A Saturday Morning

BEEP… BEEP… BEEP…

Uh… it's morning…

I raise my hand over the bedside desk and let it fall, smacking the button on my alarm clock and shutting it up. My head is droning in pain, whether from being knocked out or lack of sleep I do not know. I guess I will find out once I get some caffeine into my system.

The whole thing with Maeve and Luna, them being superpowered and whatnot, has really shaken me. I feel like I am in shock from information overload, like I have yet to look at the situation rationally and take everything in. It just all feels… so unreal.

Whatever, another day is another day. They've suffered quite a lot, or maybe not, I don't really know, but I want to fulfill their wish of living like normal people, a simple, no-holds-barred privilege. It shouldn't be that hard, right? I mean, I am a normal person, somewhat.

With the mattress springs creaking beneath me, I get up from my bed to stretch my drowsy limbs.

Disregarding that whole ordeal, it's finally the weekend.

The sun hasn't completely risen, yet. The sky outside my window is drenched in a serene shade of dark blue, with a splash of light leaking from the edges of the horizon. What a perk it is to live in an apartment in a suburb. Every other house in a dozen-mile radius is no more than two floors tall. Standing here, several meters above ground, allows me to see all the way into the curvature of the vast Canadian shield over a sea of shingled roof-tops, with the prelude of a heavenly sunrise spilling in waves.

Beautiful.

Anyway, I'd better get dressed. Today is a busy day.

I have to get the girls some clothes, food, study supplies, toiletries, and a bunch of other stuff. Then, I will have to see what level of education they are at… What else… What else… Maybe bring them to a few places "normal people" go to so they can familiarize themselves with life outside their clinic.

As for the money, I've gotten that taken care of. Deep into the previous night, I went on several online gambling sites and tweaked the odds of their games a little bit, by a little I mean I made the win rate a hundred percent for me. I turned the $800 dollars in my bank account into $15000 overnight. I could have been greedier, but I try not to make headline news when I don't need to. It should be enough to last the three of us for a while, anyway.

I change into my casual clothes and walk out into the living room. It's still dark here. The light of dawn isn't yet strong enough to illuminate the interior of the apartment to a point where lights are no longer needed.

With a yawn to get as much sleepiness as possible out of my system, I flip on the living room lights and begin my morning ritual in the kitchen.

Pancakes, sausages, a few slices of fruit, and some Caffe Verona for myself. Enough to call a hearty breakfast. Of course, my everyday breakfast is usually just a bowl of cereal, but I want the girls to experience a "healthier" life. Well, I suppose the scientists at their clinics probably prepared meals dietetically designed to be as healthy as possible, but whatever.

The hum of the coffee grinder is pretty loud. It's hurting my head a little, and I now gotta be mindful of my new roommates, as well, but sorry, I need my caffeine.

As I am preparing some eggs, I hear the guest bedroom door creak open, followed by light footsteps.

"Morning," I say while putting the egg carton back into the fridge, not seeing who it was that just came out of her room.

"Hm." A half-minded mumble comes back. It sounds like Maeve.

I close the fridge door and turn to the hallway where Maeve's voice came from, and I see her strolling across the floor into the bathroom opposite her bedroom. She closes the door behind her as the bathroom lights come on.

One minor detail though… She was stark naked.

"Wait, Maeve?" I call across the apartment, putting down the bowl of eggs I was whipping.

"Yeah? What is it?" Her voice muffles through from behind the bathroom door.

"Where are your clothes?" I ask.

"Are you talking about my dress? You said it was dirty and told me to put it in the laundry bin, remember?" Maeve says.

"Yeah, I know that, but where are your pajamas?"

"I don't sleep with pajamas."

"What? Why did you ask for pajamas yesterday, then?" I ask.

"Because Luna wears them to sleep."

"For God's sake, can you just put on some clothes?"

"But I don't have any clothes," Maeve says.

"You have your pajamas, don't you?"

"I am not going to sleep, though, plus, I just told you I sleep without them."

Jesus Christ, does this girl have no sense of decency?

"I-I heard my name…" I hear Luna's timid voice as her face peeks out their bedroom door.

Great, someone is here to help.

"Oh, good morning, Luna, can you bring-" Mid-sentence, I come to the realization as Luna walks out into the hallway that she is also fully nude.

"You two…" I mutter as I avert my gaze to the microwave. "Why are you not wearing any clothes, Luna? I thought Maeve told me you wear pajamas to sleep," I say.

"I do… but it was hot last night… I-I'm very sorry if I did something wrong…" Luna apologizes.

"Look what you've done, Arthur," Maeve cuts in from inside the bathroom, "You made Luna cry."

"What?"

"I-I am not crying, Maeve. You can't even see me," Luna says.

"…"

…

Eventually, we got that sorted out. I pointed them in the direction of my mom's closet, and now we are sitting around the breakfast table fully dressed, well, not fully. I don't think the girls have yet dealt with the undergarment situation, but at least I have places to rest my eyes now.

"So, what are we doing today?" Maeve asks as she points her hand at a fork on the table, the simple action of which gave the fork wings and sent it flying into her hand. The whole sequence was so smooth and natural it was as if Maeve was plainly moving around an extra limb she didn't have.

Neither she nor Luna speaks a word of it, like it was a normal, everyday occurrence.

"What… how did you just do that?" I ask, not as surprised as I probably would have been a day ago. Being with them for the previous afternoon has kind of dulled my sense for such things.

I guess I have to get used to the fact that magic is a part of my normal life now.

"I told you yesterday, didn't I?" Maeve says, "I can manipulate electricity, and that includes charges. Ever heard of Charles-Augustin de Coulomb?"

"Yeah… but…" I try to think of a reason to justify my surprise, but Maeve made it sound like her telekinetic abilities are somehow a part of the high school physics syllabus. "Whatever, never mind."

Perhaps I don't need to worry about their level of education. I suppose no one understands electrostatic and electromagnetic forces better than someone who can manipulate them with her hands.

"Anyway, we will first head to a shopping mall to get you some clothes and supplies," I say.

"Shopping mall? Like those really big ones?" Luna asks quietly as she cuts her pancake in half with the most gentle knife stroke I've seen.

"Yeah, that's the one," I say.

Luna puts on a moderate smile, one that unless I inspected carefully, is not visible, but once I've seen it, a strange yet pleasant fuzzy feeling would well up from my chest, the kind I get from petting adorable kittens.

"Mall, huh? That sounds fun," Maeve says.

"Yeah, just don't go crazy with the spending," I say and take a sip from my coffee mug.

Well, at this point, money doesn't really matter as a problem anymore, but I'd rather have them not wear Luis Vuitton to school.

"Got it," Maeve says.

Something about the way her smile looked when she said it makes me unable to believe her words with all my heart.