"I got shotgun!" calls Marina.
"No, I claimed shotgun!" protests Pollythene.
"No, Dava gets shotgun," says Marianna. "We're dropping him off at his house before we go home. Then we're picking up Doreen at L.U. We're going to have a nice big dinner all together with Dream and UPChuck, then Dava's coming by for coffee and dessert before I head over to the Club. So neither of you get shotgun."
"Aww, Ma-a!"
"None of that, now. Get in." Mari shepherds the two into the car, and drives around to the front of the courthouse where Dava is waiting for her. As he steps into the car, Alan appears out of nowhere and rushes toward them. "Ah, Dava- what the hell am I supposed to do about him?"
"Wait," Dava murmurs. "He won't cause too much trouble with me around."
"If you're going to have that kind of attitude, I can take care of myself!" she shoots back. Mari turns off the car and steps out. "Can I help you?" she asks, blandly with a touch of coldness. My professional voice, she thinks.
"I just wanted to congratulate you. That's one hell of a surveillance system you've got there, and it's smart of you to have it. Frankly, I didn't expect you to have something like that."
"Mac installed it. At my request, of course. I'm glad he listened to me for once."
"And I'd also like to congratulate you on taking me down in a dignified way, instead of making up some domestic abuse story. I didn't think you had the guts to sentence me to death."
"Bite your tongue, Mum. Now is not the time to give him the 'domestic abuse is a serious problem' speech," Polly pleads under her breath.
"If that's all you've got to say to me, I'll be leaving."
"Marianna- wait. I know I've been less than kind to you. I know we have our differences. I know I'm going to jail for life and then some, and I'll probably end up in the chair. But, please, that baby means more to me than anything." Mari looks hard at Alan. He seems to be showing genuine emotion- she's never seen this before. Could he really, truly care about Jamie? "Mari, please, just send me photos of him. Let me know how he is, what he's like. He doesn't need to know about me, but by God, I need to know about him. Please..."
Marianna hesitates. Should she make a commitment like this now? She might regret it later. I will regret it later, she thinks. "I'd like to say yes, Alan. I can't right now. I need to think about it. I need to think about a lot."
"That's the problem with you, Marianna. You think too much about the wrong things. But at least I have some time to convince you." He turns and stalks away.
Mari slumps into the car. "Oh, God... I'm getting that feeling again... those damn swirling colors..." She sticks her head out the car window and pukes on the street.
"Here's your bottled water, Mum," says Polly, handing up the water.
"Thanks, sweetie." Mari rinses her mouth and spits out the window. "Remind me to send a note of apology to the Sanitation Department."
"Marianna, are you okay to drive?" Dava asks worriedly.
"Fine, just fine. I think I'll take the backroads, though." She starts up the car, drives carefully out of the center of town, and as she hits the Foret des Reves border, accelerates to at least twice the speed limit.
"Marianna, what are you doing?!" Dava yelps as he's thrown back against his seat.
"Sorry, hon, I've got to get these demons out!"
"Do you have to try to kill your children in the process?" cries Pollythene.
"I think Doreen wants me in one piece!" shouts Marina over the wind roaring through the windows.
Finally, as they near Dava's house, Marianna manages to slow the car down. Everyone takes a moment to put their faces back in order, as well as their internal organs, and Polly takes a sip from her water bottle. "Well, wasn't that fun!" Mari says cheerfully as she lets Dava out of the car.
"Thrilling," Dava says sarcastically. "I'll be over in a few hours, okay?"
"Sure thing. How does Triple-Berry Cheesecake sound?"
"Delicious."
"See you in a few, then." Marianna backs out of his driveway and takes off for the northern Foret, where Layla:) University is based. Mentally, she runs through everything she has left to do in the next few hours. Lesse... pick up Doreen, run to the store, get home, cook, dinner at six, Dava should be over by seven, then I have to be at the Club to open at eight... Doreen and Neil should help me- oops! I forgot to invite Neil to dinner! "Pollythene, a favor please."
Marianna sets a huge vegetable lasagne on the patio table at her house. "I haven't made this lasagne in... exactly three months!" she says. "I made it the day before my birthday- incidentally, the same day I made that tape. I wonder what made me turn on the surveillance system that day."
"Maybe your sixth sense is returning to you," says Dream. "That's what it looks like to me."
"Probably that's it." Marianna sits down at the table, then quickly jumps back up. "Sorry, I forgot the drinks. I'll be right back."
"No, you sit down, I'll get the drinks," says Daniela. Everyone stares at her as if she's grown another head. "What, did I grow another head?"
"You mean, other than the usual two?" grins Mari.
"Look, I just want to help out. I mean, Mari, you saved my ass today. I owe you at least a little help around the house. I should probably lick your car clean or something."
"Lick Dava's car, he's your lawyer."
"First, he doesn't have a car right now, it's in the shop. Second, he's only my lawyer cuz you asked him to."
"Just get the drinks, Dani." Marianna is completely beat after cooking the huge dinner, and doesn't have the energy to argue with Daniela about something so silly. She just wants to enjoy the celebration they are having. Mari looks around the porch, thinking about how lucky she is to have so many good friends. Dream and UPChuck are sitting on lounge chairs arguing some moot point and feeding each other hors d'ouvres. Polly and Marina are seated on the patio steps and engaged in some intense conversation, probably about whether Leonardo DiCaprio or Matt Damon is the dreamboat of the day. Doreen and Neil are laughing about something they're discussing with Priscilla and Nic, and Coli is occasionally joining in everyone's conversations. She's really blossomed since she got involved with Daniela, Mari muses. I just hope Dani doesn't break her heart.
"Alright, who's got booze tonight?" The guys' hands shoot up, and Doreen tentatively raises hers as well. "Really, Doreen? I didn't know you drank."
"Not usually," she says, "But today's a great day for celebration. First for the case, of course. Second, I got an A on my business management final. And third..." She glances at Neil nervously, and he smiles encouragingly. "Neil and I are engaged!"
"Augh!" cries Mari, then bursts out laughing at the looks on everyone's faces. "It's catching! Everyone's getting hitched!"
Everyone else relaxes and laughs with Mari. Daniela distributes the beers, and sodas for the non-drinkers (except Dream, who decides she'd rather just have water). Then, finally, someone realizes the lasagne is still just sitting there, and decides to cut it.
"Good food," says UPChuck.
"Danke schone," replies Marianna. "Oh, wait, I probably should have thanked you in Italian, since it's lasagne. Of course, I don't know enough Italian to find a bathroom in Rome, so..."
"That's an interesting way to describe your knowledge of a language," says Neil.
"Yeah... I know enough French to pick up a ski instructor in les Alpes, enough German to find a bathroom in Berlin, and enough Spanish to attend the bullfights in Barcelona. Do they have bullfights in Barcelona?" The entire table shrugs in unison. "Oh, well... I'm sure they've got bullfights somewhere in Spain that I could attend. Ole, ole! Toro!"
Everyone looks around, in a way that in some cultures could be called 'nervously.' Here, we call it 'Marianna's being weird again.'
"I know enough Spanish to order a pina colada in Tijuana," she adds.
"Always with the pina coladas," says Daniela.
"And you are always with the bahama mamas," replies Marianna. "Wanna try a rum and coke sometime?"
"Nah," Dani says. "That sounds like a guy drink."
"Paul McCartney drinks rum and coke... four, and he's anybody's. That's what I heard him say, anyway."
"Heard who say?" asks Dava as he comes around the corner of the patio.
"Dava! You made it in time to have some lasagne!" Marianna pulls a paper plate off of the stack beside her and loads a slab of lasagne onto it. "Here, eat. Sit down, make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa... and there I go again, speaking the wrong language for the meal. Ah, well."
"How is everyone? Nic, Priscilla, I hear you two got married while you dropped off the face of the earth for a while."
"Oh, we were still on earth," says Nic, "just we were in Graceland."
"Heaven on earth," adds Priscilla. "I could live there forever, if I could have Layla:) right next door."
"Oh, I didn't know you cared so much about us mortals!" says Marianna. "I mean, we've got a Queen-" Daniela grins evilly- "but that's nothing compared to The King!" Daniela frowns evilly.
"I missed everyone a lot," admits Priscilla, "even though I didn't realize it at first. This is my home. I couldn't stick around Graceland forever. There are some real wackos living there. Like... Texas Elvis," she shudders.
"Texas?" asks Dream, looking up for the first time tonight.
"Never mind that," says UPChuck, looking a bit worried.
"Is it nice?" Dream asks Priscilla.
"Is what nice? Graceland? It's beautiful."
"No, I mean... being married." Suddenly, Dream looks like a frightened little girl, ready to run home to her tree at any moment.
"Yeah, it's great fun!" Priscilla says enthusiastically. "Nic and I haven't been apart one moment since we got hitched! He's even willing to go shopping with me!"
"Well, somebody's got to pay for all those khakis you buy," Nicolas grins.
Dream smiles briefly at the couple, then looks back at her lasagne, but doesn't eat. She just sits there and stares at the pools of grease forming on top of the extra sauce. An uncomfortable silence falls over the group.
"Aaaugh!" Polly screams. "There's a bee trying to eat my lasagne! Get it off, get it off!" She jumps up, dumping her plate on the lawn and spattering her white dress with tomato sauce.
Marianna starts laughing, much to everyone's surprise. "I told you not to wear that dress! You knew that between the sauce and the berries in the cheesecake, you'd ruin it."
"It's not my fault," Polly says indignantly. "The bee did it." Then she starts laughing, too. Pretty soon, everyone is laughing, and soon after that, everyone is making a run for the bathroom. Marianna starts gasping for breath, and finally manages to calm herself down enough to keep from asphyxiating.
"Well," she says. "That was a much-needed laugh. Hey, who's up for some cheesecake?" Hands shoot up and voices are raised, and Daniela volunteers to bring in the dessert, as well as clean forks and plates. Marianna gets up despite Dani's protests, and starts the coffee to percolating.
"Ooh... Marianna, that cheesecake is beautiful," says Dream as Daniela brings out the dessert. "It looks almost too good to eat."
"Nah, it's perfect for eating. Let's eat it," says UPChuck.
Dream glances sharply at him. "Ladies first."
"Since when? You've always been an advocate of equality for the sexes."
Marianna, Doreen, Neil, and Dava exchange glances. This is not right- even when they were broken up temporarily, Dream and UPChuck were always at least civil to each other. This is completely unlike Dream, Mari thinks to Dava. She's always nice to everyone, or at least never purposely, blatantly mean. And UPChuck's never fought with Dream before. He's been upset sometimes, but...
I know, replies Dava. But should we get involved? I think they have to work this out on their own- even if it takes a few years.
I hate to say it, but you're right, Dava. But what am I supposed to do with them in the meantime?!
"Mum?" Polly asks tentatively. "Is it okay if Marina sleeps over tonight?"
Marianna glances at Doreen. "It's okay with me if it's okay with you."
"No problem here. We're next-door neighbors, for goodness sakes. It's always alright."
"Cool," says Marina. "I'm gonna go home and grab my overnight stuff."
"I'm going with her, 'kay Mum?" Polly runs after Marina into UPChuck's yard, then through the back entrance to the garage apartment where Doreen is living.
"I'm thinking about buying Cueball's old house," Doreen says. "I like this neighborhood, I like the neighbors, and the beach is great. And it's a nice, small house, too, just enough space for me and Marina... and later, for Neil and anyone else who might come along." She smiles happily at Neil.
"Hey, I haven't told anyone this," Mari says, "but I actually own that house now. Christianne didn't want it after Cueball left it to her in his will, so I bought it from her for five grand- can you believe that? She sold me that great house for so little... and then she gave it all to her church. I was going to renovate, redecorate, and sell it for a half-million, but if you want it, you can have it for five thou."
"Huh. No kidding. That would be great, Mari. I'll have my lawyer call your lawyer... oh, never mind. Dava's our lawyer. Hey, Dava-"
"I'll take care of the deeds tomorrow morning over breakfast at the Club," he says, shoveling another forkful of cheesecake into his mouth.
"Breakfast at the Club? We don't serve..." Doreen frowns at Dava. "Fine, breakfast at the Club. But I warn you, I don't cook well."
"Marianna can cook," he says. Marianna raises an eyebrow. "Or not. Hey, I'll meet you two at the Club, and I'll bring bagels and coffee."
"I like that idea much better," replies Marianna.
"Does anyone want to see my pictures from Graceland?" asks Priscilla. "I've got them right here... this is me in my wedding dress."
"And this is me in her wedding dress," Nicolas jokes.
"Stop that," laughs Priscilla. "Here's the witnesses to our wedding."
"She looks familiar, doesn't she?" Marianna glances at Dream, UPChuck, and Doreen. "Didn't she go to high school with us?" she asks, pointing at the girl on the left. She has short, curly brown hair, is a little overweight, and looks like she belongs in an English manor house drinking tea.
"Isn't that... Jacquise? She was graduated in my class," says UPChuck. "The Marquise Jacquise now."
"And the other is her sister Julia. She was a year ahead of us," says Dream.
"That's why they look familiar! How did they end up in Graceland?" Marianna asks Nicolas. "And how did they end up at your wedding?"
"Oh, I saw Jacquise talking to Ego one night," says Nic. "I went over to say hi and we started reminiscing about Drama Club. When me and 'Cilla decided to get married, I thought we should ask her to be a witness, since we knew her. I wouldn't want a stranger as witness. And Julia just happened to be in town performing as Priscilla Presley with one of the Elvis acts."
"So how is Jacquise?" asks UPChuck. "Has she still got a yen for men?"
"Of course, but she is dedicated to one right now."
"Jens?"
"No, her husband the Marquis."
"What's he the Marquis of, anyway?" asks Doreen.
"Beats me," says Nic. "I guess something in one of those Banana Republics in South America."
"I wouldn't want to live down there," says Marianna, wrinkling her nose cutely.
"Why not? Because of the weekly revolutionary wars?" asks Dava.
"No, because of the mosquitoes and malaria and stuff. Hey, does everyone like my cheesecake? Or is it not being liked? Because I'm not seeing anyone eating it." Marianna looked down at her own plate, which was empty save a few traces of berry juice. "I mean, I like it plenty. I'd like another piece, except I'm already fat enough."
"Marianna! You're pregnant!" exclaims Doreen. "You're supposed to be fat!"
"I know, I know... will y'all please stop talking, though, and eat my cheesecake? It's making me feel guilty, that I'm the only one eating it."
Everyone nods and digs in, not wanting to make Marianna feel more guilty than she already does. Implicating the father of her child in multiple murders... it isn't a happy thing. Mari still cares about Oskar- Alan. She's only cold toward him as a defense. She can't risk being lied to and hurt again...
All the way across town, Alan is reflecting on the same thing. "I wish I could be nicer to her, but she doesn't seem to care about me anymore. So why bother?" he asks a llama as he walks through his barn. "I can't be hurt by her again. The first time was enough of a blow. And besides, she's sending me to jail."
"But you still love her, don't you?" asks a soft voice. Alan whirls around, looking for the source of the voice, but sees only the llamas, and a few barn cats.
"Who's there?" he asks, glaring about. Then he stops. "Wait a sec... I've heard about this. There's been a lot of this going around. Soft voices telling the truth to people who don't want to hear it... I'll bet some psychic who's really sick of everyone's attitudes is sending these messages." He stops again. "But the only psychics in town are Dream, Marianna, and Dava." And it can't be Dava, he thinks, switching his intrapersonal conversation to the inside of his head, because it's definitely a female voice. And I don't think it's Dream, because she would never get sick of anyone for any reason... which means... He shakes his head. "No way," he says out loud, startling a cat who has been twining herself about his legs. "It wouldn't be her... it couldn't be..."
A week later, Marianna is humming to herself lightly as she sweeps the floors at Club Calypso. It's just before noon, almost time for a Trenchcoats rehearsal, and for some reason she's gotten sick of the dust on the floor. As she shoves the push-broom across the wooden floor, she smiles happily and twirls at random.
"You look happy," says Alan, causing Mari to jump and whirl around, brandishing the broom as a weapon. "Okay, I'm sorry I scared you. Put the broom down. It's not like it could do much, anyway."
"I know it couldn't. It was a reflex action," she says, eying him warily as she leans the broom against a table. "Can I help you?"
"I was wondering... why haven't I been arrested yet?"
"Beats the hell out of me," she shrugs. "I wish to the Gods they'd get it over already, but..."
"Okay, just making sure you hadn't begged me a week or two."
"Why would I do that?"
"To give me a chance to escape."
"Why would I do that?"
"I don't know!" he says impatiently. "I guess I just keep hoping you don't hate me."
"Well, y'know, I sometimes hope the same thing about you!" She turns around angrily, tears filling her eyes.
His face twists up in frustration, then softens a bit. "I didn't mean to make you cry," he says softly.
"I'm not crying," she manages to choke out, quickly brushing the tears off her face.
"I'm sorry... would you like to know why I changed my name?"
Curiosity gets the best of Mari, and she turns toward him, although she is still tear-streaked and red-eyed. "Why?" she asks, and hugs herself as if cold.
"Because now I'm using my real name... I'd been using an assumed name since I got here. I thought that since my last job got botched, I could use my real name and be safe from... everyone. Business contacts. The government. The cops. I don't know why I even came back here. I guess I just like it here..." He gestures with an arm. "Not just Layla:)... I would have holed up in le Foret des Reves if it was just the town. I like the Club. I like the people."
"You killed one of us."
"Was Pez really one of 'us'? He was a smuggler."
"I know. But... can you really be called one of 'us'? You were here under false pretenses, too."
"Did you consider Frogman one of 'us'? I think that what he did was worse than what either I or Pez did. He launched a full-scale invasion of Earth, or tried to, anyway."
"You still love each other... admit it," says a soft voice.
"Dammit! Where'd that voice come from?" Marianna shouts. "I'm sick of that voice following me around!"
"You mean... it isn't you?" asks Alan.
"Me? Why would it be me?"
"I figured it was a psychic who'd gotten sick of peoples' attitudes and pretending and everything. They were projecting their thoughts- the truths- to everyone to force them into opening their eyes... and I figured, with only three psychics in town, you were the most likely. I guess I was wrong."
"No... maybe you aren't," Mari says, a look of realization dawning on her face. "I bet it is me... but I haven't been aware of it! See, my sixth sense was lost to me for years, but lately it's been around more... and it's been around just about as long as that soft voice. I bet it's my subconscious."
"But that would mean... you're subconsciously trying to reconcile us?"
"Maybe," she grins wryly, "my subconscious is smarter than I am."
"Marianna... I'm so sorry... I don't know what for, but I am."
"I'm sorry too..." She reaches her arms toward his neck; he wraps his arms around her waist and sets her on the bar, putting them at the same eye level.
"If only I hadn't gone on that last job..."
"I can't testify now..." They are sobbing into each others' shoulders, and Mari is clinging to Alan as if she can never let go. This semi-paralyzed, surgically-attached position is the one Dream and UPChuck find them in when they walk in five minutes later.
"Marianna, are you crazy?"
"I know!" Mari wails to Dream, tears streaming down her face. She sniffles miserably. "I must be crazy, but Dream, I still love him!"
"Mari, you've got to remember what he's put you through! He left you, pregnant and recently divorced, right after telling you he was a mercenary! You just revealed to the entire town that he confessed to you! What are you going to do now?" The ladies' room at Club Calypso echoes with Dream's words.
"What am I going to do now?" Marianna asks flatly. "I don't know, I really do not know. I love him. I know that. I also have managed to reveal that he's a murderer. I probably have gotten him on Death Row. I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Oh, dear. Let's just get you cleaned up, and we can go back out there and rehearse, okay?"
"Yes. Business. Business is good. Music is good."
"That's right. Music is good."
"Maintain a sense of normalcy... what is Pollythene going to think? She didn't much care for Alan before. I don't remember them ever being in the same place... she avoided him. I never noticed that before."
"You're worrying again," warns Dream. "Come on, knock it off and let's get to work."
"Yep," Mari says into the sink as she splashes cold water onto her face. "Normalc-ehhghghh!" she gargles the last syllable.
Dream laughs at this. If Marianna is goofing off like this, perhaps she is trying to return to normalcy. Or it was an accident, but Dream doubts that as Mari lifts her head from the sink, throws it back (spraying water everywhere, of course), and laughs along with her friend.
"Y'know Dream, this reconciliation thing might not hurt too much."
"Stop dwelling, Mari! Oh, by the way, Uly wants me to get that cheesecake recipe from you. I told him I can't cook, but he said one of us will figure out how to cook it if we really really want the cheesecake. I said it wouldn't be the same if someone other than you made it... he didn't believe me."
"Men... they just don't know about cooking. Sure, they can burn up a dead animal or two on a barbecue, but put 'em in a real kitchen, and they get so lost. I remember one time, I let Justinian try to peel an apple for a tart or something. I gave him one of those vegetable peelers that you can usually trust a five-year-old with... he ended up peeling his finger!" Marianna sighs. "I've learned only to trust professional cooks in a kitchen if they're male."
"So you'll give me the recipe?"
"Sure... want me to print a copy out for you tonight? Or I can email it to you."
"Oh, it's on your computer?"
"Of course," says Mari as she walks out of the ladies' room. "It's the only way I won't lose it in a small grease fire or something."
"Mo-om!" wails Pollythene. Marianna looks up guiltily. She has been snuggling with Alan on a couch at the Club, something she knows Polly isn't going to approve of. But Polly keeps going, not even noticing her mother's close proximity to Alan. "Marina's not going to school this fall!"
"Excuse me?" Mari asks sharply, sitting up and brushing her hair back. "Inda told me she'd be attending classes at Layla:) Public High- and Doreen was just telling me yesterday about all the shopping for new clothes that they were going to do together. What the hell are you talking about?"
"Well, she's going to school, but she's not going to school here. She's going on some boat school. They're gonna travel all around the world, and visit all sorts of neat places, and she's not gonna be here!" Polly climbs into Marianna's lap and buries her head in her shoulder. "Mummy... why does she have to leave now? I don't wanna be without my only friend for an entire year!"
"Oh, Polly... I'm sure Marina will be in touch, and you'll make other friends. Don't worry about it... shh, now. It's okay." She glances over Polly's head toward Alan, who looks back helplessly. How can they tell Polly they've reconciled, just after she's learned her best friend will be at sea for the next ten months?
"I'll go now," mouths Alan. "I love you."
"Love you more," Mari mouths back, then turns her attentions to the sobbing five-year-old in her lap.
Around them, Club life goes on as usual. Daniela dances with Coli under the disco ball, Suki keeps Brian in her cage (away from Kiri), Neil and Doreen serve drinks with amazing skill and speed, and other couples dance, talk, snuggle... All except UPChuck and Dream, who are sitting next to each other, not touching or talking. Dream is in a reverie, probably thinking about the tree she'd rather be with right now. UPChuck watches Kiri, who is teasing Justinian relentlessly.
"I don't see why you have to be mad at me," Dream says suddenly.
"Excuse me?" UPChuck slowly looks over at the elf.
"You're mad at me just because I'm scared about getting married."
"No I'm not."
"Yes, you are. You want me to get married right now. I can't do that. I'm not even used to being engaged."
"Well, you seemed to propose pretty impulsively."
"At the time, it seemed like it was what I had to do."
"And now it's not?"
"That's not what I meant." A frown mars the pretty elf's face.
"Do you want to break off this engagement?"
"No! By the Gods, Uly... I love you. I just can't get married right now. Not this instant. I need at least a year. Or at least until the date we set."
"I'm giving you that much. That's how long we need to plan it, at least."
"I don't feel like you're giving me that much."
"I'm sorry. I'll try to be less... pushy. Even though it wasn't intentional."
"And I'll try to be less on edge. I guess we were both at fault." She wraps her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"Now, that's more like it," he says, looping an arm about her waist. "Remember when we were on that starship, and I couldn't have gotten you off of me if I'd wanted to?"
"But of course you didn't want to," she teases, trying to block the memories of the absolute nothingness in space. "That was a nice elm, the little one they had on the ship. I think the botanist person said it was Bajoran, whatever that means. It didn't communicate well- I think it has a different language than my elm- but it was nice to have it there. I hope it finds an elf, or even someone of another race, to bond with. It deserves a mobile half."
"And I like it when you chatter on like that. I don't mind if you're quiet, but when you're too quiet for too long, it starts to scare me."
"Oh, you like me to chatter, do you?" Dream tries to grin evilly, but it just won't happen with her permanently innocent face. "Okay, let that count as an evil grin, and now I'll 'chatter on' about... orchestra rehearsals."
"But I'm at those!"
"Not pit orchestra! Now, the other day, Inda was in an amazingly good mood, so we didn't really have to work very hard. Well, we didn't until Tomas decided he was going to play while standing on his head..." UPChuck laughs wildly as Dream relates the story.