Chapter 44 - Turning Over A New Leaf

Felicity was discharged from hospital, feeling ridiculous since she had to sit in a wheelchair until she got to reception. No sign of Mother. Irresponsible bitch. Not anger, just a cynical matter of factly yep, situation normal. Felicity caught herself. She didn't normally think of her mother like that. She would normally feel upset, looked over whatever. But not this. She searched her feelings and none of what she was expecting was there. Pretty hard to deny the truth of what she was feeling, but all the same. She had surprised herself.

The nurse informed reception and told Felicity to wait for her mother. A few minutes went by and the receptionist took a call requiring her to look at her monitor. Felicity quietly left and breathed in the fresh morning air. Then it hit her. Her sense of smell had gone up, way up. She was in the shade of a line of Pride of Bolivia trees and she could smell the leaves. She suddenly had the urge to try them. She jumped up and grabbed a handful of low lying foliage. Quickly she looked around, saw no one watching and chowed down on them. She would hardly describe them as gourmet cuisine but there was something immensely satisfying about them. A level of nutrition that was hard to find in the supermarkets.

Felicity had the presence of mind to know she must act normal, at least until she had got used to the new her. Life was harsh for those who were different. She must do her best to feign normality. She had just spent the first 17 years of her life being normal, shouldn't be too hard. Any new diet would be part of a health plan she stumbled across on Facebook, or some other excuse of that genre. It was then her mothers car turned the corner and came into view. The sun was bouncing off the windsreen but, to her surprise, Felicity recognised the number plates. Just how good was her memory now?

There was the predicable apology and Felicity found herself feigning the normal reaction, there was an apology and things were hunky dory. Felicity put her left hand under her thigh as they drove home. She still had that habit, except... She became aware that she could kind of smell through her skin. The back of her hand was in direct contact with the seat. It wasn't like normal smelling, but it was smelling nonetheless. It was information rich smelling, but she couldn't correlate it to her usual sensory experiences and so could not make much sense of it. Better shut the fuck up about this one she thought.

In the outer solar system an asteroid ventured a little too close to Jupiter. The gravity of that mighty beast sent it hurtling toward the inner planets, never to return, but not before passing many times through water plumes originating on Europa.