Mother's Little Courier

A mother teaches her daughter about some of the things a woman can be.

Jeanne Meadows had been working on a special slideshow for the homeowner’s association’s chair most of the afternoon. A smile of deep self-satisfaction was plain on her face, as she knew the impact it would have on Reggie. Anything she can do for him, after all, will help give her family better leverage later, when they have requests before the board. The other perks she’d get out of it never hurt, either.

 

The sounds of a Disney orchestra floated through the office doorway just a few seconds before Alexis did, with tiara, doll, and tablet on her head and in her hands, respectively.

 

Ctrl+S

Alt+Tab

 

“Well, hello, Munchkin. What have you been up to?”

 

The eight-year-old came into the office, around the desk, and held up the tablet expectantly, before she addressed her own mother. It was, Jeanne noted, a gesture that even some adults who barely manage to function in a professional capacity, never broke the habit of doing. She clicked her tongue on the back of her teeth once and crossed her arms, refusing to take the device.

 

“You have words. I’ve always been fond of you using them. If you expect me to want to look at what you have, you need to tell me what you have, and then ask me if I have a moment to look at it. Otherwise, you’re making a demand with no explanation, and nobody likes that. Let’s try again.

 

“Well, hello, Munchkin. What have you been up to?”

 

Alexis blushed a little. Her mom never yelled at her, but sometimes the way she talked made her feel like her mom was more of her teacher than her mom. She didn’t like when her teachers said those kinds of things to her in front of other students. But it was okay, because it was just mom and nobody else. But she was still just a little embarrassed.

 

Dropping the tablet back to her side, and holding her princess doll a bit tighter to her chest, she told her mom what she’d been up to, just like she was told. A broad smile beamed over her face as she did.

 

“I found four pictures I really like for that frame you hung in my room. You said I could pick any four pictures I wanted, and I picked four. It was hard, but I also saved my fifth to tenth favorites. Just in case. Can you look at them and print them for the frame, mom?”

 

Jeanne took the tablet when it was proffered this time, and swiped through the photos. It was a familiar routine, as she learned to lock her printer from wireless devices after her Alexis had drained an entire laserjet and two reams of paper one day, just a little over a year ago. Since then, she had decided to implement the policy of “reviewing” her daughter’s pictures before printing them out, for the sake of her budget.

 

“These pictures look very good, honey. I think they’ll go perfectly on your wall, in that frame we picked out. Now, while I get this sent to the printer, tell me what adventures your princess is having today. Is she a princess, a lawyer, rocket surgeon, acrobat, archaeologist, giant robot in disguise, giant dragon in disguise, or a kung-fu warrior?”

 

Giggles ensued from Alexis before words did.

 

“No. That was last week, mom. Why would you do anything twice when you can do something new every day?”

 

A sigh ensued from Jeanne, before she decided not to tell Alexis about what employment actually meant.

 

“Does she know what she wants to do today?” she asked, triggering the print command on the tablet, which triggered an error message. She looked over at the printer itself as Alexis continued talking.

 

“I don’t know yet. It’s hard to decide. She can be anything, right?”

 

“That’s what I’ve always taught you. And hasn’t she always been anything she wanted?”

 

“Yes. But now she doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life.”

 

Jeanne choked and sputtered, trying to hide her laughter, leaning into the printer and practically hugged it, trying to let her girl not think she was looking down or laughing at her.

 

“Mommy?”

 

“No. Nothing, dear. Just a little, uh, frustrated with the printer. It seems we’re out of toner. I’ll have to go buy some more before we can print your pictures. I can also put these pictures onto this USB key and print them at the store when I go get toner. Would you like me to do that?”

 

“Nooo! I want to help print them!”

 

Jean puzzled a moment, staring at the empty cyan cartridge indicator. Princesses and winter landscapes never went well with cyan toner levels. Her eyes glanced over to the USB key, and inspiration struck. She spun around in the office chair to face Alexis, with an idea shining in her eyes.

 

“How would your princess like to be a data courier today?”

 

“A what?”

 

“A data courier. They are someone who gets computer storage in their brain. So they put computer files in that storage, and he delivers them like mail. Except no one knows, because there’s no mail to steal. It’s all in her head. Like delivering an e-mail, but with sneakers on. And the best part is, she can’t even read the e-mail in her head, because it’s extra secure.”

 

“A computer in her brain? That sounds cool! Yes! She wants to be a data courier today. How does she be a data courier?”

 

“Well, I need to perform a little surgery on her. Can I have her, and then you can watch me add the computer storage to her head?”

 

“Here you go.”

 

Jeanne took the princess doll from her daughter, and popped the head right off. Alexis didn’t flinch, since she had been taught about surgery when her dad had his gall bladder removed last year. Jeanne then took the USB key, cracked the housing under the corner of the keyboard and pulled the chip and port out, and held it up for her daughter to see.

 

“Princess is about to get an upgrade! Ready?”

 

Alexis nodded eagerly, and watched as her mother tied the princess’ hair up in a rubber band. Holding the head upside down in her fingers, Jeanne slowly pushed the chipset of the USB key into the doll’s head, giving it a gentle wiggle to help the plastic be more cooperative. After a few minutes of gently pushing and wiggling, the connector made the princess neck a little thick, but still a perfect disguise.

 

“Want to know the best part about being a data courier, Alexis?”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“She can be anything she wants tomorrow and still be a courier, all at the same time. She never has to take the computer out of her head, unless she wants a bigger computer in there.”

 

“Two jobs at once? Wow! Nobody can do two jobs at once. That makes her a super princess.”

 

“Believe it or not, there are a lot of super princesses out there. They’re not couriers, as that’s a very special job only your princess can do. But they work hard at two jobs, just like your princess, though.”

 

“Are you a super princess, mom? Do you do two jobs?”

 

“I stopped having to be a super princess when I had you, honey. I’m just a work-from-home princess, while your dad is a work-at-the-office prince. We’re very blessed to be like that. Don’t forget that.”

 

Alexis nodded, understanding what her mother said only in part. She would come to understand the rest of that metaphor in a few years, but there was no need to burden her with that knowledge now, Jeanne decided.

 

“Now, honey, I’m going to put your pictures on here, and your princess is going to take them to Mr. Sterling. He always has toner to print all those HOA signs, since he’s the president, and he’ll print them off for you while you spend time with Mags over there. How’s that sound?”

 

“Really? Can I stay for dinner? Mags told me they were going to grill out tonight. Sissy kabobs.”

 

“Sish-kabobs. And yes, you can. If Mr. Sterling says it’s okay if he and Mags’ mom says it’s okay. I’m almost done downloading. Let me type in a secret password for Mr. Sterling. A courier never knows the password, to keep his files and e-mails extra safe. So even if he knows what they are, he can’t give them to anyone even if he wants.”

 

Jeanne took the opportunity to move the slideshow for Reggie over to the doll’s head that now sat, embedded on the microtower on her desk, looking more like an actual giant robot than it did last week. With a smirk at her child’s inventiveness, she opened a command prompt and password-locked the slideshow, and changed the file attributes so no one would find the file unless they knew it was there, or were really computer savvy. Angie Sterling wasn’t, and that was fine by Jeanne.

 

“Now, I’m going to send Mr. Sterling his super-secret password, and let him know you’re coming over. You are to rush directly over there and make sure your princess delivers the data, because she is a good data courier, isn’t she?”

 

Jeanne pulled the disembodied head from the top of her computer, and then re-embodied it for her daughter, surgery all complete, and data downloaded into her brain. She posed the doll with its hand up, and waved it at Alexis.

 

“You bet! Best ever!”

 

Jeanne used her “mission” voice to say, “Your contact is waiting for his data as we speak. Even though he’s only two houses down, don’t cut through yards, and use the sidewalks. A good courier doesn’t draw attention to herself, and behaves like everything is normal, so she keeps her secrets hidden. Now get moving.”

 

As Alexis bolted out the door for her friend’s house, Jeanne watched her daughter from the window to make sure she obeyed, a soft and devilish smile spreading across her face, and a warm feeling welling up in her at the good work she’d done today. On a number of levels.

 

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Author's Note

PHOTO CREDIT:
PHOTO CONTENT: female doll head with USB connector sticking out of the neck

1,701 words.

ABOUT THE PROJECT:
Every piece was written before I knew who or what the image was about. Credit and attribution was revealed only after completing the story for each picture.

Each of these stories is in the same form as it immediately came out onto the page. The exercise is to produce words, and a habit. Please feel free to critique on content and rate accordingly. Leave notes about egregious technical errors, but please don't let it stand against your rating of the content.

Reviews

[Christine Ann Wedo]

I enjoyed the piece very much.I love the integration of technology along with teaching a child about manners as well. Even though I am not too technologically savvy with computers, I could understand some things you wrote and it worked remarkably well. Great job. Looking forward to read more of your work.