FIREWORKS

TRIO: Spider Web, Apple, Sand Dollar

QUOTE: "All it takes for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing."

QUOTE: "Alone, alone, all all alone."

~~~~~

Vera teetered atop a velvet covered foot stool in the center of her drawing room in the mansion that she had married well in order to attain. Marta, stooped over to pin the hem of Vera's new dress, told her to stand still. "It's hard enough to get it straight if you weren't fidgeting."

Vera twisted the core of the golden apple in her hand and it finally broke off. "Six turns," she told Marta. "What do you think that means?"

Marta inserted the last pin and straightened up, careful not to wrench her back. "It means it took you six turns to break off the stem."

"But, you're a seer, Marta," Vera said before taking a large bite of the apple.

"I read tarot, I don't have use for silly superstitions."

"Silly?" Vera stepped down off the foot stool and stated, "I will have you know that I had many beaus who have kissed me just after I had twisted the stem off of an apple."

"Your looks didn't have a thing to do with it, I gather," Marta smiled and waved for her to turn around so she could inspect the evenness of the hem. Vera had acquired the best lavender silk from Japan. Marta had been worried about making the dress for fear of ruining the delicate fabric. The old adage, "Measure twice, cut once," reverberated in her head.

Vera caught her reflection in the mirror and oohed and aahed at how she looked in the dress, even though it wasn't finished. She said, "I have the softest lace I have ever seen in my life downstairs. It would look divine around the collar. I was saving it for a special dress. A special occasion."

Vera hustled off to a door in the hallway and motioned for Marta to join her. Marta dutifully followed and asked, "What is the special occasion? Is the Colonel having another party?"

Vera skipped down the steps with her dress hiked up to prevent it from getting dirty and giggled, "No. This is a private occasion. Gaspar's and my anniversary."

"Oh," Marta said in surprise. She had seen Vera and Captain Grisham in a tender moment many times and was under the impression that Vera's marriage was one of convenience. Gaspar had a gorgeous woman on his arm and she lived well, maintaining her extracurricular activities. "Careful!" Marta warned Vera just in time before the senora had backed up into a spider web in the corner.

Vera ducked forward and spun around. That huge web had almost ruined her dress. "Marta! Thank you! I guess I haven't been down here for a while. I've been saving that lace for three years."

"Maybe you should change into something less ornate and special before scrounging around down here." Marta looked around the cellar which wasn't much different from Tessa's. There were golden objects, old family portraits, trunks, a wine rack. The only light was from a small window that cut through the dusty haze of the room which hadn't been occupied in months. Vera lifted a black cloth and squealed with delight. "Look Marta!"

Marta wished she was so young and in love and had the younger woman's energy. She watched as Vera opened a small wooden box which contained small, inextravagant items. Vera said, "These are the things that I brought to the marriage with me."

She picked up a silver mirror and said, "This was my mother's." Vera fumbled through the contents a little more. She pulled out a sand dollar. "Oh, I remember the day my father found this when I was a little girl. It was such a perfect day. My family and I on the Southern Spanish coastline. The great Mediterranean before us. The ships... oh the ships were..." Vera couldn't think of a word to describe such majesty but her body language emitted grandness. "They were pretty. So large. The big white sails. My father put me on his knee--I couldn't have been more than five years old--and we stared at the ships as they sailed by. He told me that my life would be filled with adventure and happiness and that I would be able to sail on such a ship."

Vera handed the sand dollar to Marta and said, "My father found that on the sand that day and gave it to me so I would remember his prophecy."

Marta was touched by Vera's nostalgic journey and said, "Well, you sailed on a least one ship to get to America."

Vera nodded, then corrected her, "Many ships. My father never had the chance."

"Did he die young?"

"No." Vera took the sand dollar back. "My father died an old man, just after my wedding. He was so happy that I married Gaspar."

"I'd imagine," Marta said, then realized that her response may have sounded judgmental. That was the last thing she wanted to do. "Not that-."

"I know what you meant." Vera shrugged. "But I love Gaspar, no matter what anyone thinks."

"I'm glad," Marta said as she put her hand on Vera's arm. Just then, Marta saw a movement at the window. "What was that?"

Vera looked at the window and got up on her tip-toes to strain to see. "There are people walking past the window. Who can they be?"

Marta and Vera ran up the stairs and outside the house to see a mass of people marching in a large oval. The people were strange to the women. They didn't know what to make of them. They were wearing strange clothes that neither senoras had ever seen before. Vera sucked in her breath and almost fainted, "Most of those people are women!"

Marta just stared at them. "I see that."

"But... they aren't wearing dresses! They are in men's trousers!"

"Strange...." Marta said. The people were walking in a large oval, wearing jeans and t-shirts, white spongy type shoes, buttons that read 'HELMWANTSHISOWNSHOWDAMMIT!'. She asked Vera, "What on earth are they supposed to be?"

Vera read the cardboard signs that some were carrying. "SAVE OUR QUEEN!" was the most predominant saying. Vera said, "Oh, they must be peasants who love the Queen of Swords."

"I suppose," Marta said with trepidation. She was a mother hen to her Tessita and those people looked angry. She hadn't seen Tessa since she had gone to the Hidalgos and was worried that Tessa had gotten into trouble as the Queen. Why did she need saving?

The people all said in unison, "Fireworks, change your mind! Fireworks, keep the show!"

One of the people broke ranks in the oval to run to the steps that Marta and Vera stood upon. "We love this show so much!" The fan gushed on, "You two are so great. We have to know more about you and see more of your adventures. They can't pull the show!"

Vera, scared, moved behind Marta to use her as a shield and asked, "Show? What is she saying?"

The fan continued, "All it takes for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing."

Marta nodded, "That's true. That's so very true."

"So we're doing something! We don't want to be alone, alone, all all alone."

END

Oh well, didn't work... want to read another one? Damn That Man!