3-part Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Pie #6. Face Paint
Story : There Are No Small Parts
Rating : G Word Count : 499
All 3 pieces make up a continuous story. Follows Cobwebs. I am determined to finish Pumpkin Pie tomorrow!
“What are you doing?” Fran didn’t need to turn around to know what look Merry was giving her, the disapproval was evident enough in her tone.
Rather than acknowledge it, she decided to be cheerfully ignorant. “Putting on makeup?” she said. She replaced the cap on her tube of sparkly pink lip gloss with a loud pop and proceeded to make a few experimental kissy faces at the mirror.
Merry groaned. “Let me rephrase that,” she said, in her slow, buttery drawl. “Why are you doing it in my dressing room?”
Fran shrugged. “Because your mirror is bigger than Sylvia’s?”
“And your room?”
“Doesn’t have a mirror yet.” Fran turned her head to catch a few more angles, fingering the ends of her bright pink hair, which she’d spent a good deal of time curling and gathering into two rather large puffy, round tails.
“Yes,” said Merry. “Well, we’re going to have to do something about that, aren’t we?”
“How do I look?” Fran turned around to give her a better look.
Merry raised one neatly manicured gold brow. “Pink,” she said.
Obviously. Fran rolled her eyes. “Besides that.”
Merry shrugged. “You look fine,” she said. “What are you getting all dolled up for anyway?”
“I have a date,” said Fran, and she almost giggled at the thought of having finally said it out loud. “At least I think it’s a date. I mean, I’m pretty sure he likes me and all, and well, I like him, and I hope it’s a date, but he didn’t actually say and I keep forgetting to ask, so-” That’s when she caught Merry giving her the look, the one that usually meant it was time to get to the point or shut her mouth, and so she spit it out. “Lloyd invited me to the lake to see the pixies.”
Merry choked on a laugh. “You’re going on a date with Lloyd?”
“Yes,” said Fran, and she could feel the warmth pouring into her cheeks.
“Lloyd?” Merry repeated. “Our Lloyd?”
There was a sinking in her stomach. “I-is there something wrong with that...?”
“No! No.” And it was clear she was doing her best not to laugh, lest she lose control and fall down with it. “If anyone is right for Lloyd…” She shook her head. “Pinky, I’m not sure Lloyd knows what a date is.”
“Really? Well,” Fran said slowly, “we’ll just have to figure it out as we go, then? I guess this is probably a bit overdone, isn’t it?” She had her hand to her hair again, wondering if Lloyd was going to show up in flannel and work boots. “Do you think I should put it back, I mean-“
Merry sniffed. “No sense wasting more time undoing what’s already done. Besides, you never know who else you might meet at the lake,” she added with a wink.
Fran opened her mouth to protest, decided any more words at this point would be wasted, and quickly shut it again.
Pumpkin Pie #13. Full Moon and Bluberry Yogurt #19. Unfamiliar Customs
Rating : G Word Count : 538
As it turned out, Lloyd did show up looking as if he’d done a bit to tidy himself up after all. His thick mop of mousy brown hair was tamed and neatly parted for a change, and he’d managed to find a set of clothes that weren’t patched or stained. Fran still wasn’t sure it was a date. But when they stepped off the trolley at the top of a hill overlooking the lake, and she looked down at the water, still and dark, save where the most beautiful full disc of a moon hit them like a beacon, she didn’t particularly care what it was.
“Oh, it is lovely,” she cried, racing down the hill, Lloyd shuffling along behind her with the picnic basket against his hip. “Pixies or no pixies, don’t you think so? I mean, look at those trees! And the pier! Are those gondolas out on the water? ”
“Yeah, they have a service down by the pier. You can get a short ride or a few shells.”
“Oh!” She clapped her hands in excitement. “Can we do that? Can we? A boat ride under the moon to watch pixies! It sounds so romantic! Doesn’t it sound romantic?” Lloyd just stared as the words tumbled out of her. Realizing what she’d just said, Fran threw a hand to her mouth with a squeak. “Oh gods, I forgot to ask. This is a date, right?”
Lloyd looked confused at that, and Fran’s heart began to sink until he said, “Um, yeah.”
She breathed a sigh. “Oh, good, because Merry said-”
Lloyd caught her arm with the hand not supporting the basket and gave her a very serious look. “One thing you definitely need to learn,” he said. “Don’t listen to Merry.”
Fran blushed. “Oh, good,” she said, “because she also said-”
“Fran?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t want to know.”
He had his hand still on her arm and those big, dark puppy dog eyes locked with hers, and she blushed an even deeper shade of pink. “Right, you probably don’t.” They started down the hill again. “So boat ride first or picnic first? And don’t worry about the boat ride. I mean, I’ve got the shells. It’s on me. I-if you’re okay with a girl paying on a date, that is, because if you’re not-”
“Fran-”
“Oh, there I go again. So…?”
“Picnic first. This thing weighs a ton.”
“Oh! Yes, I’m sorry!” She spun around to find him setting the basket on the ground.
“What is in here, anyway?” said Lloyd, dropping to his knees beside the basket and flipping open the lid.
“Phosphorus.”
Lloyd looked up at her, those dark eyes wide as saucers and his mouth hung in a gape. “You packed pixie bait?”
“Yes,” said Fran. “Why? Is that bad?”
“Just a little.” He sat, frozen, staring at the waxy block in the basket now like it was about to spring to life. And that’s when she saw them, the soft little bursts of light in the grass and the bushes, a few here and there, and then more and more, massing together, sweeping across the ground.
Pointing excitedly over his shoulder, she all but squealed. “Oh, look! Here they come!”
Pumpkin Pie #12. Fearsome Creatures and Blueberry Yogurt #12. Chain Reaction
Rating : G Word Count : 569
“I am so, so sorry!” said Fran, not for the first time.
“It’s all right,” Lloyd insisted, as he had every time she had apologized before. “It’s not like I’m allergic or anything.”
Eyeing the angry welts and scratches that laced their way up and down his arm, slathered in thick, white salve, Fran wondered how much worse it would look if he was allergic and decided not to ask.
“Lucky for you,” said the nurse, shaking her head. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit,” she added, and with that she ducked out through the curtain, leaving them alone in their little cloth-partitioned cell of the clinic.
“I thought they’d like the bait,” said Fran, nervously twisting the hem of her skirt between her fingers as she leaned back against the counter. She wasn’t sure how explaining herself was going to help, but she felt she just had to do it. “I didn’t know they’d think you were part of it. I don’t understand why they didn’t come after me too.” She found herself wishing they had. That might appease the guilt just a little.
Lloyd half shrugged, bobbing only the shoulder that wasn’t half-eaten by pixies. “You weren’t holding the damn thing. If I hadn’t chucked it in the bushes when I did, I’m sure they would have.”
“Pixies are nasty things, aren’t they?” That got her a look of disbelief from the salve-covered and welt-infested Lloyd that made her turn scarlet. “We don’t have them where I’m from. I mean, the circus had lots of animals and all, the unicorns, the griffin, the flame-eating lizards. You know, for a while we even had a manticore. But pixies, well, they’re too fragile to go porting around, especially in the cold. And-” He was grinning a big dopey grin at her as he shook his head. “And you just really wish I’d shut up right now, don’t you?”
Lloyd gave her the puppy dog look. “Why do you think that?”
“Because people usually do.”
“Well,” he said slowly. “I’m not ‘people.’ Oh, don’t look at me like that; I’m a perfectly normal human and all, I’m just not…” There was that lopsided shrug again, and she would have hugged him if she wasn’t quite certain it would have been an incredibly stupid thing to do. “Look, I like the way you get excited about things, even if it is a bunch of pixies, collectively trying to tear my arm off. It’s cute. You, not the pixies. That hurt.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Even if you never get a word in edgewise?”
Lloyd chuckled at that. “What have I got to say?”
“Plenty, I’m sure. I mean, everyone owes you a lot more credit than-” She broke off, sure this was already going places best left alone.
Lloyd cocked his head and his big, brown eyes at her. “You know what I do wish?”
“What?”
“I wish we’d gotten to go on that boat ride.”
“Oh! Me too.” Fran jumped up from her perch against the counter.
“Next time?”
“You mean there’s going to be a next time?”
Lloyd gave his arm a thoughtful look. “As long as you promise not to pack pixie bait.”
Fran had to remind herself that she had determined hugging the man to be a bad move for the time being and firmly restrained herself from doing so. “I think I can manage.”
CANDY FOR ALL!
Story : There Are No Small Parts
Rating : G Word Count : 499
All 3 pieces make up a continuous story. Follows Cobwebs. I am determined to finish Pumpkin Pie tomorrow!
“What are you doing?” Fran didn’t need to turn around to know what look Merry was giving her, the disapproval was evident enough in her tone.
Rather than acknowledge it, she decided to be cheerfully ignorant. “Putting on makeup?” she said. She replaced the cap on her tube of sparkly pink lip gloss with a loud pop and proceeded to make a few experimental kissy faces at the mirror.
Merry groaned. “Let me rephrase that,” she said, in her slow, buttery drawl. “Why are you doing it in my dressing room?”
Fran shrugged. “Because your mirror is bigger than Sylvia’s?”
“And your room?”
“Doesn’t have a mirror yet.” Fran turned her head to catch a few more angles, fingering the ends of her bright pink hair, which she’d spent a good deal of time curling and gathering into two rather large puffy, round tails.
“Yes,” said Merry. “Well, we’re going to have to do something about that, aren’t we?”
“How do I look?” Fran turned around to give her a better look.
Merry raised one neatly manicured gold brow. “Pink,” she said.
Obviously. Fran rolled her eyes. “Besides that.”
Merry shrugged. “You look fine,” she said. “What are you getting all dolled up for anyway?”
“I have a date,” said Fran, and she almost giggled at the thought of having finally said it out loud. “At least I think it’s a date. I mean, I’m pretty sure he likes me and all, and well, I like him, and I hope it’s a date, but he didn’t actually say and I keep forgetting to ask, so-” That’s when she caught Merry giving her the look, the one that usually meant it was time to get to the point or shut her mouth, and so she spit it out. “Lloyd invited me to the lake to see the pixies.”
Merry choked on a laugh. “You’re going on a date with Lloyd?”
“Yes,” said Fran, and she could feel the warmth pouring into her cheeks.
“Lloyd?” Merry repeated. “Our Lloyd?”
There was a sinking in her stomach. “I-is there something wrong with that...?”
“No! No.” And it was clear she was doing her best not to laugh, lest she lose control and fall down with it. “If anyone is right for Lloyd…” She shook her head. “Pinky, I’m not sure Lloyd knows what a date is.”
“Really? Well,” Fran said slowly, “we’ll just have to figure it out as we go, then? I guess this is probably a bit overdone, isn’t it?” She had her hand to her hair again, wondering if Lloyd was going to show up in flannel and work boots. “Do you think I should put it back, I mean-“
Merry sniffed. “No sense wasting more time undoing what’s already done. Besides, you never know who else you might meet at the lake,” she added with a wink.
Fran opened her mouth to protest, decided any more words at this point would be wasted, and quickly shut it again.
Pumpkin Pie #13. Full Moon and Bluberry Yogurt #19. Unfamiliar Customs
Rating : G Word Count : 538
As it turned out, Lloyd did show up looking as if he’d done a bit to tidy himself up after all. His thick mop of mousy brown hair was tamed and neatly parted for a change, and he’d managed to find a set of clothes that weren’t patched or stained. Fran still wasn’t sure it was a date. But when they stepped off the trolley at the top of a hill overlooking the lake, and she looked down at the water, still and dark, save where the most beautiful full disc of a moon hit them like a beacon, she didn’t particularly care what it was.
“Oh, it is lovely,” she cried, racing down the hill, Lloyd shuffling along behind her with the picnic basket against his hip. “Pixies or no pixies, don’t you think so? I mean, look at those trees! And the pier! Are those gondolas out on the water? ”
“Yeah, they have a service down by the pier. You can get a short ride or a few shells.”
“Oh!” She clapped her hands in excitement. “Can we do that? Can we? A boat ride under the moon to watch pixies! It sounds so romantic! Doesn’t it sound romantic?” Lloyd just stared as the words tumbled out of her. Realizing what she’d just said, Fran threw a hand to her mouth with a squeak. “Oh gods, I forgot to ask. This is a date, right?”
Lloyd looked confused at that, and Fran’s heart began to sink until he said, “Um, yeah.”
She breathed a sigh. “Oh, good, because Merry said-”
Lloyd caught her arm with the hand not supporting the basket and gave her a very serious look. “One thing you definitely need to learn,” he said. “Don’t listen to Merry.”
Fran blushed. “Oh, good,” she said, “because she also said-”
“Fran?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t want to know.”
He had his hand still on her arm and those big, dark puppy dog eyes locked with hers, and she blushed an even deeper shade of pink. “Right, you probably don’t.” They started down the hill again. “So boat ride first or picnic first? And don’t worry about the boat ride. I mean, I’ve got the shells. It’s on me. I-if you’re okay with a girl paying on a date, that is, because if you’re not-”
“Fran-”
“Oh, there I go again. So…?”
“Picnic first. This thing weighs a ton.”
“Oh! Yes, I’m sorry!” She spun around to find him setting the basket on the ground.
“What is in here, anyway?” said Lloyd, dropping to his knees beside the basket and flipping open the lid.
“Phosphorus.”
Lloyd looked up at her, those dark eyes wide as saucers and his mouth hung in a gape. “You packed pixie bait?”
“Yes,” said Fran. “Why? Is that bad?”
“Just a little.” He sat, frozen, staring at the waxy block in the basket now like it was about to spring to life. And that’s when she saw them, the soft little bursts of light in the grass and the bushes, a few here and there, and then more and more, massing together, sweeping across the ground.
Pointing excitedly over his shoulder, she all but squealed. “Oh, look! Here they come!”
Pumpkin Pie #12. Fearsome Creatures and Blueberry Yogurt #12. Chain Reaction
Rating : G Word Count : 569
“I am so, so sorry!” said Fran, not for the first time.
“It’s all right,” Lloyd insisted, as he had every time she had apologized before. “It’s not like I’m allergic or anything.”
Eyeing the angry welts and scratches that laced their way up and down his arm, slathered in thick, white salve, Fran wondered how much worse it would look if he was allergic and decided not to ask.
“Lucky for you,” said the nurse, shaking her head. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit,” she added, and with that she ducked out through the curtain, leaving them alone in their little cloth-partitioned cell of the clinic.
“I thought they’d like the bait,” said Fran, nervously twisting the hem of her skirt between her fingers as she leaned back against the counter. She wasn’t sure how explaining herself was going to help, but she felt she just had to do it. “I didn’t know they’d think you were part of it. I don’t understand why they didn’t come after me too.” She found herself wishing they had. That might appease the guilt just a little.
Lloyd half shrugged, bobbing only the shoulder that wasn’t half-eaten by pixies. “You weren’t holding the damn thing. If I hadn’t chucked it in the bushes when I did, I’m sure they would have.”
“Pixies are nasty things, aren’t they?” That got her a look of disbelief from the salve-covered and welt-infested Lloyd that made her turn scarlet. “We don’t have them where I’m from. I mean, the circus had lots of animals and all, the unicorns, the griffin, the flame-eating lizards. You know, for a while we even had a manticore. But pixies, well, they’re too fragile to go porting around, especially in the cold. And-” He was grinning a big dopey grin at her as he shook his head. “And you just really wish I’d shut up right now, don’t you?”
Lloyd gave her the puppy dog look. “Why do you think that?”
“Because people usually do.”
“Well,” he said slowly. “I’m not ‘people.’ Oh, don’t look at me like that; I’m a perfectly normal human and all, I’m just not…” There was that lopsided shrug again, and she would have hugged him if she wasn’t quite certain it would have been an incredibly stupid thing to do. “Look, I like the way you get excited about things, even if it is a bunch of pixies, collectively trying to tear my arm off. It’s cute. You, not the pixies. That hurt.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Even if you never get a word in edgewise?”
Lloyd chuckled at that. “What have I got to say?”
“Plenty, I’m sure. I mean, everyone owes you a lot more credit than-” She broke off, sure this was already going places best left alone.
Lloyd cocked his head and his big, brown eyes at her. “You know what I do wish?”
“What?”
“I wish we’d gotten to go on that boat ride.”
“Oh! Me too.” Fran jumped up from her perch against the counter.
“Next time?”
“You mean there’s going to be a next time?”
Lloyd gave his arm a thoughtful look. “As long as you promise not to pack pixie bait.”
Fran had to remind herself that she had determined hugging the man to be a bad move for the time being and firmly restrained herself from doing so. “I think I can manage.”
CANDY FOR ALL!