Group Writing Project #3
Besides the standard disclaimer, please note that Johnson Johnson belongs to Dorothy Dunnett (from her "Dolly" mystery series published by Random House), and that Raven and Josh Long, Teddy and Zach Tyler, Hagen and Kelsey belong to Kay Hooper (from her "Hagen strikes again" series of linked romances published by Bantam - Loveswept) none of which I have any connection to and all of which are out of print. (But when you've got a portrait painter/spy named Johnson, how can he not be related to Trixie.)
ONCE UPON A TIME
By Hilary
"Jay, what an unexpected surprise!"
Madeleine Wheeler walked through the Belden kitchen and gave him a hug. Trixie and Honey followed close behind her, peering at a slight brown haired man in a sweater and bifocals who didn't seem to warrant Mrs. Wheeler's excitement.
"Kelsey never mentioned that you were in the States," Madeleine continued, "or I would have given you a call. So is it business or pleasure this time?"
Johnson Johnson's bifocals flashed his amusement. "A little of both. I had a show in New York and couldn't resist coming up to see my cousin," he said in a lovely British accent. He gestured at Helen, who was looking as bewildered as the girls were.
"You two know each other?" Helen asked. "I hadn't realized. Madeleine, why don't you stay for dinner. Then you two can catch up."
"Matt's away on business and Miss Trask is visiting her brother, I'd love to stay."
Helen picked up the salad she'd made and led the way out back to where her husband and sons were presiding over the barbecue grill. Jim was shaping hamburger patties, Di was hulling corn and Dan was squeezing lemons for lemonade and their neighbors from the other side of Crabapple Farm, Teddy and Zach Tyler were setting out plates and utensils on the picnic table. Bobby was running around thinking he was helping, but really getting in everyone's way.
Trixie heard Madeleine murmur, "Cousin, that explains it," rather oddly, but then her attention was caught by what Jay was saying.
"Boarding school. Ages ago. I roomed with her brother." Jay turned to Madeleine, "I didn't know you'd be around or I would have given you a call. How is Kelsey anyway?"
Madeleine smiled. "Amazingly happy. He's coming up next week with his wife. You have heard that Hagen's getting married, haven't you?"
Zach said dryly, "Raven mentioned it to him. Josh is trying to persuade him to paint a portrait of her in his mother's heirloom necklace. Josh is my employer," he explained to the Bob-Whites, "and Raven used to work with Kelsey."
"Oh you poor dear. Her success in marrying off Hagen has her fancying herself a matchmaker. If you value your freedom, don't take that job." Madeleine suddenly seemed to notice the others in the backyard and quickly made introductions.
"If Hagen's getting married so soon, I might stay a few days longer than I planned. Are they having the wedding here then?" Jay asked.
"His sister lives down the road, Inge Vanderpoel, lovely woman, nothing at all like her brother. She tried to teach me to cook when I was in high school here, but gave up when I managed to burn the Jell-O and set fire to her curtains."
Trixie and her brothers stared.
Mart spoke first, "I never knew you went to high school here."
"Yes, she did," Honey said. "Mom's grandparents lived down Glen Road, the old Kimball place. It still belongs to her older brother. Mom told me that was why she chose Sleepyside, when I said that I wanted a real home. Her parents moved around way too much when she was growing up, except for a couple of years when she was 17 or 18 when she and her brothers lived with their mother and their grandparents, when the twins were born."
"Not to insult Sleepyside, but I hated living here," Madeleine added. "I'd been at boarding school in England and I hated having to leave it and my friends."
"Which is where we know each other from," Jay finished.
"And as my kids know, Alicia and I lived with the Kimballs for a while after my parents died, then when Alicia got an apartment for just the two of us, I used to visit them all the time after school. So Madeleine and I were forced into each others company more than either of us would have liked," Helen said.
"I think what the Bob Whites really want is to hear the story," Peter said good-naturedly.
"That's where it starts, with Madeleine and her family coming to live with the Kimballs...
Twenty-two years ago: Helen
We knew in advance of course. Aunt Cory and Uncle Kelly, as Alicia and I called them, were all excited about the chance to see their grandchildren and the news that their daughter was expecting another child. I must confess I was a little bit jealous...I was used to having them all to myself. They invited us to come to the airport with them. Alicia had to work but I went with them.
"There's the plane." Aunt Cory said.
And there she was, the ginger-haired girl of her own age, walking across the field looking poised and confident, talking rapidly to a boy her own age, with the same ginger hair, who must be one of the brothers, with the other, darker brother trailing slightly behind them. B.J. and Tristan, those were their names. Tristan was Madeleine's twin, Aunt Cory had told her and B.J. was a year or so older. The invaders come to steal Aunt Cory and Uncle Kelly' attention from her. When would Aunt Cory have time to teach her to knit or Uncle Kelly, to help her with her painting with these three strangers around.
"Tristan." Teddy looked amused. "I didn't think anyone actually called him that. When I think of all the trouble Raven went through to find out his other name."
"I got into trouble for doing just that not to long after...I had no idea that everyone called him by his middle name." Helen said.
"Kelsey's his middle name." Teddy looked shocked.
Zach's lips twitched as though he were containing a laugh.
"Don't tell Raven," Madeleine whispered conspiratorially.
"The story." Mart insisted.
Helen
As they drew nearer, I realized that they weren't even speaking English.
"I thought they came from England," she thought angrily. Suddenly a dark-haired woman, obviously pregnant threw herself at Aunt Cory.
"Mother, it's so good to see you, and dad, you're a sight for sore eyes, here are the kids, B.J."
The darker boy stepped forward and said formally, "Grandmother, Grandfather." He had the most gorgeous British accent.
"Humph," Peter Belden interrupted the narrative. "I suppose you would rather have married him. He's rather wealthy these days I hear."
"Oh, go to." Helen said, a bit of Shakespearean speech she always used when she thought Peter was being silly. "I was only sixteen, and I had such a crush on you at that point that I barely saw anyone else."
She continued, "The other two had stopped chattering in what I later learned was Japanese, and when their mother introduced them, also replied in perfect, British accented English."
"You speak Japanese." Mart looked fascinated.
"Japanese, Arabic, Dutch, Mandarin, German, French, and Russian, besides English. My parents moved around way too much when I was a child," Madeleine answered.
"Back to the story," the rest of the Bob-Whites chorused.
Helen
"And this is Helen, whom I've told you about. Helen, why don't you go over to the snack bar and treat the Harts to some candy bars, while Cory and I help Chris with the luggage."
I led them over to the candy counter. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
"We should be helping mom with the luggage." B.J. said.
"I think they wanted us out of the way while they talked about us," Madeleine replied then turned to me, "What's your school uniform like?" She didn't sound too thrilled.
"We don't have one."
She and her twin stared at me as if they'd never heard of such a thing.
I couldn't seem to start a conversation with them. When I asked them what their favorite TV show was, they named Japanese shows I'd never heard of..."Uchu Senkan Yamoto", "Uchu Kaizoku Captain Harlock", and "Ginga Tetsudo Three-Nine".
"We didn't watch much TV in England," Kelsey added. "There wasn't one at the boarding school, but the Japanese school we went to before it was a day school, so we used to watch animé after school."
They didn't recognize half of the candy bars available at the snack bar, and wondered why there weren't any Cadbury Fruit and Nut or Hazelnut Bars, though they seemed willing enough to try what I recommended.
It was a relief when I handed them over to their grandparents.
"We didn't get along too well in those days," Madeleine said, not in the least bit insulted.
"Who's Anna May?" Bobby asked.
"Animé is short for animation," Madeleine answered. "It's what cartoons are called in Japan."
"I couldn't believe a girl my age watched cartoons," Helen said.
"There are more things in heaven or earth, Helen, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," said Madeleine, still undisturbed. "In Japan, animé isn't just for kids. Some of the stories and themes are rather 'adult'."
"Somebody in the teen chat room I visit says really likes animé, especially Ranma 1/2 and some of the science fiction stories. I remember her mentioning Captain Harlock once." Di looked interested.
"I could lend you some tapes, if you'd like to try it. Why don't you come over and look at my collection some time?"
"That sounds cool; it never occurred to me to look at your tapes. Maybe we should have a sleepover and all night filmfest," Jim said enthusiastically.
"Meanwhile back to our story," Madeleine said.
Twenty-two years ago: Madeleine
The days flew past; we settled in to our grandparents house and to be honest we didn't have much to do with each other. The three of us were trying to settle into a totally different way of life and Helen was busy with her friends and her art classes. The summer days slipped by.
Grandmother had already pronounced me hopeless as a cook, but Mrs. Vanderpoel is one of those people who believes that anyone who can read can follow a recipe and she got it in her head to teach me to cook. The town was having a Fourth of July Picnic and I decided to try to make a Jell-O salad, being a typical American institution. Helen had offered to help. By that time we were tolerating each other, though we weren't close.
Unfortunately what I did was ruin the pot and set fire to the kitchen curtains. Peter was riding by on his bike and when Mrs. Vanderpool's cat, Katje, flew out of the window away from the flames, he knocked Peter off his bike. So, since it looked like Mrs. Vanderpoel had the fire under control, I ran out to see if he was all right.
"And I stood in the background, feeling horribly embarrassed," Helen said. "What would he think of Madeleine who was certainly not your normal American teen. But there she was inviting him in for tea - she'd managed to toss a bowl full of water on the curtains and the flame had gone out, but the kitchen was still smoky - and promising that I would make fudge, swearing up and down that I was a much better cook than she."
"Mom still can't boil water without burning it," Honey said when she noticed everyone's surprise.
"She says so all the time," Jim replied, "but I don't think any of us ever believed she'd tried."
Trixie stared at Honey, and said thoughtfully, "Have you heard this story before?"
"Not from this viewpoint. When we first moved here, Mom told me about the time she spent in Sleepyside." Honey stopped and Helen took this as a signal to continue.
Helen
Fast forward to the picnic. Aunt Cory had made the Jell-O salad and made Madeleine swear to stay away from the kitchen. Alicia and I were to spend the day with them and share picnic baskets. I was starting to get used to the Harts though I was embarrassed to introduce them to my friends. But I was looking forward to the picnic. They were going to have a make your own sundae bar for dessert and fireworks and a baseball game and all sorts of other events.
The Harts were especially excited about the sundae bar.
"Sundaes are such a typical American institution. I can't wait to try one." B.J., I had found, was the most outgoing of the three.
Madeleine and Kelsey seemed a bit warier.
So I led them over to the sundae bar and introduced them to a couple of my friends, and was showing them how to take a scoop of ice cream and cover it with toppings when Madeleine let out a stream of furious foreign phrases that I probably didn't want to know the meaning of. And there was Peter, dribbling chocolate sauce on his ice cream, hearing every word. What on earth would he think?
"What happened, Lenje?" Kelsey asked. This seemed to be his own private name for her. I'd never heard anyone else use it and I never would have dared. She'd bitten my head off the one time I called her Maddie.
"I hate that name." Madeleine interrupted, "Especially after Moonlighting - Maddie whatsherface was such a spoiled debutante."
"And you aren't?" Zach said with a smile.
"Given that you refuse to have anything to do with spoiled debutantes, I'd say that lets me off the hook." Madeleine went on with the story.
Madeleine
"Dropped my earring in the caramel." I said, finally remembering to speak in English. "I probably shouldn't have worn them."
"Allow me," Peter said, and to my shock he found a plastic fork and moved it through the caramel until he snagged the earring.
I smiled and said, "My hero." I wasn't really interested in Peter, except that Helen was mad over him and I figured that jealousy might actually get her to say something other that uh and um.
After the sundaes, the group walked down the row of games they'd set up and when we reached the shooting gallery and I noticed this cute stuffed rabbit.
"And it probably won't chew through the vacuum cord, the way that Nicodemus did." Kelsey chuckled at the thought. Nicodemus was B.J.'s pet rabbit.
Here Madeleine interrupted herself. "Wait until you see what Honey found for Kelsey while we were shopping for wedding dresses."
"Do tell," Teddy encouraged her.
"A stuffed peach that squeaks when you squeeze it.
Zach snorted.
"My brother married a woman who owns a peach farm. I feel obliged to tease him about it at all opportunities."
Helen smiled and said, "Anyway back to the stuffed rabbit. Your father..."
Peter gave her a dirty look.
"Your father," Helen continued in the same tone, "had to go and offer to get it for her. He laid down his money and took his shots. Missing most of them, I might add. A second try and a third, went the same way, and by this point it became a matter of pride with him."
She smiled at the memory. Peter winced.
"He was so intent at proving himself, he didn't notice Madeleine quietly put down some money of her own and take up a rifle. Six bulls-eyes in a row on the first try. And he didn't even notice until she was telling the man running it to get her the rabbit."
"Mom always was a crack shot," Honey said, causing the rest of the Bob-Whites to stare at her.
"Seems like there's quite a bit we don't know about you, Mrs. Wheeler," Brian said.
"There's only one thing you need to know about Madeleine...never make a bet with her. She always wins," Jay commented.
"You still owe me a portrait, come to think of it."
"Later...just finish the story, Madeleine." The sunlight flashed off his bifocals.
"By that time, Peter had won a prize as well, and it didn't take too much hinting for him to give it to your mother. Actually there isn't much left to tell...I further embarrassed both of them by actually signing up for the baseball game. Girls weren't supposed to do that (which I didn't know...I'd played Cricket at boarding school). And making a fool of myself because I didn't know the rules gave them a safe topic of conversation. When we sat in the park watching the fireworks, they were already holding hands and I don't think they've looked back since. And that evening I came closer to liking Sleepyside than I ever had before or since, until I moved back here two years ago."
"I wouldn't say it's been that smooth," Helen said. "We've had our rough spots. Alicia thought I should be training for a career not getting married and trying to live with Peter's parents..."
"But it's been wonderful, even when it wasn't." Peter smiled at his wife. "Let's eat."
The End