By the time she finally got Dad to deliver her to the theatre (It's so good you're going out again darling – I would be going out too if someone hadn't cancelled my date with Terese…I wonder who…) it was about ten too. She thought that Carmella would probably not be there, but to her shock, there was. Seated on the edge of a decorative water fountain that Harlow had once fallen into. When she saw her, Carmella stood and grinned widely. Her teeth are white, and the smile deforms the scar on her face with the width of it. She's so…Beautiful.
"Hi!" She says, then, "You must be Harlow."
"Hi Miss Darmella." Harlow greets, with her eyes fixed on Carmella's face. "I like your makeup."
"Harlow!" She said, before, "I'm so sorry I -"
"It's okay." She said, but then said, "Thank you, honey. I'm glad you do because it's permanent."
"Oh. That's cool!" She smiled at Elle, who smiled again, relieved that this hadn't ended this little excursion before it even began.
"I was thinking we could see either the new Looney Tunes cartoon or maybe something with singing?"
"What do you think Harlow?" She asked, scooping the girl up so she was sitting on her hip. When Andrew was little, he spent most of his time strapped to Dad's chest in a baby harness because he had a re-occurring nightmare that he would leave him in the car and he'd overheat and die that didn't abate until Andrew was seven. She sees herself and Rob doing the same thing with Harlow. The kid spends more time in people's arms than on the ground. Like if they leave her for too long then she'll just…Vanish. This tiny little spark of happiness in her dreary post-Cameron life.
"Daddy likes Bugs Bunny."
"He does." Elle agrees though she thinks it's more just to amuse Harlow than anything Rob actually likes. She's not convinced he's capable of actually liking anything when he could hate it and be annoying about it.
"Wow, does he? Do you like Bugs Bunny?"
"I like Donald Duck." She told Carmella, "Can we see a movie with Donald Duck?"
"I think that can be arranged." She chuckled and then smiled at Elle too. "You do the snacks and I'll do the tickets?"
"Sure, what do you want?"
"Hmm…A medium popcorn, a lemonade and….Hm. A choc top."
"Yeah, I want that too, Aunty Elle." Harlow said in an adorably authoritative voice."
"I'm on it, my fair ladies." She said, as they split, Elle entered the aptly named 'SnaxZone' which was dim, with a series of lights that had lollipop swirls in the middle lighting up the room enough to see. A counter with a bored-looking teenager has a series of overhead menu boards. In the middle of the room was a large soda fountain where you could take your cups to get ice and a soft drink that is probably more soda water than cordial. Reluctantly, she had to put Harlow on the ground so she had enough hands to hold the tray that she was putting their snacks on.
Two choc-tops (Elle, being a vegan, doesn't eat ice cream), three soft drink cups, and then she ordered two medium popcorns (Being vegan, she can't have that either on account of the butter). Harlow, because she is four, was fascinated as she watched Elle place the bucket under the machine, and then pull the hatch so popcorn was transferred from one chamber to the one under it, and then into the bucket. To keep her distracted from running away, she was holding the straws for the drinks. Paper, of course, although Elle does have her own set of collapsing silicone ones should the need arise. It pays to be prepared. She occasionally bounced to the balls of her feet excitedly chittering happily about cartoons and what she hoped would happen in the movie. She was only half-listening, mostly focused on making sure that she didn't overfill the soft drink cups. Lemonade for Carmella, sugar-free Coke for Harlow - there was only one size of cups and Elle didn't want her up half the night - and the house brand of orange soda for herself. Rob might insist it tastes like anti-freeze and sure it could be poisoning her but it tasted good. So who cared?
Before too long, Harlow was swept up in another set of arms, this time Carmella's. Instinctively, Harlow wrapped her little legs around the other woman's waist and hooked her arms around her neck so she could hold on while sitting on her arm.
"Got everything?"
"Hmm think so." Carmella gave the tray a once over and then nodded her head.
"Awesome. The theatre is mostly empty so we can sit anywhere."
"Great." Elle set the tray down in front of the bored teenager, who rang up the price. She paid via pay pass and then tucked her wallet back into her black and white handbag. Carmella used the arm not carrying Harlow to take one of the popcorns, while Elle carefully balanced the cardboard drink tray against her body, placed the choc tops on top of the ice cream and then took that in her arm. One trip, or death. "Where do you like to sit?"
"My sister thinks it's better to sit up the back, where you can get a better view of the picture."
"And you?" Elle hadn't even known Carmella had a sister, idly she wonders what she was like. If she's beautiful too, if she smiles as brightly, the usual fare.
"I like to sit up the front. I want to feel the music in my spine."
"My brother used to try and climb up onto the ledge the screen sits on after the movie," Elle said, thoughtfully. That brother of course being Cam, and neglecting to mention that she was also usually trying to do the same thing but was always just slightly too short and just slightly too scared of being scolded by Dad and Chrissy.
"Hah, did he ever manage it?"
"Sometimes, in really old cinemas that used to be real theatres but never in a modern one."
"I'm sure your parents just loved that."
"Hah. It was usually our uncle who took us to the movies, he was cool about it. But I was always scared he'd tell Dad and we'd be in trouble." The hallway to theatre thirteen is long and seems to go on forever as they walk. The carpet under their feet is patterned with little stars, rocket ships and comets, becoming more legible as they left the highly trafficked areas.
"Uncle Scott lives in Queend-land." Harlow informs Carmella, "He doesn't visit much."
"Well, that just makes when he does visit more special." She says, "My family lives in Italy, so I don't see them very often either. Do you know where Italy is?"
"It's where they make pasta!" Harlow announces, "Daddy says one day he wants to eat real Italy pasta, not Stir-ed fry La Leo." Carmella glanced at Elle as she used her shoulder to open the doorway into the theatre.
"Stir Fry A La Leo. My brother's speciality." They all cooked dinner once a week, and there were chores to go around. It's not like they lived in a trash heap, after all. Their home was very tidy and smelled good mostly because of Auntie Julie's neurotic obsession with the chores wheel. Not that Elle could complain too much. It's good to have something like that in place, so it's not just Dad trying to manage the house, as well as seven children.
"Ah. Leo, the one who owns the business."
"The very same." When Leo made stirfry, he would do all the vegetables and noodles together, and the meat separately so that Elle could have it. "He's a good cook."
"I'm sure. Where shall we sit?"
"Up the front!" Harlow demanded, "I want ta feel the music in my spine." That makes Elle laugh, even though it would be better for their necks to sit up the back, she deposits the popcorn and drinks into a set of seats up the front. It's still a few minutes until the preview starts, but the theatre is empty. She hopes it will stay empty. Not just because it will be a fun thing for Harlow to experience but because she wants to be as alone as she can be with Carmella. They took their seats, craning their necks up to the screen and settled in to eat their snacks while they waited for the picture to start. Deftly, Elle unwrapped Harlow's ice cream and passed it to her. Happily, she started crunching the chocolate outer layer. Carmella looked at her, and then at Elle with a smile.
"So you said she's your brother's daughter?"
"Yeah. Rob, who works with me."
"Oh. How old is he?"
"We're nineteen."
"We're? You're twins?"
"Triplets. We have another brother. Cameron. And..Yeah. Nineteen. He's a uni student, studying chemistry, not a lot of time on his hands."
"I'm almost scared to ask. How old is Harlow?"
"I'm four!" She announced.
"Wait so he was -"
"Yep."
"And her mother...Sorry. I'm being nosy."
"It's fine, curiosity is better than assuming she's my baby sister." Elle smiled, unable to explain quaintly why that annoyed her so much.
"Mum had to go back to London, she's in a club." Harlow explained as patiently as a four-year-old is able, "Daddy and Grandad went to dourt so I could live with them instead, even when Daddy was in the hospital."
"Club?"
'Cult' Elle mouthed, "And we wouldn't have it any other way sweetie. You belong with us, right?"
"Yeah!"
"Well, I'm happy to have met you." She said, finally.
"Me too! Aunty Elle would never let me get a big popcorn." Snorting, Elle took a sip of her drink, as the lights went down around them. Looked like they were set to be the only ones for this showing. The ads began to play, including a reminder to turn off your phone. Harlow tugged on Elle's sleeve until she pulled her phone from the pocket of her jeans. Shaking the screen until it lit up, Elle keyed in her pin and set it on aeroplane mode to satisfy Harlow. No one was calling or texting her anyway so she didn't see why it mattered but it was sweet that Harlow cared. Her lock screen was a picture of Cameron in his hospital bed, giving a thumbs up while she posed next to him, grinning. It's the last picture taken of him when everyone thought he and Rob would both live. She smiled back at the picture before tucking it away in her pocket and settling in for the advertisements. She glanced at Carmella, who was engrossed in an advertisement for a movie about singing animals. She settled in for the movie.
…
When the movie ended some two hours later, Harlow was glowing with excitement, dancing around the empty theatre hallway as they headed back for the Snax Place and then out to the car park. The night was young, and cool on Elle's skin as they exited.
"Do you have a ride back to your place?" She asked, casually.
"Uhh, no, I was going to call my Dad to come get us."
"I could drop you off?" She offered, "We could get some Macdonalds on the way home if anyone is hungry?"
"That's a nice offer." Elle smiled, "But Harlow needs a car seat to travel."
"No, I don't! And I want chippies!" Said the four-year-old, who was standing on the retaining wall of the raised garden bed near the water feature.
"Don't you fall in that!" She warned, "And yes you do, your Daddy'll have my neck if we don't follow his safety rules. Thanks, though." She smiled at Carmella, "Maybe some other time?"
"Yeah, some other time." She echoed, seeming a little sad as Elle called Dad to come collect them. He seemed excited, and kept asking her if Carmella was nice, and what they'd done. "I can wait with you?"
"Um, that'll be nice but we really only live a few minutes away. Thanks, though."
"It's no problem. The only thing waiting for me at home is getting grilled by my sister about my fun night out with a girl who has a kid."
"She's not my kid."
"I know that," Carmella said, and nudged Elle with her shoulder. "But she saw me looking up kid friendly movies playing tonight on the computer, and since I already told her I was taking someone out tonight…"
"She put the pieces together."
"Yeah. She's nosy, but…Well. She's nosy. Sometimes I get the feeling she doesn't like me very much."
"Tell me about it. Rob's my triplet and I get the sense he just keeps me around for the free babysitting."
"Cameron isn't at home, then?"
"Uhh no. No. He passed away a few years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Elle shrugged her shoulders, feeling self-conscious about bringing Cameron up to someone who didn't know him. It's weird like she's passing something on.
"Yeah. It's…It's a lot."
"Well, you seem to be coping well." She wishes she was.
"Thanks. Well, now you know three of my brothers, what's your sister like?"
"Rosie? Perfectly perfect. The daughter every parent would want. She's a lawyer, got amazing grades, was perfectly chaste until marriage, is successful you know. The usual." She sounds…Annoyed? She wonders again what Rosie is like. And feels…A connection? She understands, almost. Rob is the perfect child, his anger issues aside. He works, he studies, he has given Dad his first grandchild. Elle's the stuff up whose greatest achievement is not killing herself.
"You have a successful business."
"Only just. We're just managing to stay in the green." She sighed long and hard, looking up at the stars twinkling overhead. "I get by pretty well. I got a nice little payout from the hospital over -" She mimes a hand over her scar. "So it's not like I'm strapped for cash. But turns out a fruit and veg delivery business isn't super profitable."
"Oh. Well, at least you work for yourself."
"That's one way of looking at it." She smiled again. "Hey, can I get your number? I'll text you and we can find a time to get that Macdonalds, right Harlow?"
"Right!" She said, and climbed around the ledge Elle was sitting on to wrap her arms around her neck. "I want chippies."
"I'll get you chippies."
…
By the time she got home, Carmella having waited the fifteen minutes it took Dad to arrive with little talk of anything of any merit, it was almost ten o'clock and Harlow fell asleep in the car. Aunty Julie was reclined on the couch sipping a cup of tea when she entered and nodded a hello.
"Evening."
"Have a nice time?"
"I did. How about you Harlow?"
"Daramella promised to take me to Macdonalds." Julie rolled her eyes with limited affection.
"Lucinda Helen, what have I told you about fast food? It's the -"
"Cause of many and various health conditions. I know, Aunty Julie, but she's just a kid and I'm a vegan anyway and -"
"And you know what I think about that! This house is not a restaurant, we aren't all going to cook you separate meals like Leo -"
"Give it a rest, Julie. They just got home." Dad said, coming in behind them. "I'm sure they don't want your shrill voice ruining their nice night." he scooped Harlow up off the floor and settled her on his good hip. Dad may be disabled but somehow he'd managed the art of carrying multiple children at once. He'd had to once they were born, three at once. How he managed it Elle will never know but there are plenty of pictures to prove that he had done it. Usually, it seemed he'd put Rob on his bad hip, and then carry Elle and Cameron on the other like a counterweight, with Elle mostly against his chest, and Cameron more on his hip. It looked pretty funny, or at least Gran had thought so because she took so many pictures of it. "I'm going to take Harlow to bed."
"Goodnight." Elle smiled, and she didn't take Julie's needling personally. If she did, she would be a very depressed person.
"Goodnight, Harlow." Aunty Julie said, "Sleep well. Oh, Do you think I could get another copy of that story you wrote last year? I thought of some more notes for you."
"Oh, yeah. Sure. I'll get it to you at breakfast." Though she'd stopped when Cam died, Elle used to want to be a writer. Of what, she didn't know. Mysteries? Maybe she'd become a journalist she didn't know. She'd written only one story since Cam died, of people trapped on a space ship after the sun, the center of the universe, goes out. Aunty Julie had loved it, and kept talking about getting it published somewhere but she didn't think it was that good. But she loved getting feedback like any writer, so she'd cough up another copy for her. She kissed Aunty Julie's cheek, before she headed into the bedroom she'd shared with Cameron to put on her pajama's, and then lay down on his bed and began to weep uncontrollably, swearing that she was not going to see Carmella again.
How could she ever possibly consider being happy when he wasn't here?
