Retro Version by J.S. Morin

Author:J.S. Morin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-939233-73-8
Publisher: Magical Scrivener Press

The little room with the letters on the wall was Kubu’s least favorite room in Not-Mommy’s house. Kubu knew his letters. He knew his numbers, too. Esper had little songs about both of them that made it easy to remember. Not-Mommy didn’t like Kubu singing Esper’s songs. He sat on a chair and listened while Not-Mommy pointed to pictures in a holovid.

“Apul,” Not-Mommy said. She’d taken away his through-the-ear magic for the lesson, and everything was just weird noises. But the picture was an apple. Kubu mimicked the sounds, just trying to get through the lesson.

The image shifted. This time it was a baby version of Kubu’s new friend Sumther. It was little and fuzzy, with big ears and dark eyes with no whites around them. “Bair,” Not-Mommy said slowly, repeating it several times until Kubu parroted her. It was a silly noise to make for a bear.

“Ket,” Not-Mommy said when the holovid turned into a tiny little Mriy. This one walked on all fours and was gray instead of white with patches of orange like Mriy. It was also smiling. Mriy didn’t smile like that; hers had more teeth.

It was warm and sunny on the other side of the window. It smelled nice out there. The letters-on-the-wall room smelled like old flowers and lemons—smells Not-Mommy seemed to like better than real smells. Kubu just wanted to go running, maybe eat a bunny or two. There were twenty-six letters though, and there were a lot more left before he could leave.

“Kubu!” Not-Mommy snapped. Kubu’s head turned toward the holovid, even though he strained his neck muscles to keep looking out the window. Not-Mommy said a lot of words that Kubu didn’t understand, but he understood the idea of the words anyway. There was going to be no playing until he finished his lesson. A low growl rumbled in the back of his throat, and he felt his lip curl to show his teeth. He didn’t mean to; it just happened that way.

Kubu knew right away that he’d made a mistake.

Not-Mommy stormed across the room as Kubu whined and tried to make himself smaller. He wagged his tail to show that he hadn’t meant it, but they were short, quick wags. Kubu didn’t have a big wag in him, or he’d have tried that instead. Not-Mommy grabbed him by the ear and put his through-the-ear magic back in. But she didn’t let go of his ear afterward.

“That was very naughty,” Not-Mommy told him. This time, Kubu would rather not have understood her. “You need some quiet time, then we’ll resume the lesson.”

Dragged by the ear, Kubu had no choice but to follow Not-Mommy to the quiet room. He looked frantically into the rooms they passed and down each side hallway. Not-Mommy held his ear by the through-the-ear magic, and the tugging hurt as he stumbled awkwardly down the stairs behind her. Kubu whimpered, even though he tried to hold it in.

Not-Mommy pushed him into the quiet room. When Kubu tried to dart through the door before she could close it, his whole body stopped.

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