The Fine Print: DK and HBO own them; we just take them out to play.
Note: With the impending Armageddon, we thought Iris, Justin, and Sofie could use a little fun. So from the seeds of Dana's brilliant idea at the chat the other night, grows this collaborative fanfic. Dana has written Chapters 1, 2, and 5. I wrote 3 and 4.
Red Red Wine
Chapter Two
by Dana (twinb80)
Sofie sat down onto the couch and watched as Miss Crowe put the two bottles of wine on the table. Sofie handed her the glasses and soon they were filled with wine. Miss Crowe stood before her and for a moment Sofie thought she would back down and hand her the glass back. Instead she watched as Iris Crowe took a deep breath and said, "To good times," as they clinked their glasses together. Sofie grinned as she saw Miss Crowe drown the first glass of wine in one sip. Iris stood there and felt the wine go through her body. The wine warmed her and she felt decadent for drinking but she didn't care. She didn't want to be herself right now and have to deal with her problems with Justin. She knew that if Justin came home and found her intoxicated he would become upset but she didn't care. He had his fun. Why couldn't she? Iris sat down on the couch next to Sofie and poured herself another glass of wine.
This time she nursed her drink for a while and began to talk to Sofie about her life with the Carnivale. Iris was fascinated that Sofie had lead such a decadent life and she found herself a little envious at the freedom Sofie seemed to have. Iris herself had never worn pants like Sofie or gone from one exciting town to another, and to her that seemed like freedom. She didn't pry into Sofie's past but instead allowed the girl to talk freely about her life there. As Sofie talked about the Carnivale before the Depression, Iris nursed her drink and found that her glass had become empty. She poured herself another glass and listened as Sofie told her about her best friend Libby and how they used to drink Mescal together.
Sofie enjoyed talking about the good times she had in the Carnivale. She didn't want to talk about the bad times like finding out that Jonesy had been seeing Rita Sue or how her Mama had tried to kill her. No Sofie wanted to be happy and so she said nothing of this to Miss Crowe. They were on their third glass of wine when Iris asked her what job her best friend had at the Carnivale.
"She danced the cooch."
Iris spit her wine out and started giggling. "She did what?"
Sofie giggled and told her, "She danced the cooch. You know, she danced for money in the Hoochie Coochie show." Both women looked at each other and burst at laughing again. Their laughter filled the living and Iris found herself unable to stop laughing. Tears formed in her eyes and she fell back on the couch almost spilling her glass of wine.
"Haven't you ever been to a carnival?" Sofie asked her.
Iris smiled at the girl and giggled again. She had in fact been to a carnival a few times and once when she was younger and Justin had been about to leave for Seminary, they had gone together. Justin had won her a prize at one of the booths. It was a little stuffed bear that they had named Dimitri after their old childhood tutor back in Russia. The bear had a serious face just like Dimitri and they had laughed as they recalled how their tutor used to be so serious when teaching them their lessons and how he had only smiled when the pretty new maid would walk by their classroom door. Iris frowned to herself. She didn't want to think about pretty maids right now.
Sofie saw her frown but didn't ask any questions. Instead she stood up and pushed the small living room table towards the window. Iris watched her and wondered what she was going to do. To her amazement Sofie stood there and told her that she had worked the bally one night for the Cooch show.
"Bally?"
"You -hiccup- you know...the bally...the lookie look before the men would go into the real show. The ummm...-hiccup- you know the nudity show?"
Iris sat there, her face red, as she realized what Sofie was saying. She brought her hand to her mouth and giggled again. She remembered how they had been at the Carnivale and saw all the men heading towards one area of the Carnivale. Then they had seen a woman walk by in a scantly clad dress and Iris had turned bright red. Justin and her had turned the other way and ended up on the ferris wheel. Iris blinked her eyes as she remember what had happen on the ferris wheel and then turned bright red. Sofie was still watching her and Iris didn't want to explain so she asked Sofie what she was going to do next.
"Show you some moves Libby taught me. Wait -hiccup- we need music."
Sofie stumbled her way to the Crowe's radio and Iris laughed as she watched Sofie fall on her bottom and turn the radio on. As Sofie was trying to find a radio station, Iris poured herself another glass of wine. The wine, Iris found, had a nice little kick to it and she found herself thinking she should send Tommy Dolan a thank you card in prison for leaving it behind. She sat back on the couch and took another sip of wine. She blinked her eyes again as Sofie finally found a radio station she liked. Iris didn't know what song was playing, but she found that she liked it.
"So- I...Sofieee what song is this?" she asked as Sofie began to dance on the living room carpet. Iris giggled as Sofie danced and Sofie began to spin in circles. Iris covered her eyes to keep from going cross-eyed as Sofie spun around. She placed her glass down on the floor next to the couch and tried to stand up. She lost her balance and fell back onto the couch. Sofie saw this and stopped spinning and laughed at her. Iris laughed too and asked Sofie again what song was playing.
"Wow, you don't know Benny Goodman?" Sofie ask her amazed.
"Ummm...-hiccup- I don't know...is this it?" she ask.
Sofie giggled again and Iris tried to stand up again but failed. Sofie fell to the floor and laughed some more. "This is Sing Sing Sing...it's a great song...me and Be – oh, wow, I can't remember his name...we...-hiccup-...umm we..."
Iris stared at her as if she had grown two heads and Sofie's face got redder. What was she saying to Miss Crowe? Sofie couldn't remember; instead she crawled over to the table and found the second wine bottle. She poured herself another glass and drank it down in one gulp. The song changed and Sofie crawled back to the couch with the glass in one of her hands. Iris had been watching her the whole time, and when Sofie got back to the couch, she asked her what she was going to say.
"Oh we...ummm...ya know..." Sofie stuttered, redder than ever.
Iris stared at her until it finally dawned on her what Sofie was trying to tell her. Her face got redder and she hiccupped again. Sofie didn't know what to say so she looked down at her hands. They had been having such a good time and now she was sure Miss Crowe was going to start lecturing her on the virtues of chastity.
Iris sat there not knowing what to say to the young girl. She knew that Sofie had lived a hard life and she didn't want to pass judgment on her. Sofie had been kind to her and Iris didn't want to ruin their happy little wine party. She took her hand and placed it on Sofie's. Surprised, Sofie looked up at her and Iris spoke next.
"It's ok...I...did you have a nice -hiccup- time, dear?"
Sofie was shocked by the question but grateful that Miss Crowe wasn't going to start lecturing her. Iris was still looking at the young girl and she hoped that Sofie had heard her right.
"Yeah..I did...," Sofie said. Iris smiled and Sofie without thinking said, "Was your first time nice, too?"
Iris blushed at Sofie's question and she began to mutter to herself in Russian. The song changed again as Iris tried to find the right words to say. Sofie was just sitting there waiting as if her question was the normalest thing to ask a preacher's old maid sister. Iris finally found her voice and spoke almost in a hushed whisper.
"Yes, it was."
Both women looked at each other and then began to grin idiotically at what they had just both admitted to each other. Sofie started to giggle again and soon Iris was joining her. Their laughter filled the living and Iris found tears running down her face from laughing so hard. The song changed again and Iris found that she actually knew this song. She stood up and staggered over to the center of the room. As Sofie watched amazed, she began to sing along with the radio. Miss Crowe could sing! Sofie giggled as Iris sang out, "Love me or leave me let me lonely...You don't believe me but I love you only...-hiccup...I'd rather be lonely than happy with somebody else..." Iris finished her verse and Sofie stood up clapping and then fell backwards again onto the couch. The song continued and Iris began to turn around in circles like a little kid with her arms outstretched. Sofie jumped up again, joining Miss Crowe spinning around the room.
Together they sang out the words to the song on the radio. "You might think that night time is the right time for kissing.. both women giggled at the word "kissing"... Night time is my time for reminiscing.. Regretting instead of forgetting somebody else..." The song ended and Sofie fell onto the floor, dizzy from spinning around. Iris stopped spinning and tried to make her eyes focus. She laughed as she told Sofie she would be right back and headed for the downstairs bathroom.
Sofie continue to sit on the floor listening to the radio. She thought to herself that Libby would like Miss Crowe if they ever met. She was happy because now she had another drinking buddy. Sofie frowned as she thought that Brother Justin wouldn't like their drinking. Then she giggled as she thought of Brother Justin as a young man like Miss Crowe had described being embarrassed by the Cooch Show. She giggled more as she thought of Brother Justin meeting Rita Sue and Stumpy. He wouldn't know what to make of them and Sofie laughed as she pictured Stumpy talking about Brother Justin as just another rube.
Iris came back to the living room and fell onto the couch. Sofie laughed at her and Iris giggled as she poured herself another glass of wine. She leaned back onto the couch and started talking about Brother Justin as a young man. Sofie sat on the floor mesmerized at the stories Miss Crowe was telling her. She blinked her eyes as Miss Crowe's voice kept going in and out of her ears. She found it hard to concentrate on what Miss Crowe was saying. Something about a Carnivale...then a car ride home...Justin... Sofie blinked her eyes again and found that she couldn't understand a word Miss Crowe was saying. She began to giggle as she watched Miss Crowe's mouth move but no words came out. She was giggling so hard that she fell to her right and landed on the carpet and started laughing harder. Iris was sitting on the couch mumbling something even she couldn't understand. She watched as Sofie continued laughing and rolling around on the carpet. In her foggy mind she thought that Sofie shouldn't be messing up the carpet like that.
Iris stopped talking and she tried to sit back up but failed. Instead she dropped her glass and watched as it hit the floor, shattering. The shattered glass made a pretty picture to her and she leaned down to pick up a piece. The glass was shiny and Iris found that she liked it a lot. She sat back down on the couch, kicking off her shoes and curling up on her side. She let the glass dance against the window. The window let in light and she found to her surprise that the glass reflected back a rainbow. Sofie had quit laughing by now and crawled over to the table and poured herself another glass. The radio continued to play and Sofie stood up and began to dance around the room with her glass in hand. The wine spilled out but Sofie didn't notice. Iris continued laying on the couch and playing with the shattered glass.
