Sometimes permanently, sometimes not

Reading Instead continues from yesterday

“If it’s not squared, then it’s not quadratic,” said Ms Garlic.

“Teleporting? Is that a real thing?” Niamh asked. She wasn’t going to let this go.

“Who knows? Reality is not as dependable as we’d like to think. Who is to say what is possible?” said Fenella.

“Well,” said Niamh. “If you think there’s a chance she’s somewhere, then that’s good. All I need to do is find her.”

“I think you’re just going to drive yourself crazy,” said Fenella, unwrapping a vego bar and taking a bite.

“Ondine!”

“Yes, Ms Garlic?”

“What are the roots for this equation?”

The roots. She had no idea, she had to guess.

“Um, is it…”

“An answer should never be given in the form of a question,” Ms Garlic reminded her.

Right, Ondine knew that.

“Zero and minus seven,” shrugged Ondine.

“No, try again.”

“Minus three and minus four.”

“I’m afraid that’s not the answer I was looking for,” said Ms Garlic. “Don’t be discouraged. Look again at the examples on the first page of the chapter.”

“You said she could have been transported home, right? So I will call her house!” said Niamh, cheerfully looking for her phone number.

Fenella wanted to go back to playing solitaire. Or do some actual work. But she found it very difficult to concentrate, with all this interdimensional drama in the air. Especially since Niamh was on the phone in the same room, stirring it all up.

“Hello, is Louise there? Louise Carmichael… no? Ok, thank you,” Niamh put down the phone. “Well, she’s not at home.”

She looked at Fenella for a response. Fenella took a deep breath.

“There was a nun who was back and forth from … somewhere, Spain to South America, I think, like, fifty times. And she had time to do missionary work in between. People have been vanishing mysteriously since the fifteen hundreds, sometimes permanently, sometimes not.”

Niamh’s mouth fell open.

“Sometimes permanently?”

Fenella winced.

“Sometimes Portugal,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “The point I’m trying to make, is that …” she paused, trying to remember her point.

“Just because Louise isn’t back at her house yet, doesn’t mean she’s not going to end up there eventually.”

“But she might be permanently gone forever,” said Niamh.

Fenella, barely resisting the urge to explain that if you say permanently, you don’t need to say forever, gently tried again.

***

Story continues tomorrow – or you can read the rest now 😀

Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, interesting, and sometimes slightly bizarre vegan fiction since 2012