The old woman sat rocking in her chair, slowly knitting together some kind of scarf. Or maybe it was a sweater. Perhaps a sock. It didn't matter, since when she was done she was going to just pull it apart and start all over again. Sarah wondered how many items the woman had knitted together over the years. Hundreds? Maybe thousands. She probably had created enough items of clothing to open up a small shop if she had wanted to. But of course, she didn't want to. She just needed to have something to do.
"Auntie?" Sarah asked from the door.
"Ah, Sarah," the old woman greeted her. "Come. Sit on my lap, I have something very important to tell you."
Sarah obeyed, climbing into the old woman's lap as she continued to rock back and forth. Her mother had warned her to be nice. Her auntie was sick, they had told her. She probably didn't have much time left.
As soon as she was comfortably seated, the old woman quickly leaned over and picked up a small watch that sat on her desk.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked Sarah.
"No."
"This was my mother's watch," the old woman explained. "When I was engaged, my mother gave it to me. She told me that I would lose my name once I married. I would no longer be a Kowalski, I would be a Falkner. She told me I would lose my family once I was married. My husband's cousins would replace my cousins, and his parents would replace my parents. This is the fate of women, she said. It was simply the way of the world."
"I'm never getting married," Sarah defiantly claimed.
"Oh, dear child," the old woman sighed. "It's not so easy. One day, your brother will get your father's name. He will get this house. And all of your father's contacts and business partners will acknowledge him as the heir. He will be the next Kowalski, the newest addition to a line that stretches back hundreds of years. And one day, he will marry, and that woman will become Mrs. Kowalski. Do you see what I am saying? You don't want to be Ms. Kowalski forever, do you? An elderly spinster like me, living in a distant room of your brother's castle?"
Sarah snorted. "I'm a lot smarter than Gabe is," she claimed.
"That doesn't matter," the old woman sighed. But then she dangled the watch in front of the little girl.
"They say the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," the old woman said as the little girl gently plucked the watch from her fingers. "Do you know what that means?"
"No."
"It means many things," the old woman explained. "For example, one day you'll meet a handsome young man. And he will charm you, and he will care for you, and one day you will marry him. And nothing will hold you together except for your word. He will be the family you choose, and so choose wisely. Because that choice is all that matters. Your father, your mother, your brother. Even me. You will leave us, one day.
But I want you to keep this. And I want you to give it to your daughter one day. I cannot give you the grand Kowalski name. I cannot give you the grand Kowalski fortune. But I can give you this."
Sarah held up the watch to the light. It didn't actually work. But it was sparkly.
____^._.^____
"Christ, Dave, really?" Sarah snapped at her phone. "You really are pathetic, you know that? Can you handle anything? Anything at all?"
"Sarah, please," Dave pleaded, "I'm just worried about her..."
YOU ARE READING
Plasma Cat
Science FictionIn the near future, a group of people decide that the quickest way to create a human-level intelligence is just to copy one. Their simple plan ends up having more consequences than they were expecting, however.
