Midnight Musings
By Shotzette

"Midnight Musings"

By Shotzette
shotzette@yahoo.com
Rated PG
"Souvenirs Universe"




This is a work of fan fiction only and is not intended to infringe upon any copyrights or intellectual properties whatsoever.




Squeak...

Shirley Meaney groaned in frustration as the rogue spring in the sofa bed threatened to perforate her kidney. Blearily, she peered at her tiny luminescent travel clock perched on Angie and Hector's coffee table. Four in the morning.

Shirley suppressed another groan as she leaned over to look at her son. Davy lay beneath her on a pallet of sofa cushions beside the couch, asleep and oblivious to the turmoil in his young life.

What did she expect? She showed up on the doorstep of a man she could barely tolerate back in high school. She was lucky that they could even spare a couch having eight people under one roof. She was lucky that they even let her stay at all. Who would have thought it, she wondered, Hector Katzenbaum-homeowner. He was the last person in their crowd that she had expected to do well for himself, and here he was-self employed and earning equity. Shirley felt a moment of guilt, for discounting him earlier.

Life goes on, and everything changes. What did she expect? That she would run off impulsively with Walter and her friends would stay the same? Hector was now a business owner, a father of two, and now married to the former queen of the bimbos herself, Angie Kosnowski.

And her best friend was... Shirley cringed as she heard another squeak-this one emanating from the bedroom directly above the den. The bedroom that Laverne proudly shared with Lenny. Part of her still couldn't believe it, even though her own eyes were witness to the palpable love that resonated between the two of them. When had Lenny gone from annoying friend to someone who had become Laverne's true love? Never, in all of Shirley's years of knowing her best friend, had she seen Laverne look at a guy the way she looked at Lenny. Except of course, for Randy. Laverne had barely gotten though the trauma of losing him, and Randy had been much more stable than Lenny was.

Laverne had been happy to see her earlier, when she had arrived on Hector's doorstep, a weeping basket case. She'd hugged Shirley, consoled her momentarily, said a few perfunctory "there-there"s-and then left to be with Lenny on his big night.

She couldn't have gone if she wanted to, she had told them. She was exhausted from the four hour drive. She couldn't take a toddler into a bar, even in Tennessee. Still, it would have been nice if one of them had argued the point instead of hopping into Hector's Dodge and leaving her alone with the children.

The kids weren't bad, really. Once she had gotten used to their volume she found them rather sweet.

Another squeak from above interrupted her train of thought. Be careful, she mentally warned Laverne. A baby is the last thing you two need right now, she thought as she cringed. Shirley felt somewhat guilty for that thought as her fingertips trailed her own child's sleeping back. Davy wasn't to blame for the mess her life was in. Neither was Walter, really. She just had some thinking to do, she had to straighten a few things out. That's what separations were for, weren't they?

The mirrored Budweiser sign above the couch reflected the dark circles under her eyes as the sun slowly rose hours later.

FIN

To "I Know You, Rider"
To "West End Family Grave"









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