"Okay, I'll be White and… who do you want to be?" Delia asked as she placed her piece in front of her. She smiled, looking over the Clue™ board. Hasina was sitting across from her, reading the instructions. She frowned.
"Uh oh, Delia, it says here we need three players…" Hasina told her. Delia looked surprised.
"What, we never needed three people before!"
"We never read the directions before…" Hasina pointed out. Delia frowned.
"Ephram's not home and Dad is busy going over files, or, something…" Delia said.
"What about that boy next door?" Hasina asked her.
"Sam? No, he chews on the pieces…" Delia said. Hasina sighed.
"Well, is there anyone else you know who can play with us?" Hasina asked her. Delia fell silent, in thought. Then, after a few moments, her eyes widened and she let out a blaring yell. She quickly ran from her room and down the stairs. She ran over to her father who was sitting in the kitchen reading over some papers. He looked at her as she started pulling at his arm.
"I need a ride! I need a ride!" she yelled at him. Dr. Brown nodded and got his coat.
Mayumi opened the door and let Delia, Hasina, and Dr. Brown come inside. Hasina and Dr. Brown were shown into the living room and Delia ran upstairs, a growing puppy at her heels. She ran to Murasaki's door and began knocking on it. When she had no reply she started yelling the name of her forgotten friend, almost panicking that she had done an irreversible act. Murasaki, who until hearing Delia's voice had been crying into her pillow, opened the door and stood there, staring at her. Delia smiled at first, happy that her friend wasn't going to treat her the same way she had been treated, but frowned, seeing that Murasaki had obviously been crying.
"I'm sorry," Delia said. Murasaki tried to keep a straight face but again broke out into tears. Delia leaned forward and hugged her.
"I'm sorry Murasaki! I just got caught up in Hasina!" Delia told her, somehow beginning to cry herself.
"You said we would do things together! You said we'd show her around town, you and me!" Murasaki told her.
"I'm sorry! But I'll make up for it, I promise!" Delia told her. She and Murasaki parted and Murasaki looked at her.
"How?"
"It was Mr. Plum, in the library, with the, uh, revolver!" Murasaki said and Delia and Hasina started going down their lists. Silently they turned to each other and Delia picked up the small envelope laying in the middle of the board. She pulled the cards out, looked at them, and frowned. She looked up at Murasaki.
"How'd you get so good as this game?" she asked her. Murasaki grinned.
"My brother beat me once when I was five, and he bugged me about it for three months. So I vowed never to lose a game again," Murasaki said laughing slightly about the pure absurdity of the vow. Hasina sighed.
"I wish I could play that good. I have a few cousins who need to be taught a lesson!" Hasina told her and the three laughed. Delia smiled at Murasaki and she smiled back.
"I'm glad you decided to play," Delia told her. Hasina agreed.
"Even if you are beating us!" she said and the girl's laughed again. Murasaki turned to Delia, smiled, and nodded. And with that, all was good between them.
"Stop squirming unless you want me to strangle you. And believe me, death by bow tie isn't the way you want to go," Jig warned Ephram as she straightened his bow tie. They were up in his room that Friday, and late morning sun was pouring in and surrounding the two friends. Jig was dressed normally, the sun hitting her hair and making a few strands shine out a bright red color, while other shown yellow, and yet others a dark, dull brown. Ephram was dressed in a tuxedo, and the sun hit his hair in a way to make the fading purple color completely vanish. When Jig was finished with his bow tie she placed the single white rose in his breast pocket and pinned it into place. She then took a step back away from him, tugged on the bottom of his jacket, looked at him again, and nodded.
"Ephram honey, if I didn't know you I'd bind you with rope, kidnap you to a secluded cabin in the woods, and do god knows what with you," Jig told him. He laughed slightly.
"Let's be glad you know me then," he told her. She nodded.
"Let's. But seriously, Ephram, if Desi doesn't already know how lucky she is to have you, she will now," Jig reassured him. He nodded.
"And if she still doesn't, there's always the secluded cabin in the woods," he joked. Jig laughed. Her hand then went to a loose thread on his shoulder. She pulled it and then let out a yell of shock.
"What?" Ephram asked her, panicked slightly. Jig walked around behind him and pulled out a needle and thread.
"Just a little hole, it was already there…" she lied. He rolled his eyes, knowing she was lying, but not saying anything. She walked back to him and started sewing the "small" hole. Ephram smiled.
"You sew too?" he asked her. She nodded, smiling.
"Of course. Fixing a shirt costs a lot less than buying a new one," she said laughing slightly.
"Fixing a shirt?"
"Yea. What do you do if you tear a sleeve or something?"
"I get a new shirt," he said. Jig sighed and shook her head.
"Well, maybe you rich folk could do that, but us in the real world had to make things last," she said. He nodded. As she stitched the hole on his shoulder he turned carefully to look at her.
"You know, I wonder what it must have been like, living your life," Ephram told her. She looked up at him in surprise and than back to his shoulder.
"No you don't," she said simply, wanting to drop the idea off of the face of the earth.
"I think it'd be interesting, you know, going through all of the things you've gone through," he said. Jig sighed and looked up at him.
"Ephram, interesting isn't the word. I've seen things and done things you could only imagine in your nightmares. You're better off as ignorant as you are…" she reassured him, her face showing a mixture of supreme earnestness and deep rooted regret. Ephram nodded.
"Well everything got there okay, so far things are going perfectly," he told her. Jig nodded, smiling.
"Good, Desi's going to love this."
"Are you sure?" Ephram asked her. Jig nodded.
"Waking up to ten dozen roses, a gourmet breakfast in bed, and you in a tux? She won't know what to do with herself," Jig reassured him, finishing off her sewing. She cut the thread and stuck the needle through her shirt so she wouldn't lose it. She motioned Ephram toward the mirror. He walked over to it, turned from side to side, and smiled, nodding his head.
"Desi is going to love this," he said. Jig laughed slightly. She walked up behind him and looked at him in the mirror. She nodded.
"Glad I shortened it?" she asked him. He looked surprised.
"You shortened it?" he asked her. She smiled.
"About a quarter of an inch…"
"Wow, I hadn't noticed."
"I gathered that," she said and he smiled. Then he frowned.
"Jig?"
"Yea?"
"Shouldn't you be at school?" her asked her. Jig's eyes widened and she yelled out in surprise.
"Crap! School! Why don't I get to take off?" she yelled at him, grabbing her bag and running out of the room. Ephram walked to his door.
"Because I have a flare for romance!" he yelled after her.
"Go to Hell!" she yelled up at him downstairs. Ephram laughed and looked at himself in the mirror again. He tugged on the bottom of his jacket and nodded.
"Desi's going to love this!"
Dr. Brown walked into Mama Joy's that afternoon for lunch. The entire building was adorned with red streamers and hearts of all sizes, both inside and out. He sat down next to a brunette woman and ordered a hamburger. When he was served his sandwich he scoffed seeing that the meat had been formed into a heart.
"You should see the spaghetti and meatballs," the woman next to him said. He chuckled slightly.
"Heart shaped meatballs?" he asked her. She shook her head and turned back to her plate.
"Heart shaped Spaghetti…" she corrected him and he cringed.
"Hey, hey, hey. No poking on the chef you two. He could poison your food ya know…" Nina warned them. The woman laughed slightly to herself.
"They we'd be made into heart shaped patties," she said and Dr. Brown laughed. Nina shook her head smiling, and handed the woman her check. Dr. Brown turned to the woman.
"I've seen you in here before…" he said to her. She turned and looked at him, her dark gray eyes catching his.
"Well, that's not at all impossible. I've been in here before," she told him. He nodded.
"I'm Andy Brown," he said extending his hand. The woman shook it.
"Penny Laderer," she said.
"So, why haven't I seen you around town?" he asked her. She shrugged.
"Librarians don't get out much, I guess," she suggested. Andy smiled.
"So you're the librarian!" he said. She nodded.
"Now and forever, I'm afraid," Penny said. She placed some money on the counter with her check and said good bye to Nina. She stood up and patted Andy on the shoulder.
"See you around Andy Brown," she told him and walked out of the restaurant. Nina walked over to Andy with a smirk and refilled his coffee mug.
"I can't believe you haven't met Penny before…" she told him. He shrugged.
"I haven't needed a book and I guess she hasn't been sick…" Andy suggested.
"What are you talking about? Penny had the world's biggest sinus infection in December…" Nina told him. Andy narrowed his eyes confused.
"Then I wonder why I didn't see her," Andy said and Nina shrugged. Dr. Abbott walked into the restaurant and sat down where Penny had been sitting as Nina took away the plate and cleaned the spot.
"Maybe it's because there's another doctor in town…" Dr. Abbott reminded him. Andy nodded his head.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot about you," Andy said as Nina handed him his check. Andy paid and stood up. He patted Dr. Abbott on the back.
"Try the spaghetti and meatballs Harold, I hear they're good," he said and left.
