The violent vibrations of her cell phone made the small wicker coffee table move back and forth so that the cups on it jumped merrily and the liquid within them reached their edges, dancing on the verge of spilling. Lily Lebowski almost cursed out loud, which was something she never did. In fact, Lily would curse inwardly once in a blue moon. So, instead of employing a trucker's vocabulary, she flashed a nervous, jerky smile at the company around the table and dug the phone from her purse. And then felt an even stronger urge to curse. Just as she had supposed, it was him. She stood up and made a few steps toward the other side of the porch.
"Yes, Jeffrey," she said, gathering the last remains of civility, "what is it now?"
The man at the other side faltered a little.
"I understand," he finally said, "that you have told my mother she will by no means be babysitting Madeleine over the weekend."
He sounded like a lawyer even when he talked about their daughter. She gripped the phone as though it had been her ex-fiancé's not-so-scrawny neck.
"You understood it correctly by all means."
"And why is that, if I may ask?" Jeffrey Brandau was not giving up. She might have as well saved herself the trouble of lacing her voice with irony and irritation.
"Jeffrey," she stifled a sigh, "we've been over this for a thousand times. I am busy right now. I've told you more than once not to call me in the afternoon unless it's an emergency."
"Lily, I would say this is an emergency."
"I'll call you tonight." She flipped her phone shut before he had the time to protest.
She stood still for a few moments, looking at--but not really seeing--the lush baby-pink rose bushes and ancient oak trees that surrounded the small concrete porch. When she returned to the table at last, she smiled at her company again and eased her frame in a big wicker chair. The young man at her left smiled back. The old lady vis-à-vis her frowned a little.
"It did not have anything to do with your daughter, did it, dear?" she asked.
The last time Lily had been drinking coffee with Mrs. Brigham and Josh at the porch of the Oak Horizons retirement home, Maddie's daycare teacher called to tell her that the two-year-old had stuck a bead up her nose.
"No, no, Mrs. Brigham," Lily assured her with a warm smile. "Maddie's just fine." She then turned to Josh. "She adores that picture book you sent her. We have to read it to her every night before bed." Her lips curled into a big, soft smile as she remembered her little red-haired daughter and her husband reading her a bedtime story. "I'll get it back to you next week if you have not changed your mind about selling it."
"I have not." He shook his head a little, running his hand through his dirty-blond hair that reached his shoulders. "But I would like Madeleine to keep it if she loves it that much."
Now it was Lily's turn to shake her head. "That's out of question, Josh. You've already given her the one with the elephants and Cinderella. We can't-"
"Oh, please, Lily." Josh laughed. "It's not that I make a fortune," he bit his protruding lower lip, "but a couple of kids' books won't kill me."
Mrs. Brigham intervened. "He's such a nice young man, isn't he?" She smiled at Josh lovingly and patted his hand.
Lily smiled again. "He is, Mrs. Brigham. He is."
"Were it not for him," the old lady continued, "I would have to read those awful electronic books or--even worse--those Archie's brochures full of masonic conspiracy theories."
Both Lily and Josh chuckled at the mention of the lady's nephew, Archibald Brigham, assistant manager of the retirement home.
"He and his bookmobile are saving our booklovers' lives." Mrs. Brigham patted his hand again.
He replied with a modest smile and a murmured, "It's nothing, really, Mrs. Brigham." Motioning towards the three white butterfly-handle porcelain cups on the table, he suggested. "Why don't you take a sip of your coffee before it turns cold?"
"Yes, thank you, dear."
She took a long drink, and Lily sipped from her cup.
"So, Mrs. Brigham-" started Lily talkatively, but--no more than a fraction of a second later--she jumped to her feet. The bewildered Josh followed.
The old lady's face was twisted into a wrinkled mess. Still holding the cup, she was waving her hand so that coffee drops were staining the table and the floor. Her other hand was clutching her neck as horrified eyes were bulging out.
"Stay with her, alright?" Josh threw at Lily as he sprinted inside.
Lily forced her hands to stop trembling. While she franticly flipped the pages of Emergency 101 in her mind, she took two hasty steps towards the old lady. She touched her warm hand, and Mrs. Brigham staggered. The cup slipped out of her fingers right before she collapsed. She was dead before it hit the concrete.
A/N: Please tell me how you like it so far. Tell me if you love it. Tell me if you hate it. Tell me if you're indifferent to it. Tell me if you notice a typo. Tell me if you notice anything awkward. Tell me whatever you like, via a PM if you don't feel like leaving a review. If you don't, I cannot improve.