Violetta Durand

Back to Where It All Began

'You are as sneaky as a ninja, little girl!' Her mother kneeled down to give her a big hug followed by a kiss on her forehead.

'Can we go for ice-cream now, mom? Please? I heard they have a new drone bot over at the mall, all the kids say it's really cute.'

Violetta's mother let go of her and looked at her watch. 'I'm sorry honey, I have to get back to the lab soon. We're running an important trial today.'

'Oh please mom, just a quick one? Please?' Violetta begged while pulling her mother's shirt.

'Alright, but nothing fancy! Just a simple vanilla ice-cream cone then, okay?'

'Okay!' Violette gave a big smile. 'Yey! We're going for some ice-cream! We're going for some ice-cream!' She started running towards the exit of the park.

'Violetta! Wait! I still need to gather our things!' her mother called after her, but Violetta was too excited to listen to her. She raced through the park's exit towards the mall right across the street. One of the mall's bear mascots was standing in front of the entrance trying to lure in customers. He waved at Violetta. She waved back while changing her course, but at that moment she got pulled back roughly. Surprised she looked around.

'Violetta! Don't go running off like that! You were about to run into the street!' her mother said in a panicky voice. She was breathing heavily.

'But mom, the bear was waving at me. I just wanted to say hi to him.'

'Which bea--?! What? The one across the street? Is that the one?'

'Yes, the cute one mom. Can we go say hi to him now?'

'We'll go say hi and then some, honey, come on.'

Her mother grabbed her hand tightly and briskly walked towards the pedestrian crossing. 'Look honey, this is the right place to cross the road. Only here, and only when the light is green. You know this right?'

Violetta stared at her toes. 'I know... I'm sorry mom.'

'It's alright, honey, just don't do that again,' her mother said as the light turned green, 'come on, now we can cross safely.'

Violetta and her mother crossed the street, and her mother pulled her straight towards the mascot. As they got closer the mascot noticed them and gave them a wave. Violetta's mother did not slow her pace. Only two paces away from the mascot Violetta's mother put down her left leg firmly and swung her right leg up as hard as she could, hitting the mascot right between the legs. The mascot crumbled over in pain.

'What the fuck, you crazy bi-'

'Don't wave at kids across the street, kuso-yarou!' Violetta's mom pulled her arm and walked around the mascot into the mall. 'Sorry for my language, honey, that's not okay for you to repeat, okay?'

'Okay, mom.' Violetta responded. It was not the first time she had heard those words. Her mom got upset with other people sometimes. 'Are we still going for ice-cream?'

'Of course, honey. Look, I can already see the drone! Why don't you go ahead, and put in your order?' Violetta's mom pointed towards a drone in the shape of a rabbit that was buzzing in front of the storefront painted in bright pinks, blues, and whites. Although the commercials tried to make it seem like a real AI-powered drone, the reality was a cheap-looking character that would repeat a few fixed phrases, and take your order with some basic voice-recognition. Not that the kids minded that; they loved it.