Chapter 8
Of
Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted
It Went Bump In the Night.
Author's Notes: See at end of chapter.
Charlie groggily reached for his wife-only to grasp at empty air. Startled, he immediately woke and checked the time. It was 4:00 am or so the alarm clock said in that eye irritating red. With a groan he hoisted himself out of the nice warm blankets and shivered slightly as his now exposed chest felt the chill in the autumn night air. After throwing on a T-shirt he went in search of his wife.
Sparrow had never been much of a cook. It required far more organization then she was capable of. And there was that small thing that fire had a tendency to try and burn down buildings when she was around. Still, despite this, every month or so she defied common sense and tried to cook something. This month it was cookies. And this is what Charlie found his wife doing at 3 in the morning.
"Are you trying to kill us in are sleep?" Charlie asked standing right behind his wife. Sparrow jumped five feet in the air with a mixing bowl in her arms and turned around.
"What do you want Chocolate Chip or Monster Mash?" she asked stirring some strange black colored gloop."
"Er, chocolate chip?" answered Charlie figuring that may be the safer of the two since he had never heard of Monster Mash.
"Are you sure?"
"Yup."
"Okay." Sparrow dumped the package of chocolate chips over the bowl. Three single chips fell out. "Oh well, I suppose they'll just be chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips," she said cheerfully before bursting into tears and dropping the mixing bowl with its gooey content on the floor.
"Sparrow?!"
She launching herself at Charlie, who wasn't expecting it. They landed on the floor in a heap; a position they had found themselves in many times before, but never seemed less painful with each fall.
"Oh, everything I do is wrong! Why can't I be graceful like that graceful girl, Princess Grace who died in a blazing car crash over a cliff in tragedy!" Sparrow continued to holler in misery as she unsteadily got to her feet. Charlie still lay on the ground trying to get his wind back and trying not to laugh.
"Sparrow," he whizzed while trying to get up, "are you pregnant again?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Why do you ask? Am I getting fat or something? I am aren't I?!" Sparrow began sobbing into Charlie's chest.
"No, no, you're not getting fat Sparrow," reassured Charlie patting his wife's back. "You're just acting a lot like you were when you were pregnant with Ginny. It was like you were drunk for a month remember?" he asked kindly. "Wait," Charlie said dropping the kindly voice for a more serious one. "Sparrow have you been drinking?"
"Yes."
"So you were cooking and drinking."
"Yes."
"Are you sure you weren't trying to kill us?"
"Yes."
"Okay. That's good to know."
"I suppose it would be." And Sparrow passed out. Charlie -like he always- did caught her before she hit the ground and hurt herself.
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"MICHEALA!"
"GIVE ME A SECOND. I'M ON THE PHONE WITH YOUR MOTHER!"
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THAT? GET IN HERE!"
"Well that didn't work," Mac sighed as she sat on someone's overflowing desk looking through a file-consequently with no phone in sight.
"I told you it wouldn't," answered Melissa, a volunteer that ran errands for those working on the campaign. The funny thing about Melissa was that despite passionately supporting Earnest, she was also absolutely passionately terrified of the candidate. At the moment she was adding sugar to a cup of coffee meant for Earnest and she was taking an extremely long time about it.
"You know, I'm rethinking that offer to take him his coffee," said Mac calmly as she reopened the file in her hands.
"MICHEALA!" Mac merely rolled her eyes and headed to the back office, the domain of Earnest, grabbing the cup of coffee from a grateful Melissa as she went. Her pace was deliberately slow and her nerves calm.
The relationship between Earnest Lyon and Mac Thomas had improved, I suppose. Earnest had finally given some control of the campaign to Mac, but questioned and complained about everything she did-often at the top of his lungs. Still, mused Mac, it was better then working with Webcor- who was just a plain idiot.
There was one thing, however, that really annoyed Mac more then anything Webcor had done. Earnest's refusal to change his name.
"Call me Mac and what is it?" Earnest about to say something stopped and looked at his Campaign Manager sharply.
"Why is it that you are harping about changing my name when you yourself can't stand it when I change yours?" he asked leaning back in his chair with a smirk on his face.
"I'm not running for Mayor and my name isn't Earnest Lyon," she answered with out skipping a beat putting the coffee down in front of him. "Now, what are you yelling at me for?" He said nothing for a moment-just continued looking at her in what Mac had termed his, "Figuring Your Angle Out" look.
"I'll make you a deal Micheala, since you like them so much, I will seriously consider the name change if you quit harping about this Mac business.
"Do you really hate Mac that much?"
"I don't think it's appropriate to call you that. It assumes a close relationship when there isn't one."
"I see."
"Do you take me up on my offer Miz. Thomas?"
"No." Earnest looked up surprised; he hadn't been expecting that. Despite spending most of his time yelling at people- he still managed to understand them very well. This he knew was not characteristic of his manipulative, do what you have to, to win campaign manager.
"Why not?"
"Because I like being Mac and I still get paid even if you lose this election." Mac had always found it best to be frank with Earnest- who was absolutely glaring at her.
"Why are you Mac and not Mic?
"I don't like the name Mic."
"Sort of like I don't like the name Ernie?"
"Sure, but my name isn't Earnest Lyon and again nor am I running for the Mayor of New York. I have the luxury to change my name to my tastes."
"People will not base their vote merely because of a name."
"No, but it will play a factor," said Mac decisively. "And quite frankly you need all the help you can get." Earnest was silent for a moment.
"No it doesn't."
"Yes it does."
"Tell me how it affects people's choices?" Earnest demanded.
"Earnest sounds rich and snobby, which means you have no idea what reality is like for everyday people. There are a lot of everyday people in the world. There are also a lot of everyday people who vote." She paused for a second before continuing. "Earnest, that actual meaning of the word means serious and sincere. That makes you sound foolish- which you are, it also makes you seem rigid in your beliefs- which again you also are."
"Excuse-"
"And then we have Lyon like the animal," cut in Mac, "which matched with Earnest turns you into a character in a children's book."
"That's-"
"Then there is the most damning thing of all, the Samantha Lyon connection. The woman so fondly known to the people of New York as the woman who tried to have Central Park privatized for the wealthy," continued Mac, once again cutting off her boss. After speaking her piece she was silent for a moment. "People like real people. You are not real with the name Earnest Lyon. You are old, you are stuffy, you are naïve to the plights of the common man and then you are a character in a child's book with Samantha Lyon as your mother."
There was a very pregnant silence.
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Mac rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"How about we change the subject."
"Yes," about this next tour stop..."
"What about it?" Mac asked tiredly.
"Why is it relevant for me to go talk to a bunch of greedy, old men at a country club?"
"Because you are running for the Mayor of New York."
"That excuse is getting old," Earnest warned. He hoisted his large bulk out of his chair and stood menacingly in front of Mac.
"Well, it's better then because I say so and we need their money, which is quite frankly the real reasons why," Mac stated clearly looking the possible Mayor right in the eye.
Samantha Lyon walked into the office at that point.
"So, how are things going?" she asked sitting down in Earnest's chair behind the desk completely ignoring the obvious fighting stances of the other two in the room.
"Hello Mother."
"Hello Mrs. Lyon. Things are progressing."
"What does that mean?"
Our couple was saved from having to answer that question by someone else walking into the room. Unfortunately it was Gwen.
And then things really did begin to progress.....out of control.
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Ginny was ecstatic! It was raining! She loved the rain just like Atticus did! And that meant they got to run home without a raincoat or umbrella- splashing in as many puddles as possible. Ginny smiled with anticipation and restlessly continued to look out the window of her classroom waiting for her brother. A few minutes later a car pulled up. Out of it came both Atticus and her mother to Ginny's disappointment. They rushed into the classroom and began walking over to her-only to have Mrs. Mullin's intercept Sparrow with a pinched look on her face.
"Oh dear," Addie said quietly. Sparrow, who was still very hung over from this morning, looked even more pained as Mrs. Mullin's led her over to a desk. "What did you do this time Queen of the Cards?"
"I expressed myself." Atticus muttered something under his breath before asking,
"How exactly did you express yourself?"
"I took off all my clothes and showed how Macbeth died using a ruler and Fred the hamster." Addie looked at his little sister and cringed.
"Kid, I think we need to have another talk.
"When?"
"We might as well have it now since I'm pretty sure Mom is going to be a little while."
"Alright!"
Sparrow's headache now felt like her heart was beating in her brain. After finally getting out of Mullin's clutches she merely dragged Ginny to the car and as they drove away assured Ginny she was in for a serious talk later that night when Mommy wasn't hung over. The ride home had been silent after that. Ginny was fuming in the back seat quietly- about the only things she did quietly. Sparrow had her eyes closed and was leaning against the headrest trying not to breathe because even that was too loud and Atticus was concentrating on his driving. He didn't like driving in the rain. The roads became slick and with his inherited mother's reflexes, that made him nervous.
As he slowly moved through an intersection a car suddenly came out of nowhere. He ran the light and smashed into them sending them spinning over the slick road.
Author notes (you just don't know where I'm going to stick them).
I'M SORRY! ALL YOU NICE PEOPLE REVIEWED AND THEN I LEFT YOU HANGING FOR SO LONG! I had this chapter done but had to completely re-write it because it sucked. And then I couldn't get to it because of school and my typical procrastinating nature. So again, I'm sorry. And I swear the next chapter won't take so long.
Stargirlie: Thanks for the review and I'm not complaining! You've been my most faithful reviewer!
RikaTabithaStarr: Thanks also for the review and you have no idea how complicated the O'Connelly family is going to become.
Awesome Sauce- Forgive me for not doing the weird things around your name-I'm not that talented with computers! Thanks for your nice review. Like you, I am somewhere in the teen years, though I do have the maturity level of a second grader. I live in North America and have a tendency to leave everything to the last minute. I like Harry Potter fanfic as well and you can see my first (and last) miserable attempt at it on my profile page. I also love romance novels and that is why most of my fics are so filled with corny fluff scenes. I love wacky characters (Luna forever!) and try to stuff as many as I can into a story. Anyway, I think I have rambled on enough in my typical fashion and I hope you keep reading and enjoy!