Well, Cathy issued an Executive Order that I write something, and, well, she IS my boss… *Veg*
This is a short-short, and will hopefully kick my writer’s butt into gear for some of the longer stories that are kinda-sorta floating around in my brain.
This story is also for Susansuth for calling herself a “Mary Story Withdrawal Sufferer” and making me feel all warm-n-fuzzy. And for providing me with bagels and coffee every morning during my visit!
Many thanks for the quick edit by Kate (you’re going to post this without editing?!); especially for helping me prune my opening line. You’re a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world! :)
Universe notes: Let’s see…this story takes place about four months after ‘Come in From the Cold’, which means it’s March of 2002.
"There's
a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out."
~Lou Reed, "Magic and Loss"
The conversation,
so active at first, waned into a silence that stretched past the point of
comfortable familiarity into awkwardness.
Trixie Frayne
caught the eye of her brother Mart, figuring if anyone could come up words right
now, it would be him. He did not disappoint her.
Mart slowly rose
and looked around the table, noting the unusually somber attire and serious
expressions of his sister Trixie and her husband, Jim; his brother Brian and his
wife, Honey; his best friend Dan and Dan’s fiancé Joeanne and finally his
wife, Diana. “It’s been a long time since we’ve held an emergency meeting
of the Bob Whites of the Glen.” He caught Dan Mangan’s eye. “I’m only
sorry it isn’t for cheerier circumstances.” He paused until Dan slowly
nodded. “I know I speak for everybody when I say he’ll be missed more than
words can say. Believe it or not words sometimes even fail me.” There
was a reassuring titter around the table and even Dan smiled.
The closely-knit
group couldn’t bring themselves to go their separate ways after the graveside
services and decided to adjourn to their favorite Chinese food restaurant in
Sleepyside, where they had shared many
meals together in the past. The menu was small, mainly the more popular Chinese
dishes, but each was prepared with exquisite care by the chef and owner. And
Trixie, who was five months pregnant, was having very strong cravings for the
sweet and sour pork.
The very act of
sharing, of passing the different platters around and the inevitable stealing of
bites from each other’s plates seemed to help in a way none of them
anticipated. As they fed their stomachs, they fed their souls at the same time,
sharing memories of their mutual friend, remembering everything he had meant to
them.
Each felt their
spirits lift the slightest bit as they shared the large meal, and they all
smiled to hear Mart call the impromptu dinner an “emergency meeting”.
Joeanne Darnell
brushed strands of black hair out of her eyes and let a small grin fill her
face. “A Bob White meeting, huh? Should I leave the room?”
Mart smiled back.
“You’re marrying into it, Sweetheart; I’m afraid there’s no escape for
you now. Sure you won’t reconsider?”
Joeanne squeezed
the hand of the quiet man beside her and felt the usual rush of love fill her.
“Not a chance.”
Mart held aloft a
small, black tray holding several fortune cookies. “There is a long,
time-honored tradition that follows the imbibing of the evening meal in
China.” He paused to take a cookie before passing the tray on. As it
circulated, he continued, “Each person must remove the slip of paper herein.
Each person must read the words inscribed. And each person…”
“Oh Mart, get on
with it!” his wife Diana exclaimed.
Mart nodded in
secret satisfaction as laughter filled the small, private banquet room they now
occupied. He let his eyes twinkle at his sister— this better, Sis?— whose
similar blue eyes winked back at him— much!
Mart
had gotten his crying done in private and hoped Dan had too, although judging
from the lost expression lurking in his friend’s eyes, if he had, it wasn’t
nearly enough. He cleared his throat as the last of the cookies was distributed.
“AS I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, each person must read the
words inscribed, however, and this is the part that is steeped in ancient
Chinese lore, they must add, to whatever they read, the words ‘in bed’.”
Honey began to
giggle. “We used to do that all the time, in college, remember Trix?”
“Ancient Chinese
lore?” Dan spoke the first words other than ‘please pass the rice’ that
he’d uttered since they arrived and wondered what the hell he would do without
his friends.
Brian nodded
solemnly. “Oh, yes. I believe it was during the Ming dynasty, right, Mart?”
“Nah...they did
the vases,” Mart replied, and everyone laughed. He cracked open his cookie and
read, “One learns more by positing less…in bed!” He turned slightly red as
everyone roared, then grinned sheepishly.
“Whose
bright idea was this anyway?” he asked.
“Yours,
darling husband,” his wife rejoined, then kissed him. She opened her cookie
and read aloud, “It makes sense, when you don't think about it…in
bed.” She laughed merrily, her pretty face lit with mirth. “I think that’s
true about most things!”
Brian went next,
slowly rising, his voice deliberately deep. Everyone smiled to see the normally
sensible man in a more playful mood. “If you work hard, good things will
inevitably happen…in bed!”
Honey tried to
speak but choked, finally getting out, “Shouldn’t that be the other way
around?”
Trixie jumped up.
“Now you’ve done it!” They all grinned as she hurriedly left the room. She
was back in under a minute. “What I miss?” she demanded.
“Nothing,”
Honey assured her. “I waited.” She opened her cookie and made her voice as
southern as she could make it. “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to
yield to it…in bed.” She made it sound like ‘bay-ud’.
Their waitress
popped in her head, hearing the boisterous laughter, but as nobody wanted
anything, she quickly fled.
Jim opened his
cookie and quickly read to himself.
“Well?” Trixie
demanded. “Come on!”
Her husband grinned
at her and read triumphantly, “Fortune favors the brave…in bed!”
Trixie flicked her
hand at the laughing group, waving them off like pesky flies, but willingly
snuggled against her husband when he put an arm around her shoulders. “I
suppose you were pretty brave at that, marrying me.” She suddenly thought
about the finality of death and pressed her cheek into Jim’s shoulder, her
hand instinctively resting on her slightly swelling stomach, seeking life.
“You haven’t
read yours yet,” he reminded her, giving her shoulder a squeeze and kissing
the top of her head. He knew exactly what was going through her mind and
understood it only too well, staying up for most of the previous night and
thinking about times long past.
Trixie snapped open
her cookie. “Do not let what you can't do interfere with what you can do…in bed.”
Jim
shielded his eyes. “You mean there’s something you can’t do?” He let out
a theatrical groan as a small elbow found his ribs.
Joeanne
picked up her cookie. “I’m not sure if you’re brave or just not all that
bright!” Everyone laughed; although Joeanne was a very warm and friendly
person, she rarely joined in this kind of teasing when the rest of them did. She
looked at her fortune and started to giggle. “Never wear your best pants when
you go to fight for freedom…in bed!” She looked at Dan. “What the hell
does THAT mean?”
Dan
grinned back at her. “All I know is no pants and you is a combination I
can’t argue with.”
“Dan!”
Joeanne blushed and looked down, the curve of her eyelashes a vivid contrast
against the paleness of her translucent skin.
“What?”
Dan asked innocently. He laughed at her expression and almost felt like himself
again. Then he opened up his fortune cookie and it was as if all the light went
out of the room.
“Dan?”
his fiancé asked, her voice deeply concerned.
Dan
tried to laugh, but it got caught and came out more like a strangled cough. “Nothing
is Forever,” he finally read. He didn’t have the heart to add the punch
line, and the table fell silent.
A profound silence
filled the room, soaking up the remnants of laughter.
“Mr. Maypenny was
like a father to me,” Dan said. He brushed a hand across his eyes and let
Joeanne take his other hand. “I can’t believe I’ve been sitting here
laughing when…”
“No Dan; it’s
natural. Life is short, and all we can do is enjoy every minute of it we can.”
Jim said, reaching across the table and briefly laying his hand on Dan’s
shoulder. There were nods around the table. “Every minute,” he repeated
intensely.
“And you know,
nobody appreciated a good laugh more than Mr. Maypenny. Why, he never, ever let
Trixie and I forget how we mistook him for a poacher. He used to get a big kick
out of bringing that up, remember?” Honey asked, picking up her napkin and
daintily wiping her eyes.
Dan smiled and let
out a short laugh. “I remember.” He broke off and shook his head, but his
black eyes were warm. “And here I am laughing again. But it’s cool. Maypenny
never did like it when I brooded. Used to send me out with his axe and tell me
that the best cure for what ailed me was hard work. I’m surprised there’s a
tree left standing in the preserve after my teenage years!”
“Dan the
wood-chopping man,” Mart said, then he sighed. “I’m sure going to miss the
old coot.” He supposed he wasn’t quite finished after all and fumbled for
his handkerchief.
Trixie nodded, a
single tear slipping down her cheek. “Me too.”
Suddenly, without
saying a word, the eight joined hands around the table, sharing a moment that
was almost like a prayer as they thought about their loss and what it meant to
each of them. The moment passed and they all smiled at each other, the silence
filling the room one of comfort and even healing.
Trixie thought
about a poem she had once read back in college, a poem that seemed to sum
everything up for her. She raised her water glass and everyone followed suit.
“To Mr. Maypenny. Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need to know of hell.”
Everyone
clinked glasses, letting memories of their old friend fill them until they each
thought they might burst with the joy that filled them, then smiled as Trixie
added, her voice full of warmth, “…in bed.”
Author’s
notes:
The
title comes from Romeo and Juliet by You-Knoweth-Whom:
Good
night, good night.
Parting
is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
“Parting is
all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell” is from the Emily
Dickinson poem Parting:
My life was
closed twice before its close;
It yet remains
to see
If Immortality
unveil
A third event to
me,
So huge, so
hopeless to conceive,
As these that
twice befell.
Parting is all
we know of heaven,
And all we need
of hell.
“Magic and
Loss” – Words and Music by Lou Reed and Mike Rathke; performed by Lou Reed.
All used without
permission.
To see your
fortune, try going here: http://www.badcookie.com/
*g*
Note: Trixie Belden® is a registered trademark of Random House Books. These pages are not affiliated with Random House Books in any way. These pages are not for profit. All stories copyright © Mary, 2007 - 2012. All rights reserved.