At first glance, the hallway seemed pretty much the same as what Brad remembered. That illusion was shattered, though, when he spotted the family photos hanging on the wall. He looked the same, but with him in the photos was the Asian woman he'd created with the Chronivac, and two girls who were only vaguely recognizable -- the overall shape of their faces seemed familiar, and their noses were right, but they looked almost nothing like the Robin and Sarah he remembered. They now had darker skin, almond-shaped brown eyes, and black hair -- all just like their mother, Brad realized. It also looked to him like the girls were well on their way to developing figures like their mother.
And there, on one of the closed bedroom doors, was a child's drawing of a girl with long black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes, and next to it was printed "Keiko's Room."
Feeling a little dizzy, Brad started to head for the den, to go back to the Chronivac program and hopefully undo the changes. Before he got there, though, the bathroom door opened and a skinny boy of about 16 years old came out, clad only in a pair of blue boxer shorts, rubbing his shaggy hair with a towel. "Oh, hey, Mr. Weir," he said upon seeing Brad, "I just wanted to say thanks again."
"Uh, what?" Brad asked.
"You know," said the boy. "You and Mrs. Weir's, um, attitude toward, um, things. All us guys think Meiko is the hottest girl in school, and you two are, like, the coolest parents in the world."
With that, the boy opened the door and slipped into what Brad thought of as Robin's room.
The still-dazed Brad, instead of heading for the den, headed downstairs, following his nose to the kitchen where he saw the new Tiffani, clad in a short silk robe and platform heels, standing at the stove.
"Morning, sleepyhead," she said, a big smile on her fully-made-up face. "I thought some bacon would get you up." She slid a couple of strips onto a plate. Brad sat at the kitchen table, where a plate of fruit and a glass of milk were already waiting for him.
Suddenly something clicked in his brain. "What's that boy doing here, in our daughter's room?" he demanded.
"What?" Tiffani turned off the stove and turned around to face Brad.
"Why is Rob-- Kei-- Meiko's boyfriend sleeping over?!"
Tiffani frowned. "Shane? Did she call him her boyfriend? I told her, no boyfriends for now, they'll complicate things, just fuck buddies. I'll go talk to her. Eat your breakfast."
"Wait -- what?! Fu-- what?"
"You're having a problem with this now? I know she's protected -- I told you, I saw the doctor give her the shot myself."
"That's not --"
"Like, I thought we went over this years ago, when we saw she had the same sex drive as me, and we didn't want her to get in trouble like me. Letting her fuck boys under our supervision --"
"Oh, my God," Brad interrupted.
"What is with you this morning?" Tiffani took a mock-scolding tone. "Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Do you need a good morning pick-me-up?" She moved closer to him and started to drop to her knees.
Brad stood up quickly. "No -- uh, not right now. I've lost my appetite. Maybe I'll go talk to, uh, our daughter."
He headed back upstairs, and this time made it to the den.