THE MOMENT
"IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!" Sandra called her mom
"Alright, alright, I'll take a look," Sarah appeased her daughter and shooed her away to open the front door. She was stunned. A pale teenage girl in a white suit stood on her porch. Aside from her rainbow hair, the red tie she wore was the only other color.
"Unicorn?" Sarah was caught by surprise, and her mind struggled to catch up to a sudden stranger who didn't even knock. In her mind, she was still looking for the unicorn her daughter assured her was real.
"I'm only half unicorn," the teenager shrugged. "My name is Monday Sharp, and I came to drop off a reward for your daughter. She won a small prize in a raffle."
"Half unicorn?" Sarah asked as she gave the teen a more thorough appraisal. "You look a lot less horse-like than I would think; even for just a half."
"Oh, wait a second...," Monda turned and glanced up and down the normal neighborhood. Small, single-family homes sat side by side on each block; each house neatly penned away within a white picket fence. Then, she pulled something out of her pocket and began navigating its surface like a smartphone. It looked like a transparent piece of glass about the thickness of a playing card and Sarah was surprised phones had gotten that advanced. She wasn't too much into gadgets, and her daughter, Sandra, wasn't overly spoiled with the latest and greatest electronics. But, as she watched Monday tapping and swiping at nothing, she thought it might be fun to track one down anyway.
"Oh, okay," Monday said suddenly with a nod. Then, she put the node away in her pocket again.
"I apologize for the confusion. I've determined that, unfortunately, your daughter is not eligible for the raffle. She shouldn't have won it," Monday said. As she spoke, Sarah was putting her thoughts together for a counter-argument. She had no idea what raffle her daughter entered; but, she won and she deserved the prize; no matter what.
"But, she did win," Sarah said it gently at first. Aside from the surprise of meeting her, Monday had seemed pleasant up until that point.
"You're right, and Sharp Development always does right by the customer. So, let me tell you the situation, and you can think about it. Without going into unnecessary detail; your daughter is ineligible for the prize due to where she lives. She shouldn't have been able to enter; but, that's neither here nor there. She did and she won. So, the quickest and most appropriate solution would be for her, and I assume your family to move to a new location. Technically one that is within the proper population pool." Sarah laughed.
"You want me to put the house for sale, pick up my family, and move, all so that my daughter can win whatever $5 tchotchke you promised? I think you need to find another way," she added while still smiling broadly.
"There are multiple ways; this was just the quickest and most practical -,"
"HOW IS THAT PRACTICAL?!" Sarah raised her voice.
"How is it hard?" Monday asked. "I'm going to assume you're overthinking it. Let me explain it more clearly. Sharp Development made a mistake. One option to atone for that mistake is to see to it that the winner actually gets the prize. This is an unfortunate glitch that we are happy to take responsibility for. You don't necessarily have to sell this home if you'd rather not. Sharp Development will provide a new home, with utilities, for you and your family to live in for a minimum of 6 months. After that, the raffle gets to keep its integrity and you can move back to this home, or stay wherever."
"Free room and board does make it easier; but.. it still seems like a lot for a minor prize. What is it?" Sarah asked. She'd forgotten all about why she opened the door anyway until Monday turned and gestured at her front yard. A black portal opened on the lawn and a magical white unicorn with a rainbow horn stepped out for a moment before it was reigned back in. Then, the portal disappeared.
"Was that a unicorn? A real unicorn?" Sarah asked. Monday nodded.
"Where the hell are you going to put us? A forest?" Sarah asked. Once she saw the unicorn she realized her daughter needed that prize. And, from the sound of it, it only required a temporary change of location.
"Sure, if you want," Monday answered. "I was going to leave that final decision up to you. And, really you should take a look at all the available Earths before you pick a location on any one of them."
"I'm sorry. What? Available Earths?"
"Yeah," Monday nodded. "Oh wait, sorry. I don't think I made that part clear. Unicorns don't exist on this Earth; so, your daughter shouldn't have been able to enter the raffle to win one. She did, but, it might damage Sharp Development's reputation if the glitch is exposed. So, the workaround is just to put you on a different Earth where unicorns do exist in the wild."