Sorry I didn't post this chapter over the weekend. What happened was
that I decided to watch the DVD, which I got for Christmas, in order to get
a few more details on Edward's outfit and I saw that his yard was full of
flowers when Peg first came to the mansion/castle. I had not seen the
movie since several weeks before I started the story and it was a rented
video so I honestly had not remembered the flowers at all - I thought the
yard had just been full of topiaries. This little detail threw me off
because a big part of my story involves Nora bringing him flowers etc. etc.
so I had to rethink a few things to see if I could integrate the flowers
having already been there (why, how) into the story and yet still keep
Nora's part with the flowers too. Anyway it appears in the movie that
Edward is capable of somehow propagating flowers because in the very end
when grandmother Kim is finishing the story it shows Edward back at the
mansion and the yard full of flowers again. But in my story he needs help
with growing flowers - it is not something he can do on his own. It's all
explained later. Just remember that when Edward flees back to the mansion
and Kim follows the yard is very neglected and there are no more flowers
and this is the approximate time when Nora discovers Edward (about 2 months
after he returns to the mansion).
I'll probably deviate from the movie in other little ways but it's my story and I will allow it I guess. So I hope you can go with me on a few of these things - I don't think they will be anymore outrageous than him somehow getting all that ice to carve at the mansion to make it snow.....
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from "Edward Scissorhands" nor am I using them for material gain. I do own the characters Nora and Bryan.
10
Nora knew she'd go crazy waiting around the apartment all day so after she showered and had some breakfast she did what she often did to pass the time - she grabbed a handful of CDs and got in her car. First she carefully put the flowers on the floor in the back and made sure she had enough money for lunch. She knew where she wanted to go. About forty-five minutes beyond town was the place she'd grown up. Someone else lived there now but today she felt a need to be there again.
As she drove, the houses became farther and farther apart, the lawns less and less perfectly kept and the roads narrower and rougher. As she began to get closer to her destination, she turned down several small roads until she reached the last which was just slightly better than dirt. Actually it was dirt which having been oiled down many times had a hard coating on it that kept down the dust. Today dust was not an issue. The rain had stopped falling but the atmosphere was dense with moisture. Slowly the car continued past several new houses with neatly mowed lawns that looked totally out of place on the narrow poorly kept road. The houses stood in what had once been the fields where the wildflowers she loved had grown. On a day like today the tall grass and flowers would have been lying down heavy with the rain. Farther along she passed an old house, the one she'd grown up in. After all this time she still felt this place was hers and no one else should be there. If she was rich she would buy it back and all the fields with it and tear down the stupid new houses and live there herself - but she was far from rich. Well she could dream couldn't she? Across the road from the house was what was left of the barn. The entire back of it had finally collapsed and only the front part remained standing. She had spent many hours in that barn when she was young. She would sit in the loft and hang her legs outside and look off over the distant hills. If you got up early enough the sun rose from behind those hills. She had never seen sunrises like that since her family had moved away. Directly in the opposite direction had been the most glorious sunsets...
The road curved sharply past the house and barn, descended, turned again the other way, and continued along, the surface no longer oiled. There was a larger field to the right and woods on the left and there were no more houses. Slowly she continued on until there were woods on both sides of the road. Nora slowed the car even more until she found a place where she could pull over far enough to let another car pass - if another should even come this far. She turned off the engine and got out. The sound of the car door closing seemed out of place in the quiet. She scanned the right side of the road until she saw what she was looking for - a stone wall that began at the road and disappeared into the woods at a right angle. She had decided to follow that stone wall through the woods until she reached the pond that she and her brother had fished in when they were kids. She stepped over the ditch that ran along the road and up the small bank into the woods. Carefully she walked along some sort of animal trail that followed the wall, wet ferns brushing at her pant legs. She kept her eyes nearly constantly on the ground only glancing up now and then until she spied a little patch of orange on the path in front of her. She knew she'd find one! Today was the perfect sort of day for them. She squatted down and examined the brightly colored little newt. Coaxing it onto her hand she brought it closer to her face, stopping it from jumping off by using her other hand to block it's escape. There was something about their bright color, so out of place in their surroundings, and their incredibly soft skin and shiny eyes that fascinated her. She maneuvered it so that it's little feet that looked so much like hands spread over one of her fingers. Delicately she stroked it's back. Satisfied, she pushed it gently off her hand and under some ferns at the side of the path. She continued on toward her goal of the pond keeping her eyes on the path so as not to step on any others.
Finally she was near the pond. She had to leave the path and go through the woods to reach the bank which was cleared slightly. Pushing slender wet tree branches out of her way she made her way to the spot and looked out over the small body of water. It could just barely be called a pond. It was probably not much more than sixty or seventy feet across with a boggy stream that trickled through the front, past the bank that they had fished from and off to the other side into the woods. It was this little stream that must have kept the pond alive and from becoming stagnant - that and the shade from the woods that surrounded it.
She sat down on a rock that showed through the grasses on the bank like a bald spot on the back of a man's head. Insects buzzed in a cloud around her head and lit in her hair. She waved at them wildly as she tried to enjoy the quiet and seclusion of the place.
Memories of the pond surfaced in her mind, skating on it in winter, taking a little boat to the far side in summer, dragonflies and water spiders - but mostly fishing off the bank and catching catfish. There was a muskrat that lived on the far side and big frogs and lots and lots of turtles - their heads visible above the water as they floated. She remembered how if they cast their lines, baited with worms, too far out they would be nearly immediately snapped off by something. Their father had concluded it was a big snapping turtle. They had never actually seen it but they knew it was there - the snapped lines with missing hooks were the evidence. She often wondered how many hooks it must have had in it's mouth and it had worried her as a child. That was when she could still bait a hook with worms, something she couldn't -wouldn't - do anymore.
That turtle was like the big old ruler of the pond. A little legend in her family. She didn't know if it was her or her brother but one of them must have made the mistake one time of telling some other kids about it. These kids had gone down to the pond alone and caught the turtle and killed it. They had brought it past her house and showed it to her mother. They held the big, awkward creature up on a rope to show big it was. She had been filled with anger and pain and most of all disbelief, all of which swirled around inside her forming a hard lump of frustration. Even if she had known what they planned to do there was nothing she could have done to stop them. If only she and her brother had never told anyone about it - but it had never occurred to them that someone would want to kill it. Even though it had happened many years ago, the injustice of it was still fresh within her. After that she had been much more careful about who she told things to and just what she would tell them.
She had brought Bryan here once and now he was part of the memories of the pond too. He hadn't understood the specialness of it as she had hoped he would. Instead he had found it's seclusion more as an opportunity for other things. He had kissed her on the grassy bank with his usual lust that was always simmering just below the surface. Unlike her own, which traveled far from somewhere deep within her soul, to mingle with his as they kissed. That day she'd felt the pond had accepted him, even if it was only because she loved him so much. She shook her head at the idea. / What a crazy thought! As if the pond was a living being! / She felt tears begin to well up and she buried her face in her hands as they overflowed down her cheeks. Sobbing softly she cried for the turtle's senseless death, for the end of her childhood and her disastrous love affair. As her tears flowed, the pond, knowing her love for it and recognizing her as the child that had fished from it's tiny shore years ago, wrapped unseen arms around her to comfort her.
After a time her crying subsided somewhat and she put one hand down behind her in the grass to support her weight, entwining the grass in her fingers. She looked out across the pond feeling drained but also feeling the quiet peace - now so familiar to her - that comes after crying.
The bugs were especially bad because of the rain and she knew she wouldn't be able to stay for much longer without getting bitten. Slowly she stood up pulling a handful of grass with her. Her thoughts turned to Edward. She had better be going. She sighed, breathing in the smell of the pond. First she would just have a look at the way she used to get to the pond when she lived there. Back then she and her brother cut through the fields and came in the opposite way that she had today. She had to make her way through a boggy, grassy area to reach the field they used to come through. She soon found the way was full of deep muddy ruts apparently made from ATV tires. In the distance she heard the sound of engines revving. Afraid of being seen she decided to get back to her car as quickly as she could. She turned back and reached the grassy bank one more time. With one last look at the little pond she continued her way back through the woods to the path. She hurried carefully along it until she saw her car through the trees. Looking up and down the road she took a long stride out of the woods and across the ditch. Back in her car she started the engine and pulled away.
She drove along some more back roads - she knew them all around here - until in a roundabout way she came back onto the more main roads. Back toward town she traveled, listening to the radio, trying now to leave the memories behind and starting to feel the beginnings of hunger. Some of the music she listened to lifted her mood a little and she was feeling better and thinking of what to eat as she pulled into the drive- through of a fast food restaurant just outside of town. She ordered her usual favorites and parked in a spot in the far corner of the restaurant's parking lot to eat. Finishing her food, she stuffed all the garbage into the take-out bag and checked the time. It was nearly 3:00. Still a little too early, she felt, to see Edward. She put in a CD, leaned back and closed her eyes for a while. The volume was low but the songs played clearly in her head. Tired now, she dozed as the music played. Half awake, thoughts of Bryan ran through her head, brought there by the words of a song...
/ ...maybe we were meant to be
living our lives separately
and it's strange that things change
but not me wanting you so desperately. /
Slowly, her eyes opened and she stared at the ceiling of her car. She'd thought she was over this.
/ Oh why can't I ignore it?
I keep giving in but I should know better... /
Squeezing her eyes shut she pushed the thoughts out of her mind. Abruptly shutting off the music, she glanced at the time - only 3:20! She started the engine and backed out of the parking spot. The tires squealed as she pulled onto the road a little too quickly. She drove to a small shopping mall nearby and wandered through a few of the stores, nearly losing track of the time. Upset now, from thinking about Bryan, she wondered if seeing Edward was the right thing to do. As she returned to her car to think about it, she spotted the flowers on the floor in back. Leaning her head against the window she looked down at them. Thoughts of how he might like them crossed her mind and suddenly she wanted very much to take them to him.
Inside the car she started the engine and took a deep breath. She was having a hard time ridding herself of thoughts of Bryan. They continued to push their way into her mind. Hoping to obliterate the thoughts, she skipped to the first song on the CD she had been playing earlier:
/ Now, don't just walk away
pretending everything's okay
and you don't care about me.
I know it's just no use
When all your lies become your truths
and I don't care. /
She played the music louder than usual, old anger and hurt bubbling to the surface.
/ Could you look me in the eye
and tell me that you're happy now?
Would you tell it to my face?
Or have I been erased
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now? /
She pulled the car onto the road and headed toward the mansion.
/ You took all there was to take
and left me with an empty plate
and you don't care about it.
And I am giving up this game
and leaving you with all the blame
'Cause I don't care.
Could you look me in the eye
and tell me that you're happy now?
Would you tell it to my face
or have I been erased?
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now?
Do you really have everything you want?
You can't ever give something you ain't got
You can't run away from yourself.
Could you look me in the eye
and tell me that you're happy now?
Come on tell it to my face
Or have I been replaced?
Are you happy now?
Would you look me in the eye?
Could you look me in the eye?
I've had all that I can take
I'm not about to break
'Cause I'm happy now.
Are you happy now? /
She reached the drive and slowly started up it. At the top she stopped the car and looked through the big iron gate to the yard. Edward was standing with his back to her trimming one of the topiaries. Nora got out of the car and quietly closed the door. She walked up to the gate and stood for a moment with her hands against it watching Edward. Seeing him, all of her anger and hurt began to melt away.
End of Chapter 10
Note: The songs are from Michelle Branch's Hotel Paper CD. The first is "Desperately" (I only quote a few lines), the second is "Are You Happy Now?". This is a great CD - I highly recommend it.
Would you please comment in your reviews on whether or not you are liking Nora on a scale of 1 to 10 - "1" meaning you don't like her at all - on up to "10" which means you really, really like her. What do you think of her - is she too wussy? Thanks.
I'll probably deviate from the movie in other little ways but it's my story and I will allow it I guess. So I hope you can go with me on a few of these things - I don't think they will be anymore outrageous than him somehow getting all that ice to carve at the mansion to make it snow.....
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from "Edward Scissorhands" nor am I using them for material gain. I do own the characters Nora and Bryan.
10
Nora knew she'd go crazy waiting around the apartment all day so after she showered and had some breakfast she did what she often did to pass the time - she grabbed a handful of CDs and got in her car. First she carefully put the flowers on the floor in the back and made sure she had enough money for lunch. She knew where she wanted to go. About forty-five minutes beyond town was the place she'd grown up. Someone else lived there now but today she felt a need to be there again.
As she drove, the houses became farther and farther apart, the lawns less and less perfectly kept and the roads narrower and rougher. As she began to get closer to her destination, she turned down several small roads until she reached the last which was just slightly better than dirt. Actually it was dirt which having been oiled down many times had a hard coating on it that kept down the dust. Today dust was not an issue. The rain had stopped falling but the atmosphere was dense with moisture. Slowly the car continued past several new houses with neatly mowed lawns that looked totally out of place on the narrow poorly kept road. The houses stood in what had once been the fields where the wildflowers she loved had grown. On a day like today the tall grass and flowers would have been lying down heavy with the rain. Farther along she passed an old house, the one she'd grown up in. After all this time she still felt this place was hers and no one else should be there. If she was rich she would buy it back and all the fields with it and tear down the stupid new houses and live there herself - but she was far from rich. Well she could dream couldn't she? Across the road from the house was what was left of the barn. The entire back of it had finally collapsed and only the front part remained standing. She had spent many hours in that barn when she was young. She would sit in the loft and hang her legs outside and look off over the distant hills. If you got up early enough the sun rose from behind those hills. She had never seen sunrises like that since her family had moved away. Directly in the opposite direction had been the most glorious sunsets...
The road curved sharply past the house and barn, descended, turned again the other way, and continued along, the surface no longer oiled. There was a larger field to the right and woods on the left and there were no more houses. Slowly she continued on until there were woods on both sides of the road. Nora slowed the car even more until she found a place where she could pull over far enough to let another car pass - if another should even come this far. She turned off the engine and got out. The sound of the car door closing seemed out of place in the quiet. She scanned the right side of the road until she saw what she was looking for - a stone wall that began at the road and disappeared into the woods at a right angle. She had decided to follow that stone wall through the woods until she reached the pond that she and her brother had fished in when they were kids. She stepped over the ditch that ran along the road and up the small bank into the woods. Carefully she walked along some sort of animal trail that followed the wall, wet ferns brushing at her pant legs. She kept her eyes nearly constantly on the ground only glancing up now and then until she spied a little patch of orange on the path in front of her. She knew she'd find one! Today was the perfect sort of day for them. She squatted down and examined the brightly colored little newt. Coaxing it onto her hand she brought it closer to her face, stopping it from jumping off by using her other hand to block it's escape. There was something about their bright color, so out of place in their surroundings, and their incredibly soft skin and shiny eyes that fascinated her. She maneuvered it so that it's little feet that looked so much like hands spread over one of her fingers. Delicately she stroked it's back. Satisfied, she pushed it gently off her hand and under some ferns at the side of the path. She continued on toward her goal of the pond keeping her eyes on the path so as not to step on any others.
Finally she was near the pond. She had to leave the path and go through the woods to reach the bank which was cleared slightly. Pushing slender wet tree branches out of her way she made her way to the spot and looked out over the small body of water. It could just barely be called a pond. It was probably not much more than sixty or seventy feet across with a boggy stream that trickled through the front, past the bank that they had fished from and off to the other side into the woods. It was this little stream that must have kept the pond alive and from becoming stagnant - that and the shade from the woods that surrounded it.
She sat down on a rock that showed through the grasses on the bank like a bald spot on the back of a man's head. Insects buzzed in a cloud around her head and lit in her hair. She waved at them wildly as she tried to enjoy the quiet and seclusion of the place.
Memories of the pond surfaced in her mind, skating on it in winter, taking a little boat to the far side in summer, dragonflies and water spiders - but mostly fishing off the bank and catching catfish. There was a muskrat that lived on the far side and big frogs and lots and lots of turtles - their heads visible above the water as they floated. She remembered how if they cast their lines, baited with worms, too far out they would be nearly immediately snapped off by something. Their father had concluded it was a big snapping turtle. They had never actually seen it but they knew it was there - the snapped lines with missing hooks were the evidence. She often wondered how many hooks it must have had in it's mouth and it had worried her as a child. That was when she could still bait a hook with worms, something she couldn't -wouldn't - do anymore.
That turtle was like the big old ruler of the pond. A little legend in her family. She didn't know if it was her or her brother but one of them must have made the mistake one time of telling some other kids about it. These kids had gone down to the pond alone and caught the turtle and killed it. They had brought it past her house and showed it to her mother. They held the big, awkward creature up on a rope to show big it was. She had been filled with anger and pain and most of all disbelief, all of which swirled around inside her forming a hard lump of frustration. Even if she had known what they planned to do there was nothing she could have done to stop them. If only she and her brother had never told anyone about it - but it had never occurred to them that someone would want to kill it. Even though it had happened many years ago, the injustice of it was still fresh within her. After that she had been much more careful about who she told things to and just what she would tell them.
She had brought Bryan here once and now he was part of the memories of the pond too. He hadn't understood the specialness of it as she had hoped he would. Instead he had found it's seclusion more as an opportunity for other things. He had kissed her on the grassy bank with his usual lust that was always simmering just below the surface. Unlike her own, which traveled far from somewhere deep within her soul, to mingle with his as they kissed. That day she'd felt the pond had accepted him, even if it was only because she loved him so much. She shook her head at the idea. / What a crazy thought! As if the pond was a living being! / She felt tears begin to well up and she buried her face in her hands as they overflowed down her cheeks. Sobbing softly she cried for the turtle's senseless death, for the end of her childhood and her disastrous love affair. As her tears flowed, the pond, knowing her love for it and recognizing her as the child that had fished from it's tiny shore years ago, wrapped unseen arms around her to comfort her.
After a time her crying subsided somewhat and she put one hand down behind her in the grass to support her weight, entwining the grass in her fingers. She looked out across the pond feeling drained but also feeling the quiet peace - now so familiar to her - that comes after crying.
The bugs were especially bad because of the rain and she knew she wouldn't be able to stay for much longer without getting bitten. Slowly she stood up pulling a handful of grass with her. Her thoughts turned to Edward. She had better be going. She sighed, breathing in the smell of the pond. First she would just have a look at the way she used to get to the pond when she lived there. Back then she and her brother cut through the fields and came in the opposite way that she had today. She had to make her way through a boggy, grassy area to reach the field they used to come through. She soon found the way was full of deep muddy ruts apparently made from ATV tires. In the distance she heard the sound of engines revving. Afraid of being seen she decided to get back to her car as quickly as she could. She turned back and reached the grassy bank one more time. With one last look at the little pond she continued her way back through the woods to the path. She hurried carefully along it until she saw her car through the trees. Looking up and down the road she took a long stride out of the woods and across the ditch. Back in her car she started the engine and pulled away.
She drove along some more back roads - she knew them all around here - until in a roundabout way she came back onto the more main roads. Back toward town she traveled, listening to the radio, trying now to leave the memories behind and starting to feel the beginnings of hunger. Some of the music she listened to lifted her mood a little and she was feeling better and thinking of what to eat as she pulled into the drive- through of a fast food restaurant just outside of town. She ordered her usual favorites and parked in a spot in the far corner of the restaurant's parking lot to eat. Finishing her food, she stuffed all the garbage into the take-out bag and checked the time. It was nearly 3:00. Still a little too early, she felt, to see Edward. She put in a CD, leaned back and closed her eyes for a while. The volume was low but the songs played clearly in her head. Tired now, she dozed as the music played. Half awake, thoughts of Bryan ran through her head, brought there by the words of a song...
/ ...maybe we were meant to be
living our lives separately
and it's strange that things change
but not me wanting you so desperately. /
Slowly, her eyes opened and she stared at the ceiling of her car. She'd thought she was over this.
/ Oh why can't I ignore it?
I keep giving in but I should know better... /
Squeezing her eyes shut she pushed the thoughts out of her mind. Abruptly shutting off the music, she glanced at the time - only 3:20! She started the engine and backed out of the parking spot. The tires squealed as she pulled onto the road a little too quickly. She drove to a small shopping mall nearby and wandered through a few of the stores, nearly losing track of the time. Upset now, from thinking about Bryan, she wondered if seeing Edward was the right thing to do. As she returned to her car to think about it, she spotted the flowers on the floor in back. Leaning her head against the window she looked down at them. Thoughts of how he might like them crossed her mind and suddenly she wanted very much to take them to him.
Inside the car she started the engine and took a deep breath. She was having a hard time ridding herself of thoughts of Bryan. They continued to push their way into her mind. Hoping to obliterate the thoughts, she skipped to the first song on the CD she had been playing earlier:
/ Now, don't just walk away
pretending everything's okay
and you don't care about me.
I know it's just no use
When all your lies become your truths
and I don't care. /
She played the music louder than usual, old anger and hurt bubbling to the surface.
/ Could you look me in the eye
and tell me that you're happy now?
Would you tell it to my face?
Or have I been erased
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now? /
She pulled the car onto the road and headed toward the mansion.
/ You took all there was to take
and left me with an empty plate
and you don't care about it.
And I am giving up this game
and leaving you with all the blame
'Cause I don't care.
Could you look me in the eye
and tell me that you're happy now?
Would you tell it to my face
or have I been erased?
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now?
Do you really have everything you want?
You can't ever give something you ain't got
You can't run away from yourself.
Could you look me in the eye
and tell me that you're happy now?
Come on tell it to my face
Or have I been replaced?
Are you happy now?
Would you look me in the eye?
Could you look me in the eye?
I've had all that I can take
I'm not about to break
'Cause I'm happy now.
Are you happy now? /
She reached the drive and slowly started up it. At the top she stopped the car and looked through the big iron gate to the yard. Edward was standing with his back to her trimming one of the topiaries. Nora got out of the car and quietly closed the door. She walked up to the gate and stood for a moment with her hands against it watching Edward. Seeing him, all of her anger and hurt began to melt away.
End of Chapter 10
Note: The songs are from Michelle Branch's Hotel Paper CD. The first is "Desperately" (I only quote a few lines), the second is "Are You Happy Now?". This is a great CD - I highly recommend it.
Would you please comment in your reviews on whether or not you are liking Nora on a scale of 1 to 10 - "1" meaning you don't like her at all - on up to "10" which means you really, really like her. What do you think of her - is she too wussy? Thanks.