Chapter 12
Of
Bowling: The Sport for the Broken Hearted
Trouble on the Horizon
A/N Well that was some interesting reviews. And this chapter? This is one of the weirdest I've done. I don't know if I like it or not. Review responses at end of chapter…..I think.
Ginny Thomas had given up on life and decided to concentrate on the dead. Surrounding her in heaps were drawings and sketches of a place in the stars with a wicked witch and a man that had Atticus's smile. The girl was sitting on a stool with a paintbrush in hand, poised and ready over a canvas. The look in her eyes could only be called crazed. And it would be since the little girl hadn't slept a night through since the accident. She had been struck by inspiration and nothing, not even sleep, gets in the way of that.---------------------------------
Gwen was annoyed with her son and once again it was all Sparrow's fault.
"What do you mean when you say she's fine?" demanded Gwen standing in the front entrance of her apartment.
"That she's fine?" answered Crane oh so foolishly from the door. He had yet to be invited inside his mother's home.
"CRANE YOU GRADUATED FROM HARVARD, YOU ARE A PARTNER IN A VERY ESTEEMED LAW-FIRM AND YOU ARE AN O'CONNELLY! ARE YOU ACTUALLY TELLING ME THAT YOU CAN COME UP WITH NO BETTER DESCRIPTION THEN FINE?!" Crane suddenly found himself wishing-as he cowered on the floor in terror- that Sparrow was back in the family again, so his mother could go back to yelling at her.
"She seemed happy." Foolish, foolish Crane, in so, so many ways.
"STUPID IDIOTIC…."
--------------------
pitter-clunk-patter
pitter-clunkiedy-patter.
Whoosh,clunkiedy-patter-screech!
Earnest was in earnest and sitting in front of broken portable fan in the middle of November. Why? Perhaps, like him, it was broken. Perhaps he felt a certain empathy with the clunking, screeching fan that was more then likely going to end up in the trash heap at the end of this business day. Hum. Empathy may be the wrong word. Perhaps it would be better to call it sympathy. The kind of sympathy created from being in the same hopelessly screwed situation.
It was in this state that Mac found him.
"What are you doing with that old fan?" Earnest said nothing. He did not even acknowledge her presence. The young woman shrugged her shoulders and walked into the office.
Whoosh-clunkiedy-patter-screech-screech-screech-screech! SCREECH-SCREECCCCHHHH-SCCCCCRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEECCCCCCCHHHHHH.
Thunk and fizzle.
The fan died.
"Well that's going to have to be tossed out before it causes a fire." Mac maneuvering around her sulking boss unplugged the fan and tossed it into garbage in the hall. It landed with a thud. That thud was answered by another thud. Mac quickly turned at the sound. And there was Earnest slamming his head against the desk in, Mac assumed, a show of defiance over the young woman's control over him. I think it ran along the lines of, you may control my entire life but you can't stop me from trying to end it the stupidest way possible. Mac ignored the dramatics and started carelessly shifting through her boss's mail.
"Sheesh Ernie, you'd think with your mother you'd be used to being blackmailed." Well! Let me tell you that got a reaction!
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE YOU FREAKISH FEMALE OF EVIL!"
"No." It's amazing the power of that simple word. Why, it took out a 6'3, 250 pound man in one go.
------------------
Atticus eyed his butt in the mirror and tried to decide if it looked cute or not in the pants he was wearing. He could not tell. Charlie walked in on this.
"What are you doing?" Addie's face turned the color of an overly ripe tomato- you know the kind that if you don't eat soon will end up rotting in a day?
"Nothing. I am doing nothing." He took one largest step away from his mirror and smiled at his father. Charlie merely raised an eyebrow.
"I take it from you checking out your butt, you and Tonya have a date tonight?
"Yah."
"How late are you going to be?" asked Charlie leaning up against the doorframe with his concerned parental face on.
"11?"
"11?" Charlie cried in disbelief losing the parental face and replacing it with a mischievous one.
"Something wrong with that Dad?"
"Well, it's just you're my only son and I did have a reputation with the ladies that must be maintained for the family honor you know."
"And yet somehow you ended up with Mom."
"You know 11'clock is kind of late."
"I thought as much." Charlie rolled his eyes, while grabbing his son in a loose headlock.
"Smartass."
"Dad?" asked Addie in muffled speech.
"Yah?"
"How did you impress Mom when you were dating?"
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked kind of concerned about the question though trying to hide it.
"How do you keep her interested in you? How did you surprise her? And please keep all sexual reference to yourself."
"I didn't have to. Your mother has a real gift of keeping things interesting for all those around her."
"True."
"And I never had to impress her."
"Oh."
"Look Atticus, girls are complicated enough. Don't make it more complicated by pretending to be something your not because you think she'll like that more."
"I have to go." Atticus said still in the headlock. Charlie reluctantly let him go.
"Remember Atticus, romantic dinners don't always need candles. It only ends very badly if you do. Particularly if there is alcohol involved! And there better not be!" Charlie yelled at his son's retreating back.
(AN-and clearly I can not write father son conversations!)
----------
Gwen sat in silence as the various family heads of the O'Connelly clan filed into her neat living room. There was Bill, who made all his money through computer technology. There was Ida, who we have met before at her wedding and whose daughter had married the heir to the Trump fortune, Linda, an old maid that had single-handed taken over the flower industry in North America and Lydia, who didn't really do anything. All of them were fluttering around an old woman. No one sat until she did. No one spoke until she did..
"My children, the family conclave of the 2nd branch of the O'Connelly clan has come to order! It is because of you Gwen O'Connelly, wife of Harry O'Connelly, the son of the great Katharine O'Connelly, that we meet tonight. It has come to our attention that one of your grandchildren is in fact working for a Lyon?!" Immediately after the accusation was made there was a tense silence from the family heads. They were waiting for an answer Gwen REALLY did not want to give.
"I am saddened to say it is true." Gasps of surprise answered that oh so simple statement. Then the cries of injustice began.
"This is an outrage!"
"My children would never do such a thing!"
"The shame! The shame!"
"DEATH TO THE UNCLEAN ONE!"
"My children," interrupted the old woman, "be silent." Then she turned her ancient body to Gwen. "Tell us, does she understand the seriousness of this breech in family trust?"
"I am unsure. She is the child of my youngest."
"Oh bloody hell."
"Should have seen that one coming!"
"That explains it all."
"I told you we should have just ignored Harry's dying wish of Sparrow being allowed back into the family! It would have made a lot of things simpler now, I tell you! But no, you all said it was immoral." There was a disturbing amount of agreement with that statement.
"SILENCE!" screamed the old woman. No one even moved. "YOU WILL BE SILENT!" which was a redundant thing to say as everyone already was. "Now, Gwen, tell us what you have so far done about the situation?"
"Though it pained me, I have remembered our family honor and have disowned them." There was silence.
"And?" prompted a female head.
"That is all."
"Big whoop!"
"Nothing new in that Gwen!"
"She must realize the true depth and repercussions of their actions!"
"KILL THE UNCLEAN!"
"SILENCE!" again screamed the old woman. "Why has more not been done? Have you even cut the family from the will? Taken over her business? At least have the chit fired from her job?"
"No."
"Why not?" demanded the ancient woman waving her cane at Gwen.
"The situation has become complicated," Gwen answered defensively.
"Explain."
"Samantha Lyon." This got a very interesting reaction. Dear Ida, clutched at the small cross on her necklace, while Bill began praying, "Oh Lord deliver us from evil…." Linda began to grow faint and Lydia began joining in with Bill, "may we be blessed in this time of darkness…"
"That is a problem. What of that son of yours, Raven? He's a clever chap."
"Er.." hesitated Gwen.
"Why do you hesitate? Have you talked to him?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"He's siding with Sparrow and Mac."
There was a dead silence and then in the silence there was a whisper.
Revolution! Revolution! REVOLUTION!
"That can not be permitted. They must be dealt with soon." As one the heads of the O'Connelly clan, 2nd branch bowed respectfully and walked out of the room.
An unnatural breeze blew across Raven's desk as he did the crossword. The same unnatural breeze blew through the office in Lyon headquarters causing the old dead fan to spin lazily in the garbage before it blew through the office were Mac and Earnest sat. The breeze even went all the way to Stoneybrook where it tickled Sparrow's skin as she was feeding her 25th bowl of soup to the cat. A feeling of dread crept over them all.
Stargirlie: Yah, you came back! Thanks for the review as always. Yah, I like Earnest and Mac. They're almost as much fun writing as Gwen and Sparrow conversations. Poor, poor Earnest, he hasn't even begun to comprehend the horror he is in for!
Lisa: Okay, I felt horrible and immediately went about writing the next chapter after reading your review! Lol. I hope you like this chapter and keep up with the story. Thanks for the review.
Awesome Sauce: I hope this chapter answered your question about the feud. You can look foreword to seeing even more of the inner workings of the O'Connelly clan. And Samantha will be showing up again soon. Thanks for the review and I hope you keep reading.