Powerless Revision 1 (25 page)

“It’s awful nice of you to let your parents hang around at your party for so long,” Vern said. Confusion struck Mira. She didn’t expect to hear something like that and didn’t know what he meant by it. Some rattling distracted her and she turned to see Will remove the pouch from his pocket. The others started crowding around, almost forgetting she was there.

“What are you doing?” Mira asked.

“This is a Makara party, isn’t it? Let’s get started,” Will said. That’s when she put it together. For her guests, the real party had not yet begun. She remembered the apprehension she felt about the game when she first heard about it, and a wave of anxiety came over her. How could she avoid playing the game when she had put it on her invitations and all of her guests expected to play it?

Knowing she would have to bear it, she took a seat in the circle forming on the floor. This may not be the most fun part of her party, but it seemed to be an unavoidable necessity. Still, some optimism remained that it would turn out better than she feared. After all, she didn’t even know the rules.

“So how do you play?” she asked, looking at the pretty dice as they sprawled out on the uneven wooden floor.

“You really haven’t played before? I thought you were joking,” Will said. “It’s simple. On your turn, you roll the dice and everyone else reads them. They decide what your challenge will be, and if you accomplish it then you get a point. The winner has to get however many points that we want, but since there’s so many of us three points will do, I think. Do you understand? Here, you can watch first. Who wants to start?”

Roselyn, who sat next to Mira, raised her hand. She scooped up the dice in the pouch and shook them vigorously.

“Here we go!” she said with a big smile. She poured the dice down on the floor, and they bounced and rolled to a stop. Everyone looked at the images facing up on the dice, a wheel, a mouth, a pen, a fork, a house, and two blanks. Quickly, Will grabbed the blanks and the pen and put them back in the bag.

“Why did you do that?” Mira asked.

“The blanks don’t count, so you put them and any outliers that don’t fit into the challenge back in the bag.” Will said.

“A house? Cloud Cottage. Eating the house. A house on wheels. A wheel of cheese…cottage cheese. Ok, Roselyn, your challenge is to eat the cottage cheese mixed with ketchup with a fork!” Mira watched them ruminate together until they arrived at the challenge that Will put into words. Furrowing her brow, Roselyn got up, walked out of the room, and went downstairs.

“Excuse me, I’m still hungry. Is there any food left?” she asked, while the others listened from the wall by the stairs.

“Yes, lots. What would you like?” Jeana answered.

“How about that stuff you gave Mira during the taste test? I want to try it.”

“Yuck! I wouldn’t eat that stuff if it were the fountain of youth, but do what you like.”

A minute later she returned to the room with a small bowl with a red, white, and pink mixture inside. Mira couldn’t help but laugh as she wrapped her mouth around a forkful of putrid grossness. She could see why they found this game appealing. Cringing and shaking her head, Roselyn swallowed and put down the bowl.

“One point! Ha! You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“Ok, Mira. You’re next. Are you ready?” Will said, handing her the bag. She held it for a moment, pensively. Everyone’s eyes were on her, and she didn’t want to disappoint them. Swiftly, she turned the bag upside down and dumped the dice on the floor. She watched them settle on a tree, a hand, an arrow, a fish, a star, a book, and a door.

“Climbing a tree to the stars? A book about fishing. A wooden door.”

“I got it, handing a fish to the stars from the top of a tree.” Chucky said.

“No. We’re missing an opportunity here to see what Mira’s really made of,” Will said, scooping up dice until only the fish and the arrow remained. “That arrow’s pointing to Vern. You’ve got to kiss him.”

“No,” Mary protested, unconsciously casting her eyes onto Vern. “She doesn’t understand how to play yet. This is her first time. You can pass if you don’t want to do it,” she said to Mira. Vern didn’t look at all opposed to the proposal. Mira looked down at the arrow and the little fish. Her heart beat rapidly. How did they get kissing out of a fish? Her mind strained over the impossibility of actually going through with it. She felt all ten eyes upon her.

***

Downstairs, Jeana and Kevin had been listening to the rattling through the ceiling as they reclined in a love seat.

“You know what they’re doing up there, don’t you?” Kevin asked.

“Yes,” Jeana sighed.

“And you’re not worried something will go wrong and it’ll turn out bad?”

“Actually, I’m hoping for it,” Jeana whispered, pulling closer to Kevin. The fire blazed nearby and they felt the heat on their skin.

“What are you scheming now?”

“She’s going to have to rely on them when we’re not around. She’s got to have a chance with them,” Jeana said, trailing off.

“She’ll be fine. We’ll keep watch over her,” Kevin said.

“But it’s not just Mira’s birthday,” Jeana said, changing topic and breaking into tears suddenly.

“There, there, this is our life, and we’ve got to carry on for her.”

“I know. Just today. It only gets to me today,” she said.

“Come on. Let’s go get some rest. The kids can do what they will.”

***

Time stopped and raced simultaneously for Mira. Everything seemed to hang in the stillness of extreme emotion. She never thought this game would give her such a terrifying rush.

“Either do it or say no so we can move on,” Will said. She heard those words again and again in her head, this time coaxing and this time antagonizing. Did everyone else feel the same pressure she did?

“I’m going to do it,” she said, biting her lip and looking at Vern. In an instant, she leaned forward onto one hand, snatched Vern’s hand with the other, and pressed her lips to it.

“One point! Ha!” she said, mimicking Roselyn and gloating with satisfaction. The rest of the group howled.

“I told you she played this game before!” Will said to the others. “Nobody else would know to twist a challenge like that. Ok, Chucky, make it happen.”

Grabbing the pouch and giving it a single, harsh shake, Chucky wore a confident, determined look that Mira had never seen on him before. He rolled a spider, fireworks, a man, a mouth, a nose, and two blanks.

“Make him eat a spider! Eww. But the fireworks, he should drink his own sweat. No. How about he closes his mouth around his toes?” After a consensus formed around that last suggestion, Chucky took off his sock and seconds later had his foot in his mouth. The laughter of the sight met with disgust at the odious new smell.

“This guy means business! We should’ve had him eat a spider,” Vern said. He spilled the bag across the floor, rolling a woman, wind, a chair, a knife, a pen, a star, and the number three. No one immediately voiced any suggestions. They stared at the dice but the connections didn’t come easily. Mira wondered what they would do if no one thought of anything, but then she saw something herself. Though she hadn’t said anything during the previous deliberations, she drew out her command with intensity and relish.

“You have to cut your hair three times,” she said. Gasps from the others followed her as she got up to get the scissors on her dresser. Noticing the dirt on them, she wiped them off with a hand towel and then handed them over to Vern. He took them without saying a word. Fondling them in his hand, he turned to the mirror and took a long look at his stylish hair. A few jaws dropped when he turned back and set the scissors on the floor.

“That’s not a good start for you, Vern. Looks like she’s got your number. It’s my turn next. I hope you’ve got something good,” Will said. He turned over a star, lightning, a heart, a woman, a snake, a question mark, and a blank. Some mumbling ensued from different parts of the circle, but Roselyn cut in with a sharp tone and a furtive glance.

“A heart, a woman, and a question mark: tell us, Will, which of the girls in our class do you like the most?” She coyly drank in his hesitation, reveling in his conflicted trepidation. “You’re not about to pass, are you? Let’s see, maybe you’re not talking because she is in this room and you’re too afraid to say it. Better just give up.”

“You,” he said, but this was obviously not the right answer for Roselyn because all of the enjoyment drained out of her. She leaned back and sighed.

“Fine. Give him the point. Let’s move on,” she said. The deflated feeling stayed with her though, and she passed her turn even though it was the easiest challenge yet. Mira rolled a star, a fish, a question mark, lightning, swans, fireworks, and a blank.

“What are you going to make me do now, kiss a swan?”

“No, you’ve got to tell us something, a secret. It better be a good one or it won’t count.”

Feeling like she had just the thing, she told them to wait there until she came back. She slipped out of the room into the dark hall, leaving her friends in silence. She returned, evidently excited, and snuck through the doorway with her right side first. When they could see her plainly, they caught sight of something long and gray that Mira wore around her left forearm. She showed it off, waving.

“What is that thing?” sounded astonished and perplexed voices before her. Their jaws hung open and their brows scrunched. She silenced them with the flipping of a tiny switch that started a barely audible whirring. They listened and looked, and they became more puzzled.

“Who wants to see?” she asked, extending her right index finger for them to touch. Nobody moved, unsure and wary. She pointed to all of them, and none of them stood up to her. She had Vern in mind for this demonstration, and she told him to get up. She wasn’t finished with his hand yet, she said. She looked him straight in the eyes as he put out his hand because she wanted to make sure he would not forget it.

When the blue bolt of static electricity passed from her finger to his, everyone watching jumped as though they themselves had been shocked. Vern, of course, yowled in pain, though Mira knew it couldn’t be that bad and would only last a second. In that instant, they all looked at her in a new light, all trying to take stock of her. They didn’t know what this meant, but it clearly meant something.

She flipped off the switch and put her knuckle to the window to discharge the rest of the electrons she’d built up. No one said anything when she sat down in her spot, causing Chucky and Roselyn to scoot away. She didn’t mean to freak them out, and so she tried to get their minds back on the game.

“So is that worth a point?” she asked. They all nodded ominously. Mira felt excited about being one point away from winning, and she handed the pouch of dice to Chucky. He looked at it and set it down. Something had changed. They looked at each other and at her critically. She felt the tension between them, but it had nothing to do with the game anymore.

“Do you know what order you’re going to put us in?” Will asked Roselyn. Sheepishly, she shook her head.

“Other than putting Jeremy first, I haven’t decided. Maybe I should go next after him,” she said.

Mary gave Mira a serious nod and turned to speak to Roselyn. “I think I can take him. He’s a little smaller than me, and I’m not afraid of a few bug bites. Let me go next,” she said. Roselyn contemplated it for a moment and consented.

“Then let me go,” Will spoke up. “Jeremy’s got a lot coming to him.” He grazed the red marks on his face with his hand.

“If you insist. That means either Gerald or I will round out our group.” Vern snorted and shook his head in disgust.

“You’re a fool if you don’t put yourself last. What if you finish in the bottom third? You’d have to live with the stupidity of your mistake for the rest of your life!” Vern snickered.

His scowl found a counterpart on Roselyn’s face. Her pretty blonde curls looked like they would catch fire from the flush of anger that swept over her.

“You would do that, wouldn’t you? Put yourself last just so that you can avoid actually having to compete. Being a leader isn’t about sacrificing your friends so that you can protect yourself, it’s about making things happen instead of letting things happen,” Roselyn retorted.

Vern laughed boisterously. He looked to see if anyone shared in his amusement, but the others were stoic. This didn’t stop him from looking down on her though.

“How else do you expect to become leader? This isn’t a beauty contest. It’s every man for himself! And that starts with this list, not when we step on the field. Only you would think you have friends in a competition where everyone is out to get you. And here’s a prediction: it’s going to land you on your back faster than Chucky trying to walk on ice.”

“A beauty contest?” Furious and insulted, Roselyn rose to her feet, and Vern followed suit. The others got up too, hoping to calm them down.

“That’s it. I’m done with this,” Roselyn said. “Thank you for the party, Mira. I had a nice time.” She turned to leave, but Vern’s parting shot stopped her cold.

“I bet the Final will turn out the same way. She quits as soon as it gets tough. Walking off now will be good practice.”

A fury gripped her that absorbed her completely. She turned her head to him with an excruciating slowness. The words that escaped from her lips came straight from her unconscious.