Tipping the Scales

3. Testing

All day I had been contemplating telling Matilda. But I didn't know how to. I didn't even know enough information myself to tell anyone. I needed to get home as quickly as possible to test some more things. I walked home at a speedy pace as soon as the bell rang. Our house is a cute old style tan brick federation bungalow, commonly seen here in Australia. It is actually quite large with six bedrooms and three bathrooms. There is a cute little front yard with some plants and little white pebbles. Although these types of bungalows are traditionally single-storeyed, ours has two storeys. When you walk in the front door, the stairs are straight ahead, but a little to the right. On your right is the little breakfast table and then the kitchen. On the other side of the kitchen is our formal dining room. On the left hand side when you walk in, there is the study and family room. Straight ahead, to the left of the stairs, is a little hallway which leads to another hallway. That hallway goes behind the stairs from the family room to another lounge room which is adjacent to the dining room. There is a bathroom and laundry in between the stairs and the little lounge room and the garage is next to the dining and lounge room. If you look up from the front door, you can see the stairs to one side and a railing on the left side parallel to the door. There are rooms either side. When you go up the stairs, there is a long hallway that goes from one end to the other. At the end of the hallway on the left end, there is the door for Mum and Dad's room and in there is a walk in robe and ensuite. When you walk up the stairs, the first door you see ahead of you is Zeke's room. Next to that on the right side is my room and next to mine is Zoe's. On the opposite side of the hallway are Zander and Mackenzie's rooms and the bathroom is in between Mackenzie's room and the stairs. And out the back is the pool (not that I'll ever be able to use it now). That's pretty much our beloved house that we've lived in all our lives.

Now, about my family. My mum, Suzann (a real estate agent) and my dad, Izaak (a computing engineer) met at a mutual friend's wedding. They started dating and got engaged two years later. They then bought a house in Meadow Beach, four hours from here, and got married a few months later, when they were both twenty-three. Two years later, Zeke and I were born (did I mention that we are twins?). Two years later, Mum found out that she was expecting again so they moved here. The year after that, Zoe was born. They kept the 'z' theme going with everyone. Mum and Dad bought a big six bedroom home because they wanted four kids. Three years later, Zander was born. That was it for them. Zeke and I were six, Zoe was three and Zander was a newborn. They were happy with two boys and two girls. Then they got a surprise when Mackenzie was born three years later - FIVE kids. Three girls and two boys. Luckily she fit into the pattern of three years in between each child - and the pattern of girl-boy-girl-boy-girl (since I am one minute and twenty-seven seconds older than Zeke). Nonetheless, they were happy. Now Zeke and I are fifteen, Zoe's twelve, Zander's nine and Mackenzie's six. Mum and Dad are only forty. We also have a border collie, Muffin.

When I got home that day, I was lucky to be the first one home. I went upstairs to the bathroom and locked the door. I had managed to avoid water all day, somehow. There were a lot of questions going through my mind. What happens when you drink water? What about going to the toilet? What if I touch something that's only a percentage water? What about pregnant mermaids? What was I supposed to do if fire sprinklers came on in a building? Can I eat in my mermaid state? All these questions were bothering me. But something else confused me - my temperature this morning. It was 37 degrees! I had to assume that the mermaid transformation had given me a temperature. I had to test some more things. I turned the tap on and put the slightest drop on my hand. I closed my eyes and counted. Within about seven seconds, I had a tail and fell to the floor. I pulled my towel off the rack and started wiping my hand - I assumed that since that was where I got wet that it was what needed to be dried. Boy was I wrong! It turns out that your tail needs drying too (though I soon learnt later that this is not always the case)! So after wiping my tail, I was dry again and my tail was gone. That's when I heard the front door open.

"Hazel? Are you home?" my brother's voice called out.
"Yeah! I'm upstairs!" I called back.
I got up off the floor and opened the door to find him standing in the hallway. He scared me!
"What were you doing in there?"
"Nothing. I was just testing something."
"Why didn't you wait for me? I couldn't find you at school."
"That's because I'm here, isn't it?"
"Don't be sarcastic."
"I'm not."
"Yeah, well, I've got work to do and so do you."
I didn't have any work to do. What was he talking about? He went downstairs to do whatever work he needed to do, so I went into my room. Thank God our bedroom doors have locks on them, otherwise someone may come in at the most inconvenient time and just happen to see me as a fish.

Mum and Dad trusted Zoe enough that she could walk home from school on her own. This meant that she also had to bring Zander and Mackenzie home too. After sitting in my room for about ten minutes, I heard them come in the door. Great. This was just what I needed. I wanted some alone time! I didn't need little kids running around being noisy. I think I actually fell asleep, because the next thing I remember, Mum and Dad were home and they weren't happy...