200. Relaxation:
Every performer has a post performance routine to decompress from the
show. Some are more intense or complicated than others but everyone has
them. When Robyn was young, her family always took her out to dinner
afterwards with her friends. As she grew older and was in more and more
productions sometimes they would only get ice cream or pie, but they
always met to celebrate a job well done. And then she discovered her
newest way of decompressing. After coming home she would draw a bath,
light a few candles (this number grew and grew until she would fill the
room), sprinkle in bath salts (menthol or lavender or neroli or
vanilla), twist her hair above her head, and sink to her nose in the
hot, tension draining water (sometimes with a rubber duck or four). She
would have preferred silence the first time she tried this method but
her family inherently made noise so she had played a CD with sounds of
wind in the trees and ocean waves gurgling among rocks. Eventually she
grew to prefer that so even when she had her own place and the
opportunity to revel in silence, she listened to the sounds of nature to
soothe her fried nerves and tired mind.
My family and I had the same tradition as Robyn and her family, either dinner at Shari's or a snack from Dairy Queen. After I quit eating ice cream in seventh grade (I found out it was bad for your throat and my allergies thank me) it was the only time I allowed myself to indulge. Now we go out after my brother's choir concerts, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
142. Standing Still:
Jericho was leaning against the brick wall of a building across the
street from where Robyn was chatting with a shopkeeper. Finally she had
stopped moving! He had spent the morning following her around per
Henry’s orders and quite frankly he was becoming exhausted. First she
had made a trip to the florist’s to pick up two bouquets, then driven
her teal, old-fashioned VW Beatle to her aunt’s inn to drop off one of
the bouquets. Evidently the older woman was under the weather so Robyn
hadn’t stayed long, driving then to her piano teacher’s home. There she
had again dropped off a bouquet, though not before removing part of it he noticed. From there she had driven to the downtown shopping
district, parked her car and had been walking from shop to shop, picking
up various groceries, until she had been caught in a conversation by
the owner of the cheese shop. With a sigh he looked back across the
street and was startled to find her gone! With a startled muttered
curse he began scanning the street trying to find her, finally finding
her near her car. She had evidently dropped off her groceries,
retrieved the flowers she had set aside earlier, and was now striding
straight for him. Henry had not briefed him on what to do if she
approached him.
“Bored yet?” she asked when she was close enough that they didn’t have to shout.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he decided to play it cool.
“Of course not,” she smiled. “I hope you’re here on Henry’s orders and
not on your day off. Because then we might have to have a talk.”
He wasn’t sure how to respond to that so he just shook his head in mock shame.
“That’s what I thought.” She held up a stem with many white bell like
blossoms on it, intertwined with a vine with purple flowers, and
extended it toward him. “Would you give this to Henry for me? I’m
going straight home after this and promise I’m not leaving for the
evening. I have several exams to study for.”
Jericho gingerly took the flower and gave her a quizzical look. “What is this?”
“White heather and sweetpeas. He’ll understand. Ta ta for now!” With
a wave over her shoulder she turned and returned to her car, waving
again as she drove off.
Jericho looked in confusion at the blooms then hurried to his own car.
He drove past her house to make sure she was indeed home, then drove to
his employer’s office. After assuring Henry that nothing out of the
ordinary had happened Jericho handed him Robyn’s gift.
“This is from her. She said you’d understand what it meant.”
Henry twirled the flowers in his fingers and thought for a moment.
“Protection and thanks. I believe the
meaning is fairly clear.”
Jericho looked at his boss in confusion for several long moments. How
the heck did he know? How much time did they have to plan out flower
meanings? Henry could read the questions in Jericho’s eyes and gave a
half smile. Too bad he wasn’t in the mood to let him in on the secret.
Let him figure it out on his own.
I had this wonderful vision of Jericho following Robyn around because he was ordered to and she spends the entire day going turbo, then during that one moment she holds still, Jericho loses track of her. His freak out was most humorous but this is what ended up being written. And I love the Victorian flower language so I try to include it when possible. If I mention flowers by name in a story, you might find it interesting to look up the possible meanings. I feel many of our modern day exchanges are missing a level of richness and meaning. It is just the sort of archaic thing Robyn and Henry would both know.
198. Puzzle:
A sigh holding the weight of the world came from Darren Tolliver’s
living room and reached him in his kitchen. Spooning hot clam chowder
into two thick ceramic bowls, he carried the steaming food into said
living room where his little red headed niece sat brooding over a
partially completed Beverly Doolittle puzzle. As he set the bowls down
around the mostly complete edge Robyn heaved another heavy sigh.
“Are you trying to compete with the gale outside?” he asked gently. He
didn’t always know what to do with the little girl, currently entrusted
into his care while her parents, his brother and an English lady, were
out on a date. Usually their sister took care of Robyn but evidently
his niece had decided he needed company. The best he had come up with
at the moment was a puzzle likely too hard for her.
“Do you think Mom and Daddy will be OK?” she asked in a small voice.
She was trying to be brave but he could hear the worry plainly in her
voice.
Putting one of his hands on her head he stroked her silky hair. “Your
daddy’s a good driver Greenling. He is smart too. If he thinks the
wind is too strong he will call and tell us.”
Robyn tapped her chowder spoon against her pouted bottom lip as she
considered his words. He was right, her daddy was a good driver, and
smart too. But she didn’t want them to stay away. *Storm,* she
thought, *be quiet until my mommy and daddy get me. Let me go home and
then you can be as strong as you like.*
As if in response there was a momentary break in the rain hammering the
window before it resumed, no harder than before. With a little smile
Robyn acknowledged her uncle and the storm. “OK.”
15. Blue:
The two men stared around the room they had been given by the woman at
the front desk. When she had said it was the sapphire room she hadn’t
been kidding. The walls were a warm white but the curtains, bedspreads,
and lightly jeweled lamp shades were a deep, royal blue. The carpet
was a soft grey to hide stains, the same shade as the floor tiles in the
modest sized, white walled bathroom containing a toilet, sink, and
bathtub with sapphire colored accents and opaque blue shower curtain.
They are mob drug runners who spend most of their time in roach infested motels. They don't know what to do with what they would consider fripperies.
171. Obsession:
Jericho wasn’t sure when protecting Robyn had become more than just a
job, when it had become important to him, personally as opposed to
professionally, to know her favorite color and flower and song. When
had a week, then a few days, without seeing her and exchanging at least a
smile become boring or uncomfortable or lacking? When had he begun
looking for excuses to ‘drop by’? Taken up his guitar again on her
behalf? Practiced her favorite meal on his day off? Walked his dog
through the forest she so loved instead of merely down the street as usual?
At first I couldn't decide if I was going to write about Jericho or Henry but decided I could make Jericho less creepy, although I swear Henry has nothing but the purest motives and interest.
120. Fortitude:
They stood firm together against the onslaught, two stones against the
rushing fire of opposition. The invaders might have brute force and
money behind them but Aurelia’s children had history and and family and a
lifetime of friendship on their side. As long as they were together
and both alive, they would stand strong.
156. Danger Ahead:
When Talulah relayed her colleague, Cissy’s, report of suspicious men in
the woods to Austin and when Robyn glimpsed the two strange men in the
audience, none of them had any idea of the adventure and danger the pair
would bring them.
