Part 35
Branywyn and Kara sat at the kitchen table at Oksana's house one Friday night.
Zander was there with Peter and Tim, and Lucky. Lucky was going through some photos he had taken in an artistic vein. Zander looked at them then passed them around.
Kara thought it was a lot of fun to be in a room with four guys like this, and two of them old enough to be real men in her eyes.
They were all in black and white. "Is there something about photography that it's considered more serious in black and white?" Zander asked.
"For some reason, it seems that way," Lucky said. "Maybe it's because of there being so much advertising in color."
"OK. Yeah, it tells you up front this is not advertising," Zander said.
There were a few of Lucky's Dad, who was good about posing for him, Lucky said. A series of him attending to his bar were pretty interesting. There were some of his Mom at work, and one of his Mom and Oksana looking over some papers at a desk. "Real life," Zander said. There were several of the most willing of models, Lucky's little sister, and some of Lisa with the little sister. There were some photos of Lisa alone, a couple of them almost risque, but Zander decided not to tease Lucky about these in the event he considered them Works of Art. There were a few of Lisa and Diana, entitled "Sisters," and then a few of Rosa, in black and white.
"Rosa, you're a model!" Zander said to Rosa, who was making notes of what was in the pantry.
Rosa looked up from her pad of paper and laughed.
Diana came in. Peter introduced her to Branwyn and Kara.
"I'm a servant," Diana explained.
"Quaint," said Branwyn.
"She's Rosa's niece," Peter explained. "More like a member of the family, really."
"Is this house like 'Upstairs, Downstairs?'" Kara asked.
"What's that?" said Tim.
"And old public television BBC show about the wealthy family and the servants - the servants are the 'downstairs.'" Kara told him. "My mother loved it and she has the whole thing on video and throughout my childhood I've seen it several times."
"So you're an expert," said Zander.
"Naturally part of the plot is one of the guys from the family falling for a servant girl," said Kara.
Peter laughed. "This show is a little bit different, because that would be almost like incest in this case."
"Awwww," Diana said, and she went over to Peter and hugged him where he sat. "My little brother."
She danced away. Zander demanded that she hug her big brother, too. Diana went and hugged him as if it were unforgivable of her to forget. "Awwww," she said. "My big brother."
"What time is it?" Zander asked.
"Midnight," Diana said.
"I've got to go in a little while."
"Where, at this hour?" asked Rosa.
"I have a date."
Oksana came in. Without missing a beat, she said. "at this hour?"
"Yes. At the hospital on Quinn's break on midnight shift."
"What a strange date," Oksana said.
"He has a strange girlfriend," Tim said.
"You're a little brother, too," Diana teased him. "Of the worst possible kind, I might add."
Everyone laughed.
"Is it unusual for you, though?" Kara asked. "She is a nurse, so maybe you often meet like that."
"For the midnight shift it is," Zander said. "On day shift, it would be unusual too. It would be too busy with me at work or school. Usually it's the swing shift. I started out hating the swing shift. Quinn was at work during all my free time. Midnight was actually better, because she wasn't at work in the evening. Eventually we realized I could go to the hospital on her break in the swing shift."
"It's romantic," Kara said. "But it sounds even more romantic on midnight."
"You can go over with your camera, Lucky," said Branwyn. "Then take romantic looking shots and call it 'Midnight Shift.'"
"Not a bad idea," said Lucky. "I'll ask Quinn and Zander to do that some time."
"I'll tell her if I remember," Zander said.
"I think it would be pretty nice to be a servant here," Kara said. "Not a bad job at all."
"Do you have any job openings, Mom?" Zander said.
"I don't know," Oksana said. "Ask Rosa, she is staff chief."
Everyone laughed. Rosa looked as if she was really flattered. "I have one for window-washer," she said. "The ones who work here say they don't do windows."
"Servants can be so temperamental," Diana said. Everyone laughed again.