Memories from a Photo Album
Note: During a typical day, The Delmases and Moraleses are holding a family reunion. Odd comes by for a visit, finding that the family has dug up one of the old dusty Delmas family albums. In it are some absolutely adorable photos of Sissi and even Aimee sees some photos from her youth. Granted there are some pictures Sissi doesn't want to have shown off but are anyway !
"Life boils down to two things. Tradition and the facts of life."—Erik Kassig
Chapter 1—Finding Dusty Treasures
The Delmas and Morales family usually reunited during the weekends, and this was no exception. Odd had come over to see what the hubbub was all about and found the families flipping through some ancient photo albums. They were still covered in dust and caused sneezing fits once Jean-Pierre blew the cobwebs away.
"This one is particularly old.", Aimee said, hearing the pages crinkle within her hands and noting how musty it smelled. Despite its age, it had been preserved magnificently well. She flipped to the first page, and chuckled quite a bit.
"What's so funny, Mrs. Delmas ?", Emily questioned, curiously.
"It's a photo of me when I was younger. Mom tried to enter me in beauty contests. I wasn't as intent on participating as she was me entering them. That day, she made an agreement never to force me into something that I wasn't interested in. I wasn't a good competitor either, and to be honest, I was quite a brat at that age.", Aimee stated, with a lighthearted laugh.
"You were a cute little beauty contestant though.", Sissi complimented her mother. There were more photos of Aimee as a model, as she was growing up.
"Looks like the modeling gene didn't quite leave you be.", Emily added.
"No, and I wanted to be just like mom. She was quite the fashionista in her day.", Aimee said. The rest of them gasped at how ravishing Aimee had looked when she was younger, so svelte, sensual and sexy. She was still breathtaking now, and could've remained a model if she wanted to, but stuck to making the fashions models wore rather than doing the modeling herself.
The Delmases had quite a fair bit of photographs. Some were from the centuries past, and others were taken in the current century. Each photograph held so much incredible history behind it. Fairly soon, Jean-Pierre found a thick, heavy album stocked to the brim of baby photos.
"Sweetie, look at this ! These are all photos of you.", Jean-Pierre said, ebullient that he had found an album he thought he had lost in the shuffle of other books and LPs in his growing collection. Jim caught a glimpse of one that brought a tender memory back to him immediately.
"Oh, I remember that night. You loved being in the water, whether it was to get a bath, splash in puddles after a rain or swimming out in the pool. No matter what I was the one ending up wetter than you.", Jim said, with a hearty laugh. Emily looked at how sopping wet her dad was in that photo, and remembered she had been just as bad when it came to being a bit of a "water-baby". All of them laughed and gasped in awe at the photo. Emily became gushy when she saw Sissi's birth photo.
"And then after that moment, you never shut up.", Emily teased. Sissi tickled her friend playfully and Odd looked over her shoulder, admiring the photo Emily now had in her hands.
"You were cuter than a bug's ear, dear !", Odd said, causing Sissi to blush.
Jean-Pierre was thumbing through the pages of the tome when he found a lesser-known photo of Sissi lying prone on a bear-skin rug, au naturale. Odd saw the photo first and doubled over in laughter after seeing it.
"Oh my gosh this is precious ! I never knew you liked wrestling bears, Elisabeth !", Odd stated, waving the photo about. Emily saw it and chuckled quite a bit. Sissi then saw it and her face turned dark red.
"Daddy ! Why did you have to show them that ! Put it back in the album, please. You're embarrassing me.", Sissi said, hiding her face. The friends then realized she had been mortified, and gave the photo back to the rightful owner.
"We're sorry. We shouldn't have laughed. I can tell you, my own parents have some photos that are even more embarrassing.", Emily said.
"Yes, our daughter was a bit of an exhibitionist.", Susanne said. Emily didn't seem upset by that claim, since it had been true after all.
Chapter 2—Exchanging Baby Stories
Instead of just looking at photos all day long, Odd was curious about what kind of child Sissi had been. Besides her parents themselves, Jim had known her the best.
"When Aimee had been sick and unable to take care of Sissi, I stepped in as her guardian. We were about to become parents ourselves as well, so handling a newborn for the first time was exciting and gave us a preview of what was to come.", Jim said, nostalgically. Susanne told of how she gave Sissi specially treated formula that would help her grow big and strong as well as properly develop her growing mind, much like the natural breast milk babies would get had she been suckling her mom. But since Aimee had been sick, she couldn't produce any milk on her own. Aimee never once regretted that because just seeing Sissi so peaceful in her godmother's arms made her happy and it helped her heal faster so she could take the responsibility of feeding her on her own.
"I always knew mom would be a tremendous mother.", Emily added, to which Suzanne bowed her head shyly. It was really flattering to hear those words from her daughter.
"Did you ever play together ?", Odd asked, inquisitively.
"Sure, all the time if we could. Sissi's always been a sister to me.", Emily said, lovingly hugging Sissi close to her. It wasn't hard to see why Emily and Sissi had been such close friends for so many years. Odd had felt as if he had been a part of Sissi's childhood chapter in the book of Life and had felt privileged to have heard it. The stories continued until an announcement from Lionel the butler was made.
"Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served.", he said, in an elegant, baritone timbre.
Chapter 3—Dinner and Familiar Board Games
Lionel was a master chef and also knew how to impress guests when serving them. He was polite, generous and gregarious. Though he seemed old-fashioned, he was always up-to-date about the latest trends and fashions. This week, he had been asking the family about the latest politics, economics and even touched upon the subject of war in foreign countries. He was a typical renaissance man.
Odd grinned. Food was always something he looked forward to, particularly the fare he was privy to in the Delmas household. It was the richest, finest French cuisine he had ever taken part of. The meal was a feast, and a delight to the eyes. The meals danced on the palate and were meant to be savored slowly to allow the flavors to mingle in one's mouth before chewing and swallowing. Odd, most assuredly, thought he had entered paradise, but the meal was over far too soon and he wanted to hear more about Jim's journeys overseas. Of course, he had heard these stories millions of times, but Jim was a master storyteller. He was filled with such passion and conviction that each time he told his tales, the audience was completely captivated and not a soul in the room would even stir until the tale was done.
"I'd like to hear that incident with the wild boar again, Jim.", Odd begged, pouting a bit.
"I've told you that one at least 10 times by now, Odd.", Jim said, exhaling somewhat. It was the time he was going through training in the forests up in Northern Canada. Again, he told it with gusto, not missing one detail, but Jim's mind was focused like that when it came to survival instincts (among many other things).
"And then the boar finally fled, which was lucky for me. Tim was watching over my shoulder, giving me feedback the whole time.", Jim said, finishing the story.
"Sincerely, I never tire of that one either. My James is a hero, through and through.", Suzanne said, kissing her husband's cheek affectionately, causing him to turn slightly pink at the gesture. These unexpected kisses took him off guard almost constantly, but he always enjoyed receiving them. They were surprising and refreshing, just as anything else was with her.
Lionel had gotten down some old board games as he had in the past when the family had reunited in this fashion. Odd wasn't familiar with this, since he had never joined the Delmases and Moraleses together during these little visits. He recognized the games that Lionel had gotten out though. So many he remembered from his childhood. There was even an Asterix and Obelix game that could be played much like Go Fish was. For hours on end, the family played game after game, laughing until their sides were sore into the late hours of the evening. When Odd looked outside and realized how much time had passed, he thanked everyone for letting him come and sit in on a reunion with them. They were delighted to have had him come, and hoped that he could come more often. Next time, he could invite the rest of the gang, if they were able to find some time outside of their hectic schedules to meet for the weekend.
Chapter 4—Aimee's Surprise
In Sissi's world, everything seemed to move so rapidly. However, in the grand scheme of things, the friends moved at a super-sonic speed most of the time. From time to time, they could take matters slowly, lie in the grass and watch the clouds go by on a pleasant, sunny, day. Other moments were spent wracking their brains with information from myriads of sources, keeping everything in order through notes, flashcards, and cassette recorded lectures.
Since Sissi's schedule had been so chaotic in recent days, she hardly had time to hang out with her friends, let alone talk to them. But she had brought photos of her mom in her modeling shots and had a sensational idea.
"Mom's birthday is coming up soon and I want to surprise her. All of us together can make a magazine celebrating the highlights of her life. I found some splendid photos of her and thought we could make a magazine chronicling 'em.", Sissi stated, cleverly.
"That's an awesome idea, Sissi. Hey, we should start right now, we have plenty of photos to use.", Odd agreed, collaborating everyone's creative power to begin creating something unusual, spellbinding and unique. In a number of hours, Aimee's big magazine was completed and a surprise party was planned.
Strategically, Aimee had been sent out on a shopping trip for typical groceries as the group finished making the magazine. They also put up decorations, made a cake and prepared to put some CDs in Aimee's CD player to play when she arrived. When she had come in, she nearly dropped her groceries in shock, but fortunately, Jim had caught them before that happened.
"Happy birthday mom !", Sissi said, jubilantly.
"Happy birthday, Aimee !" the rest of the group said, in a sing-song tone. She gasped as soon as she saw her gift, lovingly crafted by her friends, family and extended family. She nearly became teary-eyed when she saw the effort that had been put forth in this work of art. She thanked them once more hugged them and enjoyed reading the magazine, and laughing at the tales each photograph held.
Epilogue
It had finally been time for cake and more presents from the others. Aimee didn't look a day over 21, when she in-fact, had been only in her early 40's. She attributed that to the fact that she had "young friends" and a "youthful daughter", which Sissi blushed upon hearing. The celebration went late into the night until the Moraleses had to leave for the next morning. They had a play they had to attend, and their sweet little Lili was the lead. The play was actually a musical; My Fair Lady.
"I'm absolutely certain you'll make a perfect Eliza Doolittle. I wish Odd and I could see you perform.", Sissi said, eagerly.
"Of course. What I am going to is a dress rehearsal, and you know you are all welcome !", Emily said, generously. Of course, the Delmases would attend, without asking or having a second thought about it. With that in mind, the Moraleses said goodnight, everyone embraced again and said goodbye. Tomorrow was another day, one that would be filled with many memories, excitement and joy and the three looked forward to it. They knew they wouldn't be alone because the rest of the gang would be with them too, savoring each moment as they had in moments past, present and future. It was always like this, and it would always be like this and knowing that was what made living bearable.
The End