Kaleidoscope
By Missy

SERIES: Souvenirs
SUBTITLE: Kaleidoscope
FOLLOWS: Souvenirs, Fire With Fire, Bury That Jewel,
High Sierra, Walking Lonely, Blues Along The Way, Balloons Land, Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans, Somewhere Sails, Baby, It's You, So..., Through The Looking Glass, Desertion, I Know You Rider, Midnight Musings, BattleLines, Bright Lights and Promises, Break, From Me To You, Wanderers, Right Beside You, Separate But Together
PART: 1 of 1
AUTHOR: Missy
EMAIL: lasfic@yahoo.com
RATING: PG, Het
PAIRING(s): none

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: Drama
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SETTING IN TIMELINE: California
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Shirley and Squiggy finally talk out their troubles.

****

Shirley Meeney dandled her son in the air as she shifted positions on Squiggy's creaky old sofa. The infant, liking the motion, squealed his delight while kicking chubby legs against the open air. In his youth and joy he didn't notice that, once again, he was the only one smiling in the room.

The brunette sighed as she cuddled the little boy to her chest. The sudden weight of Davey surprised her, and she had to brace him against her body with a more meaty section of her forearm. She reflected that he was headed toward robust, though the muscle between them remained thin enough to allow her to feel his little heart's steady beat against her collarbone. It slowed slightly as he lulled away to dreamland.

Dreamland. Shirley could see herself heading there soon. She had made her own dinner, fed Davey his bottle, and wiped up the messes resulting from both. As night descended over Milwaukee, she wondered if she could keep herself awake past nine. That would be an all-time record these days, she mused ruefully. She decided to check her watch, and at the sight of the time concern awakened.

It was six. Squiggy should be home by now.

She couldn't help but worry about him; his sadness, non-stop working, and uncharacteristic lack of appetite weren't a regular part of his personality. His sudden devotion to work and his not being home on time added to her concern. What was going on behind his casual demeanor?

At that reflection, she realized that the last time she had been so worried about Squiggy was when he dated Vivian. That woman had run him ragged doing chores in her new apartment, taking advantage of Squiggy's feelings for her, but he had -thanks to her impeccable advice, she had to add - handled the problem admirably. It the first time she could recall feeling proud of him.

A bittersweet pang rippled through her body as she remembered Shotz, and the Milwaukee of old. With all of the things she had lost in the past few months, she missed seeing the people she had loved the most - Frank, and Rhonda, and Carmine. Shirley knew that the latter lived nearby and she hadn't seen him once in the month since she'd moved back. And Laverne, who hadn't called - even though she had to have received Shirley's note, and knew how to contact her. They may have needed time apart to grow, but it still made her heart ache to think of her best friend.

The sudden, unexpected thought of Walter caused a fat tear to cascade down Shirley's cheek. Those tears had combed through Davey's thick, dark hair by the time Squiggy's keys jingled in the lock. So absorbed in her temporary misery, and so conditioned to his usual, nasal greeting of 'hello', Shirley didn't hear his near-silent entrance into the apartment.

"What's with the waterworks?" Squiggy asked abruptly, voice gruff.

Her nerves leapt. "When did you get home?"

"Geez, woman, where is your mind?"

Shirley sniffled. "You don't want to know."

Squiggy tilted his head. "Well, if it's makin' you bo-hoo, it's gotta be a big deal. Gimmie the kid."

Shirley remembered that, once upon a time, she would have been afraid to trust Squiggy with an infant -mostly in light of the baby-sitting incident before they had moved to California. Now, she handed her own child over without reserve. "Be careful. I just burped him."

"Yeah, yeah..." Squiggy took Davey into his arms with ginger and affection. She noticed that her son stirred a little in his dreams, but didn't wake during the short trip from Squiggy's arms to his playpen. Davey slept like a log - like his father, and ironically like Squiggy. She wondered if that natural ability to sleep so deeply could be somehow absorbed or learned. Shirley could use every last bit of rest.

"So," Squiggy whispered as he sat down on the couch beside Shirley, "why were you brawling your eyes out?"

Shirley sighed. "I miss Walter, and I miss Laverne - I even miss Carmine, and he's in the same building!"

"You wanna see Carmine? Ain't that gonna be weird, considerin' you...gave him your most womanly treasure before you married Walter?"

Shirley's stare was sharp. "I never gave Carmine my womanly anything."

Squiggy seemed surprised by this, but quieted down. "You're lonely?"

"It's not just that," she bent over the coffee table, retrieving and then spreading open a section of paper. Squiggy peered over her shoulder as she pointed to an item circled with red ink. "Mercy Hospital's running a new medical assistance training program," Shirley explained. "It says that a college degree isn't necessary. I'll start out working as a receptionist, and then I'll earn enough to support my eventual degree AND my nursing tuition." Momentarily rapt in the wake of her own plans, Shirley lay a steadying hand on her breast. "Squiggy, the only thing I've ever wanted to do my whole life was help people."

"Why's that making you feel bad?"

"Because if I start these courses, there won't be anyone to watch Davey in the morning! You've already done so much for us, and I wouldn't dream of imposing any more on you." He gave her an odd look. "Before you say anything else, remember that you're away all day, too."

His resolve hardened visibly. "Don't worry, Shirl; I'll pay for the kid to be looked after."

"Squiggy, I'm not your responsibility. I'm starting to become a burden, and..."

"Waitaminute! You, Shirley Feeney-Meeney..." He couldn't stop himself from laughing at that point before becoming serious once more. "Ain't helpless. Lookit this place! It was dirty! Before you came, I ate in bars, and now you make me eat three times a day."

"But I'm just doing for you what I did for Walter!"

"Then why ain't you with Walter?"

"I don't know!"

"Geez, woman, that was supposed to make you STOP crying!" Shirley threw her arms around his neck anyway. "Look, it just so happens that Miss Rhonda Lee is in town. If I ask real nice, she might agree to watch the kid in the morning."

"Rhonda is in Milwaukee?"

"Yeah."

"Things have gotten that bad in Hollywood?"

"Confidentially, it ain't got nothin' to do with her job," Squiggy smirked.

"Well, why else would she be in town..."

"Well, I know that she's stayin' with a Mister Carmine Ragusa..."

Shirley's eyes bugged out. "Rhonda and Carmine?!"

"From your lips to God's beers."

"I never would have pictured it!" Shirley gaped. Then she remembered herself. "How do you know Rhonda would watch the baby?"

"Cause she don't audition in the morning. 'Sides, she still owes me. Remember how she didn't pay her end of the bill from the Royal Cactus?"

"You promised you'd never mention that awful place again," Shirley tartly noted. Squiggy only laughed, reaching over to turn on the TV. "Squiggy...do you have anything you'd like to confide in me?"

"Huh? No..."

Shirley saw trouble in his eyes. "It'll make you feel better," she soothed.

Squiggy's eyes darted from the screen to her face. "You ain't gonna think less of my manliness?"

"Of course not."

Haltingly, he began, "it's Lenny."

"I thought as much."

"Which one of us is telling the story?"

"I'm sorry."

"I got a lot on my mind, Shirl."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"Like the lowest of the low."

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that Lenny misses you as much as you miss him?"

Squiggy scoffed. "That ain't possible. He's got Laverne."

"He may have Laverne, but he needs his best friend."

Squiggy scratched his ear. "You know how hard it is to drink up alla my pride, Shirl?"

"I'm sorry it has to come to that. But they're in love, Squiggy."

"Great. That she-devil Laverne took my buddy away, and now you're tellin' me she ain't giving him back?"

"Andrew," he winced as she called him by his first name. "Lenny isn't your prop. He's a human being with a life and feelings outside of your friendship."

He squirmed visibly. "I know that."

"So why can't you be happy for them?"

He squirmed more, let out a grunt, then rubbed the back of his neck. "I am happy for 'em."

"Then why are you so miserable?"

"'Cause he's the one who's gotta say he's sorry!"

Shirley held out a supplicating hand. "If you ask him to, I'm sure he'll say he is - it's something you and Lenny need to talk about, regardlessly. Anyway, I know it's not the only thing bothering you."

"You really wanna know?" She nodded. "Cause, everything's different now!" Squiggy thrust out his hands. "Milwaukee's filled with bums and drunks! The Pizza Bowl's a bar! It's like everything's wrong, and there ain't no way to get it back."

"What?! The Pizza Bowl's a bar?" Shirley covered her mouth, horror streaking her features.

Squiggy nodded his head sorrowfully. "The new owner's tryin' to get rid of it. That's why I've been puttin' in so much overtime."

"I don't know why Edna allowed Frank to sell the place! Laverne told me that he sold it to her uncle Flavio, and then it somehow got out of the family's hands."

"All I know is I ain't lettin' it get torn down."

"Do you think you'll be able to make the overhead?"

"I dunno. They said they want a coupla hundred thousand for it. I got a loan for a hundred thou, and in two months, I got 450 saved up."

Shirley smiled. "You're close to having it all, aren't you?" He nodded. "This is so mature of you, Andrew." She realized, suddenly, that she had called Squiggy Squiggman mature and that the word fit. "It's going to take you forever to pay back the lone. Would you let me contribute?"

"What? You can't..."

"The office job will pay me just enough to allow me to chip in two hundred in two weeks."

He peered at her, eyes dark and lit with curiosity. "If ya do...you're gonna be my partner."

"You haven't had a partner since Lenny."

"I know."

She dimpled. "I would be honored."

"Shake on it?"

With a knowing grin, she wriggled in her seat.

He laughed before returning her shake with one of his own.


***


The following morning, Shirley woke to the squalling of her son and the ringing of a telephone. She realized that Squiggy had let her sleep in with a glance at the clock - it was eight. The baby sat in his playpen instead of his layette; had been recently dressed, and fed - apparently, his bottle had rolled out of his grip and he couldn't reach. Squiggy had even served himself breakfast; the dishes were drip-drying beside the sink. Bewildered, Shirley picked up her son and carried him to the phone.

"Hello?"

A long silence.

"If this is masher, I'm going to have to warn you; I've had a child."

A breath, then a crackle. "Shirl, it's me."

Shirley smiled. "Laverne?"

"Yeah. I'm home."

FIN



To "Separate But Together"
To "Puzzle Pieces"