All I Want, Part 4
By Missy




SERIES: All I Want
PART: Four of four
RATING: PG-13ish (For discussion of mature themes)
PAIRING(s): Lenny/Laverne inference, perhaps, but this is mostly a straightforward SOL Tale.
DISTRIBUTION: To LW, Kai, Myself and FG so far; any other archives are welcome to ask, but disclaimers must be included, my email left intact. send a URL, and provide full disclaimers as well as credit me fully. Please inform me if you are going to submit my work to any sort of search engine. Please do not submit my work to a search engine that picks out random sets of words and uses them as key words, such as "Google"

Please contact me in order for this story to be placed on an archive, or if you want know of a friend who would enjoy my works, please email me their address and I will mail them the stories, expressly for the purpose of link trading. MiSTiers are welcomed! Please do inform me that you'd like to do the MiSTing, however, and send me a copy of the finished product. I'd also love to archive any MiSTings that are made of my work!
CATEGORY: Dramady
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SETTING IN TIMELINE: Milwaukee Era
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: When Shirley discovers that her family tree branches into the Squiggman's yard, she yearns to prune herself (cutesey, I know ;-) )
NOTES: Inspired by "Who's Pappa"; I thought exploring the idea of Shirley having to come to terms with her prejudices regarding Squiggy, and especially being a member of the "lower class" Squiggman family.

****

"Squiggy?" Shirley asked meekly, knocking at the door of his apartment.

There wasn't an answer.

Instead, she saw Lenny, glaring angrily at her. "Whattya want, Shirl?"

She coughed, "Oh, hello, Leonard..."

"Tell me what happened."

She smiled, falsely, "There was a bit of unpleasentness between us..."

"Ya mean ya called Squiggy a greasy bum?"

She winced, "Not so bluntly."

"But ya meant it," She frowned, shaking his head, "Shirl, Squiggy only plays that he's tough. Ya gotta know he ain't exactly the toughest guy in the world..."

Shirley sighed, "I'm sorry, Len..." She sat down, "Everything's such a mess. I don't know why I can't just be NICE to Squiggy..."

"Well, Squiggy ain't easy to deal with, neither," Lenny admitted, "But...maybe ya could be a little bit nicer ta him?"

Shirley sighed, "He's my cousin and I can barely stand to be in the same room with him," She sighed, disappointment in her voice, "Maybe I'm being too hard on him."

Lenny indicated he did with a snort and a shrug,

"Maybe...I'm not seeing that he's not the worst guy in the world because of my own prejudices..."

Lenny bit his tongue.

"Maybe, maybe...I should understand that he tries his hardest to be nice to me."

Lenny smiled.

To his surprise, she hugged him, "Oh, Leonard, thank you so much!!" At that point she raced out of the apartment.

"Boy!" He said to himself, smiling, "Someone really listened ta me!"

***

Shirley, on a hunch, found Squiggy sitting on a bench in the park. He stared out over the grass, an aborbed, forlorn look on his face.

She smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Need a friend?"

Squiggy looked up at her, "Yeah. Were's Len?"

Shirley sat down beside her cousin, "Squiggy..." She took a deep breath, "I'm sorry that I was mad at you. I'm sorry I keep snapping at you...I think that I'm being unfair about the way you are, as a person. I know you try your hardest to be nice, and some people just don't notice that you are."

He seemed dazzled by her words, "Huh?"

She smiled, "I think you put it this way: I just couldn't see the faucet through the trees."

His eyes clarified, "Ohh!" He smiled, "Yeah, I give ya, too."

To her surprise, a hug between the two of them came naturally.

"I promise," She said, "And I mean I really promise, that I'm going to be nicer to you. Not rush you out of the apartment all of the time. And we'll talk, really talk." She got up, leading him out of the park, "What do you have to say about that, Squiggy?"

He thought for a moment...actually thought. Then said, "Will ya let me make out wit Laverne?"

There wasn't even a bit of disgust in her soul; instead, she smiled, "We'll have to ask her about that."




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