flipflop_diva

Lainey Lynette Lollicutter (not her real name) was a psychic (not a legitimate one) who had no trouble crowing to people (mostly her sister) about her successes (alleged successes anyway).

This started when Lainey (real name: Lila) was six years old. She awoke one morning and told her sister (Lily) that their family of four (Lila, Lily, Mother Lilac and Grandmother Lillian. No father, although presumably there was one at one point) would be getting a dog that day.

Four hours later, Mother walked through the door with a dog.

“Behold!” cried Lila. “It is just as I foresaw!”

Mother clasped her hands together in delight. Grandmother presented her with a cookie. The new family member barked. Lily rolled her eyes.

“We went to look at dogs yesterday,” Lily said. “Mother asked us which one we liked best.”

“But she didn’t say we were getting it today!” Lila beamed.

“I did not,” said Mother.

Even at the age of five (thirteen whole months younger than Lila, who never let her forget it), Lily knew that was not a gift from the psychic gods above.

But that didn’t stop Lila (who became Lainey at age nine when she adopted the name her psychic visions told her she would have) from proclaiming all sorts of things over the years.

She told Lila that she would get an A on her math test.

(“I’m the best in my class, and I’ve been studying for two weeks!”)

She told the neighbor his car would break down.

(“Of course it broke down!” Lila said. “It takes ten minutes just to start up. Something is obviously wrong!”)

She told a little girl at the toy store that Santa would bring her the dollhouse she wanted.

(“Because you saw her mom buying it!” Lila hissed.)

But every once in a while, there was something that Lainey got right that didn’t have an easy explanation: She said the high school football team — who hadn’t won a game in three years — would win the state championship, and they did. She told Old Man Carter he would win the lottery if he just bought a ticket when he went to get gas, and the man hit the jackpot. She said they would have a hailstorm the day the sun shone bright in the sky, and it came on suddenly that afternoon.

Lila couldn’t explain it. Maybe dumb luck?

“A gift from our psychic ancestors!” said Grandmother. “They used to pass it down from mother to child, but it has skipped three generations over, until now!”

“Maybe they forgot to give her full power,” Lila muttered.

“Ecco! I am gifted!” said Lainey, who had told Lila true psychics spoke Latin.

(“I don’t think that’s Latin,” Lila had said, but was ignored.)

On Lila’s seventeenth birthday, Lainey came downstairs with two psychic revelations. First, she was foregoing college to open her own psychic store! Mother and Grandmother cried with delight. Lila rolled her eyes.

Then Lainey turned to her. “Ecco! I have foreseen that this year, you too will find your calling!”

Lila sighed. She was almost a senior in high school. Of course, she was probably going to find her calling. She needed to apply to colleges with a course of study in mind. She didn’t say that, though. Instead, she told her sister “Thank you.”

“I am honored to have given you this gift,” Lainey said, which is when Lila realized that Lainey literally meant it to be her birthday present. Lila decided Lainey was not getting much for Christmas from her that year.

A few nights later, Lila had a dream. In it, she was with Mother, Grandmother and Lainey at Lainey’s new psychic shop. The “Grand Opening!” sign was hung. The store was decorated. But no one was there. The store was empty, except for their family. Lainey sat behind the table as tears dripped down her face.

Lila woke with a start. It had felt so real. She knew she was grumpy about her sister on many levels, but did she really subconsciously wish for her to fail?

Lainey, along with Mother and Grandmother, threw themselves into Lainey’s psychic store. Lila helped too, without complaint, because she didn’t want to be the type of sister who wished bad things for the other person. Two months later, the store was ready, the signs were hung, and Lainey was ready to show her talents to the world.

Except no one came. Lainey flipped the sign from “Closed” to “Open” at eight in the morning and by noon not one person had opened the door and crossed the threshold. Lainey sat behind her table, tears dripping. And Lila felt the blood in her veins run cold.

She grabbed her phone and sent a text to every person in her contact list.

Hiya! My sister’s store is now open! She’s so talented. You all know she predicted the team to win state. Come by for your own reading!

Twenty minutes later, the bell above Lainey’s shop door tinkled as her first customer walked in. Lila breathed a sigh of relief.

That night Lila had another dream. She was down by the creek that flowed along the southern border of town. It was full of debris. A little white dog, whose name was Spike, was trapped between two logs. She could see his paws and his nose sticking out. She woke up before she could save him.

It was early morning, the sun just beginning to rise. Lila pulled a jacket and boots over her pajamas and slipped outside. She grabbed her bike and rode as fast as she could to the creek on the southern border of town. It looked exactly like her dream, right down to piles of the debris. She made her way over to where two logs had collided, and there he was. Little white paws. Little black nose.

Lila didn’t think. She just waded into the creek and worked at the logs until the dog was free. As she cuddled him against her chest, she saw the name tag on his leash. Spike.

She took him home, where Mother fussed over him and Lainey declared she had known that Lila was going to bring home a dog, and it would belong to the new family who had just moved to town.

“They have a dog?” Lila asked Lainey.

“Ecco! I have foretold it!” Lainey said.

“No. I mean, do you know for sure?” Lila clarified.

“I know only what the visions show me!” Lainey said.

Lila gave up. But it turned out Spike did belong to the new family. “We are so grateful for your help!” they told Lila and Lainey, and both sisters told them they were happy to help.

That night, Lainey sat down beside Lila.

“So have you seen your calling as I have foretold?” she asked.

Lila looked at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I didn’t understand either at first,” Lainey said.

“They’re just dreams,” Lila said.

Lainey slung an arm around her. “Sure, they are,” she said. “Whatever you say.”






Fiction.



This was written for the new season of therealljidol, Wheel of Chaos! If you liked my entry, please consider voting for me or any of the other amazing contestants. You can find all the entries here. Looking for the voting post on Wednesday night!