Madeline woke up to the smell of flowers. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she took in the wooden cabin bedroom she'd woken up in. On her bedside table, red and yellow peonies bloomed in an antique China vase. So that's where the fragrance came from.

So it worked! Ah, so that man had been a genie.

Madeline slipped out of bed to look around the room more. Photo frames plastered the wall beside her, holding photographs from snowy mountaintops to one of a squirrel looking directly at the camera, and more of ice cream sundaes held up to the sun, and one of a little girl in a tutu pirouetting on a stage.

Madeline stepped closer to examine one of an antique rotary telephone. The light reflected off the tawny bronze, forming a golden spot like a tiny sun.

"Mom, you up yet?" The door opened and a woman in her twenties poked her head through. "Come on, let's go pick up my son! He'd love to see you too."

Madeline followed her into the living room, and found herself in an apartment building overlooking a metropolitan city. The cabin walls had only been an interior design choice. Ah well.

Down and through the streets of the city, this young woman kept up a constant stream of chatter. "My favourite lunch spot is getting more expensive, everything's getting more expensive. You know how last year you made me start tracking my budget, well from that when I compare how much I spent this month and this month last year it grew by 20%. 20%! I already cancelled my streaming subscriptions and I'm going out less with my friends but the costs in this city keep rising!"

"Happens everywhere, darling," Madeline says, though privately she thought she wouldn't mind the life this young woman was living. The city was quite enchanting, the atmosphere electric. Cars and people alike sped past on the road and sidewalk respectively, and everyone looked like they had somewhere to be. Even the planters on the sidewalk held plants teeming with rich green leaves that grew tall and stretched out into the open space. Compared to the quiet dullness of her hometown where no one ever did anything, this was incomparable.

"I've been thinking," the young woman continued, "maybe I should move out to a suburb? It'd be much cheaper there. Ehhh, but maybe I shouldn't bore you with this while you're here on vacation."

Finally, they'd arrived at their destination. 

"Mom, you grew up in the suburbs right? How did you like it? Do you think I should move there?"

Madeline had technically also grown up in a suburban area. "You could go check it out yourself if you're so curious about what it's like."

"Great idea!" she beamed. The dog turned to her and wagged his tail.

Barely an hour later, they were on the road, and after a while on the highway they were turning off into a suburb that gave Madeline a sense of deja vu. Then again, the songs on the radio sounded strange, and as a pop fan she'd been quite surprised to not recognise a single one. Some songs had sounded a little similar to ones she knew for a few chords, but then they diverged again.

"What's so good about the suburbs anyway? These houses all look the same," Madeline said aloud. "All the opportunities are in the city."

"Yeah, but... I just wanna live a bit more you know. It's like someone's always rushing me in the city. I wanna live life a bit more."

As if. There's no life to be found here. Just then, by the corner of her eye, Madeline caught sight of a street sign- Woodworth street. Hey, that's opposite the schoolhouse she attended when she was little. But something was off, her favourite tree she loved to play hide-and-seek behind was gone.

Soon enough, they passed the town's central fountain monument, and Madeline was sure she knew where exactly they were. Yet, a few minutes down the road and her go-to supermarket was nowhere to be found.

"Mom, should we stop by your old house? Should we go see granny and gramps?" the woman asked.

Madeline thought for a moment. "No."

The young woman shrugged. "I guess it could be better without their nagging."

"It's not nagging," Madeline countered immediately.

"But what they're saying is wrong! They told you not to take the chance, not to try for that music career, but now you've made enough to retire! You're Madeline Smith, you've played in orchestras. Your late start didn't define you. Younger musicians would kill to be you."

Oh. Must be another Madeline Smith then.

—

The next morning, Madeline wakes in her own bedroom. The sound of the neighbours' argument drifts through the thin apartment walls and she sighs. Turning her head, she catches a waft of fragrance- the smell of peonies. Beside her, a few stalks of yellow peonies sit in a green plastic vase on her bedside table. 

Huh. Those weren't there before.

She wanders out into the living room, opens the fifth cupboard from the left and takes out her violin to dust it off.