For your weekend reading pleasure: Here’s an excerpt from the short story “Unnoticed” from my new collection Patti 209: Fifteen Tales of the Very Near Future, available in ebook or print:
“Your mother and I were ignorant,” he said. Wow. For once, Dad was actually admitting fault. He explained that, like most prospective parents, they’d met with a counselor and had their embryo’s genetic material improved using robust DNA selected from the databanks. “We thought we were making the best choice by giving you popular, well-tested genes. We wanted you to be healthy and happy. We just wanted you to fit in.”
I put my elbows on the table, and buried my face in my hands. “I can’t stand it. You made me nobody.”
“Cait, we were immigrants!” My mom leaned forward, elbows on the table, her dinner forgotten. “We’d been on a waiting list to get out of Mardour for years. We knew that if we were accepted for immigration to Savania we’d have only one child license. That meant only one child. So we wanted you to be perfect.”
“But not to stand out,” Dad cut in. He rationalized, “We made you pretty, and healthy, and smart.”
“But not so pretty, or healthy, or smart that the Savanians would be envious.” Mom’s voice rose, trembling. “We didn’t want…trouble.”
