tumultuous times."

By then Yoko had clapped her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing. Miranda and Blair, having better control, didn't need to resort to that expedient.

Hibiki looked intently at Genie.

Genie returned the same look. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so. Talking like that is a lot of fun. I am sure we could do better though. We were both a little rough. We should practice every now and then to see if we can get the words flowing more smoothly. Besides, if we get good enough, we will probably be able to stun some of those stuck-up old ladies at the formal parties, who have pretensions of superiority, into insensibility."

They stuck out their hands and shook solemnly. Then they grinned broadly and turned unapologetically to their mothers.

Blair drawled, "While I can't say that I approve of what you plan, as long as I don't hear about it ahead of time, I don't suppose I can forbid you to do it."

She turned to Miranda, "Can I Manda?"

Miranda pretended to contemplate then answered, "Well, no, I don't suppose you can. But I'm sure that we won't ever hear of our girls planning something like that. It was of course only a hypothetical idea, right?"

Nobody said a word after that, but five anticipatory grins filled the room.