Zelda Black grabbed Jon's hand. "Come on, Jon, let's go."
Sarah Madison struggled to keep her voice down. "Let go of my son."
"No," said Zelda.
"He's coming with me," stated Sarah. "Just look at him. You really think he'd want to go with you?"
Zelda had been so angry at Mrs. Madison that she hadn't noticed that Jon's face had been frozen with shock. She let go of his hand. "What's wrong, Jon?"
Jon wanted to lie. He couldn't. "Everything!"
Jennifer Madison silently agreed. This whole situation seemed wrong somehow, though she couldn't explain why.
"You're looking at me like I'm a stranger," said Zelda. "Like I was making you my prisoner."
Sarah nodded. "Exactly what you were doing. Leave my son alone. You're not a small child anymore. Grow up, please. Without him."
The M-word stung Jon. My. "I'm not your ... never mind."
"Never mind?" asked Sarah. "It's my job as your mother to mind. To watch over you and your sister." She glanced at Jennifer with approval. "To prevent you from making mistakes like hanging out with the likes of --" She pointed at Zelda. "Her!"
"She ..." Jon couldn't defend Zelda. He didn't even know her. Certainly not this incarnation of her. This Zelda looked like a cross between the original and Karyn. The closest possible approximation of Old Zelda that could be constructed with the Black family's genetic building blocks. Karyn wouldn't behave like this toward his mother. But the mother Karyn knew wasn't Sarah. And Jennifer wasn't anything like Zoe. Inter-reality comparisons were futile.
"Jon, if you can't stand up for me ..." Zelda sighed. "... you're not much of a friend." She sniffled.
"Oh no, Zelda --" Jon forced himself to reach out to her. To touch a stranger.
Zelda pushed him away. "No, Jon, you blew it. Badly. I gotta think about this." She turned around and walked down the hallway without looking back at her now ex-boyfriend.
"Good," said Sarah. "And when you come to your senses, you'll know you don't belong with him anymore. Or ever, really." Sarah doubted Zelda could hear her from a distance. That didn't matter; the words were meant more for Jon. "I should have put a stop to this long ago. See, Jon? She's not worthy of you. Though she had a point. You need more of a backbone. It's hard to believe you're my son sometimes."
You're telling me, thought Jon. The M-word again. I do not belong to you, Sarah. I made you this way. If only you knew. You'd be horrified to know we became related. We won't be in twenty-four hours. Unless you're my ... sister next time. Jon shuddered.
"See that boy over there?" asked Sarah. "Why can't you be more like him?"
"Like ... Biff?" Jon wanted to throw up. This Sarah still thought highly of Biff ... albeit in a different way. Now Biff was the son she wished she had. A boy who dated the likes of ...
"No way." Jon couldn't believe who Biff's girlfriend had become. She was ...
