If Desi was going to become friends with Ephram Brown, she needed to learn about anime. Not just one anime, but all of them. Comics too. As of this point she only knew of one person in Everwood, besides Ephram Brown that is, who knew a lot about that sort of thing. Making friends with Jig would probably help Desi in a number of ways, actually. Not only would it help her get information about anime to get close to Ephram, but being the friend of a friend... Well, growing up in politics Desi knew the importance of a friend of a friend. This article was going to help Desi go places, she could feel it. The article about Dr. Brown in Time Magazine was good, but her's would be better. Her angle needed a little improving but she had time. Who knows, maybe being friends with Ephram Brown for a while would give her an angle better than anything she could have imagined.
Desi dialed the number for the Harper household and waited until the fourth ring for it to be answered.
"Hello, may I please speak to Jig? I'm one of her friends," she said going to sit down in her chair.
"I'm her only friend," the monophonic male voice responded. Hearing that Desi missed the chair completely and landed right on the ground next to it.
"Ephram!" she cried in surprise. Why in the world would he be there? She had dialed the right number, she was sure of it.
"Who is this?" he asked her.
"Uh, hi! This is Desi Quincampoix, I want to speak to Jig," she said. There was a pause on the other end.
"Look if you want to talk to me, talk to me, leave my friends out of it," he told her.
"No wait! I have a question to ask her, about anime!" Desi said. There was another pause.
"What question?" he asked her doubtfully. Desi reached up and picked up a few sheets she had printed up if a case such as this arose.
"Uh, um, on whom she thinks Ranma should marry," she said, figuring the best way to get on his immediate good side was to mention the show he seemed most infatuated with. Ephram paused again. Desi had to smile. He was beginning to question in his mind what to think about her. His thoughts had no doubt been irate, until now.
"She's asleep."
"Asleep? It's three o'clock in the afternoon," Desi questioned looking at her watch to make sure she had the time correct.
"She's sick," he said to her surprise.
"She is? Well, uh, I'll call back later then. I hope she gets better. Goodbye," Desi said and was about to hang up.
"Akane," Ephram told her.
"What?" Desi asked, confused.
"Ranma should marry Akane," Ephram told her. Desi smiled.
"Okay, bye," she said and hung up. That went better than she could have imagined.
"Who was on the phone?" Jig asked Ephram walking out of her room as he hung up. Jig had just woken up and so was a little woozy.
"Desi Quincampoix," he told her. Jig stopped in her tracks.
"That's not funny," she told him. He nodded in agreement.
"She, uh, she wanted to talk to you."
"About you though, right?" Jig asked continuing her trip to the couch.
"About Ranma…" he told her not quite believing it himself. Jig laughed in surprise, not quite deciding how else to respond.
"Anime? Oh I'm sure. What time is it?" she asked him.
"Three," he responded not having to look at any clock.
"I was asleep four hours?" Jig asked not quite believing it. Ephram nodded.
"How do you feel?" he asked her.
"Better than I did yesterday morning. You work miracles, Ephram Brown," she told him smiling.
"Must run in the family. Hey, last week, did you tell me that Desi thought I was hot?" Ephram asked her. Jig looked at him questionably.
"You react to that now?" she asked him. He shrugged.
"I just, no, forget I mentioned it," he said and walked toward the kitchen. Jig shook her head, sighed, and leaned her head against the back of the couch.
"She said 'hot' specifically?" Ephram asked walking back over to her. Jig picked up a pillow and threw it at him.
"Right," he said and walked back out of the room.
"Okay, do you have a first aid kit in the house? First clean the wound and than wrap it firmly. Now don't wrap it too tightly but don't let it hang loose. You don't have any wrap…hm…" Dr. Brown said into the phone. Edna had been watching him but at this point sighed and turned around to watch the TV. Mayor Quincampoix was on the news telling everyone how the street cleaning was going. It 'might take them at the most one more day before they can allow civilian road travel.' Edna grumbled a few swear words to herself and turned the TV off.
"Bad news, I take it?" Dr. Brown asked her. Edna sighed again.
"Looks like it'll be another day, Doc," Edna told him. Dr. Brown nodded.
"I better call Ephram," Dr. Brown said picking up the phone and dialing. After a few moments he put the phone back in the cradle. He turned to Edna, a little worry in his eyes.
"The line was busy," he said.
"They're teenagers Doc, they do nothing but talk on the phone," Edna told him. Dr. Brown shook his head.
"No, Ephram never talks on the phone, except to Jig," Dr. Brown told her. Edna shrugged.
"Relax, there's nothing to worry about," Edna reassured him. Dr. Brown scratched his beard worriedly for awhile, and then walked out of the room.
"She- she's fine! Really! Yes! No! I'm not lying! I'm hanging up now! Now! Goodbye! Yes! Bye!" Ephram yelled into the phone as he hung it on the cradle. He sighed angrily and turned to look at the door to Jig's room. She was in there asleep and he was out here yelling at Wendell who was growing more on his nerves every day. It didn't bother Ephram so much when Wendell bothered him, but when he bothered Jig. No wonder she hated it here. The phone rang again and Ephram answered it expecting Wendell again. Thankfully he was wrong. It was Amy. He had never been so pleased to be wrong.
"Hi Ham. Did you hear? Another day trapped, can you believe it?" Amy asked him. He smiled at the sound of her voice.
"Uh, yea. Sounds like fun…" Ephram said sarcastically.
"Yea… Dad and Bright have already had a giant fight and aren't speaking to each other, and Mom almost broke down crying because of her rose bushes. Not to mention how much work she has to do. Hey, how's Jig feeling?"
"Oh, good. She's sleeping now."
"She's sleeping every time I call."
"Yea, it's the best thing for her, though."
"Yea. Hey, how are you doing? Quarantine can't be any fun," Amy asked him. He smiled.
"I'm okay, you know, I get a little bored when she's sleeping but besides that I'm fine," he told her.
"Well, when you're bored, give me a call. I'm bored too," Amy told him.
"Yea, yea of course. I won't even hesitate," he told her.
"Good. How's Delia holding up?"
"She must be fine, if it were otherwise Dad probably would have told me. Delia's always liked Nina."
"That must have been something, help delivering her baby," Amy said. Ephram laughed a little.
"Good doughnuts too," Ephram told her jokingly. Amy paused on the other end.
"Never mind," Ephram said laughing at himself a little.
"Right… Hey, do you believe in ghosts?" she asked him. Ephram narrowed his eyebrows in a little surprise.
"Uh, I suppose. I don't really know. Why?"
"Well, as you know Halloween is coming up, and every year some friends and I sneak into this 'haunted house' and do a séance. I know, it sounds stupid, but we always have fun."
"And you're inviting me to come along? Why do I think that's a bad idea?"
"Well, I know what my friends think about you, but, It's kind of scary there, and Colin usually comes…"
"You want me to come for protection?"
"Well, yea. Jig too."
"You want Jig to come for protection?" he asked her. Amy smiled.
"No, we want her to come with us on our séance. Oh, oh damn I just remembered, you might not want to come."
"Why not?"
"Desi heads our séance, she knows about all that sort of stuff," Amy told him. Ephram paused as he thought it over.
"Maybe, I could come anyway. You know, if you girls feel scared," Ephram said. Amy nodded.
"Okay, well, ask Jig when she wakes up, okay?"
"Yea. But, uh, it could be minutes or it could be hours."
"That's okay. What? Oh, Bright needs to get on the phone, call me back, okay?"
"Yea, sure. Bye."
"Goodbye Ephram," she answered and they both hung up.
Ephram sighed. He heard a small, musical sound coming from Jig's room and walked over there. The closer he got to the door, the louder the fast tempo music got. He didn't bother knocking but just opened the door. Inside of the room he found Jig sitting on her bed, banjo in hand. She stopped playing when he entered. She smiled.
"You actually play the banjo," he told her.
"You have your piano, I have my banjo," she said plucking a string.
"How come this music teacher guy never taught you the piano?" Ephram asked her. She smiled, but it looked a little forced.
"He started to, but I had to leave to come here," she told him. He nodded.
"I know the feeling," Ephram said taking the banjo from her hands and setting it back in its stand.
"Does it ever stop being sucky?" she asked him.
"It helps not having a fever," Ephram said picking up the thermometer sitting on a table by her bed.
"Say 'ah,'" he told her. She smiled and opened her mouth. He put the thermometer in and she closed her mouth around it.
"Everwood will take some getting used to, just give it time," he told her. She just looked at him, not being able to answer due to the thermometer. Ephram narrowed his eyes.
"I can't believe I just said that…" Ephram said. Jig smiled, stood up, and patted him supportively on the shoulder. The thermometer beeped and Ephram slid it out of her mouth. He smiled looking at it.
"You're under one hundred degrees, Jig," he told her. Jig smiled and laughed. She took the thermometer from his hands and hugged his arm.
"Ephram Brown retains his miracle worker status!" she announced.
