Thanks DSCWin, for the help.
THE VANISHING PAIR OF GLASSES – Part 1
Maureen answered the phone as soon as she and Joanne arrived home. On the other line a very confused and frustrated Mark started to speak. "Maureen." He asked his voice grumbling and Maureen could see him rubbing his head in frustration in her mind. "Have you any idea where my glasses might be?"
"On your face?" Maureen asked innocently.
"On my face! Why did I think of that?" Mark said sarcastically. "Thanks for that but I've already looked on my face and I'm wearing my spare, which is terrible because I can't see anything unless it's right next to my face."
"I don't know what to say Pookie." Maureen said with a shrug. "The last time I saw your glasses you were wearing them. But give me a minute and let me ask Joanne to see if she has an idea." She set her phone down and walked off. For two minutes, Mark waited impatiently cursing himself for loosing his good pair of glasses. His heart pounded quickly as he heard Maureen pick up her phone again. "Marky, I'm sorry. She doesn't have any idea either."
Mark felt his heart drop, and he let out a forced sigh. "Okay thanks." He hung up and quickly called his friend Tom to see if he had any idea. Sadly that was a dead end as well, as Tom said the same as Maureen, which he had no idea where Mark's glasses were. Mark was frustrated as he sat down on the couch trying his hardest to try to remember what had happened that day. Which was hard as it was a full day of being busy.
FLASHBACK: The day started with Mark sighing contently as he wandered around his loft by himself picking up his camera and movies he had made. He rather enjoyed living by himself as it gave him time to think but he did indeed miss having people around to talk to. To laugh. To cry. Or sit down to watch movies. It was 10 o'clock when he heard someone walk into the main room. Julie was breathing heavily as she gently pulled her two girls.
"Hey Julie," Mark said looking down the hall waiting to see his friend Roger to come into view. But Roger never appeared. "Where's Rodg?" He asked Franny as she took off the girls jackets.
"He's downstairs in a cab. I need to take him to see a doctor. He woke up very sick." Julie bent down and kissed the tops of her girls heads. "Can you watch them for me while I take him there?"
"Sure." Mark said and gave each of the girls a hug as they ran to him. "Keep us informed on Roger." He said watching as the girls rushed over and began to look over his collection of movies.
"I will. Sophie...Maddie you be nice to your Uncle Mark okay?"
"Okay Mommy." Both girls said with a large smile. Julie waved goodbye and quickly left the loft. Mark turned and saw Madeline and Sophie looking at him holding up one of his movies. "Can we watch this, Uncle Mark?" They asked. Mark nodded and put the movie in. He smiled as he knew what movie it was. It was their favorite. The one he had made when they were born.
It was nearing Lunchtime when Tom Collins came in and saw the girls watching another one of Mark's movies, while Mark worked on fixing the girls something to eat.
"Hey girls." Tom said when Madeline and Sophie looked up when they heard someone approach them. They both leaped to their feet and hugged Tom around his waist "What are you doing here?"
"Daddy's sick." Sophie said her eyes lowering as she looked sad.
"Mommy took him to see a doctor." Madeline finished.
"What's wrong with him?" Tom asked them but Mark had appeared in the room with plates of food for the girls.
"Julie said Roger spent the entire night throwing up. She said they have him in with the doctors now but she's not sure what's going on right now." Mark said handing the plates of food to the girls. Sophie and Madeline took their spots back on the floor in front of the television as they continued to watch more of their favorite movies their Uncle Mark had made.
"Jeeze," Tom said looking concerned. "I hope it's only a small stomach virus."
"Same here. I'll be calling Julie little later on if I don't hear from her soon." Mark said.
"Hey Uncle Tom," Madeline said gently pulling on Tom's jacket. "Can you play with us after we eat lunch?"
"Sorry, lovlies," Tom said with a sad smile. "But I'm a bit busy today. I just came by to see how Mark was doing." Madeline looked sad but Tom quickly bent down to their level and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "But don't worry, I'm sure you'll have much more fun with Mark." Madeline nodded and hugged her uncle who hugged her back. "I'll talk to you guys later. Maybe I'll take you two out to the park tomorrow." Madeline's eyes lit up as she went back to her movie and Tom waved goodbye to Mark before leaving the loft.
_/_
Two hours after Tom had left Joanne stormed inside the loft looking furious. Madeline and Sophie were now drawing on the floor when Mark came in from his bedroom after cleaning up a bit. Mark sighed as he looked at Joanne knowing that something bad must have happened. "Okay, what happened?" The filmmaker asked annoyed at the outburst. He had seen this happen before and he knew she had another fight.
"We were shopping when Maureen decided to flirt with some guy from Macey´s." Joanne growled stomping her foot making Madeline and Sophie to look up from their drawings. "How can that to timing whore do this to me?!"
"Joanne! Language." Mark scolded motioning his head and the lawyer finally saw the two girls on the floor.
"Oh sorry girls." Joanne said but the girls went back to their drawings which made her very happy. "What are they doing here?" But before Mark could answer she shook her head clearly still upset. "I'm going to kill Maureen!"
"Calm down, Joanne." Mark said. "First of all you're not going to kill anyone. You're not that good of a lawyer, and I mean that respectfully." Joanne glared at Mark but continued to keep her mouth closed. "Second I'm babysitting for Julie and Roger." Joanne listened as Mark recalled the events of the day to her since Julie had dropped the girls off at his loft earlier this morning.
"Oh my go-" She looked at the girls and back at Mark. "Goodness. I hope it's nothing serious."
"Same here." Mark agreed.
"Pookie!" Everyone jumped at the sound of Maureen's voice storming up the stairs. "I know you're here. I need to talk to you now!"
"Dammit." Joanne cursed under her breath. "Mark may I hide in your room?" Before Mark could answer Joanne quickly and quietly rushed into Marks room just as Maureen appeared on the top of the stairs.
"Pookie, come on!" Maureen entered the loft and her demeanor softened as she saw the two girls. "Hey Mark have you seen Joanne?" Mark opened his mouth to say something but the girls rushed over happy to think that someone had come to play.
"Auntie Joanne is hiding." Sophie said as she and Madeline didn't understand what their Aunt Joanne was mad about.
"Oh she's hiding?" Maureen said smiling at the two girls.
"Yeah, she's hiding." Madeline said silently pointing towards Mark's bedroom.
"She's hiding?" Maureen asked kneeling down to the girl's level. "Do you know where she's hiding?" Madeline pointed in the direction of Mark's room and Maureen smiled. "Do you girls want to help me find her?" Both girls nodded quickly excited that they were playing. "Oh I see, let's just see if we can go find her." The girls smiled and laughed as Maureen began to search over the loft searching behind obvious spots that Joanne wasn't hiding. "Auntie Joanne," Maureen sang looking over the loft much to the girl's enjoyment. "Where are you?''
"Come out Auntie Joanne!" Madeline and Sophie laughed joining Maureen in searching spots behind Maureen.
"Girls..." Mark called towards them but it was the thrill of the game that kept the girls attention.
"Come on girls." Maureen egged on. "Let's call for Auntie Joanne louder."
"Okay Aunt Maureen." The girls squealed. "Auntie Joanne! Where are you?! Come out, come out where ever you are!"
Mark chuckled shaking his head preparing mentally of what to tell Roger and Julie about their girls. As Maureen and the girls walked closer towards Mark's bedroom Joanne walked out still upset but smiled at the girls large smiles.
"We found her!" Maureen cheered making the girls squeal with excitement. Maureen and Joanne watched as the girls, having short attention spans, began to chase each other in the loft leaving Maureen and Joanne to talk. "You still mad at me?"
"For allowing you to use our nieces for your scheme in finding me?" Joanne snapped and Maureen took in a deep breath to stop herself from yelling and ruining the girl's fun.
"Joanne, you know I love you. I'm sorry for what happened at the mall. I was just trying to get a good deal on that sweater you were wanting."
"I didn't want a good deal." Joanne said clearly upset that she what Maureen had said. "I was willing to pay full price on that thing."
"Okay." Maureen walked over to the door of the loft and picked up a bag. Walking back she handed Joanne the bag. "Just so you know that guy was a pig. Which is why I didn't pay the discount." Joanne took the sweater and looked up at Maureen.
"Thanks." Joanne said with a smile. "You know what this would go well with?"
"No longer visiting that Mall ever again?" Maureen asked making Joanne giggle. "I think a nice glass of wine and a special evening with a special girl."
"I second that." Joanne said and Maureen embraced her closely. "Hey Mark why are the girls here in the first place? I thought you were supposed to work on that movie you made a while back."
"Julie had to take Roger to see a doctor." Joanna and Maureen looked worried but Mark looked at the two girls who were right back at watching more of his homemade movies. "I haven't heard from them in a while. I was going to give them a call but I'm not wanting to deal with more drama."
"Fine," Joanne said grabbing Maureen's hand. "Come on babe. Let's go have that special night."
"Alright pookie." Maureen giggled and the two left hand in hand leaving Mark to watch as the girls slowly lay down on pillows on the floor and closed their eyes.
_/_
Mark was stressed a few hours after Maureen and Joanne. The hours were slowly ticking by and he grew more and more worried about Julie and Roger as she couldn't talk to him when he called them wondering how things were going. It was getting to the point he would even shoot Angel if she showed up to visit.
While the girls ate their dinner silently Mark finally got hold of Franny. She was upset and he didn't want the girls to hear it, so he asked them to go into his room to pick out another one of his movies.
"Julie what's going on?" He asked as soon as the girls disappeared.
"Doctors are keeping Roger here overnight at the hospital." Julie swore silently clearly she was upset. "They don't think he's seriously sick but because of the HIV, they want to keep an eye on him to make sure the antibiotics will help him out." Mark sighed as he rubbed his face worried of what he would tell the girls if they asked. "Can the girls stay the night over there so I can stay with Roger?"
"Yeah." Mark said smiling as the girls finished their food and carefully placed their dishes in the sink. "That's just fine. Just keep us informed. Oh, just so you know Tom was wanting to take the girls to the park tomorrow if that's okay."
"I think that's just fine." Julie said. "Do you have some of Sophie's medicine there?"
"Yeah I do. I'll make sure she takes it."
"Thank you, Mark. Give our love to the girls."
"I will. Take care Julie and goodnight."
"Goodnight Mark." Mark sighed and saw that both girls were now looking at him.
"You guys want to watch a movie, before you guys go to bed?" Madeline and Sophie nodded and rushed to watch one of Mark's movies before falling asleep on the couch with Mark right next to them.
_/_
Next morning Madeline and Sophie woke up first before their Uncle. Seeing that Uncle Mark didn't have his glasses on his face Madeline smiled and gently picked them up from the side of the couch where he had placed them the night before.
"Sophie," she whispered as she didn't want to wake Mark up. "Look, don't these look like daddy's glasses?" Sophie nodded quietly unsure what her sister was getting at. "You know how daddy can't see, why don't we give these to daddy. He will be so happy."
"Yeah I think that's a great idea!" Sophie squeaked enjoying that they were going to help their dad.
The Intercom began to beep waking up the filmmaker who groaned and searched for his glasses which weren't there on the arm of the couch. "Where in the fu- Oh never mind." He groaned jumping to his feet and walking to the intercom. "Hello? What?"
"Hey Mark, it's Tom here to take the girls to the park. Are they ready?"
"Yeah, come on up. They just need to make sure they have everything." Mark turned to look at the blurry shapes of the girls as they rushed around making sure they had everything they had brought with them from yesterday. Mark walked to the bathroom to clean up and get on with the day but as he got there his head began to pound. He needed to find his glasses. But for some reason couldn't remember where he had set them.
"Hey girls!" Tom's voice rang out from the main room of the loft and the joyous squeal from the girls soon followed. "Ready to come to the park with me?"
"Yes! Yes, Uncle Tom!" They cheered their faces splitting into large smiles. Mark grabbed an old pair of glasses that were similar to his new ones and walked outside.
"Which park you going to take them, so I know I can send Julie there once she gets out of the hospital?" Mark asked helping Sophie into her jacket while Tom helped Madeline.
"Just the one on 5th. It's closest, and a bit safer." Tom said as Madeline and Sophie ran to the door and began to bounce impatiently waiting for their Uncle to take them. "So they spent the night?"
"Yeah, the doctors wanted to make sure Roger was good before they sent him home. But I'll let Franny know where the girls are so there's no freak out."
"Thanks." Tom said smiling. "Well, you take care there Mark."
"Yeah, see you later." Mark said and waved at the girls. Not expecting they were the ones that were walking away not seeing the small metal frames of his glasses that were barely poking out of Madeline's jacket pocket.
Mark was furious that he still couldn't remember what he had done with his pair of glasses. He grumbled and jumped when his phone began to ring and he quickly answered. "Hey Julie," He said recognizing the number from which she called him. "Tom has the girls at the park on 5th."
"Are you now able to read minds?" She joked on the other line. She giggled making Mark forget about this glasses for a moment. "Alright thanks there Mark. I hope things are going well for you."
"They will be...once I find my glasses." Julie's chuckle filled the other line once again before the call had ended. Mark was furious as he dropped to his hands and knees search in vain for his glasses. END OF FLASHBACK
Once hanging out, Mark got back to the couch and start to exam every inch of the place, for his missing glasses. In vain, they were nowhere. Confuse, he set on the floor and start to retrace every detail, of the previous day. That´s why he decided to call Maureen and Joanne in the first place.