by Palladian
I had fun going out with Serena the next day, but she spent a lot of time complaining about her Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently, her parents have been bugging her to get married to some guy she's distantly related to that her dad has been teaching his business to. She's not interested in that at all, but she does seem to want to hook me up. She’s always got a number of guys she wants to introduce me to when we go out together. They always seem nice enough, but, well…I guess I'm not ready to think about dating someone else yet.
Casey complained when she got back, too, which isn't really like her, but her relatives surprised her with a visit from her sister. She and her sister fell out a while back. They aren't talking and they aren't ever likely to, from the sounds of it. So, she decided she’d stay here over the December holidays, so she and I are going to plan a party here. Riss should be here and Serena said that she'd come back after she visits with her parents, so we'll have a pretty full house. I haven't talked to Joan yet, but I’ll ask her when she gets back. We want to invite Mr. Chen and Lily too, so we'll see who's able to make it. Now I just have to figure out what to get everyone…
Later that week, Kate wrote back.
Glad to hear everyone survived Thanksgiving! I know it can be stressful due to all the running around and family stuff. My parents and I celebrated pretty quietly, but no one minded that. It's just a little painful, sometimes. They’re a lot frailer now than they used to be. They don't ask about my eye anymore like they did when it first happened, but sometimes I catch my mom or dad looking at my eye patch with this terrible, sad look.
Anyway, speaking of that, I've been wondering…usually, one of the first things people ask me about is my missing eye. If they don't ask right away, they usually get around to it sooner or later, but you've never asked. Why not?
A couple of days later, Lex replied.
Well, Kate, I always figured it was your business, and that you'd tell me about it if and when you wanted to. I know how rude people can be about things like that. Complete strangers seem to think it's their right to walk up to me on the street and start commenting on my scars if I’m not thinking about it and wear a tank top or shorts during the summer. So, I figure you're probably pretty tired of people asking. But since you're asking, yes, I am curious about what happened, if you feel like talking about it.
Kate wrote back the following evening.
Well, it's not a really great story, but I don't mind telling you about it. It's all related to this case our team got sent on last year. The police had located a serial killer who’d been incinerating women. They found out the hard way that he did it by catching his body on fire, like something you'd see on one of those crazy videos of people spontaneously combusting. He wouldn't burn up, though, but everything he touched would. Anyway, they had this whole crappy neighborhood in Baltimore evacuated and we had to go in and get him.
George had a great idea that I would go in as bait and draw him out, and then he could catch the guy unawares because the way George is makes him more flame retardant. They gave me a long fire-resistant coat and boots and sent me out there. Well, I drew the bastard out, all right, but then no George. I fought the man through a burnt-out house and down the main street until the soles of my boots had half-melted to the pavement, the gloves had burnt to rags, and my clothes and hair had started smoking. I tried to run, but he ran just as fast and I couldn't lose him. Finally, he got a hold of me and threw me against the front of a tenement building. I tried to shake him off of me, but I think I just froze near the end. The last thing I saw in that eye was a flaming finger coming closer and closer. With the other eye, just before I passed out from the pain, I could see George across the street, leaning against the wall in a nearby alley, watching and waiting.
When I finally came to in a hospital bed, I told them everything, but they claimed that there’d been some kind of accident and that George got there as quickly as he could. They also told me my eye would never come back, since the killer had cooked it like a hard-boiled egg. Even the skin all around it got burnt, but less badly. Of course, they wouldn't let me leave the team, either, even after repeated requests, so now I just have to watch my back all the time. Thank goodness Victor came on a few months after I did.
I'm sorry to tell you this. It's a crappy story and I feel badly for having passed it along. You don't have to write back about any of this. Just tell me how the party preparations are going, and about your work with Mr. Chen. Thanks for reading, anyway.
Lex sent a reply the next day.
Really there’s no way I wouldn’t respond to your last email, and I'm glad you told me. This is the kind of story you should let people know and not feel badly about. If anyone has anything to feel ashamed for, it's George. I got him right the moment I saw him—he's just a big bully who likes to hurt people he thinks are weaker than him. I'm so, so sorry. I wish I’d been there; maybe I could have done something. Really though, you should feel proud—you kicked some serious ass on someone with abilities very different than yours. It’s lucky you’re skilled enough to hold your own as long as you did. I wouldn't put it past George to have let you die if he thought he could get away with it, from what I’ve seen of him. Please, watch your step around him, and don’t hesitate to call us if you need backup.
Anyway, as far as the party goes, Casey and I are still working on it. She's planning the food, and I'm supposed to be planning the decorations. What can I say, though, it's not really my strength. I asked for help from Riss, and she looked at me for a few minutes before she said “I'm pagan,” and went back to what she'd been working on. I explained it was supposed to be a non-specific holiday party and finally convinced her (grudgingly, on her part) to at least help me decorate the tree. So, that's something, at least, I guess.
Mr. Chen and Lily have both said they'll try to stop by for the party, so now I'm sort of anxious. I've got good ideas of what to get for almost everyone, except them. Arrgh! So, now I've got to come up with some kind of good idea for presents. I hope I come up with something. If you have any ideas, let me know.
Kate wrote back a couple of days later, which was the last email Lex received from her friend.
Lex, thanks. Maybe it's hard for me to keep it in perspective, since it happened to me, but that story has always made me feel ridiculous. Powerless. Ashamed. Stupid. Lots of other things, as well. Thanks for…giving me some new perspective. You're right; I think this is something I should have been telling more people about. And, thanks for…I don't know, making me feel better about it, as weird as it sounds.
Glad to hear your party planning has been going well; it sounds like you guys will be having a nice time. Just a thought, but didn't you say Mr. Chen was into Chinese calligraphy? Maybe you could look into buying him a nice set of brushes, or something. As far as for what to get for Lily, I really don't know; just don't get her apples. : )
Chapter 17: Celebrations
Over the next two weeks, Lex did a lot of prep work in the evenings for the upcoming party. She got a hot air popper and popped an immense amount of popcorn and sat at the kitchen island in the evenings, stringing it along with cranberries and usually managing to rope Casey or Riss (after Lex reminded her that using biodegradable decorations had been Riss' idea) into the project. They’d sit up talking and working for hours and making the entire place smell like popcorn.
Casey painted vivid pictures of Christmases at the farmhouse with her parents and brother and sister, describing the way they’d decorate the tree, go skating at the local pond, and get ideas about what to give each other by talking to each other's school friends. As for the day itself, Casey's mom and dad would come for the kids and bring them all down in front of the tree to open their presents. After that, they’d have breakfast, then spend the rest of the day visiting local relatives, opening more presents, playing with their cousins, and then all have a big dinner together. Lex listened to her stories avidly, laughing and smiling, almost able to picture herself there.
Her even
ings working with Riss were quieter. Often they worked in complete silence with Riss taking an occasional break to look at something she’d been monitoring on her laptop. But one evening in particular Riss talked for a little while, managing to convey a world different than any Lex had known. Riss’ stories of holidays in the city sounded less lavish than Casey’s, but it seemed like she and her mother had worked hard to make them just as special, giving their whole apartment a thorough cleaning, carefully making gifts for one another, and decorating a potted tree year after year as it grew bigger. Riss didn't really remember any holidays with her father, who'd died in a construction accident around the time she turned two, but she seemed to enjoy her memories of spending time with her mother and playing with friends.
Lex listened silently, thinking that it sounded like a lot of fun. When Riss finished her story, Lex told her as much. Riss fell silent again for a few minutes, then turned to Lex and raised an eyebrow, obviously waiting for Lex’s stories. Sighing, Lex let her gaze drift to the floor, memories of the unbearably tense holidays she’d experienced running through her mind. She looked across the kitchen island at Riss a moment later and saw understanding in the other woman’s eye. Lex cleared her throat, and then began tentatively.
“I do remember going sledding one year when we got out of school. For some reason, the snow came early, and we all went to a nearby park with a big hill. We snuck the dogs out with us, and my brothers and sisters and I spent the whole afternoon sledding with the other kids. It just about drove the dogs crazy, but all the other kids liked the dogs too, so we had a really good time.”
Riss nodded, continuing to work on the popcorn string. “Sounds like fun,” she replied. After a few minutes of silence, she turned to look at Lex again. “You know, you can tell me what it was really like, if you want to.”
Lex looked up from her popcorn string uncertainly. “You probably don't want to hear about that. I don't have many good stories about those times.”
“If you want to tell me, I'd be glad to listen.”
Hesitating again, Lex looked up to find Riss' cool, calm gaze on her. “OK, but you told your story in five minutes or less, so that's what I'll do.”
Riss nodded, and Lex quickly painted a picture of the holidays in the house where she grew up. Sometimes her parents gave fine presents, but for the children of the house, the whole time had always been spent as if walking on a field full of landmines. Lex's mother seemed to use the time off as an excuse for numerous screaming and fighting matches, which her father compensated for by giving Lex “extra training” later on. As she stopped speaking, Lex looked up at Riss again, feeling her stomach crawl uncomfortably. Riss watched Lex closely, still listening intently.
“That’s enough of that, I think,” Lex concluded, her voice jumping with nervousness.
“Sorry to hear that's how it was,” Riss replied softly, a thread of concern clear in her tone.
Lex nodded and looked down again, re-starting work on her popcorn chain, and feeling a little more relaxed now that she’d shared her own stories, and smiled as she continued.
Some time later, Lex found herself having trouble concentrating as she worked with Mr. Chen the day before the party. She continually lost focus and had to repeat the forms many times to do them correctly or had to ask Mr. Chen to repeat his instruction because she couldn't pick things up as easily as she usually did. Finally, Mr. Chen called for her to sit across from him on the wooden floor of the martial arts gym.
“So,” he began, trying to catch her eye, “are you worried about something?”
She’d been avoiding his look due to her nervousness at being caught, but she finally glanced at him and sighed.
“Well,” Lex explained, “I'm just afraid things won’t go well, you know what I mean?”
He laughed then. “Lex, I’ve worked here on and off for the past couple of years, and the whole time I’ve been here, I’ve never even heard of anyone planning a party of any kind. So, I think at the very least that you won’t suffer by comparison. To the contrary, I think you should already feel it’s been a success since I hear you’ve gotten most of your team members to help you.”
Lex smiled softly. “Do you really think so?”
Mr. Chen fixed her with his eyes again. “I do. I also think after we sit for a few moments more, we should do an hour of Tai Chi, and then you should take the rest of the day off and spend some time in the hot tub. One of the reasons you're not moving the way you're used to today is that it looks like all your muscles are very tense.”
“Won't I fall behind?” Lex asked, some concern showing in her voice.
“Your progress has been good enough that we're much ahead of where I thought we'd be,” Mr. Chen admitted. “Taking the rest of the day off won't change that.”
“Besides,” he added after a few minutes of moving through an introductory Tai Chi form, limbs moving in concert with Lex’s in the mirror, “caring for the people who are important to you should always take priority. You need to relax today because I know you're not going to tomorrow.”
“All right, all right,” she said, smiling at his reflection in the mirror as she followed his careful movements.
As he was leaving, Mr. Chen reminded Lex that he, Lily, and Lily's son would be arriving for the party tomorrow after dinnertime. She waved at him as he left and continued her stretches, and then moved to the hot tub after a short while.
The next day, Lex woke about as early as she usually did, but after a fast shower and laying out her dress clothes so she could quickly change later, she made her way downstairs, surprising herself by almost skipping. Maybe her conversation with Mr. Chen had helped, because Lex felt excited and happy that day. She rounded the corner into the kitchen, expecting to see Casey but surprised to see her friend surrounded by baking ingredients and already hard at work. Casey looked up and smiled when she spotted Lex.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Casey said, smiling broadly.
“How long have you been at work?” Lex asked, looking at racks of already cooling cookies in amazement. “Everything smells so good!” She breathed deeply then, taking in more of the scent of spices and sweetness.
“Oh, a couple of hours.”
“A couple of hours!? Let me hurry up and decorate, and then I'll help you,” Lex replied, quickly moving to start some water for tea and to find something for breakfast.
“Don't worry about it. I got up extra early so that I knew I'd have plenty of time to make everything I planned,” Casey said, picking up a piece of paper with floury hands and waving it in Lex's general direction.
As she got closer to read it, Lex's eyes opened wide. “You're really going to make all of this? Today? I'd better get moving, then. I should be able to put everything up in a couple of hours, and then you can tell me how I can help you.”
Casey just smiled and nodded, continuing to mix ingredients in a large bowl. Lex ate quickly, looking around at everything in progress and realizing that the several ovens in the kitchen all looked to be already in use. When she’d finished, she put her dishes in the dishwasher along with a lot of cooking-related gear and started it up. Then she smiled at Casey as she made her way out of the kitchen.
“I'll be back as soon as I can.”
She started with a box of greens that she'd picked up earlier that week. Lex had not gotten many, aware that Riss would probably frown on the cut pine boughs, but she'd thought a few would be necessary, and she arranged them on the tables in the open room on the first floor, which brought a fresh fir smell to the air. To these she added some votive candles in blue and green holders.
A few days previously the tree had arrived, a fir a couple of feet tall in a big pot, and Lex had asked Casey to help her carry it inside when it came. She had been quite patient as Lex had determined the best place for the tree, finally putting it between the ends of the couches and the picture windows looking out over the water. She looked at the placement again, and after deciding that it still looked good, beg
an decorating the tree.
Lex had gotten a few bags of small apples and oranges, and after a lot of experimentation had figured out a way to hang them using the type of colorful ribbon normally used to decorate gifts during that time of year. Working quickly, she tied cage-like arrangements of ribbon around the fruit and left a loop at the top, which she then hung over some of the sturdier tree limbs. For the more delicate limbs she hung them with candy canes, and then strung the tree with the popcorn/cranberry strings, finishing it with a few strings of tiny white lights.
She strung some more of the popcorn/cranberry strings around the walls of the room, and hung some streamers from one corner to another. Finally, she cleaned all of the leftover pieces up except some of the pine branches, which she pushed to the back of a table running the length of the back of a couch. Casey had told her that she'd need somewhere to put snacks, so that would be the place, Lex decided. Afterwards, Lex ran upstairs to get her gifts for everyone and then settled them underneath the tree. She stepped back to the entrance to the room to survey everything and then smiled at the effect. The room looked ready for a winter holiday rather than bland and empty, as it usually did. Satisfied, she turned and hurried back into the kitchen.
Finding an unused apron hanging near the ovens, Lex put it on and asked Casey, “What do you need me to do?”
Lex then got swept up in gathering ingredients, cutting, chopping, measuring, and hand mixing them under Casey's direction. Somehow Casey managed to keep track of multiple items in the oven, monitor several things in the process of being made, and carry on a complicated conversation with Lex all at the same time. The two of them had been discussing the finer points of baking a couple of hours later when Riss arrived. Lex stopped for a moment, surprised since she'd never seen Riss up and about that early in the day.
