Caroline and the Surprise Shower

Chapter 4

Caroline's apartment is now gaily decorated with colorful balloons and wedding theme decorations. Several dishes of food are on the counter. There are a dozen women in the apartment, most of them sitting and chatting. Annie, Linda, and Beth, all bridesmaids, are standing in the kitchen. Beth is sniffling "Why, Steve, why? I just don't understand." Linda is checking the food on the counter.

The sound of a toilet flushing is heard. Heavily pregnant Vicki emerges from the bathroom, still somewhat nauseous. She goes to the window, and starts to look out. Despite all the gay decorations, there is an undercurrent of discontent, because Caroline is overdue.

Linda impatiently asks Annie "It's already 5:30, Annie. They're late. You know this Richard guy. How reliable is he?"

"Oh, uh, very reliable. They'll be here any minute now. Uh…Vicki, see anything out the window?" Vicki shakes her head.

Beth, having eavesdropped, stops sobbing momentarily. Already an emotional wreck, she becomes alarmed and panics "Very reliable? But they're a half hour late! Maybe something happened! We should start calling hospitals, the police…"

"No! No, uh… wait" Annie, embarrassed, slowly admits "I sorta told Richie to keep Caroline out five hours instead of 'til five o'clock… But hey, it's a mistake anybody could make!"

Linda shakes her head "Oh, Annie! Why Caroline ever made you maid of honor is beyond me. You can't handle anything." Linda loudly proclaims to the room "Hey everybody." Everybody turns to look. "Annie told the guy with Caroline the wrong time, so we have to wait for one and a half hours more." Everybody groans, and starts grumbling. Vicki moves away from the window.

Annie defends herself to Linda "Hey! Between Vicki throwing up every two seconds and Beth crying her eyes out, we needed some extra time. Besides, somebody forgot dessert, so we had to send someone out to get it."

"That was you that forgot dessert, Annie."

"Yeah, yeah. Picky, picky" Annie responds. But despite her snappy answer, Annie is feeling guilty and sad "I'm screwing up Caroline's wedding."

Linda mumbles "Some people… ohh!" and resumes checking the food. She complains "It's been so long, the hot food's getting cold." She turns to Vicki "Oh, Vicki! Listen, the mulligatawny soup is cold. Could you zap it in the micro? Thanks." She hands Vicki the bowl. Vicki gets a whiff of it, groans, hands it to someone else and goes back into the bathroom.

Annie walks away, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

******

Del is sitting in his Cassidy Greeting Cards office when Charlie rolls in. He asks Del "Hey Boss. Can I get you to sign off on this?" as he hands him a piece of paper.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Del replies.

"It's a list of people I want to invite to your wedding" Charlie answers.

"Wait a minute, Charlie, I don't know any of these people."

"I know, I know, you'll meet them at the reception. They're friends of mine, and they're all very excited about seeing moi in a tux."

Del lets Charlie down "Charlie, you don't get to invite people."

"Wow, I thought as one of your ushers, I'd at least get a couple of comps" a disappointed Charlie replies as he turns to go.

"Charlie, Charlie, wait a minute!"

Charlie stops, excited, and turns around "I knew it! You've changed your mind. You're a great boss!"

"No, Charlie. I want you to deliver something. It's a card for Caroline. It's the least I can do. I mean, without Caroline working overtime, our company would be losing money for her strips during our honeymoon. And hey, while you're there, she should have finished more strips, so pick them up."

Charlie, hurt by Del's refusal, hesitantly answers "I don't know,… It's almost quittin' time."

"Here's twenty bucks."

"On my way, boss" Charlie responds as he rolls out the door.