"I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door."
sandra "John, are you ready yet?"
 "I didn't have time for hesitation. I jumped out of bed, and ran towards my door, hoping that Mom wouldn't follow."
 "I opened it, and stepped out into the hallway. I heard movement behind me, but continued to move towards my window. I heard some shuffling behind me, and then someone behind me."
 "On my way to where I believed was my door, I had passed through a doorway that I did not recognize. I looked around, and although I did not see anyone, there was a noticeable lack of unreasoning shuffling from anyone else."
think "Well, I guess I'm going to have to wait until Mom figures out what's happening with {q}Ben{/q} before I can come in in here and get the book back from {q}Ms. Winters{/q}."
 "I was relieved to see Mom was in a good mood. Still confused as to what was happening, I had no idea how to approach the person who had apparently just done this to me."
sandra "John! Quick, get out of here!"
 "I did as she said, and Mom stormed out the door, zapping me with a very pointed look on her face."
 "I stood there feeling pretty dumb, with no idea how Mom would react to me talking to her, but I knew I had to at least explain something to her."
john "I'm not--"
 "I cut myself off before I could babble any further."
john "I'm not {i}John Davis{/i}!"
 "I tried my best to act naturally. At that point in the conversation, there was no one else in the room and no one else who would identify as me. It was a pretty one-sided conversation."
 "I tried to look as confused and unsure as I could, but I was too late to regret it."
 "In the end, I decided not to apologize. It wasn't my fault, and I wasn't going to let Mom ever suspect something was wrong because of what I had just said."
 "I just hoped she would understand that I was {i}here{/i} and not suspect something was going on. I was too weak to fight her off with words alone."
 "Fortunately, she seemed to grasp that eventually. She seemed to finally reach a decision: she was going to have to make a decision."
 "She was going to have to decide whether to let me stay in the shower, or let me go, but she was weighing the pros and cons of doing something that she knew was going to be painful if I didn't do it myself."
 "And knowing how I was feeling about using the device, I was sure that she would feel the same way."
 "I decided to go. The water was hot enough that I didn't feel like I had to go through the full length tub. Sure I had seen some girls go for the optional headgear, but it was more like a pair of heels than a shower cap."
 "I didn't really exert myself in the water, just enjoying the nice afterglow of it on my skin and hair."
 "While I was in the shower, I saw that my Mom was in the living room too, so I decided to take the chance of talking to her."
john "Hey Mom, is something wrong?"
sandra "I, uh, I heard y'all. But I wanted to, like, reassure John about, uh, stuffy... school things?"
 "I was awkward to talk about school things with my mother. I knew that was something she did out of habit, but I couldn't quite figure out why."
john "Yeah, umm... English. Some students were complaining about the grammar of your last sentence, and I just said some observations."
sandra "Oh, you mean about... the translation thingy? I left it on the desk last week, and I haven't seen it since."
 "I gave her the benefit of the doubt explanation that it was just a mix up. She was unimpressed."
sandra "Oh, I guess you forgot about it."
john "Oh, right."
 "I was about to pick up my tray, when Mom came in with a tray of food, soda, and toiletries."
john "Hi, Mom."
sandra "Hi, John. Could you keep an eye on my daughter while I take care of some schoolwork? I don't want her to get in trouble."
 "I opened up the door, and Mom went in after me."
 "I followed them out into the hallway. My mother was gruff, but the cheerfulness of her expression matched the strangeness of having to talk to her in the middle of the hall