Bookends
By Shotzette and Missy

Epilouge
By Missy and Shotzette

"...But I don't WANNA move to New York!"

Laverne Kosnoski coddled her six-year-old granddaughter to her side, giving her a gentle hug, "Marie, sweetie, you know it won't be so bad..."

"Yeah," Lenny piped up from his position in the doorway, "Thanks to that Internet stuff, we won't be out of touch for more than a day!"

Little Marie Davis frowned thoughtfully, chewing at her generous lower lip, a Kosnoski trait that seemed to descend through the generations.

She had thrown a fit when her mother announced that they had to move to New York; Skye had been offered a position with Atlantic Records, and, despite the wonders of modern technology, was needed physically at their New York offices. That required the entire family's pulling up stakes.

Everyone except her beloved grandparents.

She began blubbering, unable to imagine only seeing her family on holidays and special occasions. Togetherness already meant much more to her than dumb money ever could.

Laverne's grip around the little girl grew stronger; desperately, she turned to Lenny, counting on him to do something. Befuddled, he turned to a trick that always seemed to make both his daughter and his grandchildren laugh.

"Marie, look!" Laverne encouraged, and the little girl opened her eyes to her grandfather folding a piece of pizza in half, then neatly flipping the slice backward so that it landed, tip-first, in his mouth.

Marie giggled out loud, and her tears began to dry. Laverne's smile was relieved and grateful, and she patted Lenny's hand in gentle tribute.

She wasn't surprised that the smallest touch gave her the sweetest shiver she'd ever known.

"You should love Manhattan," Laverne continued, "I was born in Brooklyn, and it's just perfect for a little girl your age," She teased.

Marie's expression was sanguine, as though she couldn't' quite believe her Grandma was a little girl once. Then she remembered her attempt to teach her Uncles, Marie herself and her baby brother Leon stickball in their back yard and guessed that it could be true.

Marie sighed, "I guess so," She pouted down, looking at her plate, which held only pizza crusts, and said, in her best big girl voice, "Grandpa, may I have some ice cream?"

Lenny smiled, his expression tender, "Anything, sweetie. Chocolate?"

She nodded. As her mother returned from the ladies' room, her eyes brightened once more, "Mamma, Grandpa says I can have ice cream!"

Skye smiled indulgently, stroking her daughter's hair, "Dad, do you want me to help you?"

"Nah." Lenny returned, neatly scooping a dish full of ice cream, "Cookie dough chunk?" He asked his daughter, and she smiled wanly.

"Sure." She smiled. Then she turned to Laverne, "I'm scared, sometimes. Brandon's going to have to stay here for a month before he can get a transfer."

"You'll make it," Laverne urged her, "I made it, somehow," She whispered, quietly, to her stepdaughter, "I thought I'd die when my family moved to Milwaukee."

Skye smiled, "But then you met Dad, right?"

Laverne nodded, "It took us awhile to get together, but know what? It was worth it." She stroked her granddaughter's deep red hair, "I'm sure this one'll meet her prince charming in New York, too."

Lenny appeared with a tray of ice-cream, and coated in California sunshine streaming in from the windows, he looked like her fantasy prince.

"Aww, I thought I was a Count," He joked, passing the dishes out before scooting into the booth next to his daughter.

"I still don't believe that," Skye said primly.

"It's true! The papers are in the safe out back!"

"Dad," Skye sighed, exasperation in her voice, "I'm just kidding." She craned her neck, "Where are the twins?"

"Hello," said two identically nasal voices.

Laverne spun halfway around and glared at her teenage progeny. "Quit sneaking up behind me and doing that! You're going to get a smack!"

"Sorry, Mom," they replied in sing song unison as they rolled their eyes, indicating that they were anything but.

"I can't believe it," Skye choked, "but I'm going to miss you little trolls." Reaching out, she pulled both of her half-brothers into a bear hug. Andy gave her a quick peck on the cheek, as he squeezed her arm ; while Frankie, his own eyes suspiciously bright, complained loudly about some of his friends might see him hugging his sister and think he was from Alabama, or something. Skye just grinned through her tears, then grimaced as her hands cupped their over-gelled heads. She drew back and took a long look at the boys, forcing herself to remember every difference and nuance that made them individuals instead of twins. Superficially, they were identical. Both had inherited her father's lankiness and Laverne's Mediterranean features. Sure, they were still dorks at the tender age of sixteen, but give them a few years to lose their gangliness and grow into those noses...

Frankie, with his loud mouth and over the top charisma tended to dominate whichever room he entered. Standi g before her in his baggy jeans and 'Good Charlotte' tee shirt, he was already dressing like the lead guitarist he was planning to be. As much as her Dad complained about his choice in music, not to mention the volume, she knew he was secretly pleased that one of his kids was interested in performing. Fortunately for all within a half mile radius, Frankie had quit his hour long whine over his parent's refusal to sign the permission slip for his tongue piercing. Skye grinned again. Frankie was a persistent little bastard. She knew he'd have a hunk of metal somewhere in his face by the time she saw him at Christmas.

She glanced leftward at Andy. Slightly more conservatively dressed and significantly more quiet, her other brother poured out his passions and drive on the baseball diamond. Always voted MVP since day one in Little League, his skill and determination had only increased through the years. He had already been approached that summer by a scout for a major league team. Skye grinned again as she remembered the look on the guy's face as Laverne physically dragged him away by his collar and tossed him unceremoniously out f the high school ball park. Laverne's boys were destined for college, and she wasn't about to let some barracuda of a scout fill the boy's head with pipe dreams of easy money. Not like a Kosnowski could be fooled by a line of bullshit like that, Skye thought.

Her reverie was broken, as her small daughter walked between her two uncles, grabbing their hands as her lower lip started to quiver. "Don't cry, Munchkin," Andy admonished. We're going to see you soon. Christmas is only four months away."

"Yeah," Frankie chimed in. "Besides, someone's got to tell Santa where you live."

"Alrighty, then," Skye broke in quickly, picking up her daughter before Frankie's last sentence could fully sink in. "Brandon should be finished loading the last of our stuff in the minivan."

"I"ll go see if he needs a hand," Lenny said as his voice thickened with emotion as he dashed out hurriedly.

"Dad knows that we know he cries easily, doesn't he Mom?"

"Andy, shut up and you and your brother go help load up the mini-van."

Glaring at her son's retreating form, Laverne turned once again to Skye. "Are you sure you don't have any room in that thing for a couple of smart aleck teenagers?"

"You'd be bawling for them in two days," Skye replied.

"Yeah. But it would be a great two days until then!"

Laverne grinned before her face became serious again. "Your sure your going to be okay, driving across the country with two little ones?"

"Can't be any scarier than crossing it in an ice cream truck with three other people with no sense of direction. Besides," Skye added, "We're going to take our time so I'm not driving more than five hours on any given day. We're going to stop in Tahoe and see Aunt Rhonda's new casino. I made her swear that there were some child friendly activities before I committed," she said, seeing Laverne's disbelieving countenance. Then, we're going to drive to Osh Kosh and see Uncle Squiggy for a day."

"A day's all you'll want to spend with Squiggy, trust
me."

"Hey, he offered us free passes to any of the Squiggville Arcades. After five hours driving with two kids, blowing away zombies in 'Resident Evil' will be heavenly."

"Are you going to go through Milwaukee?"

"Of course! Like I could turn down a personal invitation to stay in the Mayor's mansion? That's going to be beyond cool!"

"You'll adore Fonzie, trust me. By the way," Laverne said, eyeing the door, "you may not want to tell your Dad that part. He still has a few issues."

"You two are still frighteningly cute."

"Ain't we though?"

"After Wisconsin, we'll spend two days in Pennsylvania with Karen at her new bed and breakfast, then on to New York. Then in a month, after I've secured a good sitter, and Brandon arrives, we'll be sitting front row center watching Uncle Carmine in 'Chicago'. How's that for a 'Welcome to the Big Apple' present?"

"Oh, I almost forgot," Laverne exclaimed, suddenly as she fished a piece of paper out of her back pocket. Handing the paper to Skye, she said, "If you have any sort of emergency once you get into the city, call my cousin Anthony. He lives on Long Island and will do anything to help you out."

"Great! What does your cousin do?"

"Uh, don't ask. But he's a great guy to know in an emergency."

"I'm really going to miss you, Mom," Skye said as she gave Laverne a final hug. "I don't know how we're going to manage without you."

"We're only a phone call or an email away. And don't worry," she said, peering into Skye's oh-so-blue eyes, "we'll look after Brandon as well."

Laverne patted her back reassuringly. Brandon, outwardly the flighty goofball, had become the most dedicated family man Laverne had ever seen, aside from Lenny. Skye and the kids were his sole reason for getting up in the morning, and Laverne knew that the month long separation would be torture for him. Then gain, she thought with a slight smile, it was always easy to persuade her son-in-law to escort the boys to concerts that were too extreme for her and even, Lenny, to tolerate.


*****

When the mini-van finally pulled away from the curb, there wasn't a dry eye in the bunch. Lenny stood in the middle of the road for a long moment, staring down the highway in his little girl's direction. Fortunately, Brandon snagged his arm and yanked before he was run down by a guy yapping on his cell phone in a Range Rover.

"Well," Brandon said, working past the tremble in his voice, "I guess I should head out to work. Gotta make sure my staff is actually waiting on customers and not piercing each other like last time. You ready to go, Andy?"

"Yeah, Brandon. I'll be home by midnight, Dad," he said, crawling into Brandon's Corolla."

"Yeah, sure," Lenny replied absently, his eyes still locked eastward.

A full minute went by after Brandon pulled away when Laverne said, "Wasn't Andy supposed to help us close up tonight?"

"Damnit," Lenny began.

"Chill, Dad. Andy and I traded nights this morning. He had something he needed to do today."

"What sort of something, and why are you doing favor's for your brother, Frankie?" Laverne asked suspiciously. One of the positives about having broken almost every rule in the book growing up, was that it was impossible for your own kids to snow you. Nearly impossible.

"Geez, can't a guy do something nice without everyone making a federal case out of it?" Frankie looked at his dad for support, but met a gaze nearly as steely has his mom's.

"Out with it," Lenny ordered.

"Geez, he just wanted to borrow Brandon's car because he had something he wanted to do with Caitlyn today, that's all."

Caitlyn.

Caitlyn Meeney. Shirley and Walter's granddaughter.

Lenny and Laverne spared each other a quick glance before they prodded their remaining son to continue.

"Caitlyn just wanted Andy to take her somewhere, that's all, no big."

"Why can't her grandmother take her," Laverne asked. Even though Shirley and Walter had moved back to California five years ago, they still only saw Laverne and Lenny occasionally. The years hadn't been kind to Shirley. Her two eldest sons had done well for themselves. Donald had just been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and was leading one of the first battalions in Kandahar. Always the devoted son, his calls to his family were curtailed and limited by regulations. They hadn't seen him in over a year.

Michael lived in Miami. They saw and heard from him significantly less than they did his brother.

Unfortunately, it was Eileen, Walter and Shirley's last child, who broke Shirley's heart. Eileen the picture pretty girl that her mother doted and fussed over all during her early years through high school. Eileen, the girl who couldn't wait to go far away to college, to finally get away from her clingy and domineering mother. Eileen, who got extremely drunk and pregnant at the same party her sophomore year at Marquette. Eileen, who continued to drink after Caitlyn's birth, only to have all of her drinks catch up with her on a dark stretch of highway one night when Caitlyn was five.

Neither Shirley nor Walter ever recovered from the blow of losing their daughter. They remained in their immaculately kept, but small house in Sherman Oaks. They left Eileen's room the same way it was before she moved out that final time, as if the door was always open for her to return. The guest room down the hall became Caitlyn's room. They doted on their only grandchild, sometimes over-indulging the sweet natured girl. No one ever faulted them for that, because everyone knew she was all they had left. They didn't have each other, hadn't for years before Eileen left home as the two twin beds in the master bedroom attested to. Shirl got what she wanted, Laverne thought wryly as pity gripped her heart, she married a doctor. She should have dreamed higher and married a friend.

"Caitlyn's grandfather won't take her, and she can't ask her grandma because it will upset her. Caitlyn wanted to go to the cemetery and see her mother's grave. They've never let her go there."

"Oh," Laverne said in a small voice as Lenny gently took her hand in his. "Well, that's very nice of Andy to help out a friend, and very nice of you to for switching shifts with him," she said leaning forward to tousle his hair with her free hand.

"Mom! You messed up my spikes," he whined as he ran his fingers through his hair while watching his reflection in the glass door. "Can't believe it. I'm nice to him when he's crushing on a girl, and all I get is my 'do messed up!"

Lenny looked up sharply, "Andy has a crush on Caitlyn?"

"Yeah," Frankie replied, "don't worry though. She's told him a bunch of times that he's only her best guy friend."

"That's not all she thinks," Laverne said, gazing into Lenny's eyes, "he means a lot more to her. It may just take her a while to figure it out."

As his parent's spontaneous embrace deepened into something more romantic, Frankie Kosnowski quickly walked red-cheeked back through the doors of "L&L's Pizza" before any of his friends saw him.

FIN




To Fifths

To Christmas Present













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