Read Online The Emoticon Generation by Guy Hasson - Free Book Online Page B

which she kept her hacking programs, most of which she had programmed herself. Her mother had kept secrets from her, and she had kept secrets from her mother.
    She executed ReCall, and dialed her mother’s number.
    Olivia’s face appeared. “Hello,” it said. “This is the residence of Dr. Olivia Hatch—” Glynis’ stomach turned “—I’m not home right now. Please leave a message.” As soon as her image was gone, ReCall immediately took over Olivia’s answering service. Glynis could now treat it as if it were her own. She scanned the messages. There were three pending (which Olivia hadn’t heard yet), two saved, and one in the trash bin, which had not yet been deleted (the trash bin deletes a message 24 hours after it is sent to the bin).
    She watched the one in the trash bin first.
    Professor Von Variety appeared on the screen. “Hello, Doctor Hatch,” he said in his thick accent. “This is to update you. I’ve just confirmed my flight. I’ll be taking flight number—” Glynis fast-forwarded. “—nd. I’m very excited to see your research. Even if only half of what you’ve hinted at is true. I’ll see you in less than fourteen hours.”
    Boring. Glynis chose one of the pending ones. Ron’s face appeared, “Olivia! Olivia! If you’re there, please answer. There’s been an emergency with Glynis! Call me asap!”
    Glynis blinked. Then she looked at the time-stamp. It was from six hours ago. She hadn’t seen Ron in two days. What the hell was he talking about? She looked around, half paranoid. But there was no emergency in the past six hours or twenty-four hours, for that matter. But that only drove home a point she hadn’t considered. Ron and Elizabeth were both in on whatever this is. They, too, have been lying to her all her life. No more allies. She was alone.
    The other two pending messages were sales messages. Junk. Glynis turned to the saved messages.
    An unknown man appeared on the screen. He was fiftyish, rumpled, tired, and a couple of children were playing behind him. “Hi, sis,” he said. So this is Glynis’ Uncle Thomas! “I just wanted to inform you that Pat arrived safely, everything’s fine, and we’re going to have fun while you’re busy with that bigshot.” He looked aside. “What? Oh, okay.” He turned to the screen again. “Pat wants to say something.” He moved aside, and the camera panned down to see the face of a cute six-year-old.
    “Hi, mom,” she waved, as Glynis’ eyes nearly popped out of her head. “I miss you. Call me when you get home.”
    “Bye, Olive Oil,” Thomas said, and touched the disconnect button.
    Glynis couldn’t breathe. Spots appeared in front of her eyes.
    After a couple of minutes, she calmed down enough to realize that she couldn’t remember anything else about the message besides the words “Hi, mom”. She replayed the message.
    Pat. Her sister’s name was Pat.
    She rewinded the message and froze a picture of Pat. She was cute, and she looked almost like Glynis did when she was that age. The nose and the chin were slightly different, though. There was no doubt about it. Pat was her sister.
    Olivia was living a double life. But it was Glynis and Glynis alone who seemed to be the secret life. Pat had met the rest of the family. And Glynis... she never even knew they existed.
    Suddenly Pat’s image disappeared and was replaced by a view of Olivia’s apartment. Glynis jumped: Huh? Just as she was about to press a button and reactivate the answering machine, she realized that there was movement at the top of the screen. Feet, high heels, accompanied by sound. The feet were coming closer. The camera was not panning as it usually does when there’s movement. The feet turned into legs in a skirt, and suddenly the face of her mother filled the screen and was staring right at her. Glynis nearly wet her pants.
    Glynis was frozen in place, unable to move, as her mother’s brows furrowed a bit, and her eyes moved up and down. Very