CHAPTER 2-
Mort couldn't believe it. His little girl, his little Anna was turning 16. Mort was on his way back into Riverdale for her birthday party and he found himself trying to figure out where the time had gone. It seemed like just yesterday, he and Amy were bringing her home from the hospital wrapped in that little pink blanket and now, he was getting ready to take her to get her license.
'It's amazing how fast it goes.' He thought as he pulled up into the driveway. He looked toward the door and started laughing. Anna was sitting on the doorstep waiting for him to get there. Granted it wouldn't be funny to anyone who didn't know her, but the mere fact that she was awake before noon on a Saturday was utterly amazing. It was 10:16 in the morning according to the clock and she was not only awake, but also ready and waiting.
Mort continued to laugh when he watched her come bounding to the car and appeared at his door instead of the passenger side.
"Oh wonderful, loving, perfect father of mine," she started as she smiled innocently. She opened her mouth to continue her sweet talk plea, but Mort cut her off.
"No way, darling daughter." Mort answered, already knowing what she was going to ask. Anna hung her head in mock defeat, trying to look hurt even though she was still smiling.
"Please?" she asked again, this time only half serious in trying to get her way.
"Nope, this is the last time I can drive you somewhere when you actually need me to be in the car with you so you can wait just a little while longer."
"Can I play with the radio?" she asked hopefully.
"Why not." He answered approvingly and Anna made her way back to the passenger side of the car just as happy as if she'd been able to drive and immediately started flipping through radio channels as her dad pulled the car out of the driveway.
Before they even got out of the neighborhood, Anna had abandoned her quest for a radio station that they could agree on and instead started exchanging cheesy jokes with her dad on the way to the DMV.
Mort barely had time to park before Anna was out of the car and waiting for him to get out as well.
"You're not excited or something are ya'?" he asked grinning.
"Aww c'mon dad, you know when you got your license you were ecstatic. I'm no different." Mort laughed, she was right.
"Okay then, you have the waiver right?" he asked casually as Anna froze mid-step.
"You're supposed to have it," Anna said slowly facing him, looking like the world was about to end.
"No I thought you'd have it." He answered, trying his best to keep his face straight. Anna's waiver guaranteed her a free license, no driving test required. In other words, the easy way out.
"Dad, you said you picked it up Sunday when you came down." From where Mort was, she greatly resembled a small animal caught in headlights, so he decided to end it there before she got too upset.
"Oh, you mean that little pink slip that has your Driver's Ed. Teacher's signature on it that's in my wallet?" he asked innocently as he walked past her and towards the building. Anna blew out her breath in frustration and quickly ran up behind her dad, grabbing the black ski cap off of his head, allowing his dirty blonde hair to poof up slightly and take on the bed head look he'd slowly been adopting. Since she sneak attacked him, he didn't have a chance to react until she was across the street waiting in front of the building. He looked over at her and saw her lean back against the wall and hold the cap out with a triumphant grin on her face.
"You're loosing your touch, old man." She told him emphasizing the word 'old' as much as possible as Mort crossed the street.
"Oh I am," he asked challengingly.
"Hey the truth hurts." She answered sarcastically
"Uh huh." Then in one swift, fluid motion had grabbed his hat back and brought his other hand up to ruffle Anna's hair as much as he could before she shot away from under his hand looking utterly scandalized.
"DAD!" she all but shrieked, "I have to go get my picture taken, are you crazy?!" she announced to more then half of the parking lot as she started trying to comb it down with her fingers.
"No, just mildly eccentric." He told her smirking.
"Sure, I bet that's what Doctor Frankenstein said too." Anna commented as she fixed her hair using the window for a mirror. Mort laughed again and opened the door.
"You look fine, let's go little one." Anna did one last check before throwing a look of mock anger at her dad then heading through the door muttering something about how being 5'2" wasn't little.
No more than 30 minutes later, Anna and Mort walked out of the DMV (well, Mort walked, Anna was almost skipping) as Anna gleefully placed her new license in her wallet and shoved it into her purse.
"Hey Anna," he called to get her attention.
"Yeah?"
"Catch," he said tossing her the keys before hearing a distinct 'YES!' of triumph from Anna as she got in the drivers side and adjusted the mirrors before starting the car.
Once Anna got on the road, Mort was happy to see she calmed down and concentrated on what was going on instead of continuing to bounce around in the seat as she was back in the parking lot. Not paying attention on snowy roads just wasn't safe but she did really well, she was better about signaling and stopping than Amy was, that was for sure.
That single thought connected to Amy was enough to make his eyes darken in unspoken hurt as he looked out the window, but he quickly pulled himself away from those thoughts. Today wasn't for fighting or worrying about Amy and Ted,
'It's Anna's 16th, that's all that matters for today.' Mort resolved as Anna pulled up into the driveway.
"Good girl, you got us home alive." Mort congratulated her as he hugged her. Anna laughed and Mort noticed the front door open and Lauren and Melanie came launching out of the house. Mort knew she was having a party later, but of course, these two were there a good 2 hours early.
"AHHHH, she has a license now." Lauren called sarcastically and Melanie gave Anna a hug. Lauren gave Anna a hug as well and then both of them seemed to realize that they had both come running out of the house in the middle of an upstate New York winter with little more then sweaters and jeans on.
"Wow, it's really cold out here." Melanie said looking up as a snowflake landed on her face. "And now it's starting to snow."
"You two are crazy, everybody inside." Mort said as he ushered the three girls back inside the warm house and saw both Melanie and Lauren's parents sitting in the living room.
"Hey Eduardo," Mort waited until the girls were in the kitchen before continuing, "Is it here yet?"
"Yeah, it's back in our driveway, you gonna go pick it up?" Melanie's dad answered.
"Yeah, later. Did Melanie see it?"
"Nope, Lauren and her left for your house before it showed up." He told Mort with a slight laugh.
"Alright then," Mort smiled.
Just a few short hours later, the party was starting to wind down and Mort was beginning to see red. Amy still hadn't shown up. It had been four hours since Anna and him had gotten back and two hours since the party had started and Amy still wasn't there. Anna and her friends were all set up in the family room on the other side of the kitchen and Mort and Melanie and Lauren's parents were keeping watch from the kitchen.
Finally, Mort knew he couldn't wait for her any longer if they wanted Anna to open her presents and have cake with her friends there so Mort headed into the family room and made his way over to Anna.
"Hey hun, you ready for the cake yet?" He asked her, praying she wouldn't notice how Amy wasn't there. If she did, the out come would not be good.
"Yeah, I'm hungry," she laughed as she stood up.
"On deck you scabbers dogs! It's cake time so move your lazy a-"
"Anna," Mort warned before she finished her sentence and everyone laughed as they made room around the giant coffee table for people to move around. Mort disappeared into the kitchen and reemerged a few moments later carrying a sheet cake covered with blue and silver-ish gray icing. Melanie's mom switched off the lights and immediately one of the guys in the back started humming the 'Twilight Zone' theme song.
"Hey, that's not a birthday song, hush!" Melanie called out and then sank back to sit on her hell while Mort lit the number '16' candle that was at the corner of the cake. In the center of it was black script that simply said:
Happy Sweet Sixteen Anna
A slight pinkish blush started to creep up in Anna's face as everyone began singing. It only got brighter because after every line of the song Lauren and Melanie added a quick 'Cha Cha Cha' and Anna started giggling uncontrollably. Anna made the first slice and handed it to her dad.
"That's yours," she told him as he looked ready to give it to someone else.
"I can live with that," he joked. The next piece Anna cut didn't fare as well and ended up as a ruin instead of a square.
"You sure you can handle this?" Mort asked and Anna pointed at him with the plastic cake knife.
"Hey, I'm better at this than some people."
"Hey, it's not my fault that I got bumped!" Melanie yelled. She'd never been able to live down the fact that she'd turned a piece of ice cream cake into a blob when she was cutting it on her 14th birthday. Her dog Tootsie had jumped up and hit her arm causing her to mutilate that and two other pieces.
After the cake and opening the presents from her friends, people slowly started leaving since they didn't want to be driving at night and soon Mort, the three girls, and their parents were left and Anna started to fidget.
"Hey dad?" she started in a low voice.
"Yeah," he had an idea of what was coming and he couldn't help but grin.
"Where's my present from you? I mean, I know you love me and all but-"
"It's outside." He answered simply as he cut off the beginning of a likely looking ramble.
"Huh?" all three girls chorused.
"Go look for yourself." he said, "It's out front." Anna jumped up with a hopeful smile and raced for the door with Melanie and Lauren hot on her heels.
Mort watched as Anna and the girls started jumping up and down outside in the snow after they saw the 2004 black Nissan Exterra sitting in the driveway with a big silver bow on the hood.
"Oh my god!" Anna squealed and looked back her dad. She ran over and threw her arms around Mort's neck and he used her momentum to swing her around as she did.
"I can't believe it! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the greatest dad in the history of the entire universe, you know that?" she praised him excitedly.
"What can I say, I try." Mort said laughing. He pulled out the key and handed it to her and she squeaked her thanks again and gave her dad another bear hug as before turning around to look at Lauren and Melanie.
"Once around the park ladies?" they laughed in agreement and Anna turned back to her dad.
"Daddy, can we pleeeeeeeease?" Anna begged excitedly, "You can come too if you think it's safer or something." She added quickly as Mort opened his mouth.
"Okay, okay." He laughed. "Let's go." Lauren and Melanie gave quick cheers before both yelled 'Shotgun!' at the same time.
"I said it first!" Lauren argued
"No, I did." Melanie laughed.
"Hey now, I get final decision!" Anna yelled over them both as they all headed towards the car.
"We'll be right back." Mort laughed as he looked back at Melanie and Lauren's parents and they just waved.
"You'll be gone longer then that." Lauren's dad promised as Mort headed toward the car.
"Okay, Melanie gets front seat because she's never given me crap about my driving." Melanie looked over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Lauren and laughed.
"Anna, you put the car in drive instead of reverse and knocked three cones over while looking over your shoulder, anyone who saw that would have given you crap for it." Lauren laughed as well.
When Melanie got situated in the front seat, Anna watched her pull down the mirror and look at Lauren who was sitting behind her, and to Lauren's great satisfaction, next to Mort. Lauren stuck her tongue out at Melanie much the same way as Daphne in the new Scooby Doo movies and Melanie looked over her shoulder to reach back and smack her, but missed.
"Hey," Mort said as Melanie swatted his knee instead of Lauren's and the girls both started giggling.
As it turned out, Anna not only took them around the neighborhood park three times but she also gave them a tour of the entire division before relenting and going back to the house. When they finally did get back, Lauren and Melanie both decided to head home with their parents after agreeing to be back in an hour for an 'over', which was basically a sleep over without the sleeping.
"You sticking around Mort?" Lauren's mom asked on her way out.
"Yeah, I'm gonna stay and watch over the girls until Amy gets back, don't worry, Gerry."
"Alright, I'll see ya later Mort." Gerry said, her southern accent more than noticeable as she spoke.
"Bye you guys," he saw them out the door and then he and Anna started to clean up the streamers and stray wrapping paper.
"I'm gonna stick around until your mom gets back alright?"
"Really?" Anna asked smiling. It would be the first time she'd seen him that long in a good two or three weeks.
"Yeah I don't want to leave you, Melanie and Lauren by yourselves, god only knows when your mom's getting back." He hadn't meant the last part to be as full of bitterness as it came out, but it was absolutely dripping with it. Anna put down her trash bag and hugged her dad. This whole situation was taking a toll on her but she knew her dad had to be going through worse, after all, he'd been planning to spend the rest of his life with Amy.
When the girls got back, they camped them selves out in the family room with left over food and such from the party and Mort was left pretty much to amuse himself. After a few moments of eyeing the stairs he did something against his better judgment; he went upstairs.
Nearing his old bedroom, he stopped a minute. According to Anna, whenever Amy was with Ted, they went out, so that meant the room was probably the way he left it. After a few seconds of mental debating, he pushed open the door.
The room, contrary to his belief that it would be the same mess he'd left it in, was spotless. Amy had obviously cleaned the room from top to bottom, what he had decided to leave behind for the time being (which was everything besides a few books, his computer, and his clothes) had all been cleaned back up and put back where it belonged in the room. It gave him a very strange feeling. It was almost like walking into the past or something because by all visible accounts, it looked like he hadn't left. Mort made his way over to the closet and opened it. It was full Amy's clothes now, no longer was half of it empty and it brought back a few memories of how they used to argue over how much of the closet was half. A while back, it was just good-natured kidding but a little before they 'separated' as Amy had so beautifully phrased it, it was enough to spark a battle worthy of the next World War.
Before Mort even realized what he was doing, he'd reached out and was running his hand over a light pink sundress that hung in front of him. It was one of Amy's favorites during the warmer seasons. Mort could still imagine the way she looked in it. She always was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. The short time he'd spent dwelling on a few memories was enough to break the dam in his heart and he could feel silent tears making their way down his cheeks. He angrily brushed them away, wishing that just once he could control his emotions.
The next morning, Mort woke up in what used to be his bed. He looked around and noticed the clock next to the bed read 7 am. He got up and stretched before he decided to go downstairs and see if the girls were still awake.
He got down to the living room and heard loud yells that shifted to adventurous music and back to yelling and headed to the family room. He almost laughed at what he saw, but not wanting to wake them, he held it back as best as possible.
All three of the girls were in a row in front of the widescreen TV, sleeping, each with their own pillow and blanket. The noise was coming from the movie (Pirates of the Caribbean) and it was alternating between to fight scenes. Mort had seen this particular movie enough to know that it was somewhere near the end and the girls had been up until at least four, considering the movie was almost three hours long. He turned off the TV and the DVD player as quietly as possible then he went back into the kitchen. He looked around and felt anger starting to pour into his veins. Amy still wasn't back yet.
Mort looked out the window towards the driveway again for the millionth time and the faint pink tint that had started to cloud his vision turned blood red. Amy was heading up the driveway with Ted.
Disclaimer Time!
I own Melanie, Lauren, and Anna I DON'T OWN SECRET WINDOW! :( ...Well, the Revolt against David Koepp hasn't happened yet soooo...I should have those rights soon
Jack- One can only hope.
JACK! YOU'RE BACK!
Aye, luv
YAY!
Alrighty then! There it is, the newest installment. I'm SOOOOO sorry that I haven't updated lately, I had Band practice, Steel Drum Practice, and a rough draft for a Spanish presentation as well as a rough draft for a Research Paper worth half my grade, KAITLYN!!!! LoL, yes, I'll also admit I spent too much time watching 21 Jump Street! I GOT THE DvD'S!!!! YAY! And I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!!! Aside from the 80's 'fashion' (which of course only Johnny could pull off to the closest degree) and the replacement of the word ass with 'tail' and all the other censored curse words, It's good enough to be on TV now.
Dawnie-7 : Very glad you still like it, granted my latest update has been quite delayed, I hope you could wait! LoL DAMN STRAIGHT, don't let 'em rest 'til the shovel hits 'em!
Miss Rainstorm : Here it is! I know it was a long wait but I worked as fast as I could, and don't worry, they're still coming!
LiTtLeSpArRoW : HEY!!!!! WHASSSSUUUUP! LoL, hey there Grace! HAPPY (belated) HALLOWEEN! I hope you and Jack had fun, cuz seeing Mort on a sugar high sure as hell was! LoL, I loved writing Mine and Melanie's fight over Mort, but now that I go back and read it...the end of it seems kinda cheesy, REVISION AHOY! Though not for a while, LoL we had plenty of fun pegging EVIL little trick-or-treaters when we were done, but I SWEAR they deserved it! Oh and by the way UPDATE YOU SCALLYWAG!!!!!
Frolics With Chipmunks : 0.0 Well...have fun in the chipmunk suit...
LoL I'm glad you like the story so far I LOATHE AMY TOO! HER AND TED BOTH! LoL, I've always said they got just what they deserved! How Amy could go for ::shudder:: Ted is beyond me, the guy is seriously UGLY! Hope you liked the story, your review was SPIFFY!
Moulin-Rouge-Pirate : HERE! HERE'S YOUR CHAPTER!!! LoL I knew we'd get a trilogy out of you! The Jedi Mind Trick LIVES!!!!! Now review or I'll kick your tail! (Blame 21 Jump Street) Don't worry I'll kill Amy Ted as soon as I can, after all who wants them hanging around! Now it's your turn to update! LoL
Evil Duckie Of The Black Lagoon : It's fine you didn't get the chance to review 'til a little later, I wait on my friends and faithful reviewers, don't worry LoL DOWN WITH AMY AND TED! I'm not really surprised to find that no one else likes Amy and Ted either, in fact, it's kind of comforting :)
Pyrate-Rose : Welcome aboard! I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the spiffy complement! I hope you liked this chapter just as much!