My Friend, The Fence part two
Title: My Friend, The Fence (2/2)
Author: gracheness
Fandom: Original fiction
Pairing: Charlene/ Tom
Rating: G
Summary: Charlene's best friend is a fence named Francine. This is the story of their friendship and the challenges they face because of it.
Notes: Was inspired by this and part one is here
Spring came and Charlene was diligent in mending her friendship with Francine. She felt a new sense of motivation, aided by the changing of the season. Francine welcomed her friendship and never complained about the lack of time they had shared together throughout winter. Having endured winter, Francine was looking more weathered now, and was adopting a greyer brown, losing her original golden glow. Charlene’s hair had grown somewhat, but that was beside the point (Francine liked the new look).
Soon, they were spending all their time together again. Charlene had started to draw, as her parents wanted to see the results her newfound passion. Her drawings weren’t fantastic, but she was vastly improving. There were some spiky, harsh pencil sketches of the trees that she had done in winter. Her sketchbook was now bursting with the new life of spring. She was particularly fond of drawing young birds in their nests. As a gesture of friendship, Charlene agreed to scour Francine for bugs, spider webs and other unsavoury things that Francine could not remove herself.
“Charlene, that bush has been annoying me of late.”
“Has it?”
“Yes, quite. It claims it will dump pollen on me because I am a fence and it does not like fences.”
“That’s not very fair,” Charlene frowned.
“No. Do you think you could do something, Charlene? Talk to it, perhaps?”
“I’ll give it a go.” Charlene went over to talk to the bush, but to no avail. She couldn’t get a sound out of the bush. There was only one thing left for her to do. She went to her room, subtly leaving the door open a crack and started pretending to sneeze. This was not enough to warrant her parents’ attention. She started to wheeze. Her mother came in and asked her what was wrong. Charlene claimed she was having an extreme allergic reaction to one of the bushes. She had worked out which one, because her reaction was the worst next to it. Charlene’s parents decided to have the bush removed immediately. Francine was most grateful for Charlene’s effort.
Francine was even friendlier after Charlene had removed the bush for her. Francine was never jealous of Charlene’s friends, but Charlene could tell that Francine was pleased that she hadn’t seen her human friends for a while. Francine gave off the vibe that during school was sufficient time for Charlene to interact with her human friends. Her parent’s hadn’t picked up on this, because they were so pleased she had taken such an interest in her art.
Previously Charlene hadn’t taken much of an interest in anything, so her parents were thrilled that she was suddenly so passionate about something. Of course, in reality, Charlene had become interested in art. She always showed her artwork to Francine, who was enjoying her work more and more. Francine always wanted Charlene to draw her, but was too shy to ask. However, Charlene offered and Francine was overjoyed. It took Charlene a long time to draw Francine, because she was such a long fence and because Charlene wanted to do a good job. On the second day, she presented her piece to Francine, who was stunned at the quality of the drawing. Francine had never felt more proud of her friend.
Although, there was a large oak tree obscuring the view of some of Francine. “That oak tree ruins your aesthetics, Francine,” Charlene observed.
“You’re quite right,” Francine mused. Charlene thought nothing more of it.
With the intense time she’d spent with Francine, Charlene wanted some human interaction again. Charlene was being left out of social gatherings her friends partook in. Instead of spending her usual Saturday afternoon with Francine, she opted to see a movie with friends. There was a large group of them from her school, including her crush, Tom. She sat next to him in the movie and came out of the cinema blushing. Charlene was popular amongst her friends and they were pleased to see her out again. She had shown them the vast improvements in her artwork and they admired her talent. They also understood what was taking up so much of her time. Charlene could now perfectly balance talking to Francine and drawing at the same time.
As upset as Francine was, she wasn’t just going to sit there. Metaphorically, that is. She had noticed a small bird that Francine was fond of drawing liked to sit on her a lot and didn’t make a mess like the other birds did. She had never tried to engage it though. She didn’t know birds’ feelings on fences in the whole scheme of things, so she had never attempted to strike up a conversation. This bird, Robin turned out to be incredibly friendly. Robin was quite the loner in her family; she could be considered the runt. Her siblings just didn’t seem to accept her. Robin spent most of her time perching on Francine. She would occasionally find worms near the base of Francine. Francine learned a lot in the art that is worm-finding.
Robin was immature and wasn’t as good a listener as Charlene. Robin’s eyes often glazed over when Francine was explaining the finer points of the fight between trees and fences. Of course this wasn’t all Francine liked to talk about; as she grew older and wiser she was learning more and observing the natural life cycle. Francine had a particular interest in fungus and mushrooms, whereas Robin was only interested in worms. But they both found companionship in each other, whereas alone they would be lonesome. Robin and Francine liked to make jokes about the elderly couple on the other side of the fence. Robin once said she spotted a worm in the lady’s perm.
This was the first time Francine talked to an animal. She also became fond of a spider who had taken up residence in one of her many crevices. The spider promised not to leave old web and not to produce excess web on Francine. They got on well together, if not a little one sided. The spider didn’t seem interested in the bickering between trees and fences at all. So Francine’s main animal friend was Robin, but Robin was immature and didn’t understand the finer points of friendship. Francine enjoyed Robin’s company but didn’t count her as a friend.
Charlene was overjoyed to be balancing her human friends with Francine. She felt a new sense of maturity? Pride? She didn’t know, she was just pleased her social life was working out. She had even overcome her fear and asked Tom out. Of course Tom had liked her; he admitted that he wanted to ask her out. But Tom was a shy boy. Her friends were happy for her because she could spend time with them and her boyfriend at the same time.
Charlene decided it was time to introduce Tom to Francine. She wanted him to meet her best friend. She asked him to come around one afternoon and said she’d show him her drawings. This was not an excuse; she fully intended to do that. Tom was amazed at her drawings, because he often enjoyed observing birds and nature, but only in the place of doing homework. Charlene said to him “I’d like you to meet Francine. She’s my best friend.”
“Oh sure, that’d be great. She doesn’t go to our school, does she?”
“No, she doesn’t really go to school…”
“Oh cool! Uni, then?” Tom seemed impressed.
“No. You’ll see, just meet her.”
“Francine!” Charlene called out from the door.
They approached Francine. “Hey Francine, there’s someone I’d like you to meet! This is my boyfriend, Tom.” There was no answer.
“Oh, does she live next door?” Tom asked, puzzled.
“Umm.”
Still no answer from Francine.
“Uh, yeah. She does. She must be… out.”
“Okay, that’s cool. I’ll meet her some other time then. Anyway, I’ve got to go. Catch.”
“Yea, see you.” He kissed her on the cheek.
Charlene went inside, furious. She didn’t know what to say to Francine. After much thought, she told herself to stop being a drama queen and go talk to her. “Francine, what were you doing?” She said, accusingly.
“What do you mean?” the innocence dripped from her voice.
“You ignored Tom and me!” She spat.
“Who?”
“Tom. My boyfriend. Half an hour ago.”
“But I wasn’t here half an hour ago.”
“What?” Charlene was seething.
“I was next door.”
“You were next door…” Charlene said, incredulous
“Yes. I turned around,” Francine said, simply.
“But you’ve never done that before.”
“Not when you were there.” Francine was always one step ahead.
“Fine,” and Charlene gave up. “I’m going inside.”
Their bickering, or what there was of it didn’t last long. Charlene was sitting beside Francine in a matter of days. She accepted what Francine had said at face value. Charlene explained that she could see both sides of the fence, but had the ability to turn around completely and shut one side off. She couldn’t promise not to do it again, because she didn’t know when Charlene would turn up.
“Say, Charlene, do you remember that unattractive oak tree in your portrait of me?”
Charlene gave it little thought, “of course I do, its right over there,” she waved her hand in the general direction.
“Yes, that tree has been threatening to uproot me.” Francine said urgently.
“Oh, that’s terrible.” Charlene said, shocked. “Can we stop it?”
“I don’t know,” wailed Francine. “I was hoping you’d know what to do.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t. I doubt it would talk to me.”
“Could you help me out, please?” Asked Francine, “Please work out what to do.”
Charlene almost lost sleep over the matter. In that time she devised a plan. “Francine, I’ve got it!”
“Oh?”
“Yes! I’ll forge a letter from next door saying the roots of the oak tree will soon disrupt their pool!”
“Would that work? Would your parents question it?”
“Of course not, they’re too busy and stupid anyway.”
“That’s fantastic, Charlene. Thanks for helping me out!”
So that night, Charlene forged a letter to her parents. She made it formal and old fashioned and created the old people’s names. She wrote the letter by hand on expensive letter paper for that old fashioned touch. Her parents were surprised, but didn’t suspect a thing. “Same thing happened to Joe’s house,” her father said. Joe was his brother. “Those oak trees are such a pain.” Charlene had heard enough. She was overjoyed and ran outside with the news. Francine was over the moon. When Charlene went back inside she heard her parents discussing the matter. “I wonder why they didn’t just come over and tell us,” her mother said. “I think we should call them,” she continued.
“If by we you mean you, that’d be fantastic,” her father said, amused, but he was serious.
Charlene, being nosey, especially when it came to issues regarding Francine, picked up the phone in her room and listened to her mother’s conversation.
“Hello, Harry is it?”
“What?” An old voice croaked.
“Hello, this is Sandra. Your next door neighbour.” She enunciated.
“What? Yes” He crackled.
“Our oak tree could potentially disrupt your pool?” She asked.
“Yes,” he replied, hoping it was the right answer. His hearing hadn’t been too good since the war.
“Okay then, Harry. I’m sorry; we’ll get on to it right away.”
“Yes,” he repeated.
Charlene was most pleased. She wasn’t aware of just how senile they were. Perhaps he just didn’t have his hearing aid in. The next day, specialist tree removers came to remove the tree. Charlene leaned on Francine and watched it all happen. This didn’t last because she was asked to move. She watched from the window and gave a thumbs-up to Francine. She went outside immediately with a big grin on her face. “That tree won’t bother you anymore.”
“Nope. Thank you.” Charlene told Francine about how senile the old people next door were and they thanked their good fortunes.
The next day, Charlene was on a date with Tom, and he walked her home. He looked over at the house next door and said, “Hey Charlene, whatever happened to that girl next door?”
“Oh, Francine?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, she… moved away.”
“Okay then.” They didn’t speak of it again.
As time passed, more and more trees were being cruel to Francine and Charlene’s parents were convinced to remove them. Charlene was disappointed because they were no longer any birds for her to draw, and no shade for her to sit in. Her parents were disappointed because they loved their garden, and they loved looking out at the greenery. But they loved Charlene and didn’t want to disappoint her, because she had been rather strange of late. She had been prone to tantrums, which had never been a problem before.
Charlene hadn’t noticed the decline in trees there were none left. She mentioned this to Francine. Francine simply said “Well, you can go inside if you like.”
“But Francine, this once lush garden is now desolate grass. All the trees and animals are gone and even the grass is drying out because of summer.”
“Oh well. You didn’t have to help me out, did you.” It was not a question.
“That’s great Francine. You know how much pressure you put on me to remove the trees. There aren’t even nice, flowering bushes anymore. All you’ve left is one measly row of tulips.”
“All I’ve left? All I’ve left. You removed them all. It was you.”
Charlene stormed into her house. She went inside, and crawled under the window sill. The window was open. Francine couldn’t see Charlene sitting inside and had no hesitation in saying, “We’ve done it. We’ve got our way.”
Francine had been a lying, conniving fence all along. Charlene was devastated when she found out that Francine was friends with Francis, the picket fence along the front of the house. All along she pretended to have a hatred of other fences, and a desire for affinity with trees when she was just manipulating her all along. Charlene felt used and betrayed. She never talked to a fence again.
A/N: Referring to the war that the old man was in. The point was I never said he was in any war; it was just the garbage that old people make up. However, the timing was right for him to be in Vietnam.
Author: gracheness
Fandom: Original fiction
Pairing: Charlene/ Tom
Rating: G
Summary: Charlene's best friend is a fence named Francine. This is the story of their friendship and the challenges they face because of it.
Notes: Was inspired by this and part one is here
Spring came and Charlene was diligent in mending her friendship with Francine. She felt a new sense of motivation, aided by the changing of the season. Francine welcomed her friendship and never complained about the lack of time they had shared together throughout winter. Having endured winter, Francine was looking more weathered now, and was adopting a greyer brown, losing her original golden glow. Charlene’s hair had grown somewhat, but that was beside the point (Francine liked the new look).
Soon, they were spending all their time together again. Charlene had started to draw, as her parents wanted to see the results her newfound passion. Her drawings weren’t fantastic, but she was vastly improving. There were some spiky, harsh pencil sketches of the trees that she had done in winter. Her sketchbook was now bursting with the new life of spring. She was particularly fond of drawing young birds in their nests. As a gesture of friendship, Charlene agreed to scour Francine for bugs, spider webs and other unsavoury things that Francine could not remove herself.
“Charlene, that bush has been annoying me of late.”
“Has it?”
“Yes, quite. It claims it will dump pollen on me because I am a fence and it does not like fences.”
“That’s not very fair,” Charlene frowned.
“No. Do you think you could do something, Charlene? Talk to it, perhaps?”
“I’ll give it a go.” Charlene went over to talk to the bush, but to no avail. She couldn’t get a sound out of the bush. There was only one thing left for her to do. She went to her room, subtly leaving the door open a crack and started pretending to sneeze. This was not enough to warrant her parents’ attention. She started to wheeze. Her mother came in and asked her what was wrong. Charlene claimed she was having an extreme allergic reaction to one of the bushes. She had worked out which one, because her reaction was the worst next to it. Charlene’s parents decided to have the bush removed immediately. Francine was most grateful for Charlene’s effort.
Francine was even friendlier after Charlene had removed the bush for her. Francine was never jealous of Charlene’s friends, but Charlene could tell that Francine was pleased that she hadn’t seen her human friends for a while. Francine gave off the vibe that during school was sufficient time for Charlene to interact with her human friends. Her parent’s hadn’t picked up on this, because they were so pleased she had taken such an interest in her art.
Previously Charlene hadn’t taken much of an interest in anything, so her parents were thrilled that she was suddenly so passionate about something. Of course, in reality, Charlene had become interested in art. She always showed her artwork to Francine, who was enjoying her work more and more. Francine always wanted Charlene to draw her, but was too shy to ask. However, Charlene offered and Francine was overjoyed. It took Charlene a long time to draw Francine, because she was such a long fence and because Charlene wanted to do a good job. On the second day, she presented her piece to Francine, who was stunned at the quality of the drawing. Francine had never felt more proud of her friend.
Although, there was a large oak tree obscuring the view of some of Francine. “That oak tree ruins your aesthetics, Francine,” Charlene observed.
“You’re quite right,” Francine mused. Charlene thought nothing more of it.
With the intense time she’d spent with Francine, Charlene wanted some human interaction again. Charlene was being left out of social gatherings her friends partook in. Instead of spending her usual Saturday afternoon with Francine, she opted to see a movie with friends. There was a large group of them from her school, including her crush, Tom. She sat next to him in the movie and came out of the cinema blushing. Charlene was popular amongst her friends and they were pleased to see her out again. She had shown them the vast improvements in her artwork and they admired her talent. They also understood what was taking up so much of her time. Charlene could now perfectly balance talking to Francine and drawing at the same time.
As upset as Francine was, she wasn’t just going to sit there. Metaphorically, that is. She had noticed a small bird that Francine was fond of drawing liked to sit on her a lot and didn’t make a mess like the other birds did. She had never tried to engage it though. She didn’t know birds’ feelings on fences in the whole scheme of things, so she had never attempted to strike up a conversation. This bird, Robin turned out to be incredibly friendly. Robin was quite the loner in her family; she could be considered the runt. Her siblings just didn’t seem to accept her. Robin spent most of her time perching on Francine. She would occasionally find worms near the base of Francine. Francine learned a lot in the art that is worm-finding.
Robin was immature and wasn’t as good a listener as Charlene. Robin’s eyes often glazed over when Francine was explaining the finer points of the fight between trees and fences. Of course this wasn’t all Francine liked to talk about; as she grew older and wiser she was learning more and observing the natural life cycle. Francine had a particular interest in fungus and mushrooms, whereas Robin was only interested in worms. But they both found companionship in each other, whereas alone they would be lonesome. Robin and Francine liked to make jokes about the elderly couple on the other side of the fence. Robin once said she spotted a worm in the lady’s perm.
This was the first time Francine talked to an animal. She also became fond of a spider who had taken up residence in one of her many crevices. The spider promised not to leave old web and not to produce excess web on Francine. They got on well together, if not a little one sided. The spider didn’t seem interested in the bickering between trees and fences at all. So Francine’s main animal friend was Robin, but Robin was immature and didn’t understand the finer points of friendship. Francine enjoyed Robin’s company but didn’t count her as a friend.
Charlene was overjoyed to be balancing her human friends with Francine. She felt a new sense of maturity? Pride? She didn’t know, she was just pleased her social life was working out. She had even overcome her fear and asked Tom out. Of course Tom had liked her; he admitted that he wanted to ask her out. But Tom was a shy boy. Her friends were happy for her because she could spend time with them and her boyfriend at the same time.
Charlene decided it was time to introduce Tom to Francine. She wanted him to meet her best friend. She asked him to come around one afternoon and said she’d show him her drawings. This was not an excuse; she fully intended to do that. Tom was amazed at her drawings, because he often enjoyed observing birds and nature, but only in the place of doing homework. Charlene said to him “I’d like you to meet Francine. She’s my best friend.”
“Oh sure, that’d be great. She doesn’t go to our school, does she?”
“No, she doesn’t really go to school…”
“Oh cool! Uni, then?” Tom seemed impressed.
“No. You’ll see, just meet her.”
“Francine!” Charlene called out from the door.
They approached Francine. “Hey Francine, there’s someone I’d like you to meet! This is my boyfriend, Tom.” There was no answer.
“Oh, does she live next door?” Tom asked, puzzled.
“Umm.”
Still no answer from Francine.
“Uh, yeah. She does. She must be… out.”
“Okay, that’s cool. I’ll meet her some other time then. Anyway, I’ve got to go. Catch.”
“Yea, see you.” He kissed her on the cheek.
Charlene went inside, furious. She didn’t know what to say to Francine. After much thought, she told herself to stop being a drama queen and go talk to her. “Francine, what were you doing?” She said, accusingly.
“What do you mean?” the innocence dripped from her voice.
“You ignored Tom and me!” She spat.
“Who?”
“Tom. My boyfriend. Half an hour ago.”
“But I wasn’t here half an hour ago.”
“What?” Charlene was seething.
“I was next door.”
“You were next door…” Charlene said, incredulous
“Yes. I turned around,” Francine said, simply.
“But you’ve never done that before.”
“Not when you were there.” Francine was always one step ahead.
“Fine,” and Charlene gave up. “I’m going inside.”
Their bickering, or what there was of it didn’t last long. Charlene was sitting beside Francine in a matter of days. She accepted what Francine had said at face value. Charlene explained that she could see both sides of the fence, but had the ability to turn around completely and shut one side off. She couldn’t promise not to do it again, because she didn’t know when Charlene would turn up.
“Say, Charlene, do you remember that unattractive oak tree in your portrait of me?”
Charlene gave it little thought, “of course I do, its right over there,” she waved her hand in the general direction.
“Yes, that tree has been threatening to uproot me.” Francine said urgently.
“Oh, that’s terrible.” Charlene said, shocked. “Can we stop it?”
“I don’t know,” wailed Francine. “I was hoping you’d know what to do.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t. I doubt it would talk to me.”
“Could you help me out, please?” Asked Francine, “Please work out what to do.”
Charlene almost lost sleep over the matter. In that time she devised a plan. “Francine, I’ve got it!”
“Oh?”
“Yes! I’ll forge a letter from next door saying the roots of the oak tree will soon disrupt their pool!”
“Would that work? Would your parents question it?”
“Of course not, they’re too busy and stupid anyway.”
“That’s fantastic, Charlene. Thanks for helping me out!”
So that night, Charlene forged a letter to her parents. She made it formal and old fashioned and created the old people’s names. She wrote the letter by hand on expensive letter paper for that old fashioned touch. Her parents were surprised, but didn’t suspect a thing. “Same thing happened to Joe’s house,” her father said. Joe was his brother. “Those oak trees are such a pain.” Charlene had heard enough. She was overjoyed and ran outside with the news. Francine was over the moon. When Charlene went back inside she heard her parents discussing the matter. “I wonder why they didn’t just come over and tell us,” her mother said. “I think we should call them,” she continued.
“If by we you mean you, that’d be fantastic,” her father said, amused, but he was serious.
Charlene, being nosey, especially when it came to issues regarding Francine, picked up the phone in her room and listened to her mother’s conversation.
“Hello, Harry is it?”
“What?” An old voice croaked.
“Hello, this is Sandra. Your next door neighbour.” She enunciated.
“What? Yes” He crackled.
“Our oak tree could potentially disrupt your pool?” She asked.
“Yes,” he replied, hoping it was the right answer. His hearing hadn’t been too good since the war.
“Okay then, Harry. I’m sorry; we’ll get on to it right away.”
“Yes,” he repeated.
Charlene was most pleased. She wasn’t aware of just how senile they were. Perhaps he just didn’t have his hearing aid in. The next day, specialist tree removers came to remove the tree. Charlene leaned on Francine and watched it all happen. This didn’t last because she was asked to move. She watched from the window and gave a thumbs-up to Francine. She went outside immediately with a big grin on her face. “That tree won’t bother you anymore.”
“Nope. Thank you.” Charlene told Francine about how senile the old people next door were and they thanked their good fortunes.
The next day, Charlene was on a date with Tom, and he walked her home. He looked over at the house next door and said, “Hey Charlene, whatever happened to that girl next door?”
“Oh, Francine?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, she… moved away.”
“Okay then.” They didn’t speak of it again.
As time passed, more and more trees were being cruel to Francine and Charlene’s parents were convinced to remove them. Charlene was disappointed because they were no longer any birds for her to draw, and no shade for her to sit in. Her parents were disappointed because they loved their garden, and they loved looking out at the greenery. But they loved Charlene and didn’t want to disappoint her, because she had been rather strange of late. She had been prone to tantrums, which had never been a problem before.
Charlene hadn’t noticed the decline in trees there were none left. She mentioned this to Francine. Francine simply said “Well, you can go inside if you like.”
“But Francine, this once lush garden is now desolate grass. All the trees and animals are gone and even the grass is drying out because of summer.”
“Oh well. You didn’t have to help me out, did you.” It was not a question.
“That’s great Francine. You know how much pressure you put on me to remove the trees. There aren’t even nice, flowering bushes anymore. All you’ve left is one measly row of tulips.”
“All I’ve left? All I’ve left. You removed them all. It was you.”
Charlene stormed into her house. She went inside, and crawled under the window sill. The window was open. Francine couldn’t see Charlene sitting inside and had no hesitation in saying, “We’ve done it. We’ve got our way.”
Francine had been a lying, conniving fence all along. Charlene was devastated when she found out that Francine was friends with Francis, the picket fence along the front of the house. All along she pretended to have a hatred of other fences, and a desire for affinity with trees when she was just manipulating her all along. Charlene felt used and betrayed. She never talked to a fence again.
A/N: Referring to the war that the old man was in. The point was I never said he was in any war; it was just the garbage that old people make up. However, the timing was right for him to be in Vietnam.