Suddenly Last Summer

SPOV

Picture this…

A lazy, hazy summer's day. Gone is the burgeoning humidity and bugs of the tree clogged swamps of Louisiana and a dry fresh heat now accompanies a cloudless azure sky reaching out to meet the glassy cerulean sea on the distant horizon. The engines of the passing jet boats and Seadoo's on the water, play the throbbing base rhythm to the living chorus that crowds my senses, along with the smell of sweat, suntan oil, coffee, beer and smoke overriding the tang of the sea side, to me it all paints the perfect picture of the total juxtaposition of my thoughts on peace and anarchy.

My idea of restful…? I think not, but here I am Sookie Stackhouse, one time Waitress and Barmaid from the small backwater town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, U.S.A., mixing it with the 'Beautiful People' squashed together like sardines in a can, on a teeming beach in a far off country. Left behind are the black short shorts, nikes, white socks and white Tee's with Merlottes Bar and Grill embroidered over the left breast. My ensemble for day wear these days usually consists of micro bikini and cover-up (designer of course) and sunscreen (the best brand).

I still have to pinch myself every day to make sure that this isn't some kind of delusion. Never, ever, in my lonely childhood did I allow myself to even dream one day I would be sipping on a G&T and soaking up the sun on a crowded beach in Monaco. I hide behind my huge sunglasses and pretend I'm right at home here. I imagine myself to be Grace Kelly, expecting that any moment my own Prince Rainier is going to come along, take one look at me and know that out of all the beautiful women on this beach, that I the slightly plump but shapely girl next door was the love of his life (Hey… I'm in Monaco. Who knows what could happen next. At twenty-five a girl can give herself permission to dream).

You may be kind'a wonderin' by now how a small town girl like me came to be lounging on a beach in sun drenched Monaco sipping on G&T's and takin' in the well built… 'scenery'? Well I'll tell ya'll but we'll have to back track a little ways. Eighteen months ago to be more precise. That was a real bad time for me. I was still workin' at Merlottes…..

Eighteen months ago – Merlotts Bar and Grill, Bon Temps

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you comin' in on such short notice Cher. Arlene has sure thrown a spanner in the works by not turnin' up today. I tried calling her but she just isn't answerin' her phone. One of her kids must be sick again."

"That's OK Sam, I wasn't plannin' on doin' much today anyway except workin' on my tan. If it's all the same to you though, I'd like to leave early if it's quiet. Gran just wasn't herself this mornin' and I would like to get home as early as I can so I can check on her." Gran has always been so sprightly but in this past few weeks she seems to have aged ten years.

When I come to think on it her spirits started to take a downward turn after her visit from that flash Shreveport attorney. What was his name again Mr Catatedees… Mr Contrapedies… any ways Mr 'C' of some kind. Since his visit (which was a total shock to Gran), she just hasn't come to rights. I never did find out why he was there but Gran seemed to know him quiet well and that truly puzzled me because I had never seen him before in my life.

"No worries Sook, if you need to leave early that's OK with me. I'm just glad you could help over lunch. With Lafayette bein' a no show I couldn't man the grill, the bar and wait tables at the same time."

"What, Lafayette hasn't shown up either? He was goin' out to Shreveport with Tara and JB last night. I hope they're all OK."

"Don't worry your head none 'bout Lafayette Sook. He's probably just sleeping it off somewhere. Come on let's get setting up. Customers will be here before you know it. I left a message on Terry's answer machine. I just hope he's having a good day and can come in and help out." Terry is a good guy to all intents and purposes but while he was serving in the army he went through some pretty tough shit and now suffers with PTSD. We at Merlottes make allowances for that and he fits in well here - most days. I can only hope he's havin' a good day too, for Sam's sake.

"Don't worry Sam. We'll be fine." Sam walks up to me and gives me a friendly hug. Well it started off friendly but then his hands start to wonder.

"Sam, how many times do I have to tell you? This handsyness is not, I mean NOT, appropriate!" He stands back from me and runs his right hand through his shaggy hair making his strawberry blonde locks stick out more wildly than usual. Don't get me wrong here, Sam is a catch. Handsome - even with his fair ruddy complexion. Kind - even though he can be stern when the need arises and if he wasn't my boss I may have just let him put his slippers under my bed a time or two. With that bein' said though, he is my boss and my Gran warned me never to date my boss. "What happens when it all goes pear shaped and it's over. You could be out of a job and then where would you be?" she advised me and I have to agree with her. Even though I like Sam, I don't think I like him well enough to risk my job.

"Sookie, I know we could make things work between us. I could give you a good life. I know, I'm your boss but seriously, think about it, we could be good together." I couldn't bring myself to say anythin' in response to that except give him a slight nod in acquiescence. I was sick of living my life on the shelf. I'm not ugly by any means and if I had to describe myself I would say I'm sort'a pretty. I have long shiny blonde hair, blue eyes and a pouty mouth. My boobs are large and I have a waspy waistline. So why at the ripe old age of twenty-three am I still single you ask?

The answer lies in the deaths of mine and Jason's Momma and Daddy. Our parents died while trying to traverse a swollen river in the family car durin' a flash flood. The car was swept off of a bridge and away, only to be found four days later hanging upside down in a huge tree. Corbett and Michelle Stackhouses' swollen bodies were still in their seats held in by their seatbelts.

I was only six at the time and Jason nine or ten and it's not so much as I remember personally what happened that day (shit I can hardly remember what my parents looked like. If it wasn't for photographs I'd have no luck at all) but the constant repetition of the story of my parents death has made sure I will forever be plagued by the pictures my imagination has conjured of their gruesome demise.

So anyway, when my parents died I took it hard and withdrew into my own little world. My Grandparents pushed me a bit, not knowin' any better, thinkin' that if we all just carried on as normal we'd be over 'it' quicker (not that they weren't sufferin' but they wanted to be strong for us kids). So they sent me off to school in that despondent state of mind and it wasn't long before I got a reputation for being weird 'cause you see, I would like, talk to them - my dead parents and say inappropriate things out loud, for no reason at all, sort of like Tourette Syndrome. I also spent a lot of lonely time trying to fill up the hole inside of me made by their deaths and the subsequent bullying by my so called school friends with food.

It wasn't until after we had finished high school that my best friend Lafayette Reynolds and I decided to give ourselves a well overdue makeover. We had come to the conclusion that we needed to call last drinks on the pity party we'd been throwin' ourselves and pull on our grown-up pants and take responsibility for the situation we found ourselves in. We had been outcasts through school, spendin' the whole time tryin' to stay unnoticed by the teachers as well as the other students along with Tara Thornton her parents were both alcoholics, JB du Rone, a nice guy but as dumb as a box of rocks (loves Tara) and Lafayette because he was black and gay.

JB had always been into fitness so he became our personal trainer and within six months I was a comfy size eight and Lafayette morphed from a chubby adolescent to a well built man, he began to build muscle where for years had only been rolls of puppy fat. For the past few years since then Laf's been workin' casual on the road crew with Jase and he's in better shape than ever these days. JB and Tara are engaged to be married this summer. I can't wait. I'm going to be her maid of honor. Love Tara. Love JB. Love Laf. I hope they're all OK.

Sam and I got goin' on the prep work and it felt like no time at all had past when Holly Cleary showed up for the start of her shift signaling the beginning of the lunch hour rush. Jason came in with all his buddies that work with him on the parish's road crew (minus Lafayette) and I asked him to drive by and check on Gran before he went back out to work and he assured me he would. The farm house wasn't far from the bar, it wouldn't take him long and it would sure put my worried mind at ease.

Besides Jason, Gran is now the only living relative I have; that I know of. Jase and I were stayin' with Garn and Gramps while our parents took off for the weekend for some grown-up time in Shreveport. Needless to say the farmhouse is the only home I've known ever since. Gramps passed away peacefully in his sleep when I was twelve. My late Uncle Bartlett Hale (Gran's brother), tried real hard to weasel his way into our lives when Gramps died. Thankfully he had some kind of single vehicle accident one night on his way home from visiting us. I really don't like to think about him much except to sometimes acknowledge that his death could only be seen as good riddance to bad rubbish. Jason moved out, back to our old family home on the other side of town when he turned eighteen and became 'a man'… (yeah right) and so it's been just me and Gran at the farm house since then.

We have a cousin, Hadley, Hadley Delahoussey. I don't know what you'd find if you looked her name up in one of those baby name dictionaries but to me those two words put together stand for cruel and selfish. Hadley'd be the same age as Jason but we don't know if she is still alive. She ran away from drug rehab a few years back after scammin' Gran out of a couple of thousand dollars. We almost lost Gran then from the stress of it all. Hadley's Mom, my Aunt Linda, Gran's daughter, past away from the Cancer a couple of years after that and if Hadley is still alive I don't know if she even knows or cares about that.

I say a silent prayer, if anything happens to Gran…

"Sookie! Telephone." I look up to see Sam waiving the telephone receiver around and pointing to his office. I give him a look as if to say "Who is it?" But he hunches his shoulders as if to say "I don't know." I excuse myself from Maxine Fortenberry, a friend of Gran's who had just been asking how she is and make my way brusquely to Sam's office. I pick up the receiver –

"Thanks Sam." I say and he hangs up the bar phone.

"Hello this is Sookie Stackhouse. How can I help you?"

"Hello Miss Stackhouse, my name is Jesus Valasquez and I'm a nurse at the Clarice Hospital." he quickly moves on before I can respond. "We have a friend of yours here. He was admitted last night after suffering injuries he received in a single vehicle accident on the M19."

"Lafayette!?"

"Yes M'ame." I just wish that woman wailing in the background would shut up so I can think straight and then I realize it's me. I try to get a grip on myself. "Miss Stackhouse, apart from some cuts around his face and hands and a broken collarbone he should be as good as new before you know it." I know he's only trying to buck my spirits up.

"What about the other people in the car? Tara Thornton and JB du Rone? Do you know how they are? Hello…? Hello…?" Did he hang up on me?

"I'm sorry Miss Stackhouse. Mr Reynolds was the only survivor of the accident. There were two deceased in the vehicle with him and he has confirmed they were Miss Thornton and Mr du Rone." I lost my grip on the receiver and started to scream and cry, crumbling to the floor.

"NO!... No!... Please God not them! Please!" I know Sam and Jason were with me in a heartbeat. I think Sam finished the conversation with the nurse and filled Jason in on what was goin' on with me. I couldn't fathom it. I felt like I'd been gutted. "They were goin' to be married…" I told the room.

Jason pulled me up from the floor and placed me on the old couch along the back wall of the office and Sam poured me a drink of somethin' to try and calm my histrionics.

"Listen Jason…" Sam said. "You go on and take Sookie home. She can go see Lafayette tomorrow. He'll be allowed visitors then. I'll make sure that her car gets to the farm, one way or another but she's no good to drive right now."

"You're right Sam." I heard my brother say. "C'mon baby sis, I'll get you home and Gran can look after you." As tender as anything my big brother lifted me in his arms and carried me out to his truck. We were home in about fifteen minutes and as bad as everything was we never could have guessed the day could have gotten any worse - but it did.

After the initial bustle of getting me inside and placing me on the couch we both realized the house was eerily quiet.

"Gran!... Gran!..." We both called out.

"Her car is here isn't it Jase?" I asked and he made quick work of checking out the back door to see. When he came back into the room nodding I told him to check her room.

"Call an ambulance Sook!" I kept myself together long enough to make that call to nine one one but then it was lights out.

"Miss Stackhouse… Miss Stackhouse… C'mon cher open your eyes now." The male voice was hot. Smooth and deep, I found myself struggling to awareness just so I could see if the owner of said voice was just as hot. What I found didn't disappoint. The paramedic was a mountain of a man with tousled dark hair framing a chiseled handsome face, his dark brows set in a concerned frown over his deep green eyes. Was I dead? I started to make an effort to get up.

"Take it easy cher, you're sufferin' from shock. Just take your time." I lying was on the couch covered with one of my Grans quilts. With great care he helped me swing around and sit up. Then I remembered and with the force of a freight train barreling through my chest the overwhelming grief hit my heart.

"GRAN!" I wanted to get up and go to her but I was afraid.

"She's not passed. Not yet." The Paramedic said to me.

"Sookie!?" Jason came into the living room. "I think she's waitin' on you Sook." Maybe if I don't go in, maybe she won't die. I shook my head in denial. I couldn't do this. I needed Gran. I can't say goodbye.

"Sook, you can do this." Jason had squatted down to look me in the eye. "You won't be alone. We're in this together." He stood back up and held out both his hands and I placed my trust in my brother to help me through.

"I couldn't believe how peaceful she looked. I walked over to sit next to her on the bed and I reached out and took her hand and as I did a beautiful broach fell out of fist and onto the bedspread. I'd never seen it before. Surrounding her on the bed were envelopes and letters. You could see she had been reading them and there was a beautiful smile on her lips. Almost as soon as I took her hand, bringing up to my lips to kiss it and whispering my love for her, she took one last huge breath and passed away.

Jason who was standing behind me squeezed my shoulders. The paramedics did what they needed to do to mark the time of death. I wanted to scream at them to give her CPR or get out the defibrillator but she looked so peaceful I didn't want to sully her passing by making it into a three ringed circus.

The next week was filled with Lawyers and funerals. Gran was laid to rest in the Stackhouse family plot. JB's Momma had him and Tara buried together. I was pleased. I know that's what they would have wanted. They were buried next to JB's Daddy who'd died last spring in a hunting accident. Fortunately Mrs Du Rone had another child a daughter named Jeannie Beth so she wouldn't be alone in her grief.

The day after Gran died I got a phone call from here solicitor Mr Sid Matt Lancaster. He requested a meetin' with me and Jason and he wanted to include Mr 'C'. Jason hadn't met the fancy lawyer when he came to the house last time so he was very curious to meet him.

Well the upshot of that meeting was that the man we had always thought of as Gramps was not actually our biological Grandfather. That due to a childhood illness he was infertile. My Gran had had an affair that lasted long enough to beget two children. Gran had not seen her paramour in many years though. Mr 'C' as it turned out was a close friend as well as attorney for my biological Grandfather, Fintan Brigant and the reason the lawyer had contacted my Gran again after so many years was that Fintan had passed and left Jason, Hadley and myself a legacy.

Mr 'C' gave Jason and I each an envelope. He instructed us never to discuss what was in them even with each other or Hadley – if she ever surfaced again. Sid Matt would hold onto Hadley's. He said finding her was not our responsibility and that was fine by me. Once our business with him was finished Mr 'C' stood and on his way out he gave me and Jase each his card and let us know he would be at our service if ever we needed him.

Next came Gran's will and the dividing of hers and what came as another shock was Uncle Bartlett's estate. Apparently Gran never wanted to deal with anything to do with him and had left it in Sid Matt's hands to handle as executer. I didn't want any of his money either so I told Jason he could have whatever Uncle Bartlett had left. Sid Matt tried to persuade me otherwise because the bequest was a sizable some due to him investing wisely but I didn't want any of it. Jason was a bit shocked too but they didn't know what I did and I didn't want anything to do with that man either. I didn't even want to know how much it was.

Gran had left the farm house and its contents to me, with the stipulation I sign over my half of Momma and Daddy's house to Jason, which I happily did. She also asked that I let Jason have Gramps' pocket watch. I know Gran kept a few things that were Grandpa's and I would let Jason have most of that. I just wanted his pocket knife. Gran had used that knife as well and it had great sentimental value to me.

It took a few hours but by the time we left Sid Matt's office both Jason and I were by Bon Temps standards wealthy people and we hadn't even looked at what our biological Grandpa had left us but I would have given all back in a heartbeat to have Gran walking out of that office with us.

Now I bet you're thinkin' to yourself… Thinkin' that the bequest is the reason I find myself in Monaco?... Well… You'd be wrong. Me having money hasn't got anythin' to do with how I got here. Well not much anyways.

Now where was I?