Flip Side: The Meeting

"Mum? Did you hear that?"

"Yes."

"The house isn't allowed to do that, is it?"

"No," said Mum. "There's something wrong with it. I think I'd better get Dad."

Zanelle and I waited while Mum tapped in Dad's personal number on her wrist-phone. We didn't hear what he said to her, but it was easy to guess. In less than a minute she was finished and Dad was organizing some technicians to come round.

"Everything's under control," said Mum. "Just sit tight and wait. Have you got any homework to do?"

"Oh, Mum!" said Zanelle. "How can you think of a thing like that? We've just finished school!"

"Well, don't leave it till the end of the holidays."

"Maidy will help us."

"Lazy things!" said Mum.

For the next ten minutes or so my sister and I watched the cartoons, while outside the gate our mother stood in the late evening sunshine and waited. Presently, a service van pulled up and two technicians got out.

"You don't need to tell us," said the driver. "We know what the problem is. The gate's stuck, right?"

"Yes."

"It's the same all over the city. There's a major fault in the system."

"You mean all the houses are stopping their owners from getting in?"

"No," said the man. "The children are allowed in. It's the parents who are shut out."

"But what about parents who are already home?"

"They're OK. But they're not allowed out," said the man. "It's the most peculiar problem we've ever come across. Nobody knows what's causing it. My advice to you is to go somewhere else for a while until we get this thing sorted out. It may be some time."

"Well, I hope you work it out soon," said our mother. "I've got two children in there!"