Welcome to Upside-Down Falls

Part 11: The Thing about Bella and Caleb

"So, did you talk to your mom about current events?" Ysolde asks while she's basking in a patch of sunlight that's shining on Gran's bed. I am once again the one doing all the work while she is lying around hissing orders.

The quilt Mom and I made Gran for Christmas a couple of years ago is still on the bed, and every time I look at it, the lump in my throat grows bigger.

"Yeah, we did," I mutter, and then I level my most displeased frown at the scaly member of the royal family. "I thought you were helping me!"

Gran has many interesting things in her room, but there is a thick layer of dust on almost every surface, and I need lizard-girl to do some of her magic tricks to clear it up before I get a sinus infection.

"I am helping," she says, and I'm sure she's grinning. It's a bit hard to tell when bearded dragons are grinning. My frown clearly had no effect on her. "I'm keeping an eye out for bugs," she states stubbornly as if I'm supposed to believe that she would interrupt her tanning session to catch a bug. 

"How did the conversation go?" Princess Ysolde from the kingdom of Nosy-Much demands to know, and I read the text messages to her, hoping that she will actually help me afterwards.

Me: "So... the Mayor is a badger..."
Mom: "Oh, thank goodness! I was so sick of craving Brussels sprouts every time I wanted to tell you. Are you mad at me?"

Yup, we ate a looooot of Brussels sprouts, and now I know why!

Me: "No, Mom. I get it. 👍I would have questioned your sanity anyway if I didn't see all of this for myself, I guess. Although, I always wondered if you secretly wanted to be a weather forecaster. Lol."
Mom: "Oh, good. Wanting to eat Brussels sprouts all the time is one thing, but worrying about you being angry with me once you found out... Well, I'm just glad you're not. So, have you met Will yet?"
Me: "Will? Who is Will, Mom?"
Mom: "The Mayor's son, of course. He is so handsome and delightfully single."

Was Mom playing Matchmaker? 

I suddenly imagine myself giving birth to a litter of badgerlings. Is the badger thing genetic, though? Wouldn't they be human at first and then...

Wait! What am I doing? I haven't even met the guy yet, and I'm already having his badger kids!

Me: "No, I don't think I have, Mom."

Telling her that I'm not interested in a relationship would've been futile, so I didn't.

Mom: "Oh, hold on. You actually have met, but, of course, you wouldn't remember. You were still little."

Before I could type a reply to that loaded statement, another message popped up on my screen.

Mom: "Bug, I'll talk to you again soon. A client just walked in. It's that snooty lady I told you about. Love you lots."

Ysolde sighs wistfully, "I wish I could have that kind of relationship with my mother."

"I'm sorry," I say, feeling sad for her. I always thought that all mothers and daughters have the kind of close relationship I have with my mother... and then I grew up. "What's your Mother like?"

"Strict, overbearing... always too busy," she gives another sigh, raising a front claw into the air to... inspect her nails? "Your gran was like a mother to me... almost."

I sometimes forget that the entire town suffered a loss the day my grandmother passed away. In some ways having everybody mourn her death with me makes it easier..., and in other ways, it makes it worse. Everybody around me is in almost as much pain as I am.