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These were Joanne’s least favorite days. Miss Evelyn, her nanny, had called in sick meaning she couldn't pick her up from school today. Instead she had to spend time with Papa, now chatting with the other parents who dared not let their precious child ride the bus. A pack of moms circled him like wolves over a fresh kill. As much as they disliked Jo, and encouraged their children's bullying of her, they couldn't resist the charms of a single doctor leaning against the latest luxury vehicle.
Papa greeted Jo warmly with that smile reserved specially for people he had no idea how to placate. She pushed past him with a dog-like snarl and let herself into the car, smacking the window for him to hurry up once seated inside. The moms laugh politely, still attempting to win the young doctor’s approval as he excuses himself.
The drive home was filled with him droning on about how she needed to learn to behave. He only ever spoke to her when she’d done something to anger him.
“What am I going to do with you?”
His question was genuine, to himself if not her. He had considered leaving Jo with her mother’s family the moment he held her in his arms at the hospital. His wife’s death bringing her into the world only made his wife’s family hate him all the more, the least he could do was let them raise their granddaughter he didn’t even want. But the optics of a wealthy widower giving away his only child was something even his reputation couldn’t survive.
Evelyn kept her out of his hair, for the most part. And she at least had the tact not to voice her disgust at his neglect of his daughter. Took it upon herself to raise Jo as best as any nanny could. He had overheard her numerous explanations to Jo that he was an important and busy man, that she shouldn’t bother him no matter what. But Evelyn never said Papa loved her. The nanny wouldn’t lie on his account, though he knew she lied for his daughter on more than one occasion. Children really are women’s greatest weakness.
Jo knew not to respond to his question, staring out the window wishing he’d drive faster. Neither of them wanted to be stuck with the other.
The second Papa unlocked the front door she squeezed past him toward the T.V. Almost missed her favorite show because of his insistence on talking to those women who probably hated him as much as they hated her.
He huffed at her callous behavior and decided now was as good a time as any to play the part of father, standing in front of the T.V. and turning it off.
“No T.V. until you finish your homework.”
She shook her head as if she were the parent correcting the child and flipped the T.V. back on.
“I always watch Garfield Goose then do my homework.”
“I am the parent here and I say you do your homework first.”
Off again.
“That’s not fair!” she stomped her foot.
“Life’s not fair.”
Uncontainable rage surged through her body, little hands balled into fists. Papa ruined everything. Blood dripped from her nose when she flicked her head to the side, turning on the T.V. remotely.
Jo’s bloody nose worried him, but the theme song booming from the T.V. startled him even worse. His head swiveled rapidly between her and the screen.
“How did you do that?”
She ignored his question, returning to the sofa and pointedly staring at the puppets on screen.
Two can play at that game, he thought, grabbing the knob to switch it off. Her eyes shifted to the knob, jaw clenched and nose still bleeding as she held it steady. He pushed with all his might until he gasped for a breath he unknowingly held in frustration.
“I am watching Garfield Goose,” she reiterated.
Brenner stared at her in shock, his own piercing blue eyes glaring back at him through her. This goose better be worth it.
The moment the show ended he bombarded her with questions. How did she do that? What else can she do? Does Miss Evelyn know? For how long?
“I have to do my homework now.”
“Forget about that,” he interrupted harshly.
Jo cowered away from him across the couch and covered her ears. He leaned back immediately. Recalibrated. Slowly he pulled out his handkerchief to clean the blood off her face.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
Her eyes watered as she continued to press her hands into her head soothingly. She can’t remember a time she wasn't frightened of Papa. He was always too busy to even look at her. Has never spent this long with him uninterrupted, and it was miserable.
“Are you hurt? How often does your nose bleed like this?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt at assurance, the other gently coaxed her hands off her ears.
“Why not? I’m your Papa, you can tell me anything.”
She shook her head and fidgeted away from him.
He had to think quickly, remembered the notes Miss Evelyn gave him about Jo’s likes and dislikes.
“How about we go to that diner you like, Benny’s? You can tell me all about it over a milkshake.”
Jo perked up, eyeing him suspiciously despite the tempting offer.
“You’re not mad?”
“No, my darling daughter, I’m not mad.”
Brenner gingerly patted the top of her head, unsure how to show affection. He sighed with relief when she immediately hopped off the sofa and ran to the car. Thankfully she was as unaccustomed to affection as him.
Over dinner he listened intently. His plate untouched as Jo described her magic. How Miss Evelyn helped her control it, but warned Jo to never tell anyone or show off. That it might put her in danger.
He’ll have a word with Miss Evelyn for hiding this from him, but at least she kept Jo safe.
“What if we play hookey tomorrow, hm? Skip school and come with me to work.”
She sank into the booth. Work was what made him so angry all the time.
He misunderstood her hesitation, “Your friends will be there when you return Thursday.”
“I don’t have any friends,” she sulked.
“We can work on that,” he smiled dismissively.
“What about my schoolwork?”
He beamed with pride at her concern for doing well in school. Not unlike him as a child. Excelled in all her subjects, but struggled with making friends. He forgot how much easier life became once he learned how to navigate, and manipulate, others. A skill he could teach Jo quite easily. Might even be fun. This small version of himself dominating the playground, and then the world.
A tight frown as he watched her inhale french fries like a pig with slop. She’ll get there eventually, he’ll show her the way.
“I’ll help you catch up. What do you say? The lab could really use someone of your talents.”
She kicked her feet excitedly as she thought it over. Liked being spoken to as a professional. Maybe Papa did care about her, or at least won’t ignore her anymore.
-
The lab loomed above Jo like a creature from a nightmare, waiting until she’s within reach then pouncing to disappear her forever. She clung tight to Papa’s hand, hid behind his legs whenever he stopped to discuss some business or other with stranger after stranger.
It was quiet throughout the building making the hum of fluorescent lights all the starker. She tried to cover her ears, but Papa shushed her into behaving, to not embarrass him in front of his employees. God forbid they thought his child was as weird as he is. He couldn’t have anyone question his authority.
A gaggle of nurses swarmed to coo over Jo the second she stepped off the elevator into the secure lower levels. They reminded her of Miss Evelyn: fishing out treats from their pockets to give her and fussing over her hair, ignoring Papa completely. Jo snickered to herself; no wonder Papa complained about work, no one liked him here either.
“That’s enough ladies, we have important work to get to today. Isn’t that right, darling?”
He looked down at Jo and frowned at seeing two lollipops already stuck in her mouth. She nodded in disappointment, talking around the candy to say goodbye as he led her down the hallways.
Once inside an interview room he pulled the candy from her mouth and tossed it into the trash. He was always strict about sweets.
Jo’s scowl only resulted in a dismissive tut from him.
"You can have one, if you perform well," he relented. He had never been on the receiving end of one of his own glares and found it rather convincing.
She crossed her arms in what he assumed was defiance, but rather it covered her surreptitious attempt at sneaking another candy from one of her pockets. Brenner was distracted setting up one of the machines, but the sound of a crinkling wrapper whipped his head right back to her.
“Empty your pockets,” he sighed.
She kicked her feet and loudly whined in an exaggerated tantrum, throwing the rest of the candy onto the table. He wondered how the nurses managed to give her that much in the short time she spent talking to them. Didn’t matter. He fit the electrodes over her head. Would just have to deal with them not resting perfectly against her hair for now.
A small portable radio sat on the table. Jo’s first trial.
“I want you to do exactly what you did before,” he instructed. “Just flip the switch to turn it on.”
She glanced at the radio for a moment before her gaze returned to the pile of sweets opposite her on the table. Tension clenched his jaw at your hesitation. They’d think he was starving her with the way she stared at the candy.
“I don’t want the radio,” she huffed.
“Then no candy.”
Anger boiled over as she ground her teeth. Miss Evelyn always scolded her when she used her powers to do this, but Papa was being unfair. And Jo had the power to make it fair.
With a flick of her wrist she summoned one of the taffies to her outstretched hand, shoving it into her mouth wrapper and all before Papa could snatch it away. His turn to boil with rage, wanted to scream for her to wipe that smug grin off her face. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Annoying as she was, she demonstrated her power and the machine managed to record it.
In fact, she had perfectly circumvented his instructions to get what she wanted. Demonstrated a higher level of intelligence than he expected from a child her age as well as a strong grasp of her own capabilities.
“Brilliant girl,” he praised, patting her head in awe. Would rather that Jo believed this was his intention and not that she had outsmarted him. Jo grinned wide, but frowned when she realized the wrapper was still covering her candy.
Brenner grimaced as she spat it into her hand to unwrap before popping it back into her mouth. He will need to speak with Miss Evelyn about a number of things regarding Jo’s care.
“So we can go home now?” she asked with her mouth full.
“No,” he corrected course upon seeing her disappointment. “There’s still a whole hoard of sweets for you to earn. I’d like to see what else you can do.”
That worked. Jo nodded eagerly and planted her hands on the table to await his instructions, feet kicking in anticipation. He knew there was limited time with how distractible children could be and that bribes were the weakest of motivators, but it would do for now. In time he could repair the lack of relationship between them and use that instead. Maybe she could be his legacy after all, the first of her kind. 001.