Chapter 9
Of
Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted
A chapter entitled:
Of Wicked Witches
Author's Note: Ginny's view of the Wicked Witch of the West was inspired and slightly borrowed from the Musical "Wicked." Also, the song mentioned in this chapter is Hurricane, by Bob Dylan, I highly recommend you listen to it if you haven't.
See Review Responses at the bottom of page.
Charlie always considered himself to be a calm, rational person.... Expect when it came to family. When Jenn- his first wife- had been in a car accident, he had driven to the hospital like a mad person. His rational, calm self had left him as Jenn would later that night. So, when he got another phone call from the hospital saying that his second wife had been in a car accident -with two of his children involved, Charlie found himself doing the exact same things. He panicked, he prayed and he ran like hell for his car.
---
A familiar little girl dressed in a poodle skirt with pink framed glasses looked up at the star filled sky. Ginny Thomas wondered if she had reached Heaven. Breathing deeply and exhaling; her breath came out in puffs from the cold. It was all silent, which made the cackle all that more audible. Ginny slowly turned her head to the sound. Standing right beside her was a woman with green skin and a broomstick.
"I knew you were the good one!"
The Wicked Witch of the West smiled at the little girl and took her hand.
"Come on," she said.
"To where?"
"To the stars. Where else?" The witch asked cackling again.
"Really? I always wanted to do that!"
"I know," she whispered, "now come on."
They soared, they sailed, they dived, they diverted, Ginny laughed, the witch cackled, as on top of a broom the two left the ground behind. As they sped higher, Ginny spread her arms and hands wide to feel the cold wind stream through her fingertips. She yelled in delight. It was as wondrous as she always imagined it would be. Looking around she spotted other familiar faces.
Winnie the Pooh and Piglet too waved from a hot air balloon that had a honey pot for a basket, while Tigger and Rabbit bounced up ever now and then with Eeyore in their arms.
The Beatles flew by in a Yellow Submarine.
"Hi Ginny!" they called, "all you need is love!"
The Backstreet Boys flew by as well -dancing and singing in a space ship.
"It's all because of you Ginny!" they sang. The little girl happily waved in acknowledgement before the witch raced them through the clouds and sky in the opposite direction. With no warning the broom blasted forward at a crazy speed. The stars, clouds and black sky blended all together until it was just a blurb of blackness with the occasional burst of light. It was amazing sight to behold. The Witch dived again. Ginny- with eyes tightly closed- screamed in delight as they went speeding toward the earth. Just as they were about to hit, the witch veered off and came to a complete stop.
"You have to go back now." Ginny slowly opened her eyes and looked at the Witch confused.
"Go back to where?"
"Back home," said a deep voice the little girl had never heard before, but still seemed oddly familiar. Turning around she came face to face with a short man with a wild beard and laughing eyes. Ginny took note that his smile was an awful lot like Atticus's.
"Who're you?"
"Harry, your grandfather." Ginny's eyes opened wide.
"I'm dead!?" The man laughed uproariously.
"You are far too full of questions and have too many quests yet to go on to be dead my dear Virginia. Now what about you coming to talk to me for a little while before you go?"
Ginny, later, found herself starring up at a white ceiling. Addie was calling her name.
"I found God Addie and I'm right. Finn is working for the devil."
Atticus just hugged his sister in relief that her scattered brain hadn't been more scattered from the accident.
Finn had been with her father when he had got the phone call. It was she that ended up calmly driving them to the hospital and beginning the round of phone calls that had to be made; the first one to a certain sister in New York.
"You stupid..."
"Now, Mrs. O'Connelly put that down."
"Shut up."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh Gwen you never could..."
"That was really very...."
"What do you know you..."
"Mean spirited..."
"Son of a..."
"Never been more insulted..."
"Have you."
"Empty threat you ass..."
"Get out of my office."
"I can't believe..."
"Slut."
"Whore."
"Waste of humanity."
"Waste of my time."
Mac watched the fight calmly leaning against the doorframe. It was hard to say who would win, Earnest, Gwen or Samantha. Now Samantha certainly was vindictive enough, but Gwen really hated Samantha and if Gwen was made up of anything it was strong emotions. And Earnest-Mac quickly ducked a vase that smashed right were her head had been-had anger to match.
Just as she was wondering if perhaps she should just let them kill themselves and solve all her problems, her cell phone began to ring.
"Hello?" answered Mac heading out the door so she could hear. "Finn what's wrong?" and as if they could sense something serious was about to be said the three fighting fell silent. "Car accident! I'm coming. What happened?" she asked quickly heading out of the office grabbing her brief case as she went. Gwen watched her go with varying emotions on her face and then just as suddenly as her granddaughter ran out of the room.
Sparrow woke up to the sound of someone singing.
Wait minute boys this ones not dead, so they took him to the infirmary and even though this man could hardly see, they told him to identify the guilty man!
Huh?
Here comes the story of the Hurricane, the man the authorities came to blame....
Who was singing Bob Dylan-and particularly that song? Sparrow opened her eyes painfully. Ginny.
Tried to change a man into a mouse!
"Ginny, honey are you alright?"
"MOM!" Sparrow cringed in agony. I will never drink again, Sparrow swore to herself.
"Quiet voice Ginny. Mommy's head hurts even worse then before."
"Oops. I talked to Grandpa. He says hi and not to be too hard on his Starling." Sparrow quickly opened her eyes again and looked at her daughter.
"How do you-are we dead?"
"No, apparently I'm way to full of questions."
"Honey--"
"Sparrow!?" The woman in question was distracted from her youngest when Charlie came rushing into the room looking white as a sheet. He kissed Sparrow's head and hugged her hard to his chest. "God, I thought....no matter what I thought, you're alright and everyone's going to be alright. Ginny watched unnerved from the foot of the bed. She had never seen her father like this. He always was the calm one. Suddenly, Ginny really wanted Addie. Quickly she left the room to go find him.
She found him out in the waiting area with Finn. Wordlessly she crawled into his lap and buried her face into his shoulder. Atticus- just as she hoped he would- hugged her tight and told her everything was all right.
Gwen quickly put the phone back in the cradle and then picked it up again. She punched in a number.
"Crane, honey, I need you to go to Stoneybrook. Yah, that's right where your sister lives."
End of chapter
Stariegirl: I'm amazed that was the only typo you found! I had to re-haul the whole chapter there was so many! Anyway, thanks for the review! I hope your first week of College has gone all right.
Awesome Sauce: Thanks for the review and the constructive crictism. I see your point completely and I'm changing that ending line. It was silly, but what can I say, I like the romance novels and there full of them! I hope you keep reviewing and enjoying the fic.
Forgot my password: I hope you remember it! Thanks for the review!
Happy Birthday to Linda, happy Birthday, happy birthday, happy Birthday to LINDA!