Jonni closed her eyes. When she opened them she and Nora were standing on the front walk outside of the only home she had ever known. It was a cozy little brick two-story fronting on a busy side street that led from the heart of downtown all the way out to the Piney Walk neighborhoods. A cab was pulling away. Jonni saw the "on duty" sign on top of the old Crown Royal light up and realized she and Nora must have taken the cab from, well, wherever they had been to her mother's house. The stone always took care of the little details. Smoke was puffing up from two of the house's three chimneys and Jonni wondered if it was the first fire of the season. Mom would be making cocoa with cinnamon and Dad would be helping everyone roast marshmellows over the crackling flames. She had good memories of this place.
Now, with her new face and form, Jonni had to wonder if any of those memories bore even the tiniest resemblance to the new reality. There were certain differences already noticeable. The garage door was up and Jonni could see an unfamiliar blue minivan parked inside. Dad's truck was usually parked around back on the service street and Mom, as far as Jonni remembered, drove a silver sedan. Of course, mom might have been planning on changing rides efore this entire mess got started.
"This is definitely not how I imagined my next visit," Nora said in a wry voice and then sighed. Jonni couldn't help it, she laughed. Nora joined her a second later, and if there were a few tears in both their eyes not entirely due to laughter at least they were finding a healthy release.
A minute later the pair of them paused for breath. Jonni caught Nora's eye as she dabbed at the corners of her own with the end of a knit scarf, "So, you ready to do this, 'Nora?' "
"Not really, but I guess now is as good a time as any, 'Jonni,' " Nora rolled her eyes, trying to get used to being on a first name basis with the woman that used to be her grandson.
"Well," Jonni shrugged and gave a firm tug on Nora's hand to keep her from backing out, "Let's go."
The two young women carefully made their way up the slightly steep front steps. Jonni tried the knob and was surprised to find it locked. Her dad constantly harped on all of them to lock the door for safety reasons, but Jon's mom, Linda, never locked it. The house had been in her own mother's family for several generations and she knew most everyone in an four block radius. She was constantly trying to soothe Dad's jangled nerves that no one would creep in and murder them in the middle of the afternoon.
Jonni pushed the doorbell. Briefly, she wondered if that was in fact their real doorbell. It had literally been that long since she had heard it. She gave Nora an encouraging smile, trying to hide her own confusion. Hopefully, if anything was seriously awry only one or two wishes would be necessary to fix things up. Maybe we should have gone to Karyn's instead? There were footsteps approaching. Someone was looking through the peephole. The locks - - multiple locks, another surprise - - were undone and the door slowly opened. A face peered out at the two pregnant callers. It was...
