As her Dad entered the living room, Miranda looked up from a Teen Rave article on spotting eating disorders among your friends.  He held up a bright yellow rain poncho.  “See what I gotcha, pumpkin?”

     She wasn’t impressed.  “I already have one of those.”  She returned her gaze to the magazine.  In an armchair, Mom cleared her throat in a menacing manner as her crochet needles clicked out a mysterious cipher.  Miranda sighed, set the mag on the coffee table, and offered her Dad an encouraging smile.  “It’s very--bright,” She noticed.

     “Yeah, but that’s not the cool part.  Look, it’s reversible!”  He flipped the thing, turning it inside out.  The poncho was now a shocking pink. 

     “Just what I need,” she said, “an opportunity to create more Umbrella Girl sightings.  I’d hoped that whole mess would just die down.”

     “Oh, you’re just being modest.”  He beamed with paternal pride.  “Like father, like daughter; it’s in the blood, the need to get out there and cave-in the grinning face of evil.  Here, hold this up.”  He tossed the poncho to Miranda, and pulled out his glock 9mm.  “And the best part is, it’s bulletproof!”  He aimed at the poncho that Mirada clutched to her chest.

     “Dad, wait a minute!”  

     Mom spoke up.  “Not in the house, dear.  I don’t feel like digging slugs out of the walls.  Besides, you’ll leave bruises on our daughter and people will think we beat her.”

     “Huh?  Oh, sure.  What was I thinking?”  Reluctantly, he holstered the weapon.

     Miranda forced a happy smile in place.  “It’s great, thanks!”

     “Try it on,” he urged.

     With a second sigh, she climbed to her feet and slipped the thing on.  She assumed a supermodel pose.  “Well, how do I look?”

     “Beautiful as always,” Mom said without looking up.

     “What she said,” Dad muttered, searching his pockets.  His hand came out with a set of car keys, tossing them.  Confused, she caught the keys and stared at them.  There was a VW symbol attached.  That puzzled her.  They had several cars, none of them were of that make.”

     “The poncho goes with the Euro-bug in the driveway.  Why don’t you go check out your new car?”

     “What!”  An electric thrill shot through her.  She felt a torrential love swelling her heart many times its size.  “You bought me a car?  Oh, you are the wisest, most wonderful parents any girl could ever have!”

     “We know, dear.”  Mom set aside whatever it was she was working on, and joined Dad.  “But you did very well in Driver’s Ed, and your grades have been stellar.  We thought we’d reward your hard work.”

     Miranda rushed her parental unit, offering hugs and kisses all around.  Afterwards, she hurried to the front door wrenching it violently open on the way out.  She left the porch and ran to the driveway.  A bright yellow VW bug waited for her, a great red ribbon planted on the roof.  The color was a bit intense, but the car was all hers!  She ran her hands lovingly across a fender, walking around the vehicle.

     Her parents caught up to her as she opened the driver’s door and slid in, leaving the door open.  She sniffed deeply, enjoying the fresh-from-the-factory smell, and slid the key into the ignition.  Dad leaned in and pointed across the dash.  “And it comes with satellite radio, a guidance system, CD player, and few accessories I had the lab boys at work come up with.” 

     A note of caution sounded in her brain.  Gadgets could be trouble.  Look at all the grief she’d come into after borrowing her Dad’s suped-up umbrella.  “Please, don’t tell me there’s an ejector seat in here!”

     A look of surprise crossed her Dad’s face.  “Darn!  I knew I was forgetting something.”  He tapped the hub of the steering wheel and it irised open, showing an array of color-coded buttons.  He explained their purpose, pointing to each.  “White is stealth mode.  No radar gun in the world will ever lay a glove on you.  Blue is sat-control, remote piloting for when you need to leave the driving to someone else.  Press green when you’re leaving the vehicle.  It activates the anti-theft protocols.  The proximity of the key ring will deactivate it.  Black is a safety precaution, in case you have a date that won’t keep his hands to himself.  The button activates hidden restraints in the adjoining seat.”

     There was a pink button left on the hub.  “What’s that do?” she asked.

     “Chameleon effect.  It changes the paint color to confuse pursuit.  Try it.”

     She pushed the button and stared out the windshield at the hood.  It went from cadmium yellow to coral pink.  “Now, that I like!”  The hub abruptly sealed itself.  Must be on a timer, she decided.

     Mom pulled Dad back out of the way and stuck her head in.  “Your father calls this Umbrella Girl mode.  You use the pink motif when going into action, and hide behind the yellow at other times.”

     “Mom, I keep telling you, that one time was a fluke.  I’m not interested in a career as a girl-of-mystery crime-fighter.”

     “Perhaps not,” she said.  “But your father put in a lot of time getting this thing detailed by his buddies at the Clandestine Agency for World Peace.  You could show some appreciation.” 

     “Yes, Ma’am.”  Her finger stabbed the pink button again.  The paintjob went muddy, then returned to yellow.  She climbed out and turned toward her father.  “Does it do any other colors?”

     “The whole spectrum.  There’s a computer interface in the glove box.  You can call up the display file and change the color at will.”

     “Great.  I’m going for a drive.  I want to try this baby out.”

     “Fine,” her mom said.  “You can drop me off at the hospital.”

“I thought this was your day off,” Dad said.

“It is.  I just need to drop in for a consultation.  There’s a billionaire flying in from Geneva who’s shopping for a surgeon.”

Dad grinned.  “And of course, he asked for you because he only wants the best.”

Mom shrugged off the praise.  “Amanda and I will get lunch while we’re out.  You’ll have to fend for yourself.  Try not to burn down the kitchen.”

Wide-eyed, he objected.  “But that’s half the fun!”  He handed Miranda his umbrella.  "Here.  I’ll feel better if you take this with you.  Looks like rain.”  He leaned in and whispered.  “You can’t fight Destiny.”

She didn’t want to take it.  The high-tech device had a mind of its own and had gotten her into and out trouble once before.  But then again, she didn’t want to argue about it either.  She took the thing and climbed back in behind the wheel, tossing the umbrella into the back seat. 
     Her mom got in.  “Use your seatbelt and drive defensively.  There are a lot of crazy people on the road.  Don’t be one of them.”
     “Yes, Ma’am.”  She started up the car and found an up-tempo cyber-punk-rock ballad on the radio.  Mom’s front-seat driving was going to go down better if there was a soundtrack involved.
     Miranda buckled up, checked her rearview mirror, and started backing down the drive.  “You’re going to make me too nervous to drive if you keep staring at every little thing I do.”

     “Sorry.”

     “You say that, Mom, but you’re still staring.”

     “Sorry.”  She turned and pointedly stared out the passenger’s side window.  “Is that better?”

     “Thanks.” 

     They reached the hospital in one piece and located parking.  She activated the green button and climbed out.  They went in together, then her mom left her, going about her business.  Miranda headed for the lobby’s vending machines, feeling in need of a caffeine fix.  She fed a dollar and a quarter in and obtained a bottle of diet lemon cola.  
     She carried it over to an empty seat and started zoning-out in front of the TV.  A commercial played, extolling the virtues of mango-flavored condoms.  It was followed by a pharmaceutical ad that didn’t really say what the drug was for, except that it’d make an all new you out of you, so ask your doctor about it right away.  The long list of possible side effects made her wonder why they bothered selling the product at all.
     She became aware of a seven-year old boy wearing a blue coat and ski cap.  He stared at her poncho from an adjoining seat, pointed, and spoke, “Umbrella Girl!”
     On the other side of the child, his mother smiled.  “Don’t mind him.  We were at the mall when Umbrella Girl first showed up.  Now, every time he sees someone in a poncho, this happens.” 
     “You’re her, right?” the kid asked.
     Miranda smiled.  “Even if I were, I couldn’t tell you,” she teased.  “I’d have to protect my secret identity.”
     The boy took this as a no.  His expression went tragic.  His mother explained.  “He thinks superheroes can do anything.  He wants Umbrella Girl to fix him.”
     “Fix him?  What’s wrong?”
     The boy answered.  “I got cancer, see?”  He pulled off his hat and showed her a shaved head.  The mother smiled at her child, but her tears welled in her eyes.  “I know it’s silly, but I wish you were Umbrella Girl, for his sake.  She’s a dream come true .  People need dreams to believe in, need to be able to touch them now and again.”  
     Uncomfortable, Miranda looked away.  The woman dug through a change purse, finding some quarters.  “Would you mind watching him for a minute while I go call a cab?”
     “You need a ride?  I’ve got my car just outside, and I don’t think my mom will be coming back for me anytime soon.”
     “Well, if it wouldn’t be any trouble…  We don’t live that far away.”

Miranda stood.  “Great!  It’s settled.  Come on.”

     The woman addressed her son, “put your hat back on, Johnny.  It’s cold out.”  She suddenly remembered she hadn’t introduced herself.  “Oh, my name’s Rose.” 

     They passed the sliding doors.  “I’m Miranda.  My mom’s on-staff here.  She pointed off to the side.  ”I’m parked over there.  The car with the big red bow on it.  I should probably take that off.”

     “A new car?” Rose asked.

     “Yeah, that’s my baby.”  She unlocked the car using the remote on her key ring, and stripped off the bow.  Johnny greedily seized it from her hand as she offered it.  He climbed in back as Rose took the front seat.  Miranda slid in behind the wheel.  She backed out and headed for the street.  “You’ll have to show me the way.” 

     “No problem,” Rose said.  “Turn right here and go about eight blocks.”

     “Easy enough.” 

After a while, she heard a small “wow” from the backseat.  “Is this your umbrella?” Johnny asked.

She kept her eyes on the road.  “My dad’s, actually.  He lets me use it.  Uh, matter of fact, would you hand that to me, very carefully.  I don’t want it to go off.”

Rose laughed.  “You act like it’s a loaded gun.”

Little do you know!

The umbrella was handed over her shoulder.  She claimed it and set it on her lap while muttering a comment about idiot drivers who didn’t know enough to signal their lane changes.  Eventually, Rose indicated the next turn, then pointed at a duplex.  “That’s our place.  Thanks for the ride.  I really appreciate it.”

Miranda drew up to the curb and parked.  “Don’t mention it.”  Rose got out and Johnny joined her on the sidewalk.  They headed away, and Miranda got out.  She shed the poncho and reversed it.  One tap on the steering wheel hub opened it.  She changed the paintjob to match the pink of her poncho, then opened the umbrella.  Miranda drew the poncho’s hood in place and called to Johnny as he reached his front porch.  “Hey kid!” 
     He turned as his mom unlocked the door.  Johnny’s eyes went huge with wonder.  His mouth gaped open.
     “Hang in there, Tiger.  I’ll be rooting for you.”  Miranda closed the umbrella and climbed inside her vehicle.  As Johnny waved the red ribbon vigorously over his head, she drove away. 

I don’t really know why I did that.  I guess I’m Destiny’s bitch after all.  She sighed in resignation, but continued to wallow in a warm fuzzy feeling that wrapped her in its wings.