New Life

Yet another one of my older pieces from early college

 

He glanced over at his wife of twenty-three years as she worked on dinner in the kitchen. He bowed his head over the table to review the bills he had just paid and the ones that still needed to be looked at. He still couldn’t erase the image out of his mind- his wife, standing there in the kitchen, with flour on her hands as she delicately kneaded the dough, a blue apron wrapped around her waist, her hair tied in a tight bun, some streaks here and there of flour on her face and in her hair, her beautiful brown eyes focused on her job. He sighed. They were always so busy lately…the only time they had left for each other was when they both collapsed in bed, too exhausted to even wrap their arms around each other. God, he missed her. They didn’t even get to have coffee on the couch and listening to their favorite group anymore. There wasn’t any time during the day for it.

 

“Bill?” Mary asked, sprinkling more flour on the dough. “When you’ve got the chance, could you fix up Lillian’s room? James said he was bringing over Samantha tonight.” Bill sighed. James was their third and final child, and ever since he met Samantha…the two were hardly ever apart, excluding everybody else from their minds except each other.

 

“Alright, Mary.”

 

“And straighten up the living room. And bring out an extra set of comforters.”

 

“Why?”

 

“James said that there’s another person who needs a place to stay tonight.”

 

“What? He said he was only bringing Samantha!” Mary sighed.

 

“Yes, I know. James didn’t sound too happy about it either. But he called us up today, and told us that one of their other friends needs a place to stay tonight and Jessica can’t let her stay over.”

 

“It’s another girl?”

 

“Yeah. Jessica was supposed to have her stay over, but I guess with the wedding plans and all, she won’t be able to get home on time. So we have to take the extra one in until Jessica can come and get her.” Bill smirked.

 

“I’ll bet you James is real excited about that,” Bill said, rolling his eyes. Mary put her hand on her hip and gave her husband a reproving look. Bill’s smirk because slightly wider. He hadn’t put his hand there for a while himself.

 

“Now, don’t rub it in. James and Samantha have to worry about including a third person, and you know how much they hate that. So we’re also going to have to take her off their hands once in a while. But once Jessica gets here, James and Samantha won’t have to spend time with her and all that. This girl is also part of this wedding ceremony, just like our son and his girlfriend are, and at any rate, I wouldn’t turn a young woman away, would I?” Bill smiled. She was always so welcoming and open hearted.

 

“You definitely didn’t say that when James brought Samantha home for the first time.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“…and I was telling her, ‘No! I refuse to wear lavender!’,” Samantha screeched as they walked to the door. “What kind of moron does that?” James shrugged as he turned the key in the door.

 

“Hey, I don’t like lavender either,” he said, opening the door, “but you’ve got to remember this is Jessica’s wedding, not yours. When we have ours, you can pick any color you want.” Samantha giggled and held onto James’s arm. The girl standing behind them remained silent.

 

“Ok, Mom, we’re here!” James shouted. The three worked their way inside (or at least the girl did- Samantha was closing the door as she was trying to get in) and the girls dropped their duffle bags. The third one looked at the small house. They were standing in between the living room and dining room where there was no wall separating the two. In front of her was the hallway that led to the rest of the house, seeing the bathroom all the way at the end. Mary walked into the living room to greet her son and his visitors.

 

“Hi, James, honey,” she said tiredly, but genuinely glad to see him. “How are you Samantha? And hello, I believe we’ve never met before. I’m Mary Winslow. And you are?” The third girl held her hand out for a handshake and gave a somewhat shy smile.

 

“I’m Vivian,” she said. “Vivian Moss.” Mary smiled at the newcomer before taking in Vivian’s appearance. She was wearing dark blue jeans with a plain hot pink shirt. Her black and dark purple fleece jacket hid her medium sized frame. Her hair was long and frizzy and her face was plump and friendly. Mary clapped her hands together.

 

“Well! Since we’re going to be spending lots of time together tonight,” she said somewhat sarcastically, “we’d better get settled in first.” Mary knew that James and Samantha would most likely spend their whole night together, playing games or talking. In a normal situation, she would ignore it and leave them be. But what were they going to do with Vivian?

 

“Ok, I’m sleeping in my room,” James announced. Before Samantha could speak, Mary cut her off.

 

“Ok, Vivian, here’s the plan. We’ve got the living room here to sleep in, or you could sleep in our daughter’s room. That’s got a nice bed and a bathroom. Which one do you-” She sighed when she saw Samantha settle herself into Lillian’s room- as usual. Vivian just made a small face and turned to face the living room. It didn’t look too bad. There were two plush, brown leather couches and there was already a comforter and a pillow waiting for her. She shrugged.

 

“The living room is fine with me,” Vivian said. Mary looked over at her, disbelievingly.

 

“Are you sure?” Mary asked. She leaned in to whisper. “I wouldn’t mind kicking Sam out of there myself…” Vivian giggled a little.

 

“Seriously though…there’s a TV in the living room.” Vivian glanced at the entertainment system. She gestured at it.

 

“And from the looks of it, there’s a CD player, right?” Mary smiled.

 

“And it’s surround sound.” Vivian smiled brilliantly.

 

“Then the living room is perfect.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

After dinner, Vivian flopped onto the couch. She could deal putting up with James and Samantha ignoring her at school when they used to go to the same high school, but there were other people there to associate with. It wasn’t that hanging around with adults was all that bad- but she still felt out of place, seeing how she didn’t pay her own bills and didn’t go to work to sustain her lifestyle. And it would be nice if once in a while relate to the people in her age group.

 

And James and Samantha were too wrapped up in each other to notice how lonely and excluded she felt. She wanted so badly to be part of their presence. Or maybe just James’s presence. That would do more than perfectly. But that was out of the question. Vivian and the rest of her friends would have to just bite their tongues and hold on to each other for support.

 

Wistfully, she took out her CD pouch and inserted her favorite CD’s of all time.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Mary stretched. Dinner was fairly uneventful, other than Vivian volunteering to help with the dishes. That was a big help. After having to deal with those morons who worked in the law office with her…it was good to have somebody who didn’t always misplace a file or blame her for losing a file.

 

She undid her hair and smoothed out her white night gown. Bill was in the shower, humming to himself. Mary grinned, nostalgia filling her smile. That was the first thing that called her to him in the first place. The way his tenor-bass filled the air…the way the band and the back up singers seemed to fade as her mind focused on the young man in front of her…

 

She snapped out of her trance when her husband entered, wearing a white shirt and blue shorts. He threw his clothes into the hamper and settled himself into the bed. She shook out her hair one more time before joining her husband. His huge yawn signaled to her that he was too tired to even talk.

 

“Just remember to go down to the bank tomorrow, ok, sweetie?” she yawned to him. Her husband merely grunted in response. She lay on her side as she watched his breathing grow shallow and as his sleep deepened. She let a tear fall. Her eyes began to close…

 

“…Let’s hang on to what we’ve got, don’t let go, girl, we’ve got a lot, got a lot, a lot between us, hang on, hang on, hang on to what we’ve got…”

 

Her eyes snapped open and she shot up in bed. She looked to her left, seeing that her husband had done the same.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Both Mary and Bill couldn’t hold a smile of amusement as Vivian continued to dance around in the living room, singing in just her Mickey Mouse nightgown. Mary turned to face Bill, to see a new life shining through his face as she sang the oldies song. Mary couldn’t hold back a grin herself, as she turned back to see her keep going.

 

“I’m working my way back to you babe, with a burning love inside, yeah, I’m working my way back to you babe, and the happiness that died…”

 

Mary felt Bill take her hand. Bill’s lively eyes turned to that of pools of love and desire as he looked down at her.

 

“I miss you,” he whispered, coming closer to her. Mary felt his warm embrace take over her and she allowed herself to be lost in him.

 

“I miss you, too, babe,” she said, mimicking the song. She felt him walk them back to their bedroom and his embrace grew tighter. She could feel his kisses raining from her forehead and all the way down to the base of her neck. She felt herself fall backwards back onto their bed and they united in their first passionate kiss since the last time they used to have coffee together, listening to this very music, and talked all night like James and Samantha did.

 

The sounds of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons reached their bedroom, even though the door was closed (locked as well). Mary recognized the beginning lyrics and she giggled.

 

“Do you remember when we first met? And you were singing this with your group?” Bill snickered and nuzzled his nose against hers.

 

“Yeah. I do. And I’ll never forget when I first saw you. I almost forgot half of the second verse because of you.” Mary giggled and playfully punched him in the arm. But she forgot about the small remark as he dove into her for another renewing kiss. She could feel his hands on her body again, and it was bringing life into her soul again…

 

“…so tell me now…and I won’t ask again…” Bill could see the very question in her eyes. Pinning her arms down for a moment, he leaned down to her ear.

 

“Yes, Mary. I will still love you…tomorrow…”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Vivian allowed the magical spell of the oldies songs to whisk her away from reality for an hour or two. She settled down on the smaller couch to read a book as she sang the songs under her breath. Oh yes. She should ask Mrs. Winslow if she could stay over more often. Nights like these were worth being ignored for.

 

“Ahem.” Vivian looked up to see two annoyed faces looking down at her. She glanced up amusedly.

 

“Well, for a minute there, I thought you guys forgot I existed,” she remarked. Well, it was a white lie…sort of.

 

“Vivian. Why in God’s name are you listening to this?” Samantha demanded. Vivian sighed and put her book down as she sat up.

 

“Because it’s playing on the CD player?” Vivian said. James groaned. Sometimes Vivian took things a little too seriously sometimes…and it made him wonder if she was doing it to annoy him.

 

“No,” James said. “Why did you put this CD in the CD player and decide to play it?” Vivian tried to hold back a smile. So she was getting to him.

 

“Because I happen to like this music a lot. Do you usually listen to music you hate hearing? Last time I checked, no. So, like you guys, I listen to my CD’s on a CD player and I play them when I want to hear them. Did you guys get that?” Samantha’s annoyance grew.

 

“Do you know what you did?” Samantha demanded. Vivian leaned back. Now she was confused.

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Do you know what you just did? Do you know what is happening right now, thanks to your music?” Vivian crossed her arms.

 

“I just caused…” Vivian trailed off. James and Samantha leaned in expectantly. Like Vivian was going to give them the satisfaction.

 

“I just caused my eternal happiness.” James rolled his eyes and grabbed his forehead while Samantha lashed out at her.

 

“No! Thanks to you and your music, James’s parents are…are…you know!” Samantha gestured with her hands, hoping that Vivian would understand the point. Vivian cocked an eyebrow. High schoolers could be so immature sometimes.

 

“I do?” Vivian said, looking defiantly at Samantha. “Because the last time I checked, I’m not psychic-”

 

“My parents are in there having sex right now!” James growled. “Because of you!” Vivian kept her stance, even though her insides were crawling.

 

“And it’s my fault? How so, James? Because I haven’t seen your parents all night after dinner. So how is it my fault?” James rolled his eyes again.

 

“Look,” he explained patiently to her as the CD switched to the next song, “My parents like this group. My dad used to sing in a group and my parents met when he was singing one of these songs.”

 

Tell it to the rain and the stars that shine above

That it’s me you’re thinking of

And that I’m your love…

 

“And my parents used to have nights where they’d just sit out here and listen to this music. Ever since I could remember…they always got sappy and all romantic every time these songs played. Almost every time we heard these songs as kids, our parents would…you know,” he said, gesturing like Samantha as Vivian nodded, not breaking off her eye contact with him, “and the thing is…there’s this mirror on the wall in my room, you know?”

 

“Well, THAT I don’t know, seeing how I’ve never been in your room.”

 

“Well, there is. And my parents’ room…is next door to mine. The mirror hangs on the wall adjacent to theirs and…when they…do what they do, it rattles…” James’s face was steadily turning a bright shade of red. Vivian tried not to chuckle. Although the thought of his parents in the other room sharing their intimacy did make her cringe, this was a pretty funny sight to see. Samantha decided to put in her next two cents.

 

“And might I add, I really don’t like the oldies? These songs just make me sick to my stomach, and personally, I’d rather have root canal than listen to them.”

 

“Might make your teeth prettier,” Vivian suggested, nodding her head towards Samantha and showing off her own pearly smile.

 

“Just turn the damn CD off!” Samantha snapped. “I’m sick of hearing it!” Vivian sighed. Samantha was somewhat stronger physically and as an influence in this house, and sleeping outside wasn’t too appealing.

 

“Fine. I’ll turn this off.” Vivian rolled her eyes as she stopped the CD and put it in her pouch. Vivian smiled evilly while her back was turned to them as she slipped another CD into the player…

 

“Fine. The oldies CD is out. Satisfied?”

 

“Very. Anything is better than oldies.” Rock began to play…

 

“That’s better.”

 

I believe your love, akiramenai…

 

“Oh God. Not Japanese pop!             Turn it off!” Vivian’s evil smile returned to show its ugly face to the two.

 

“You know what?” Vivian said, her voice lightening as she plopped back onto the couch. “We listen to your music every time we get into the car, or basically, just anytime there’s a player around. I think you can deal with my music for one night, since I always have to listen to your stuff. Good night.” Vivian planted herself back on the couch as they protested.

 

“This is crap! Two-Mix can’t even sing!” Samantha protested.

 

“Sorry, college reading requires concentration, and frankly, you two are ruining it. Good night.”

 

“Vivian-”

 

“I said good night!”

 

“Vivian, I am going to take out that damn CD,” Samantha threatened.

 

“You so much as lay a finger on my Two-Mix CD, you can expect me to be singing another Frankie Valli song. And I KNOW you don’t want that. Do you?” James sank. “Good boy. Now you two have pleasant dreams!” Vivian turned her back to them and continued to read. James and Samantha stormed back to his room.

 

“God…I can’t freaking talk with that crap playing…” Samantha whined. James shrugged his shoulders.

 

“I told you that you should have let Vivian stay in Lillian’s room tonight,” James said.

 

“Humph!” Samantha stormed out of James’s room. James giggled. He did have to admit one thing though.

 

This was the first time he ever noticed Vivian standing up for herself.

 

 

 

Reviews

[Autumn Starberry]

Cute. ^^ Very well written.

[AaronPhobia]

good good good =D

keep writing