Title:  Wavelength

Summary:  She used to wonder what a father was.  She didn't even know such a thing existed until she was five.  A story about a father and daughter on the right wavelength at the wrong time.

Rating: PG-13

Preface

Recollections

            She used to wonder what a father was.  When her art teacher told the students to make Father's Day cards, Rory would sit quietly at the table.  She would draw curlicues and practice her alphabet until the teacher came to get the class. 

            Rory's best friend, Scarlotte, was the only person who could really understand.  Her mother had died in childbirth.  When the teacher told them to make Mother's Day cards each May, Scarlotte would help Rory put glitter on hers.  Lorelai liked glitter.  The card was usually signed by both girls.  Lorelai didn't care.

            The art teacher would usually end up finding out that the girls didn't have anyone to make a card for a week later, and would feel guilty about it for the rest of the school year.  The girls would get special treatment.

Rory hadn't cared that her only family was her mother until she was five.  Julie, one of her friends at the time, had three sisters and two brothers.  Her aunt and uncle lived with them, and the house always had a guest of some sort.  Rory would come and visit all the time, always thrilled to be surrounded by such chaos. 

            When Lorelai would pick her up the mother's would talk over a cup of coffee, and Rory would walk around the house and say goodbye to everyone, even the pets (three dogs, two cats, five rabbits, a potbellied pig, and five fish).  Lorelai would feel guilty when they had to leave.

            When the third Sunday in June came around each year Lorelai would find something fun to do with Rory.  The zoo, the library, once they even went to Disneyland.  As long as Rory had a good time Lorelai was okay.  All that really mattered to her was that Rory was happy. 

            On Mother's Day the girls would plan a special activity as well, whether it was a movie night complete with pounds of junk food, or a trip to the children's museum it the nearest city, Scarlotte was usually invited along.  She'd come home to her father sticky, but she'd always have a wide grin. 

            Scarlotte and Rory completed each other in a way that only best friends can.  When Rory had a bad dream, Scarlotte would wake up crying.  When Scarlotte (who was a bit rough for her age) got into a fight, Rory usually ended up with the black eye.  They spent their summers in each other's houses, neither able to sleep unless the other was there.  Their parents had to plan vacations together because neither would go without the other.

            By the time they were fifteen they had spent so much time together that other students would mistake one girl for the other.  Neither of them would even date unless the other approved of her choice.  The boys in the class could expect the answer "well, I'll have to ask Scarlotte/Rory first" when they asked one of the girls out.

            Therefore, it came as a major shock when Lorelai job transferred her across the country.  She and Rory would be leaving Deer Plains, California for Hartford, Connecticut in two weeks, and Scarlotte couldn't come with them…

There it is, the preface.  I know it seems a bit jumpy right now, but all the gaps will be filled, I promise.

Elizabeth Maurine

2/24/03