Henry is optimistic

Henry looked in the mirror one final time. He couldn’t believe just how effective those few modifications were. Sure, from up close it was still visible that it was him, but from a distance and only the head—they might actually pull it off. He doubted it would work in real life; no matter the distance, his height alone would be a dead giveaway. But since they'd purposefully lowered the camera quality, their chance of success seemed decent. Not to mention that if it was enough of a difference to shock his wife and even himself, it should definitely be difficult to see through for someone who met him only once. He had also put on the pink mask and sweater, but that didn’t even bother him.

While looking at himself, he also realized that his hair and eye color now matched his wife and daughter, which felt weirdly nice. He never mentioned it, but sometimes he was a bit sad that Anne didn’t really inherit any of his features. He was glad she came after her mother, his features wouldn’t exactly look great on a girl, but even her eye and hair color were almost copies of Laura’s. A family friend had even once mistaken an old photo of Laura for Anne; that’s how similar they looked.

“Wow, honey—that doesn’t look half bad.” Laura, coming up next to him, took him out of his thoughts. Right behind her was Anne. Laura had changed into an outfit more appropriate for the meeting, a dark navy blazer and a light cream blouse with a high neckline, along with some dark trousers. Anne was wearing a beige knit top with a modest neckline and high-waisted jeans.

“Unfortunately, I agree. We may have a genuine chance. Now please go over everything one last time. We have fifteen minutes.”

“Okay. The most important person in this phone call is Sarah. But you, Henry and Anne, will call her Mrs. Brown. She is quite old-fashioned in most aspects, so no speaking unless spoken to, although this works in our favor. I will try to lead the conversation and answer for you, Henry. Anne, you just behave normally, except more polite. But please remember to call Henry ‘Hailey.’ And if you have to talk about her, pretend to have a normal sibling relationship. We can’t pretend to be too perfect, so just play a teasing older sister who wants to get her shy younger sister to come out of her shell. Henry, I will unfortunately not be able to answer everything for you, so if you do talk, make your voice a bit higher and keep your answers as short as possible. I bought a bad mic yesterday and said you have a throat infection, so that has to be enough. It’s the biggest flaw in our plan, but I believe we can convince her. She will most likely ask you about school. Your cover story, based on what I told her, is that you are dissatisfied with how last year went at your school. ‘Hailey’ went to Anne’s school, so you should know enough about it to answer possible questions. Remember that the one thing about her that doesn’t fit her conservative image is her nosiness. So don’t mention anything that could arouse her curiosity. You are currently looking for a private education but are struggling a bit due to tuition costs. She is well connected in these circles, so we needed a way that she won't question it when there is no Hailey Mason enrolled at a private school next year, and money is always a good excuse. Now, I do not know too much about her family yet. Her husband has some high government position and is quite busy; he is called John. Sarah already said he won’t stay for the whole call. She has two daughters, twenty-five-year-old Jasmine and nineteen-year-old Mei. Jasmine is also working at our company. Luckily Sarah doesn’t believe in nepotism, so I don’t have to suck up to her too. Mei is adopted from Japan and is about to go to college. She wants to be a teacher. That’s all I know. And Henry: Remember to call me ‘Mom,’ and if we talk about ‘Henry,’ call him ‘Dad.’”

“Got it,” said Anne.

“Alright, I’ll do my best,” Henry added. Now the nervousness kicked in with full ****. But there was no way out now.

After a few minutes, the call popped up on the laptop. Laura looked at Anne and Henry, they nodded, and she answered.

“Good afternoon, Laura, so good to see you!”

The woman who spoke was Sarah Brown. She was a tall woman, a bit older than Laura and Henry, but still quite stunning with her black hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a high-neck long-sleeved blouse along with a dark blazer. Even though her clothes were hiding it quite well, Henry could tell she was hiding an impressive bust.

“And I believe you have not met my family yet. This is my husband, John.”

The man next to her, a bald man, perhaps a bit older than Sarah, greeted them with a friendly, “Nice to meet you. My wife has told me a lot about you, Laura. Glad to meet your family as well. Shame your husband couldn’t be here, we would surely have gotten along great. Unfortunately I do have a meeting to attend to so we’ll have to leave it at a short greeting for now.” And with that, he stood up and left. Despite his friendly demeanor, Henry could tell he had zero interest in them. He didn’t even leave them a chance to answer.

Sarah, however, was unfazed and continued without acknowledging his absence: “And these two are my pride and joy. Introduce yourselves, girls.”

“A pleasure to meet you. My name is Jasmine Brown. I met Mrs. Mason before, Mother. We may work in different areas, but we see each other sometimes in the break room.”

The woman who spoke had a face that looked like a younger copy of her mother. She also dressed very similar to Sarah in a blazer and blouse, just in some warmer colors, and she seemed less stiff. She was also very beautiful.

“Indeed we have, Jasmine, so nice to see you again,” Laura responded.

Last to introduce themselves was the family member that stood out the most.

“I am Mei Brown, so nice to meet everyone.”

She didn’t just stand out because she was an Asian woman in a white family, but also because she was taller than both her parents and had quite possibly the largest breasts Henry had ever seen, a title that his wife previously held. She was wearing a slightly baggy black top with a cardigan on top, which hid her figure somewhat so Henry wasn’t sure. But he couldn’t really afford to be distracted right now. It was his turn soon.

“How nice to finally meet you, Mei. You have a wonderful family, Sarah.”

“Oh thank you, that means a lot to me. But now you must introduce the two cuties next to you.”

Henry inwardly cringed at being called “cutie.” But he could see how their cam looked for Sarah, and the image was terrible. And so far it seemed to work. Now just the conversation itself.

“Oh, of course. Come on, sweeties.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Brown. Mom always speaks so highly of you. My name is Anne, and this here is my sister, Hailey.” When she wanted, Anne really could be perfectly polite. She just really rarely wants to. But now it was Henry’s turn.

“Nice to meet you.” Henry tried his hardest to sound anywhere close to a girl, trying to balance speaking in a higher voice while not sounding squeaky.

“Oh dear, your voice really doesn’t sound good. I thought your mom was exaggerating with your illness. I will send you some tea after this; a young woman like you must be careful to preserve her voice.”

The cover of being sick really saved him, Henry thought to himself.

“Thank you.”

“But I do want to ask you a question, then I will let you rest your voice. Could you tell me about your school troubles?”

“Well, I was in North Field High School until this year, but I am unsure if I want to continue. The teachers don’t seem properly educated and the facilities are quite lacking.” What bullshit, Henry thought. Anne went to school there and while it wasn’t perfect, it was a good school. But as Laura told them, Sarah was of a different opinion.

“Have you considered a private school? I know several where you wouldn’t have to deal with these problems, not to mention the quality of the other students is far superior.”

“I did, but tuition is quite expensive,” Henry replied as practiced.

“I heard your father is currently on a business trip. Shouldn’t he earn quite well? And your mother works at the same company as I, shouldn’t they also pay adequately?”

“My father does earn well, but that goes to the college fund for me and my d—uhm, sister.” He almost called Anne his daughter, that would have been a fatal mistake.

“And Mom”—how weird it felt, calling his own wife ‘Mom’—“does not actually earn that much in her position.”

That was off script, and a bit risky, since it could sound rude, but it might help Laura with her promotion. And he was pretending to be an 18-year-old girl, so a bit of tactlessness should be expected.

“Oh, really?” Sarah seemed genuinely surprised. There seemed to be a lack of knowledge about the salary of lower level employees. “That won’t do. I’ll see to it that this is changed immediately.”

It worked. And quite easily at that. He thought maybe he would just give her an idea, not that she’d immediately pledge to do something. Maybe Laura was right and she was a bit **** for friendship.

Henry could see how Laura was struggling to contain her happiness amidst keeping up her professional demeanor.

The next bit of conversation didn’t involve him. It was just about work, and mainly between Sarah and Laura, with Jasmine occasionally joining. Anne, him, and Mei were seemingly not seen as “adults,” definitely a new feeling for Henry. Anne was already visibly bored. As he said, she could be polite if she wanted but keeping it up this long seemed to go against what she wanted. Mei seemed entirely uncomfortable by the whole meeting. She didn’t look directly at the screen even once and seemed to slowly shrink more and more into the background. Henry was used to long and boring conversations, and was still full of adrenaline. He was also carefully paying attention in case “Hailey” came up in conversation again.

After about 40 more minutes, Sarah seemed to remember their existence again: “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, we went a bit deeper into the subject than I planned. That must have been boring. Especially you, Hailey, I shouldn’t keep you that long in your condition. Laura, how about we continue the conversation the next time we’re in private again?”

“Gladly, Sarah. Thank you for your consideration.”

“Then I will end the call here. It was lovely meeting you, Anne and Hailey. And Hailey, if you need help choosing a private school then you can contact me anytime. Goodbye.”

Her daughters bid goodbye as well, and Laura, Anne and Henry answered. Then the call disconnected. Laura carefully triple checked that the call was truly over and the camera was off while Henry remained frozen. Then, having confirmed what she wanted, Laura sprang around and hugged Henry.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”

It seemed that their ploy was successful. For now.