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A Family That Plays Together...


A Short Story by Shaun A. Saunders

Image by J.E. Raddatz | jeraddatz.com


July 12, 2014

J. E. Raddatz

jeraddatz.com

"Inter-Dimensional Business Transaction"

Oil on canvas 20" x 20"

"Hello again, Mrs Kay," said Karen, confused at finding her best-friend Sally's mother at home instead of pulling another seventy-two hour shift at the local FabCola Family Restaurant. "What are you doing here?" As she stepped through the front door of Mrs Kay's home, she saw that Johnny — now four — and her friend Sally, who she hadn't seen in months, were also at home. "I thought you'd all be working at FabCola." Then, seeing the smudges under their eyes — even young Johnny's — she murmured under her breath, "Or catching up on some sleep."

    

Mrs Kay explained. "This must be all a little confusing for you, Karen, with you being an orphan and all. But we have a new motto here at the Kay household: a family that works together is also a family that plays together."
    

Karen noticed that someone was missing from this slightly skewed picture. "Where is Mr Kay?"
    

Mrs Kay laughed. "Oh, he is catching up on his sleep." A hint of annoyance crept into her voice. "It turned out that some people's metabolisms or hearts or something just don't take to the longer hours at FabCola."
    

Or the red and blue pills they supplied to work those bumper hours, Karen thought.  
    

"With John senior out of the picture now and no longer pulling his weight, we really needed something more to remind us that we're a family. Anyway, as you may have heard, the FabCola company recently bought CNM." Mrs Kay was quite excited now. "To celebrate their move into home entertainment, they've commissioned a heap of new reality shows. And when they heard of John senior's passing, they put our family on the top of the audition list!"  
    

"Wow," said Karen, perhaps a little less enthusiastically than Mrs Kay's beaming smile demanded. With more effort, "Wow! Ah, so, what shows are you auditioning for?"
    

"Sally's already been accepted on 'Celebrity Look-alike'…You'll never guess which celeb she'll be playing."  
    

Karen glanced at Sally: a five foot ten bean-pole, with straight red hair. "Ah, well, that's a hard one — "
    

"Oh, don't be embarrassed," said Mrs Kay. "I wouldn't have picked it in a million years. Sally's going to be Carmen Electra! Filming starts next week when she gets her implants."
    

"Wow…" Desperate to think about something else, "What about you?"
    

"I've been accepted for 'The Lowest Common Denominator'"
    

With just a hint of mischief, Karen asked, "What's a denominator?"
    

"Oh, that's just a made-up word — it doesn't really mean anything. You know how it is in showbiz. But whatever it is, the producer says I'm it."
    

Realising the youngest Kay had disappeared, "What's Johnny auditioning for?"
    

Mrs Kay's smile hardened. "Johnny will be on the 'Family Hunter' show. He's already training on small animals and bugs. But he needs some real-world practice, Karen…that's where you come in."
    

Mrs Kay dead-bolted the front door. "Don't worry, he's only four…if he can catch you, then you don't deserve to be on any reality show!"
    

Johnny reappeared, holding a homemade spear, grim intent in his young eyes.
    

It was then that Karen realised that the smudges had nothing to do with lack of sleep…
    

Silently, she screamed.

***​

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