Akiko’s Point of View

I swayed side to side and bounced to the music as I made dinner for the ever-expanding list of people who lived here. “If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.” These radios Danny left around the house were really nice for keeping me distracted while I prepared meals or cleaned the mansion. Each was filled with oldies I used to listen to when I was with my first husband before he left us.

Taking a sip of the soup I was preparing, I saw the little girl out of the corner of my eye. Thankfully, I didn’t flinch. She held out a letter to me, and I crouched down to eye level with her as I asked. “Oh, who’s this letter from, dear?” I unfold the letter and read it. ‘Giving Elsa this letter to take to you to distract her. If you have anything you want done, you can give her a job to do to keep her busy.”

This must be from the doctors down in the basement. He asked the little girl for help, but I didn’t know what a little girl could do to help doctors… Maybe bring them towels or something? I wasn’t sure. She was a really quiet girl and didn’t eat with us. Everyone I asked if she was okay said not to worry about it. A lot of people just ignored her, even my own children. I thought I taught them better than that, but I was clearly wrong.

I thought about it before remembering. “Oh, can you go ask the two kids in that room over there if they want anything to snack on before dinner? Thank you, deary.” I watched her write down a message on the piece of paper I just told her to ask before she made her way to the entertainment room where Alex and Alica were playing video games.

I got back to cooking before being distracted again as Dug came up and loudly asked for food. “Can we have a few treats before dinner, Miss food lady?” This time, I couldn’t help but be surprised by the sudden loud voice near the back of my leg. With a hand on my chest, I breathed out as I scolded him. “Dug. Don’t sneak up on people like that! You almost scared me half to death.”

I grabbed a few of the beef sticks on the counter that no one had eaten and that had become dog treats, and handed one to each dog. I didn’t even get back to making food when I heard my son yell out. “Chicken nuggets!” Sighing again, I grabbed out a bag of frozen nuggets before heating them in the microwave because that’s how he liked them. If I tried cooking them in the oven, he wouldn’t eat them for some reason.

A minute before flipping them over and another minute of cooking, I stirred the soups and sauces so they wouldn’t burn as I waited and heard someone come in singing along to the song. It was something that Danny did more than once, but it was a different voice this time.

“Yes I like Pina Coladas. And getting caught in the rain. I’m not much into health food. I am into champagne.” I turned to see an older black man singing along to the song, and as he noticed me noticing him, he apologized. “Oh, sorry about that. It’s just a song my ex-wife and I listened to, I can’t help but sing along when I hear it.”

I turned back to the food as I responded. “I don’t mind. You must be Alice’s father. It’s nice to meet you.” I wiped my hands down before shaking his hand and noticing the trail of mud he brought in with him. I gave him the stink eye, and he went back to apologizing. “S-sorry about that. Not much I can do to stop tracking this in since everything out there is covered in mud. Do you know where the mop is? I can clean it up since you’re busy.”

“No, just go clean yourself up in that bathroom over there. I’ll mop up these floors so you don’t mess them up like my first husband.” I gave him a stern look as he smiled back at me. “Oh, first husband. Who would be so foolish to mess things up with you?” I explained the whole situation as he sat down instead of getting himself cleaned, and we talked about our past relationships.

“Yeah, I thought she was the love of my life, but cracks started showing before she cheated on me. I just ignored them… I’d do things differently now.” The food was pretty much done; we just sat on the lowest temperatures to stay warm as we waited for everyone to come back for dinner. “I didn’t see it coming either time my husbands left me. One moment, we’re a happy family, the next, my first husband is fleeing the country because he was being investigated for running a Ponzi scheme, and my second husband saw I was pregnant and was gone the same night.”

“Both of them are fools and cowards. I fought for my family with all my might. Too bad I was the only one fighting to keep it together.” It was nice to talk to someone who had been through something similar to me. Both of us cared about family more than the ones we fell in love with. I changed our last name to shield my children from the harassment of having an immigrant as a parent, but it didn’t help Melissa from being harassed, and Alex would be popular even if his last name were Tanaka or Goldstein.

Everything I did was for my family. It was nice to talk candidly with another family-oriented person like him. We heard some noise coming from the entertainment room before a loud bang rang out, and the two kids began shouting. I hadn’t noticed that both of us were up and running at about the same time as we went to see what was happening.

My son and his daughter were both up yelling at each other as Alice threw a pillow at him, and he moved faster than was possible to dodge it. “You cheater! Your speed powers make it impossible to beat you!” He had a big smile on his face as he taunted her. “You show off that firepower so much, but when I use mine, you cry? Just get better at the game.”

A fire appeared over her hand as she shouted even louder now. “You want to see my fire power up close fuck face!?” I’m about to get between the two and break them up when I hear Victor shout. “Stop it right now, you two!” His loud voice made them jump in surprise as they both looked at him. “Alice. Are you about to hurt someone over a video game? I thought I taught you better.”

I chimed in now. “And Alex, you shouldn’t use your powers for playing video games if it gives you an unfair advantage. No one will want to play with you if you don’t play fairly.” Their anger had been redirected as Alex complained to me. “But mom! I can’t turn my speed on and off. I’m just this fast now…” 

Things started to calm down as Victor walked over to my son, got down to his eye level, and put his hand on his shoulder as he talked to him. I couldn’t make it out, but the frustration drained off Alex’s face as he looked determined and ran out of the room.

The way he acted so fatherly to my son had me smiling at the interaction. I knew he and I were going to get along in the future.