It's A Wonderful Life
Joyful laughter and chatter filled the air. The Waycross Public Library, now transformed into the loveliest of wedding venues, was illuminated from the incandescent glow emitting from the massive fireplace. A large platter with meaty portions of hog was passed around the table. Wine was poured and toasts were made. It was a night of celebration that was well-deserved for not only Michonne and Rick, but for the entire group. The crowd of friends feasted and talked and as they did, the worries and despair of the last few weeks, months and years momentarily dissipated.
Daryl gnawed on a rib bone as he listened apathetically to Glenn, Maggie, Sasha and Rosita prattle on about their favorite movies.
"Fight Club! Oh or maybe Goodfellas or Gladiator. Yeah those are my favorite," Glenn stated.
"Why are all your favorite movies so violent," Maggie asked.
"Hello, I'm a man and besides, what do you think prepared me to be the bad-ass that stands before you today?" The ladies laughed.
Maggie looked at Sasha and Rosita, "What about you two? What are your favorite movies?"
"Beauty and the Beast and The Wizard of Oz, hands down," Rosita answered.
"What are you, like ten?" Glenn jabbed.
Maggie slapped Glenn's arm, "Hey, don't make fun of her. I love those too. I'd have to say Back to the Future. I must have watched that 200 times growin' up. Sasha?"
"This is too easy. The best movie of all time is obviously The Shawshank Redemption," Sasha stated casually. The friendly debate continued as they relaxed, ate peach pie and drank brandy by the fire.
Abraham, Bob and Lee were practically shouting about whose beloved basketball and football teams were better. Michonne could hear them yelling from the opposite end of the table. She laughed at the absurdity and irony of that conversation then wondered if there would ever be ever be another pro sports team in her lifetime.
Eugene droned on explaining to Carol and Morgan how easy it would be for them to make batteries if they simply invested the time.
"Well if you think about it, a battery is a galvanic cell. It's no more than an anode and a cathode separated by an electrolyte. On one side, you have mercuric oxide and graphite from something like brake pads. There is a cathode. There is a positive terminal..." Carol looked at Morgan and rolled her eyes, but Eugene continued, "...on the opposite side is our anode. Then you have zinc. It's what we find in our coins and anything galvanized. You get a sponge as an electrolyte..." More music began to play again from the record player. Morgan saw it as his chance for a getaway.
"Eugene, I hate to interrupt you but I promised Carol that if there was more music at this wedding, I would dance with her. Until you get those batteries made, I'm going to have to take advantage of the battery power we have right now." Morgan stood up and reached his hand down to Carol. The look of surprise on Carol's face was priceless, but she took his hand, stood up and walked away with Morgan.
As Carol got up she nudged Maggie, "Get Glenn up here with you...I don't want to be the only one dancing!" Maggie complied and pulled Glenn to the dance floor.
"Hey everyone, if I have to dance, I think everyone should," Glenn said to his friends. Before long, almost everyone was on the dance floor in front of the fireplace. Noah asked Liv to dance, Rosita dragged Abraham up, Bob and Sasha danced and Clem was happily spun around by Lee.
Holding Judith in her arms, Michonne stood up, "Your favorite ladies want to dance with their favorite guy." Rick was not a dancer but he knew that the momentous occasion called for it. He was pretty sure the last time he danced was when Aunt Dorothy forced him to dance with her at Lori's cousin, Sarah's wedding. God only knew when the next opportunity for dancing would come. Rick stood up, feigning enthusiasm and took the hand of his new wife. They walked to where the others were and started to dance. After just a few steps, a genuine smile appeared on Rick's face and he couldn't help but enjoy himself. Michonne had a way of making everything better though. He held Judith in one arm and spun Michonne around with the other.
Carl walked up to the table where Daryl, Eugene and Holly sat. "Don't you guys dance?" He asked all three, although the question was really meant for Holly.
Daryl scoffed, "Nope," he said with casual arrogance as he tossed Winnie a bone and grabbed another rib.
"I do not," Eugene replied in all seriousness. "My body has no rhythm and cannot attune itself to the beat in most music. Besides, I told Liv that I would take over her deejaying duties so she could dance."
"Well make sure you play good stuff. What about you Holly?" Carl finally asked, addressing her specifically.
"No. I guess don't really know how," she said.
"Well neither do I," Carl stated as he extended his hand.
"I don't want to look stupid," she said.
"Like I said, I don't know how to dance either. We can look stupid together," he chuckled. Carl's hand was still extended but Holly didn't move, "C'mon, I let you cut my hair."
"Alright but you have to promise not to laugh." Holly stood up and straightened her tulle skirt and sleeveless, satin tank. She took Carl's hand and gave him a shy smile. "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin echoed through the library. Carl took Holly's right hand into his left hand and put her left hand around his shoulder. Finally he placed his free hand around her waist. Holly trembled nervously.
"Relax," Carl said, "all you have to do is move from side to side a little to the rhythm of the music."
"Hey, I thought you said you didn't know how to dance!" Holly said smacking his back playfully.
"I may have fibbed just a tiny bit," Carl said grinning. "I just don't want you to be afraid of everything, including dancing."
"I'm getting better."
"I know you are," Carl said to her in an encouraging voice. "I know you went out with all the girls today to find clothes."
"It was just across the street," she said in her mousy voice.
"Hey, that's a big deal," Carl reassured her. "I'm proud of you for going across the street."
"Well I wasn't going to wear sweatpants to a wedding."
"You look really pretty," Carl said.
"Thanks."
"Maybe I can take you out again sometime this week and show you how to shoot the compound bow."
"We'll see," she said as the music continued.
"You know, the truth is, I don't really know how to dance. I asked Michonne to give me a quick lesson earlier today so that I could ask you to dance tonight."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Carl said. This time the shyness was in his voice. "I like you Holly."
"Maybe I like you too," she said as they swayed to the music.
"Maybe?"
"Alright, not maybe," she leaned forward and quickly gave Carl a peck on the lips, then retreated smiling. "See, I'm not afraid of everything." The two teens kept dancing and talking while exchanging puppy-dog eyes.
The rest of the group continued to dance also. "Dancing in the Moonlight" played next. The laughter and chatter remained on the dance floor and everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves.
"Thanks for saving me from Eugene's DIY battery sermon," Carol said to Morgan.
"Me saving you? I was saving myself," Morgan said solemnly, then smiled.
"I see how it is," Carol retorted. "You know, I can't even remember the last time I danced. I think maybe it was at my middle school Valentine's Day dance."
"You didn't dance at your wedding?"
"No, Ed and I just went down to the courthouse when we got married. We didn't have a wedding let alone dancing."
"Well that's a shame. Dancing is one of the best feelings in the world," he said looking into her eyes. "Jenny and me, we'd go dancing once a month or so. At first, I didn't want to go. I'd make excuses and say I didn't have time, but she didn't listen to my bull. She never did. She dragged me out anyway. After a while, I got the hang of it, it didn't feel so awkward or silly. Then I loved it. I loved just being with her and having something that was just about the two of us. She was so beautiful " His voice started to crack, "I didn't realize until tonight how much I missed dancing. Haven't even thought about it since who knows when." After a few moments of no conversation Morgan spoke again, "How long were you married."
"Thirteen years."
"Happily?"
"No, not at all but we'll save that horror story for another night," she grinned.
"I'm sorry. That was too personal...I shouldn't have asked," Morgan looked away with embarrassment.
"There's no need to apologize," Carol assured him. "Nowadays, I'd prefer to just skip over the smalltalk and get right to the meaty stuff."
"I'll remember that."
"And for whatever reason, whether it was to save me or yourself, I'm glad you asked me to dance."
"Me too," he said smiling.
More music played. There was more dancing, more drinking, more eating, more conversation and lots more laughter. As instructed, Eugene did a exceptional job of playing music. Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Stevie Wonder, The Beach Boys, Bob Marley, Run DMC and Frankie Valli all took turns on the record player.
It was as if they all stepped out of the life they were in and went back in time a two years. An event that would seem normal in the past, seemed blissfully surreal tonight. No one wanted the evening to end but finally around 2 AM, the last of the party goers said their good nights.
…..
"I have a surprise for you," Carol said to Michonne and Rick as they began to retreat into one of the conference rooms for the night.
"Another surprise?" Rick said with wide eyes.
"Yep. Follow me," she said taking Michonne's arm. "Hey, where's Judith?"
"Sasha insisted on keeping her with her one more night," Rick said, "I would have argued but since it's our wedding night, it didn't take too much convincing."
Carol led them upstairs to the second floor of the library. She walked up to a door that opened to another staircase leading to the attic.
"What surprise could possibly be up in that dusty attic?" Michonne said still following Carol, "Mice? More books?" The three of them reached the top of the stairs and Michonne's jaw dropped. "Who did this?" she asked.
"Me and a bunch of those strong, burly men downstairs." Rick and Michonne looked around the open and spacious attic. There was a queen-sized four poster bed against one of the walls of the room. The bed was made up beautifully with fresh linens and pillows. Two antique nightstands flanked both sides of the bed. There was even a dresser, bookshelf and a chair in the room. At least a dozen candles were lit throughout the attic. "I wanted you to have a proper honeymoon suite."
"Thank you Carol. It's not enough that you brought my daughter back to me, you did all this too," Rick said hugging her, "I owe you."
Carol patted him on the back, "Well then I'll be thinking of some amazing way you can repay me."
"Thank you for this," Michonne said, "for the entire day. It was beautiful...everything we could have asked for," Michonne hugged her friend.
"It was good for all of us too. A nice distraction from the real world. We needed it," Carol replied. "I'm going to leave now and I'm going to lock the door at the bottom of the stairs. You two have a fun night," she said winking.
"Oh we will," Rick said calling out to her with a mischievous smirk on his face. As soon as he heard the door close he excitedly took Michonne's hand and led her to the bed.
"Did you ever see It's A Wonderful Life?"
"Yeah, quite a few times with my mom and dad. Why?"
"It's one of my favorite movies. Do you remember when George Bailey and Mary missed their honeymoon and all their friends..."
"...decorated the old dilapidated house and made it into a honeymoon suite as a surprise for them," Michonne laughed, "yeah, I remember." Her smile faded and she said in all seriousness, "Welcome home Mr. Grimes."
Michonne put her arms around Rick's neck and kissed him. First softly and gently then again with more enthusiasm. Even though he had waited for this moment, he wanted to slow down so he could take in every part, every subtle nuance. Rick put his hands on her arms and pulled her away slightly, staring deeply into her eyes. He placed his hands on her face caressing her then her neck. He moved his hands unhurried, down her arms and laced his fingers through hers. After a moment, he slowly moved his hands onto her back. He pulled her body close to his and kissed her again slowly. Rick hands moved all over her body uninhibited as he kept his mouth on her lips. He unzipped the back of her dress and it fell to the floor. They continued to kiss passionately but deliberately as they undressed, only stopping momentarily to gaze at each other. They made their way to the bed. Their bed. Michonne lied on her back and Rick lied next to her.
"I love you Michonne," Rick said looking down into her beautiful eyes, sparkling in the glow of the candlelight.
"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that."
"Well then I won't ever stop saying it."
…..
Eugene's battery sermon was almost word for word Walter White's explanation of how to make batteries in the "4 Days Out" episode of Breaking Bad (another show I love). It was written by Sam Catlin and Vince Gilligan.