xp_logs | Janet calls home

Janet calls home to tell her father the big news and asks to go home.

Eagerly, Janet punched in the numbers to dial home. She'd been the proper size for a day now, and while there weren't any guarantees that she wouldn't just suddenly shrink without warning again, she'd managed to stay at her proper height for over twenty-four hours. "Come on, Dad, pick up!" she said, bouncing as she waited to hear her father's voice. They'd kept in touch over the past few weeks with an e-mail every so often, but hadn't actually spoken as her voice hadn't been able to carry over the phone. "Dad, it's me!" she almost shouted into the phone once he picked up. "Guess what? I grew! I'm big! I mean, I'm the size I'm supposed to be! It happened yesterday and I wanted to make sure it would last before I called, you know, and it seems to be! Isn't that great?"

"That's wonderful, Jannie! I've missed hearing you." Vernon switched the phone to his other ear as he thought about how to phrase his next question. "Do they think you're . . ." 'Cured' was out of the question, even if it was what part of him still wanted to say. "Likely to shrink again, if you have any more sudden shocks?"

"I hope not," Jan replied. "I don't know for sure. Want me to get one of the other kids to try to scare me and see what happens?"

"No, no, I'm sure that won't be necessary." Vernon rubbed the back of his neck. "After all, what if it takes you another three weeks to unshrink again? We'll deal with it if it happens, I suppose. I'm just so glad you're back to normal."

"Me too!" Jan said happily. "It was kind of cool being tiny and flying around, but not so much fun thinking someone might squash me. Now they won't! After I come home, I should still come back here, I think. They can help me on the zapping so I don't accidentally sting anyone anymore, without being all careful and without gloves! Won't that be great?"

"That'll be wonderful," Vernon replied, heartfelt relief in his voice. "You're . . . ready to come home, then?"

"Ready to go home, go back to school, show my friends I wasn't really eaten by a bear!" Jan proclaimed, beginning to bounce around at the idea of seeing her friends again,. "And yes, I'll be very very careful! I'll think big thoughts and I won't tell anyone where I was, promise!"

"I know you will, Jan." Vernon sighed with relief, but at the same time . . . "Honey, you know I'm not ashamed of you, don't you? You'll always be my little girl--sometimes my very little girl, I guess--I just want you to be safe."

"I know!" Jan knew her father loved her and cared for her and wanted to protect her. Did he want his only daughter to be a mutant? No, but he'd always been there for her. "So, you're coming to get me now, right? I'm ready to go, it's not like I brought anything with me!" Luckily, the voice amplifier Forge had made for her had been found, intact. She'd bring that and keep in with her, just in case she went tiny and got stuck again.

"Give me five minutes to find my car keys and I'll be on my way." Vernon's smile was evident even through the phone lines. "I'll probably want to talk to Professor Xavier again for a little while once I get there, so you'll have a chance to let your new friends know where you're going."

"Oh, letting everyone know is easy!" Jan laughed. "There's this journal set-up, and everyone at the school can read messages and respond. But yeah, I should probably tell a few people in person, although it's not like I'm going away forever! Oops, I should let you start looking for those keys now, right? Bye!" She hung up the phone and headed off to start writing her journal entry.