Story A Day May: Day Thirteen

Posting late, but here is Day 13’s story. The prompt was to “Write a story in which the antagonist or villain shows the reader what your protagonist could easily become if they gave in to their flaw.”

I struggled with this one a fair bit, before settling on a rather silly premise (content prompt thanks to random Pinterest story prompt search).

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“Jane, could you pass me the mashed potatoes?”

“Mom, I told you, I want you to call me Lemur Lady, it’s my superhero name. I’m trying to build my brand.”

“Oh Jane, couldn’t you have picked something better? Something more sophisticated?”
Lemur Lady sighed. Her parents were not very accepting of this change. She had feared this might be the case and, indeed, she had been correct.

She passed the potatoes.

“Isn’t Sarah coming?” she asked.

“She’ll be here,” her father said firmly. “But she said that she would be late. She had something to do.”

“She’s probably out tormenting people.”

“That isn’t a very nice thing to say.”

“It’s the truth. That’s what she does as Professor Insect.”

“She’s an entomology professor, it isn’t nice to call her Professor Insect.”

“That’s her …,” she began and then gave up.

“Your father shot a hole in one yesterday,” her mother offered.

“That’s great, Dad.”

He smiled, obviously proud. “It was a good round, too. It wasn’t wasted. I can’t wait to get to Scotland.”

Her parents were planning a holiday to Britain next month and her father was eager to play on a proper Scottish golf course.

The door opened and Lemur Lady’s sister rushed in.

“Sorry, I’m late!” she said, as she shrugged off her jacket and tossed it on the sofa. It was no surprise that she would be so careless. What could you expect from a super villain, really?

“Off tormenting people?” Lemur Lady could not help but ask.

“Oh please,” Professor Insect said, as she took her place at the table. “Mmm. Mom, you surpassed yourself. Is that shredded Brussel sprouts? I love that.”

“I know you do, dear.”

“Anyway,” Professor Insect continued, turning to her sister, “you don’t like those whiny, useless people, either. But all you want to do is complain about them. At least I do something.”

“Do something?! It’s terrible.”

“Because I don’t get all new agey and tell them to deal with their feelings?”

“Because you unleash hordes of insects on them!”

“Don’t argue, girls,” their father said.

“Hmmph,” Lemur Lady said and shifted to re-arrange her cape. She hated Sunday dinners these days. She and Sarah had never gotten along well, but it was definitely worse now.

“Your father and I are worried about the two of you,” their mother said, looking from one to the other and back. “You’re always fighting.”

“Mom,” Professor Insect said, in an unconscious echo of her sister’s earlier complaint,

“I’m a super villain, Jane is a super hero. We’re supposed to fight. That’s what we do.”

“I don’t much like this hero and villain thing. You’re my daughters and I love you both. I don’t believe you’re really evil, Sarah.”

Professor Insect sighed in annoyance. It was hard for her to get her parents to take her seriously.

“Anyway,” their father interrupted. “We have a surprise for the two of you.”

Their mother was beaming. “It’s very exciting.”

Lemur Lady and Professor Insect looked questioningly from one parent to the other.

“We’re bringing you to Scotland with us!” their father exclaimed.

“We weren’t sure we could afford it, but we can! Isn’t it exciting?” Their mother clapped her hands together in pure joy.

“We’re sure you two will be able to mend your problems on a holiday. Won’t it be fun?”

And the two young women looked at each other in shared horror.