Twenty Questions
"Why?"
"Because."
Turning slightly, just enough to avoid eye contact with her younger brother, fourteen-year-old Dini scowled. "Why do you ask so many questions?"
From the car's front passenger seat, Dini had control. She could adjust the window, fiddle with the temperature controls and access the glove compartment. Riding shotgun, Dini could also, with relative impunity, hurl derisive remarks at her brother, Derrick. It helped alleviate the boredom.
"Is because even a reason?" Derrick wondered.
"It's an answer," gloated Dini.
Amber hit the turn indicator, checked her blind spot and slowly adjusted the wheel. The Honda Odyssey cruised into the left-turn lane, then stopped abruptly when the traffic light changed to yellow.
"Why didn't you go?" asked Dini.
"Because?" offered Amber, with a wry smile.
The trio had been on the road for two full days and patience was getting wobbly. The car was a three-legged table and two of the legs were shimmed up with cardboard.
The roof rack and rear cargo area of the van were jammed with suitcases, overnight bags and bins. The back seat was filled with moving boxes. In tow, behind the car loomed a U-Haul trailer. It was one of the company's mid-size options.
On the advanced green light, Amber made her left turn, hit the on-ramp, then merged back onto the Trans-Canada Highway, fully fed and fuelled.
"How about a game of Twenty Questions?" she suggested.
Derrick, shoe-horned between the boxes in the back seat (he'd lost the coin toss) responded enthusiastically; "Yes please!"
"Awrgghh... not this again," moaned Dini.
"I'll go first, I have something specific in mind," suggested Amber.
"I'm out, I don't wanna play," announced Dini, slumping into the seat's upholstery.
"Is it bigger than a microwave?" began Derrick.
"Yes, that's One," said Amber.
"Your turn, Dini," cajoled Amber.
"I'm not playing."
"Is it bigger than an elephant?" continued Derrick.
"Yes."
Amber set the cruise control to five kph over the speed limit, sat back and relaxed. Dini lowered her window and contemplated the passing terrain. A bank of uncommitted clouds loomed over the landscape. Dini's hair spun and billowed diagonally across her face. The prairie vista felt inspirational.
"Is it bigger than our apartment?" asked Derrick.
"No."
"Is it Animal?"
"No, that's Four,"
"What's the new house like?" asked Dini, diverting Amber's attention.
"Don't get your hopes up, it's modest," answered Amber.
"Is it Mineral?"
"Partly... I suppose," said Amber.
After years of cutbacks, a cramped apartment, makeshift sleeping arrangements, mounting bills and a rising cost of living, Amber had finally had enough. What followed was a personal invitation by Alberta Health Services to attend a limited recruiting session being held in Toronto. Next, came the offer of a staff position as an RN at the Chinook Regional Hospital, in Lethbridge. They flew Amber out for a week of meetings, orientation and training sessions. Once formally hired, she opened an account with the local credit union and leased a three-bedroom house near the hospital. There would be new schools, new friends and new opportunities. It all happened so fast. Amber had been headhunted.
"Is it a Tank?" roared Derrick.
"Oh-Mahee-Gawhd! That's so derivative," scoffed Dini, still not playing.
"Is it a Derivative?" Derrick laughed.
"No, but that is Seven," announced Amber.
Dini adjusted her window, slumping back into her default position.
"Is it Vegetable?"
"Mostly, I guess, yeah," said Amber.
"I don't know what derivatives are. Are they bonds?" mumbled Dini.
"Is it Alive?"
"Nine! Get it?"
"Aren't they like Hedging or Swaps or something?" pondered Dini, pulling up talking points from her Financial Literacy course.
"Do we own one?"
"Sort of, for a year at least," confirmed Amber.
"With the new job, will you have investments?" Dini interrupted.
"We'll see," replied Amber, trying to stay on task.
"That was Ten, by the way," Amber reminded Derrick.
"It's a big hospital, you should have benefits," argued Dini.
"It's a medium-sized hospital."
"Do we have one in the car?" Derrick asked.
"Nope."
"And the house, it has a backyard?" probed Dini.
"Yes, with a nice garden," replied Amber, now slightly distracted.
"Does it have moving parts?" came the next question.
"I'd have to say, no."
"And you signed a lease?"
"Yes, we have a year's lease," confirmed Amber.
"Is it something we use every day?"
"We will soon, Yes. That's Thirteen."
"If Dad helps, we might buy a house after this, right?" Dini probed.
"We'll see," cautioned Amber.
"Is it edible?" asked Derrick.
"Absolutely not."
"Can Dad visit us at Christmas?" asked Dini.
"Is it found indoors?"
"Definitely. That's Fifteen."
"You know they renewed his contract at Sikorsky. It seems he's getting more settled, down in Connecticut," Amber revealed, somewhat reluctantly.
"I miss him."
"I know."
"Does it make sounds?"
"Not really. That's Sixteen, just four more to go."
"What was your job interview like?" asked Dini.
"Fine, relaxed, comfortable... ya' know."
Derrick was now feeling some pressure.
"Can you hold it in one hand?" he asked.
"Definitely not."
"Is it something famous?"
"Not yet," responded Amber, enigmatically.
"Is it something a kid would use?"
"It soon will be. Nineteen," Amber smiled.
"Is it an Austroposeidon Magnificus?" guessed Derrick.
"Close, but uhm... no... and that is Twenty," declared Amber, with a pantomime mopping of her brow.
Derrick conceded.
"I give up, what is it?"
Amber took her eyes off the road, sat up and glanced in the rearview mirror. She caught sight of Derrick and answered...
"Your own room."