3: Point of Inflection
Last time, on Quarks of the Heart, Meg Atomic met the Malevolent Med-Student, also known as Keith, for coffee. What happens next? Read on to find out!
In a superhero family, it’s hard to keep secrets. Some more than others: in a telepathic family like Audrey’s, for instance, most learn how to shield their thoughts very quickly, or else get really comfortable really quickly with (oh gross oh ew Motherrrr the baby’s going agaiiin) intrusive thoughts.
Meg Atomic’s family had been like most families, cape or civilian. Each had their own private rooms, but they’d also long since gotten used to everyone knowing the basics of everyone else’s business. It was the nature of big families, particularly big families that have a cybernetically enhanced soccer ball helping the mom keep track just to make sure something doesn’t get lost.
Meg knew this. She’d only just managed to keep the first date off the family radar. Meeting a friend for coffee wasn’t terribly unusual, after all. But if there was a second (if? when? oh please yes, her mind thought), then she’d have to explain. That would mean a Conversation. It was not one to which she looked forward.
It arrived sooner than she thought. Super Soccer Mom, being a mom, had noticed Meg leaving for her “coffee with a friend”. She had also observed that Meg had taken just a touch more care with her outfit than she normally would, and that she had elided the identity of who the friend was that she was having coffee with.
That could mean only one thing.
“Seymour,” Super Soccer Mom said. “We’ve got a Boyfriend.”
Seymour shrilled in alarm.
“No, we don’t need to alert the Captain yet. I can handle this. I just need to have a little mother-daughter chat. You know. Like pals.”
The soccer ball did not seem particularly comforted.
Meg pulled into the driveway, parked her old beater of a car, and headed inside. She’d hoped to get to her room and check her messaging apps to see if Keith had texted and analyze said text in light of second-date possibilities, but she knew that wasn’t happening when she saw her mother casually hanging about in the living room, obviously not reading an issue of Reader’s Digest.
“Mom,” Meg said, instantly on alert.
“Meg!” Super Soccer Mom said. “How’s it going?”
“I’m fine, Mom, how are you?” Meg replied, with all the watchfulness of a Cold War era diplomat being interrogated about a missile treaty by the other side.
“Wonderful, darling,” Super Soccer Mom said. “You know, I meant to ask you about something earlier, but I forgot you were out for coffee with, oh, what was her name?”
The set-up was a bit contrived, but efficient, forcing Meg to answer honestly or lie about both the name and gender of her supposed contact. Meg chose to deflect.
“Ah, my apologies. Well, as I’m back now, what was it you wanted to ask?”
“Darn,” Super Soccer Mom thought. She’d forgotten how difficult it was to do this sort of thing when one’s daughter has a multi-digit IQ and the power to calculate probabilities. She scrambled to keep the conversation going. “Never mind, it’s not important. How was your coffee?”
“Satisfactory,” Meg said, hoping in her way to clip the conversation short. “I’m on for patrol tonight, correct?”
“Yes, but, Meg-”
“Great, thanks, Mom!”
She had already gone as hastily as etiquette allowed into the hallway that led to her room. If Super Soccer Mom called her back into the living room now, it risked a confrontation. Neither were quite prepared for that. They both let it pass. Still, a tension lingered that hadn’t been there before.
“Something is going on, Seymour,” Super Soccer Mom said to the soccer ball, staring at the empty hallway. “I don’t think I like it.”
Alone in her room, Meg Atomic paced back and forth. That hadn’t gone ideally, she knew. Better outcomes were precluded now. She couldn’t go on with this. If her family found out, if her parents found out, not to mention the other capes, and besides there were other guys, right? There was Mr. Superlative’s son, Steve, but no, he was an insensitive-
Chirp.
Her phone.
She should scrub the contact. Ghost him. She’d never done that, but this was warranted, surely. The man was a supervillain, after all. This must’ve happened before, right? Then again, maybe he’d been ghosted before and that was what had started his career in villainy. She didn’t know what had started it, come to that; no one knew. He wasn’t one of those fallen-in-a-toxic-vat or alien-from-the-sky types; he’d just shown up in a cape with his gimmicks and his sidekick. Maybe he had an unknown backstory; that would explain why he seemed like such a nice guy in person. Maybe-
Maybe if she was with him, she could find out what had happened.
She, Meg Atomic, could save him.
Wasn’t that what superheroes did?
Her phone chirped again. She reached for it.
For more episodes of Quarks of the Heart, check out the serial index page below. Thanks for reading!
This is so awesome. I love super soccer mom.