Contemporary – Page 15 – Erin Penn's Second Base

M is for Marathon

April 15, 2019April 24, 2024 Erin Penn 3 Comments

“You know I do marathons. right? Something to do after getting out of the marines, right?” Neil glanced quickly in Jazz’s direction to see her nod. “Well, I fell down on the last one. What with Elisa being pregnant and Courtney going nuts over getting a script actually being produced after so many options picked up and timed out, I didn’t prep like I should have and sure as hell didn’t carbio load the day of. So I got to mile fourteen and keeled over. Well, not keeled…” He shook his head. “Nah, I really did. I fell and couldn’t get up. They fluid pumped me and then I got to spend the next two days while Elisa and Courtney took care of me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Their bedside manners could use work.” He shrugged slightly. “They yelled at me for being an idiot as much as kissed my boo-boos.”

“That sounds like them.” Jazz had been friends with Elisa since preschool, and with Courtney since her best friend married her a decade ago.

“So I guess I should give up on marathons, right?”

“What? No!” Jazz turned her body toward the ex-marine. “You love it. Just because you didn’t make it to the end, you still did fourteen miles. I couldn’t do that on my best day back when I used to run track.”

“I’m just going by what you are say, right?” Neil’s lips pulled up at the corner. “That when you fail a marathon, you are a failure and should stop trying, right?”

“Huh?”

“You ran a marathon today. You prepped for it, did everything right, and didn’t make it to the end, right?” Neil looked over for a second. Jazz frowned at him. “You are going to need days to recover from it, right? Self-care, exhaustion, recovery time. right?”

“Yesss,” she hissed, seeing what he was trying to do. “Learn you story-telling from Courtney?” she commented sarcastically.

“Nah, from staff sergeants. Just not adding the run around the far flag pole to think things over part,” he said turning at the first intersection into her neighborhood.

Jazz smiled. “And I am grateful for that. I didn’t run a marathon though. I just went to a party.”

“Nope. You ran a marathon.” Neil declared while he pulled up in front of her house. “Potatoe, patotoe. You are one of the bravest people I know, because every day is a marathon for you, and you try to do it every day. Sometimes you fall down, but you get up again. And that is incredible, right?” He stared at her until she nodded, then he hit the button to back door of the minivan and climbed out. “So let’s get you in, make sure everything is good for you, and get you set up for your next race, okay?”

“You don’t need to–“

“It’s what friends do, right?” Neil pulled out her walker out of the back.

Courtney bounced up behind him after parking Jazz’s car in the drive. “What do friends do?”

“Stuff.” Neil responded, leaving Courtney to close the raised door while he brought around the walker as Jazz got out of the vehicle.

“Yep, we do stuff for friends.” Courtney said looking back and forth between Neil and Jazz. “What are we doing?”

“Getting Jazz into her house and making sure she is good to go before we go, right?”

“Right. We got time for that.”

Jazz shook her head. “I don’t want to be a both–“

“Marathon. You ran a marathon.” Neil interrupted, putting out an arm to indicate Jazz had a choice of walking to her front door, or him helping her to her front door.

Courtney followed them. “Oh, god. He didn’t give you the marathon story, did he?”

“He’s done it before?” Jazz asked, stopping to get her breath after going up her front ramp, covering the issue by searching her purse for the key.

“Elisa keeps trying to help.”

“She is making a small human being for us.” Neil pointed out. “That takes a lot.” He held open the door while Jazz and Courtney went in as Courtney and Neil said together, “Marathon.”

They looked over at Jazz and smiled, clearly waiting. And she shrugged, guessing they do this all the time with Elisa. Together the three of them said, “Marathon.”

Jazz continued. “Okay, I won’t argue anymore.”

“Tonight,” Courtney smirked at the family friend, clearly having heard those exact words from her spouse. Elisa and Jazz had been two peas in a pod while growing up.

“Tonight,” she agreed. “No promises for tomorrow.”

“You know we love you.” Courtney said, hugging her.

“Yeah, I’m getting that.”

“So what do you need us to do, because we ain’t leaving until we do something, right?”

“I got the nurse’s aide coming Monday, so I don’t need much.” Jazz commented looking at the mess around her house. Abandoned projects, dishes, and clothes from the last two weeks. She reminded herself sometimes giving people the opportunity to help is as important as helping. “If you could clean up the dining room table and help me put things away from the party, that should get me through until she comes.”

“That’s it?” Neil asked.

“You sure that is all you need?” Courtney said as she picked up the trash on the table.

“Yeah,” she lied. While it wasn’t all she needed, it was all she could bring herself to accept.

The End

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)

Marathon Party (G to M)
4/8/2019 – G is for Gobi
4/9/2019 – H is for Horse
4/10/2019 – I is for Sherbet
4/11/2019 – J is for Jazz
4/12/2019 – K is for Keeper
4/13/2019 – L is for Loss
4/15/2019 – M is for Marathon

Next: Trigger: Cutting

Flash: Gold Bands

April 14, 2019April 24, 2024 Erin Penn 2 Comments

Image acquired from the Interweb

“Tell me again how you have more in your 401K than I do?” Amanda asked with an edge to her voice as she nervously shifted the prenuptial agreement paperwork in her lap. “I’ve been working twice as long as you.”

Jeffrey glanced to the driver in their hired car, deciding that keeping his pregnant not-girlfriend distracted was more important than financial discretion. “I only have you beat by $20, but mostly I just been putting in the max since I’ve been hired.”

“So have I.”

“No, sweet cheeks,” Jeffrey said cautiously. At five months and on her second month answering to Jennings and without Aksel’s steadying influence, the barracuda never was far from the surface. He really wished Aksel came to Los Angles with Amanda, but he had stayed in Copenhagen to help the next manager. Or, more accurately, stayed with his wife and children in the country of his birth. “I started putting aside the full maximum by law, it’s like $15,000 or something crazy like that, as soon as I was hired. You’ve been flying around the world, making business happen, and setting aside the company match. Which for a manager is nice, but not the maximum allowed.”

Shifting through the paperwork again, she looked for something else to complain about. “My lawyer said you did everything utterly fair and reasonable.” She snarled at the legalize in her lap, working her way down the pile to their mutual wills.

“You told me what you wanted, and I did it.”

Amanda had shocked him with a ring when he picked her up with Mandi at the airport when she first arrived in America. She didn’t have time, working on bringing everything up and running for the new office and management, so he had arranged for the prenuptial and the wedding and the dozen of other tasks involved in combining two lives, three lives, or whatever the number was now.

“Of course you did. You are a god, and you always do everything perfect.”

Jeffrey leaned into the growling woman to whisper in her ear, “And I will prove that again tonight after I become Mr. Reid-Hall.”

A blush happened across her bosom and raced up both sides of her neck to color her cheeks. She whispered back, “How the hell are you making me feel sexy? I’m a blimp.”

“Yep, but I love blimps, my Mistress Troglodyte. Especially when I get to hold them close instead of just looking at them on the other side of the world.”

The car slowed outside of the chapel where Jeffrey had arranged for their wedding. Outside stood his mother. Mandi squirmed out of her arms as soon as she saw her parents climb out of the hired car. The toddler raced two steps ahead of her fall until she landed in her Daddy’s arms who swung her up and around. Amanda watched the brown, wiggling mass of giggles settle against Jeffrey with a bemused smile. The corners of her lips lifted up in what Jeff called her “gentle” smile, the one she saved just for Mandi and him.

Jeff turned to Amanda, the engagement ring on his finger sparkling in the Los Angeles sun, and asked, “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Amanda rubbed her rounding belly.

“We don’t have to do this.” Jeffrey looked at her, concerned. “I don’t need it, and Mom can tell the Major to stuff it.”

“Yes, we do.” She shifted her shoulders, straightening the tailored white jacket. “It protects the children in case anything happens.”

Jeffrey understood that is what she convinced herself this was about, but a variation of prenuptials and wills could work just as well for the legal aspects of asset combination and protection for the children. No, she wanted to be married, and more importantly, wanted to be married to him. She insisted he find a house here and got his primary work location transferred here, even though she will be overseas about as often as she would be in town. The few hours she was here and not working, she wanted to spend with him.

He wasn’t sure he would ever hear the words, “I love you.” from her, not with what had happened in her past. But at least he could say them to her now and have her believe him. And for him, “You are a god.” works pretty fine.

Together Amanda and he entered the chapel, with his daughter on his hips and his son being carried by his wife. His mother there to act as a witness. Inside the electronics were set to send the ceremony back to Utah and Denmark to their friends, and across the world to the half-dozen countries his family lived or were stationed. Trish, the new technical division manager, nodded as they walked in, indicating everything was good to go.

And everything was good to go.

The End and the Beginning

(Words 818; first published 4/14/2019)

The complete Red Mug series:
3/17/19 – Red Mug
3/24/19 – Green Cheeks
3/31/19 – Copenhagen Blue
4/7/19 – Clear Glass
4/14/19 – Gold Bands

L is for Loss

April 13, 2019April 24, 2024 Erin Penn

Jazz winced and couldn’t keep a moan from crossing her lips when Neil went over one of the many speed humps in his gated community.

“I’m sorry,” he said, quickly glancing at her in the passenger seat of the family mini van.

“It’s alright,” Jazz said as she braced for the next one. “Not your fault.”

“It’s just that–“

“I know. It’s alright.” Jazz reassured, using up energy beyond which she had to hide the effects of going over the humps as much as she could. She hadn’t felt them going in, thanks to a fantastic new painkiller, but it had worn off and now her joints and spine were making up for lost time. “Don’t mind me.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not. This is just my normal. It’s okay.”

They both breathed a sigh of relief when they got out of the condo neighborhood and onto normal streets.

“I’m sorry to be such a bother.” Jazz muttered as Neil sped up after the turn, and then slowed down for the next light, causing a rocking motion not nearly as painful as the hump up and down, but still did not make her spine or legs happy.

Neil looked in the rear view mirror, assuring himself Courtney followed in Jazz’s car. Neil didn’t fit into Jazz’s little vehicle, and it was easier to load Jazz’s walker into the van. “You’re not. A bother that is.”

“You guys just spent a long day for the party, and now you got to drive me home,” she argued.

Neil shook his head while staring ahead, waiting for the light to change. “We told you we needed to do grocery shopping anyway. This isn’t anything big, right?”

“You shouldn’t need to do it.” Jazz moved her leg to verify her purse was in the car. She couldn’t remember bringing it out of the house; sometimes the drugs screwed with her memory. “I should be able to drive myself. I don’t know what I was thinking trying to come out.”

“Well, I for one am glad you came, right? Having you there meant the world to Elisa, and we had a great time.”

“So did I, but I really don’t want to be a burden.” Jazz watched as the shopping centers passed by.

“You’re not.”

Jazz looked over to study Neil’s face. He was the newest partner to her best friend, and she hadn’t spent much time with him. “Don’t lie.”

He sighed. “I don’t lie, right? Not good at the whole social nice thing. That is what we got Elisa for.”

“Then you are in trouble.” Jazz laughed gently. Harder would have hurt.

“I know, right?” Neil smiled over at her quickly before returning his attention to the busy road. “We wanted you there. I wanted you there. You are one of the most important people in Elisa’s life, and I am glad you could make it. Got that?”

“Alright.” Jazz let the conversation pause, but eventually the driving thought of not driving herself came out. “I just feel like a failure.”

“For what?”

“For not making it. For having you drive me instead of taking care of it.” Jazz wave her hand out at the everything. “For just, … not.”

“You did great.”

“I did not. I fell down at the end.”

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)

K is for Keeper

April 12, 2019April 24, 2024 Erin Penn

Rating: Mature – Language

Jazz sat in her chair and tried not to cry. The party run long, and then she had stayed to keep Elisa on the sofa instead of popping up to help clean up. The painkiller had worn off exactly three minutes ago, and the soft cloudy wall between her and her pain crumbled instantly.

Elisa finally noticed her friend had gone silent. “You okay?”

A twisted smile pushed through. “Sure.” Then Jazz reminded herself this was Elisa, and Elisa had promised to make her watch the entire Twilight trilogy the next time Jazz lied to her about her problems. “As much as always.”

“So, you are crap right now.” The redhead looked concerned, this time for real.

“Crap, flushed, passed through the sewer and eaten by rats.”

“And thank you for that image!” Neil said, leaning on the couch’s high ornate back.

Courtney collapsed in the oversize and overstuffed chaise lounge. “It was brilliant; I’m stealing it for my next screenplay.” She pulled out her phone and tapped herself a note.

“Anything we can do?” Elisa asked.

Jazz shook her head, then stopped a moment before nodding. “I don’t think I can drive myself home.”

“You can crash here.” Neil instantly offered.

“Can’t. I didn’t pack extra pills.” She winced, changing position to get the triad all comfortably within her field of vision. “As much as I love too.”

“Neil and I can drive you home.” Courtney offered as an option. “I’ll follow in the mini; we need to go shopping anyway and restock the fridge. We had emptied it for the party goods and now don’t have anything for next week.”

“I really–”

“Not another word.” Elisa ordered. “They aren’t going out of their way. Not much. Maybe ten minutes and you are worth that.”

“But–”

Neil interrupted. “Jazz, look, we just had a big party with a lot of friends and not-friends-but-blood. Everyone gave us a few hours of their time, right?”

“Yes, but–”

“Except you.” Courtney continued. “You gave us today, and all of tomorrow. Likely the day following that as well as yesterday. Four days, not four hours. We can drive you ten damn minutes out of our way.”

Elisa smiled. “You think I am worth four days of your life. Let us show how much you mean to us, okay?”

“You’re family more than anyone I am tied to by blood.” Courtney avowed.

“Ditto,” said Neil.

The two looked at Elisa. “What? I got a sane family, and they are cool.”

“Yeah.” “True.” Courtney and Neil agreed at the same time.

Jazz laughed. She had lived at Elisa’s house while they were growing up as much as Elisa had lived at hers. “I give.”

“Speaking of giving, we were wondering…” Courtney started.

Neil rubbed his wrists before dropping a hand to Elisa’s head. “Really, now?”

“Well, we are all together.” Courtney pointed out before turning her attention back to Jazz. “You don’t have to make a decision right now.”

“Really, you don’t.” Elisa inserted. “In fact, I won’t take an answer right now. You need to sleep and recover from this. Ping me on Monday or Tuesday next week.”

“Okay, now you are scaring me guys. Like when you announced the pregnancy with the parasite story.” Jazz sagged backwards, not having any energy left, but also not ready to leave, but then that also required energy.

“My company is sending me overseas for two months, starting about a week after the baby is due.” Neil said from where he stroked Elisa’s hair.

“And my movie is finally ready to film.”

Jazz could see where this was going. “The week after the baby is due.”

“Better.” She grimaced. “On his fucking due date, and the producers are activating the clause which requires me to be on location if I want to have input on rewrites. If I don’t show, the Insipid Karl gets full control.” Courtney wiped her face with her hand. “Did you see what he did with Shadow Stalker? He did that in two week, my story need four weeks of filming.”

Elisa waved her hand encompassing everyone in the room. “And they were kind-of hoping you could stay with me for the duration.”

“I’ll be as much trouble as the baby.” Jazz protested.

Elisa shook her head. “You take care of yourself all the time. If it is a bad day, you can stay in the guest room downstairs. Everything will be downstairs until Courtney comes back anyway since these two are being Nervous Nellies. Please. Think about it.”

“You know Elisa hates to be alone.” Courtney pointed out.

Elisa was a full-on extrovert and being by herself any length of time always had driven her nuts. She was lucky she had two people in love with her. Three if Jazz was counted, and she kind-of thought she did. Not romantic love, but it was a forever-type of love none-the-less.

Jazz agreed, “Yeah, she really does.”

“You can lie in bed, and we can just talk or read or watch movies between me sleeping and feeding the baby. Just be there for me, please?”

“No pressure.” Neil reminded Elisa.

“Fuck that!” Elisa whipped her head around. “I’m pregnant!”

“Can’t wait until I get to start using that excuse.” Courtney scooted forward on the chaise and stood up.

Neil looked at Jazz. “What am I getting myself into again?”

“A house full of people who love you.”

Neil smiled at Jazz. “Yeah.” He rubbed the faded scars marring his wrists. “So let’s get you home, and please send your text at 12:01 am on Monday otherwise Elisa is going to drive us nuts.”

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)

J is for Jazz

April 11, 2019April 24, 2024 Erin Penn 3 Comments

Rating: Mature (Discussion, not action – last sentence)

“So what is your disease?” Courtney’s sister asked, rotating her body in the folding chair to face Jazz while Bobby, who had been Babs at the Valentine day party, made a paper plate hat of bows for Elisa while others of the party dug through the wrapping paper looking for stray bows now the gifts were completely unwrapped.

Jazz looked over at Elisa, debating on how to answer. Courtney’s family had not been happy when she had came out as a lesbian in college, and were even more unhappy when Courtney fell in love with Elisa when the two of them worked sets for a vampire movie, then eloped a month later. Now, Neil in the mix confused them all over again. To them love required rings, and rules, and scriptures, and genders. Emotions, friendship, and trust weren’t even in their vocabulary. And it showed in every interaction Jazz had with the family since she watched her best friend exchange her wedding vows.

If she named her disease, Tiffany would do what everyone else always does. Option one would be say she had a friend who had it and it was much worse and Jazz shouldn’t be wallowing her problems. Option two would be a friend who had it and could function like a normal person, so Jazz should be able to do that too. Option three, which was the most annoying, would be helpful suggestions of a herbal remedy, or a doctor or massage therapist or yoga instructor, like Jazz didn’t spend every hour of every day searching and researching her problems.

Jazz didn’t have the spoons for it.

“Oh, I got walking death, the pre-zombie syndrome, so I’m not really good with the walking.” Jazz grinned as perky as she could. “The pills help keep me above ground and contagious.”

On her other side, a friend from the high school theater crowd choked on her punch. Hunter would be fine in a moment. On the other hand, Tiffany leaned away, then got up and moved to another chair.

Rasping, Hunter commented, “That’s evil.”

“It worked.”

“Not arguing.” She cleared her throat, not taking another sip just yet. “We are going to have to tell Elisa.”

“You’re the actress, you tell her.” Jazz turned and smiled at Hunter. “By the way, saw your back in Price Leader. Great extra shot. They nearly had you in half-profile for a tenth of a second.”

“I have you know I got a speaking part in a commercial last week.”

Seeing the disaster cleanup was nearly complete, Jazz leaned closer to whisper. “Congratulations, a mother part?”

“Yeah, I’ve finally grown old enough to be what everyone wants to typecast me as. I think my career is about to take off.”

“We all seem to finally getting that age.”

“As my six- and twelve-year-old remind me constantly.”

Courtney clapped her hands for attention. “Next up, name the baby, grab some of the pastel notepads. Best name as judged by me and Elisa get an all-day sucker.” Courtney held up a colorful lollipop the size of her face. “Best name as judged by Neil and Bobby gets an all-day sucker too.” She held up a black candy dildo with her other hand.

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)