A Life Less Ordinary (51 page)

She
smiled ruefully.

She
had some pretty good memories, she thought as she dropped her clothes on the
floor and stepped into the shower, and on the inside she felt reconnected to a
larger world, but on the outside – well.  Not much had changed there.

She
turned on the water, positioned herself under the hot stream and closed her
eyes as it cascaded over her shoulders and back.

She
smiled.

After
all was said and done – and there was a lot said and lot more done over the
last few months – she was still
her
.

She
was okay with that.

~~~~~

Zeke
and Manny drove in silence.  Another three hours and they’d be home, and the
adventure would be at an end.  The silence stretched between them, comfortable,
yet rich with things left unspoken. 

Almost
six months, Manny thought.  It was a very long time to spend together, and had
been filled with more than its fair share of ups and downs, although the last
few weeks had been almost serene.  She suspected Zeke had been on his best
behaviour ever since she’d found out about the blog. 

Her
feelings were mixed.  She knew he was being paid to travel with her; she knew
he was still writing about her.  On the other hand, he’d been more than willing
to do whatever she wanted to do.  It had been rather fun to watch him squirm a
little when she pushed his buttons, and grit his teeth before he agreed to
something.  Fun, but also a little irritating, and even a little sad, and she
found she missed their earlier, less suspicious, more trusting relationship. 

Regardless,
it was all coming to an end now, and the future she’d so diligently ignored was
standing on her doorstep, and would soon demand answers and decisions and a
reckoning. 

She
thoughtfully chewed her thumb as she stared out the van’s window.

“Did
you find what you were looking for?” Zeke asked suddenly, startling her.

Manny
carefully considered the question, then nodded.  “Yes, I think so.  Did you?”

Zeke
laughed ruefully.  “I found things I hadn’t even known I was looking for.”

Manny
laughed too, then asked, “What are you looking forward to the most about
getting home?”

Zeke
frowned as he thought about it.  “Sleeping in my own bed,” he said.  “Seeing my
friends.  Not moving.  You?”

“Settling
into the place Rebecca found for me.  Seeing Daisy and Rebecca and everyone
else.  Looking for a job.  Not moving.”

“Has
anything really changed for you?  I mean, in real life.  You still need to
work.  If you’re not careful, you’ll be back where you started.”

“Maybe. 
Most likely.  I’m still me, after all.  But at least I know – at least I have
the memory of a time when I did something...
more
- something different –
something...a little less ordinary.”

“But
now it’s done.”

“
Yes.”

“
Then...maybe nothing’s
really changed at all.”

“
Maybe not,” Manny
agreed sadly and turned her face away to look out the window again.

After
several minutes, Zeke said very quietly, “We’re not gonna be the same, are we?”

Manny
turned her face towards him and smiled sadly at him as she shook her head. 
“No.”

“That’s
it
?” he asked indignantly.

“It’s
gonna be a long trip,” they said together and burst out laughing, laughing much
louder and longer than the situation truly warranted.

Zeke
sighed and said ruefully, “I don’t even know why I said that.  It’s not like –
it’s not like it’s a surprise.”

“No. 
Real life has a way of taking over – that’s why it’s real life.”

“Do
you think you’ll go back to – you know – how you used to be?” Zeke asked with
genuine interest.

“Prudish,
repressed and timid?” she asked drily.

Zeke
grinned even as he winced.  “Yeah.”

Manny
grinned, too.  “I hope not.  Those are fifteen years I’ll never get back.”

“Were
they all bad?”

“No,
of course not.  I learned a lot – did a lot – did things I never thought I’d do
– but I allowed myself to pay a high price.  That’s the part I’m truly sorry
about.  Nobody forced me to give up everything for my job.  I did that to
myself.  The danger is that I’ll do it to myself again, because I don’t really
know how else to be.”

“That’s...pretty...scary,”
Zeke said slowly, frowning.

“But
this time around, I can blame you,” she said brightly.

Zeke
grinned, giving her a sidelong look.  “You do that.”

Manny
nodded with smug satisfaction and lapsed into silence again.  Then she said,
“Are you glad you came with me?”

Zeke
nodded slowly.  “Yeah.”

“That’s
it?”

Zeke
laughed. “Hey – I learned a lot – did a lot – been in more jails than I care to
remember -”

“One! 
One
jail!”

Zeke
laughed harder then grinned at her, his eyes warm with affection as he nodded. 

“Yeah. 
Yeah, I’m glad I came with you.”

She
slowly smiled back with equal warmth. 

“Me,
too.”

~~~~~

After
leaving Daisy’s place, Zeke walked Manny to her new home on the fifteenth floor
of a downtown apartment building.  She opened the door and turned to face him.

“Well,”
she said.

“Yeah.”

“I
guess...this is...”

“Good-bye.”

Manny
nodded, blinking sudden moisture out of her eyes.  “Yeah.”

Zeke
took a deep breath, then stuck out his hand.  Manny slowly grinned, before she
carefully placed her hand in his.  His grip was warm and firm.

“It’s
been a pleasure, Manny Mankowski,” Zeke said softly.

She
smiled and inclined her head in acknowledgment.  “Thank you.  And the feeling
is mutual, Zeke Powell.”

They
lingered for a long moment, simply holding each other’s hand, looking into each
other’s eyes, then, with an almost soundless sigh, they relaxed their grips and
let their hands slide apart.

Zeke
took a step backward.  “See you around.”

Manny
nodded, blinking against that sudden moisture again.  “You bet.”

With
one last smile, Zeke lifted his hand in a half-hearted gesture then turned and
walked briskly to the elevator.  Manny stood in her doorway and lifted her hand
in good-bye as the elevator door closed. 

She
felt suddenly very lonely as she went into her new apartment and closed the
door behind her.

You
know, you guys could be friends,
Harvey said, leaning gracefully in the entryway
to the living room. 
Real ones, I mean.

For
some reason, I don’t think our real lifestyles would match all that well.

What
does that have to do with anything?

I
don’t want to talk about it.

Okay. 
But you’re going to be lonely.  Maybe you should actually consider dating.

Dating? 
Like...
really
dating?

Sure. 
If there’s one thing Zeke proved to you:  you can actually have a conversation
with a good-looking guy.

But
I obviously can’t sleep with one.

Then
find one who’s less good-looking.

Manny
laughed. 
You’ve ruined me for normal men, Harvey.

I’m
not sure that’s a good thing to think.

Probably
not.  But...seriously...do you really exist?  Not you, obviously – but a man
like you?

Harvey
laughed. 
Well, I highly doubt there’s a man out there willing to wear
frilly shirts open to the navel while he rescues you from pirates.  And let’s
face it – some of those sex scenes you fantasized would cause a lesser man to
throw out his back.

Manny
chuckled. 
They’d be pretty uncomfortable for an ordinary woman, too. 
But you know what I mean.

Yeah,
I do.  I think, if you took a few chances, you might be surprised.

Manny
ruefully shook her head.

I’m
not sure I’m ready to take those kinds of chances.

Harvey
smiled at her, his dark eyes warm and affectionate, and a little bit sad.

Then
I’ll be here until you
are
.

~~~~~

Change
sometimes feels like it happens without our knowledge or consent.

Zeke
sat at the desk in his new apartment, typing furiously. 

Sometimes
the changes we make lead us places we didn’t expect to go.

Rebecca
and Jackson shared a smile as they sat down on either side of the three kids on
the couch and settled in to watch TV. 

Sometimes
we try to run from change, only to realize that change is the best thing for
us.

Daisy
stared at the papers sitting on the table in front of her.  She squared her
shoulders, and signed her name.  She leaned back in her chair, tossed her pen
on the table, and sighed.

Sometimes
we fight to hold on to something real and true in the midst of changes we don’t
want to face.

TJ
smiled at Leah as he walked into the bedroom.  She put aside her book as he
slipped under the covers and reached for her, and she melted against him as
they kissed.

Sometimes
the changes we try so desperately to make seem as substantial as the breeze –
the more we change, the more we stay the same.  Which makes me wonder:  does
anything truly change?

Manny
stood in the middle of the living room and turned slowly, carefully assessing
the space.  With a final deep breath, she turned off the lights and left the
room.

And
so the grand adventure has come to an end.  We’re home again, and back where we
began.  It already feels like we were never gone.  Does anything really change?

Manny
groggily groped for the shrilly ringing cell phone that had startled her
awake.  She fumbled it to her ear and croaked, “H’lo?”

“What’re
you doing tomorrow?” Zeke asked, his voice low and husky in her ear.

“Unpacking,”
she muttered, her eyes drifting closed.

“Sounds
exciting.”

“Hmmmmmm.”

“
So, around eleven,
then?  I’ll bring lunch.”

“’
kay,” Manny mumbled,
and disconnected the call, already asleep.

Zeke
thoughtfully tapped the edge of his phone against his lips as he re-read the
text on his screen.  He put the phone down and reached for the keyboard.

Maybe
it does.

A funny
thing happened on the way to participating in ScriptFrenzy 2011 (
www.scriptfrenzy.org
). 

I had a vague idea of a
plot - a 45-year-old woman decides to throw her life up in the air and departs
on a road trip to rediscover herself.

Yep.

It's been done before -
and better - but what the hell - it wasn't like I was writing it for money! 
The sad part was, though, that that was pretty much it.  That was all I had -
and April 1st was looming large on the horizon.

Then a LiveJournal
friend published a meme, which was:  "leave a comment, and I'll give you
seven actors and you have to come up with a TV series starring those seven
actors."  I thought - what the hell - and left a comment.

She gave me:

Megan
Follows (Manny)

Meg Ryan (Daisy)

Gillian Anderson
(Rebecca)

Michaela Conlin (Leah)

Kevin Bacon (TJ)

Esai Morales (Harvey)

Karl Urban (Zeke)

then I added:

Bruce
Willis (Max)

Robert Downey Jr.
(Jackson)

Suddenly,
my vague plot had shape and form and characters I could define and see, and in
no time at all, I came up with a thirteen episode miniseries.

With Jimmy Buffett’s
“Take the Weather With You” and the Barenaked Ladies’ “Maroon” on endless
repeat for the soundtrack (with a little Billy Joel, John Berry, even more
Jimmy Buffett and Barenaked Ladies, along with songs from a variety of random
artists), the story practically wrote itself.  I whipped past 100 pages of
scripts in no time, although I didn't even come close to finishing all thirteen
episodes.

Several months went by
and then I read the scripts over again - and you know what?  I
liked
them.  I thought they had potential.  Shortly after that, I discovered BigBangs
on LiveJournal, and stumbled upon the 100K supernova challenge.  I looked at
the unfinished scripts and said, “I can write another 100,000 words on this
thing” - and took on the challenge.