Mrs Tanner and Mrs Yang visit the house

Not long after her most important men in her life had left, there was a rhythmic knocking on the door. Dara was not expecting any visitors but she answered nonetheless. When the door opens, she was happily surprised to see Mrs Amanda Tanner and Mrs Gracie Yang at her doorstep. They were her immediate neighbors from across the road. Having known them for a long time, she would consider them particularly good friends. Social calls among the neighborhood women were a normal thing. The trio exchanged the archetypal happy housewives form of greeting, with all the air kisses, hugs, enthusiastic questions about their husbands, sons and daughters, the typical 'how is your fine morning' neighborly vibe. Dara was always happy to receive guests and she knew how to be hospitable. She invited them inside and made them tea, sitting with them in the living room to chat away about the kind of things that housewives always do.

"So I heard Tamara is going to college soon. When is that happening?" She asked the beautiful blonde woman that was her friend, Mrs Tanner.

"Oh, she's shipping out on the 13th."

"That's real soon. She's such a good girl, being valedictorian of her class and going to freaking Harvard! You must be so proud of her!"

"Oh, yeah! Absolutely! Her dad has been a bit worked up since she got the letter. You should have seen him last week. Couldn't get off the computer for the life of him."

The part Chinese bombshell of a mother next to her sips her tea with a raised eyebrow, "Oh? And what was he looking at?"

"Nothing weird if that's what you're asking. I would've decked him with the ironing board." The women laughed heartily, "Articles and stuff. 'How to Prepare for Your Kids Going to College'. '10 Tips on Keeping Your Dad Sanity'. Stuff like that."

"I don't blame him. My hubbie would do the same thing once his son goes to college." Gracie quips, "At least Joseph's doing something about it. You gotta relieve all that tension from him a little better, Amanda."

"Oh, ho! You did not just say that!" All three giggled away like school girls, "I can 'relieve' his tensions just fine, you little bitch!"

The trio cheerily chatted the morning away. A whole host of topics were discussed and gossiped about. It had been a long while since they had last had a gossip session, so there was far more to talk about than any previous congregation of housewives to date. They talked about how certain relationships were going, what they thought about the mayor and his wife, what the new teachers at the local schools were like, and many other sorts of tit bit worthy of scandalizing. The discussion then turned to what the neighborhood kids were doing these days.

"Hey, have you heard about the Erikson boy? You know, Colin." Mrs Yang kept a serious low tone, as if what she was about to say was a state secret.

Dara immediately perked up to pay attention, an instinctual shiver running down her spine. Colin was a problem child to her, and a flashback of the nightmare she had last night caused her to clam up slightly, "What about him?"

"I heard he and some other boys found some weird stuff online. Something about 'unlocking the human brain' or something."

"So the boys have taken an interest in psychology. Nothing wrong with that." Amanda dismissed the issue with a scoff.

"No, I mean, something like programming the senses to do certain things." Gracie explained, "I looked it up myself. Didn't understand a word of it, but I got the gist its got something to do with sound and mental editting, or some other."

"Pfft, you believe that crap? Mind control? Didn't take you for a nerd, Gracie."

"C'mon, guys. I'm serious. It looked like pretty heavy stuff. Sure, its sci fi as heck, but I think those boys are up to no good."

"They're always up to no good, Gracie." Dara chimed up, "Remember the Jameson incident with his scooter?"

The topic changed after that. However, Dara had done so on purpose so as not to alarm her friends. It sounded too much like her dream and she did not want to think about it any more than she had to. She hid her discomfort well and the morning went on with no incident.