Craig Brownlie
She discovered she had turned into the wrong person.
Tamsin motioned to her lady in waiting and ordered her to bring the mirror from her bedchamber. “Don’t look at me like that. Get one of the pageboys to help you if you can’t handle a simple task.”
While she waited, Tamsin listened to the knights continue their endless debating with her husband. She hated the king for his indecisiveness and pandering.
Across the oversized table dominating the throne room, Tamsin watched her attendant struggle with the floor length mirror along the walls. The young woman had chosen a new page to carry the other end.
Eventually, they placed the gold-framed looking glass beside Tamsin.
“Bring it closer, within arm’s reach.”
She admired the biceps on the burly lad. When she arrived in the kingdom, Tamsin found herself in the middle of an affair with one of the knights, who proved inattentive and dull. She sampled a quarter of the round table and a similar number of pages before seeing the futility. They were either drunk or rushed.
Tamsin gave the room a final survey and found it unchanged from her arrival. She licked the tip of her finger. She winked at the page who looked terrified. Then, she traced her reflection with her moist index finger.
#
She discovered she had turned into the wrong person.
“Excuse me? Are you going to give me the rest of my change or not?”
Tamsin pulled back from her abyss and refocused on the customer in front of her. “Yes, sorry. Three, four, five dollars.” She gave the man in the Blink 182 shirt a professional nod and looked to the girl behind him.
“A pack of Marlboros,” demanded the adolescent.
“I don’t think you’re old enough.”
“They’re for my mom.”
Tamsin considered the four impatient people behind the girl and reached up for the pack.
“Could you make it a carton?” The girl smirked.
“No.”
“Fine.”
Six customers later, Tamsin saw her opportunity and made a dash for the restroom. Inside, she stood before the mirror, licked her finger, and…
Tamsin heard the librarian approach. She looked over the top of the study carousel.
“You can’t keep staying in the library,” said Cynthia.
They had been roommates their first two years at university, only ending when Tamsin moved off campus to live in her boyfriend’s studio apartment. Tamsin did not want to get into a whole thing, so she kept her voice flat and unequivocal.
“I have a big project due Monday first thing. It’s not like I’m the only person that ever gets locked in.”
“You are the only person we’ve locked in for five nights running.”
“Give me until Monday to sort something out. I need this.”
Cynthia made the dramatic sigh she had perfected their freshman year and nodded.
Tamsin waited for the dimming of the overhead lights before taking the mirror out of her backpack. She touched up the concealer on her face. She licked the tip of her index finger.
She discovered she had turned into the wrong people: a girl chatting with a hookah-smoking caterpillar; a pregnant gunfighter; a suburban soccer mom; a tomb raider; an unexpected guest.
She discovered she had turned into the wrong person.
The stench of drunken pirates hit Tamsin first. Men littered the deck of the sloop William. Somewhere in that mass, she would find her lover, Captain “Calico Jack” Rackham. Mary Read stood beside her, the pair being the sober exceptions. Tamsin followed Mary’s eyes out to sea and watched an English privateer draw closer. They both drew their pistols.
“We are doomed,” said Mary.
“They are bound to find us out.”
“Damn Jack Rackham.”
“I’m pregnant,” hissed Tamsin.
“So am I.”
“Damn Jack Rackham.”
Mary shifted her pistol and took her friend’s hand. As the first cannonball flew overhead, Tamsin lost her nerve.
“Does Jack still have that mirror in his cabin?”
Tamsin shifted books about in her carousel until she located her mobile.
“Cynthia, I’m sorry for calling so late, but you were right. I don’t want to spend another night or even minute here. Can you come and let me out? And maybe I can stay at your place?”
CRAIG BROWNLIE was born in East Orange, New Jersey, and grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. Among other endeavors, he has washed dishes, spun records on the radio, directed and designed stage shows, joined the Pennsylvania and Federal Bar Associations, and managed software development projects. His first published book was 1987’s Financial Commercial Loan Handbook from Financial Publishing Company (uncredited). In addition, he has written numerous plays, books, short stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces.