A Life Less Ordinary

by Bernadine, Victoria

Zeke grinned even as he winced. “Yeah.”

  Manny grinned, too. “I hope not. Those are fifteen years I’ll never get back.”

  “Were they all bad?”

  “No, of course not. I learned a lot – did a lot – did things I never thought I’d do – but I allowed myself to pay a high price. That’s the part I’m truly sorry about. Nobody forced me to give up everything for my job. I did that to myself. The danger is that I’ll do it to myself again, because I don’t really know how else to be.”

  “That’s...pretty...scary,” Zeke said slowly, frowning.

  “But this time around, I can blame you,” she said brightly.

  Zeke grinned, giving her a sidelong look. “You do that.”

  Manny nodded with smug satisfaction and lapsed into silence again. Then she said, “Are you glad you came with me?”

  Zeke nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

  “That’s it?”

  Zeke laughed. “Hey – I learned a lot – did a lot – been in more jails than I care to remember -”

  “One! One jail!”

  Zeke laughed harder then grinned at her, his eyes warm with affection as he nodded.

  “Yeah. Yeah, I’m glad I came with you.”

  She slowly smiled back with equal warmth.

  “Me, too.”

  ~~~~~

  After leaving Daisy’s place, Zeke walked Manny to her new home on the fifteenth floor of a downtown apartment building. She opened the door and turned to face him.

  “Well,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  “I guess...this is...”

  “Good-bye.”

  Manny nodded, blinking sudden moisture out of her eyes. “Yeah.”

  Zeke took a deep breath, then stuck out his hand. Manny slowly grinned, before she carefully placed her hand in his. His grip was warm and firm.

  “It’s been a pleasure, Manny Mankowski,” Zeke said softly.

  She smiled and inclined her head in acknowledgment. “Thank you. And the feeling is mutual, Zeke Powell.”

  They lingered for a long moment, simply holding each other’s hand, looking into each other’s eyes, then, with an almost soundless sigh, they relaxed their grips and let their hands slide apart.

  Zeke took a step backward. “See you around.”

  Manny nodded, blinking against that sudden moisture again. “You bet.”

  With one last smile, Zeke lifted his hand in a half-hearted gesture then turned and walked briskly to the elevator. Manny stood in her doorway and lifted her hand in good-bye as the elevator door closed.

  She felt suddenly very lonely as she went into her new apartment and closed the door behind her.

  You know, you guys could be friends, Harvey said, leaning gracefully in the entryway to the living room. Real ones, I mean.

  For some reason, I don’t think our real lifestyles would match all that well.

  What does that have to do with anything?

  I don’t want to talk about it.

  Okay. But you’re going to be lonely. Maybe you should actually consider dating.

  Dating? Like...really dating?

  Sure. If there’s one thing Zeke proved to you: you can actually have a conversation with a good-looking guy.

  But I obviously can’t sleep with one.

  Then find one who’s less good-looking.

  Manny laughed. You’ve ruined me for normal men, Harvey.

  I’m not sure that’s a good thing to think.

  Probably not. But...seriously...do you really exist? Not you, obviously – but a man like you?

  Harvey laughed. Well, I highly doubt there’s a man out there willing to wear frilly shirts open to the navel while he rescues you from pirates. And let’s face it – some of those sex scenes you fantasized would cause a lesser man to throw out his back.

  Manny chuckled. They’d be pretty uncomfortable for an ordinary woman, too. But you know what I mean.

  Yeah, I do. I think, if you took a few chances, you might be surprised.

  Manny ruefully shook her head.

  I’m not sure I’m ready to take those kinds of chances.

  Harvey smiled at her, his dark eyes warm and affectionate, and a little bit sad.

  Then I’ll be here until you are.

  ~~~~~

  Change sometimes feels like it happens without our knowledge or consent.

  Zeke sat at the desk in his new apartment, typing furiously.

  Sometimes the changes we make lead us places we didn’t expect to go.

  Rebecca and Jackson shared a smile as they sat down on either side of the three kids on the couch and settled in to watch TV.

  Sometimes we try to run from change, only to realize that change is the best thing for us.

  Daisy stared at the papers sitting on the table in front of her. She squared her shoulders, and signed her name. She leaned back in her chair, tossed her pen on the table, and sighed.

  Sometimes we fight to hold on to something real and true in the midst of changes we don’t want to face.

  TJ smiled at Leah as he walked into the bedroom. She put aside her book as he slipped under the covers and reached for her, and she melted against him as they kissed.

  Sometimes the changes we try so desperately to make seem as substantial as the breeze – the more we change, the more we stay the same. Which makes me wonder: does anything truly change?

  Manny stood in the middle of the living room and turned slowly, carefully assessing the space. With a final deep breath, she turned off the lights and left the room.

  And so the grand adventure has come to an end. We’re home again, and back where we began. It already feels like we were never gone. Does anything really change?

  Manny groggily groped for the shrilly ringing cell phone that had startled her awake. She fumbled it to her ear and croaked, “H’lo?”

  “What’re you doing tomorrow?” Zeke asked, his voice low and husky in her ear.

  “Unpacking,” she muttered, her eyes drifting closed.

  “Sounds exciting.”

  “Hmmmmmm.”

  “So, around eleven, then? I’ll bring lunch.”

  “’kay,” Manny mumbled, and disconnected the call, already asleep.

  Zeke thoughtfully tapped the edge of his phone against his lips as he re-read the text on his screen. He put the phone down and reached for the keyboard.

  Maybe it does.

  Author’s Notes

  A funny thing happened on the way to participating in ScriptFrenzy 2011 (www.scriptfrenzy.org).

  I had a vague idea of a plot - a 45-year-old woman decides to throw her life up in the air and departs on a road trip to rediscover herself.

  Yep.

  It's been done before - and better - but what the hell - it wasn't like I was writing it for money! The sad part was, though, that that was pretty much it. That was all I had - and April 1st was looming large on the horizon.

  Then a LiveJournal friend published a meme, which was: "leave a comment, and I'll give you seven actors and you have to come up with a TV series starring those seven actors." I thought - what the hell - and left a comment.

  She gave me:

  Megan Follows (Manny)

  Meg Ryan (Daisy)

  Gillian Anderson (Rebecca)

  Michaela Conlin (Leah)

  Kevin Bacon (TJ)

  Esai Morales (Harvey)

  Karl Urban (Zeke)

  then I added:

  Bruce Willis (Max)

  Robert Downey Jr. (Jackson)

  Suddenly, my vague plot had shape and form and characters I could define and see, and in no time at all, I came up with a thirteen episode miniseries.

  With Jimmy Buffett’s “Take the Weather With You” and the Barenaked Ladies’ “Maroon” on endless repeat for the soundtrack (with a little Billy Joel, John Berry, even more Jimmy Buffett and Barenaked Ladies, along with songs from a variety of random artists), the story practically wrote itself. I whipped past 100 pages of scripts in no time, although
I didn't even come close to finishing all thirteen episodes.

  Several months went by and then I read the scripts over again - and you know what? I liked them. I thought they had potential. Shortly after that, I discovered BigBangs on LiveJournal, and stumbled upon the 100K supernova challenge. I looked at the unfinished scripts and said, “I can write another 100,000 words on this thing” - and took on the challenge.

  Here's the result.

  With special thanks to:

  Seren on LiveJournal who came up with the fantasy “cast list”, beta'd the drafts, and told me she loved it even when I felt like this fic had a face only a mother could love.

  The actors on my fantasy “cast list” - none of whom know anything about this book (and threfore do not endorse anything about it in any way), or me, or that I've used their pictures and their work as props to help me create the characters in these pages but to whom I nonetheless owe an enormous amount of gratitude, especially:

  Megan Follows - for having that air of tough vulnerability that Manny needed to give her shape.

  Esai Morales - for inspiring me to begin writing again with his far-too-short turn on the television series Jericho as Major Edward Beck, and for managing to steal my heart and my imagination in just seven (!) episodes.

  Karl Urban - for being adorably curmudgeonly and sexy as Dr. McCoy; for giving Bruce Willis a solid run for his money in RED; and for having eyebrows that are practically characters in themselves - without you, Zeke would never have been so clear in my mind!

  Bruce Willis - because, honestly? Who wouldn't want a Bruce Willis character in their story? And Max really didn't have any shape until I realized he was soft-spoken, bald and a bad ass with a smirk.

  and

  Robert Downey Jr. - for being the personification of the phoenix; for being funny as hell; for having chemistry with literally everyone including the dog - and for having beautifully vulnerable brown eyes and a sensitivity that gave me the outline for the perfect match for Rebecca (she can thank me later).

  And finally, my enormous appreciation and love to:

  The Barenaked Ladies - for being Canadian; for having a great sound and great voices and great songs and especially for “Maroon” which fit Manny's mood (and my own) so perfectly as I was writing this story.

  Jimmy Buffett - for being the best damn singer of Jimmy Buffett songs there can be - for songs that have lifted me up, mellowed me out, and sound the way I sometimes feel - I don't think Manny and Zeke would have had nearly so much fun if it hadn't been for “Take the Weather With You” and various others songs from various other records.

  --- Victoria Bernadine, December 2012