Excerpt: Illusion

Emily felt the car slow down again. This time, the trees were bigger again. They were on a small side street with houses. No white picket fences so far. Emily tried to imagine mansions with hot tubs, but she didn’t see any of those, either. Just regular houses. She wondered about the two point five children, and what the point five child would look like. Maybe it would just be the legs. Or the head. Running around on the playground. Emily figured the head might have some problems on the monkey bars but it might have a good time on the slide. On the other hand, Emily thought, the leg part might have some problems on the slide but would kick some major butt on the jungle gym. Emily laughed aloud at the thought of heads and legs running around on the playground.
The slamming of a car door brought Emily back to reality and she realized that Kathryn had stepped out of the car. Emily held on to the door handle with her left hand, held on to her clay pot in her right hand, and pushed the car door open. She stepped carefully onto the grass next to the car. Couldn’t Kathryn have parked a little further away from the curb? I hate stepping on other people’s grass. Emily shut the door behind her, and without taking her backpack from the backseat, followed Kathryn across the street and up the sidewalk. The house Kathryn walked to was normal looking. Smaller than Monica’s. No white picket fence. But no two point five children are running around outside, either