London Harmony: The Pike (14 page)

Both women kept prompting me with their eyes, nudging their chins at me.  I was trying so hard not to let the catchy beat infect me.  I caught myself tapping my toes in time, and I broke, smiling widely as I let the rhythm take me.

I opened my mouth and started singing a song of family and feasting, it just felt appropriate under the circumstances.  We all really got into it, Zoey chiming in from time to time after I sang my impromptu chorus a couple times.  She could harmonize well.  I almost face-palmed... of course she could harmonize well, look who her aunt and cousin were.

I craved the look of wonder on my Amber's face as she just listened to me sing in rapt fascination, her smile wistful as she randomly used everything on the table to mimic other instruments.  Katy was almost dancing in her seat as she hummed along while she sopped up some gravy from her plate with bits of bread from the bread bowl to consume with a playful furor.

I always imagine that this is what music really is, a release of everything we hold inside, to allow us to express it and deflate before the emotional pressure inside explodes, so that we have room for more.  The joy on Ash's face made me bite my lower lip as we faded to a finish.

Zoey clapped her hands together at her waist cutely as she said, “Yay.”

I caught motion from the side and saw a grinning Eve slipping her head back out into the main room.  We had an audience.  I blushed.

I looked down and shook my head, trying to hide my smile as I accused Zoey, “Dirty pool, woman, dirty pool.”

She nodded staunchly and smiled. “Guilty.”

Katy shook her head with a smile as she looked between my amber eyed obsession and me as she said, “It amazes me every time the two of you make music like that, I'm so jealous.”

We were all in such an upbeat mood as we returned to the remains of breakfast to get every last bite from out plates.

When we finished and said our goodbyes, we had a familiar argument with Zoey when we tried to pay.  She assured us that our money was no good there.  We thanked her then I braced myself as my girls lead me out into the chaos outside the door of the kitchen.

Ash's hands were moving as soon as we exited the Pike into the hall of the building, “You appreciate art Katy, want to see something amazing?”

I smiled, knowing what she was doing.  Then swallowed and steeled myself, knowing it meant I would have to brave the Market.  Katy nodded enthusiastically, and Ash laid her hand on mine where I was grasping her arm.  I looked up at her as she made a silly face that just got me smiling and forgetting for a moment all the people around us.

We perused the North arcade vendors as we headed to the main building and the stairs down to the various sub-levels of the Market proper.  Katy bought a few knick-knacks along the way.

I've never been a fan of the smell of fish, so I had to breathe through my mouth when we passed the fish mongers who were making a display of tossing large fish across the aisle to stock a bed of ice.  It was pretty neat to see.

Then we were heading down some stairs, and Katy said, “This is so cool.  I was meant to be in the city.”

I chuckled and looked down as I quipped, “You're worse than a tourist K-bot.”

She just grinned from ear to ear and said, “Says you, Short Stack.”

I glanced up and warmed at the smile Ash was shooting between Katy and me.  She always says she has never seen two people who were such diametric opposites, be better friends.  She confided in me once that she believes that it is because we each fill important aspects of the relationship that the other is lacking.  Those types of friendships make bonds as tight as blood.

I had just nodded at that after thinking about it, realizing the same thing was true of love.  Ash was the part of me that was strong and could stand in the middle of a crowded room and know that it was ok.  That the feeling of the world rushing in, stealing away all the air and crushing me to the ground could not beat me.  I smiled at the memory... baby steps.

I swallowed, realizing that she and Katy had been distracting me on purpose.  I steeled myself, happy I didn't have to shy away from contact with the people in the crowd as I was bracketed by my two favorite people.

As we headed past some shops down the next flight of stairs, Katy pulled us to a stop with a grin.  She chirped out, “How could you even think to pass by this shop without having one of your nerdgasms, Leigh?”

I grinned when I realized we were in front of Golden Age Collectibles.  So we like comics, sue us.  The girls parked me in the back corner by my Mangas.  I preferred the smooth simplicity of Japanese art and the stories seemed more fantastical and had people with real life problems in them.  I could relate better than superheroes flying around in skintight outfits that barely contained their assets.

I had added another manga of Black Bird to the two others I needed when the two came back arguing.  “Nuh-uh, Ash.  DC has stories with greater depth.”

Ash was signing with a comic in the crook of her arm, “Marvel doesn't reboot their universe every couple years because their storylines got so convoluted.”

They smiled at me and Ash signed, “Tell her Itsy.”

I blushed and looked at my hands and said without much conviction,  “Neither have a modicum of emotion... that's why I read these.”  I held my treasures out to them.  They both wrinkled their noses in distaste.  I stuck my tongue out at them, which caused an embarrassing amount of chuckling from them.

An arm was offered by my pixie, and accepted by me.  We went up to pay, then were back on our original mission.  Once we went down ninety bajillion levels we wound up on the street below under the viaduct.  We walked a block pointing out the Aquarium, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, and the ferry docks.  I knew what Ash was doing, she was keeping her looking away from our objective, I hid a smile.

Then we stopped and turned back to the large brick building beside the back of Pike Place, and Katy gasped and placed a hand on her chest as she just stared at the wall in disbelief.  After a few moments, she finally spoke, “I've heard the stories and saw pictures of it, but they don't do it justice.”

I smiled and looked at the silver sculpture created by Mia Jacobs when she was just an art major over twenty years ago, which covered the huge wall.  It gleamed in the sunlight of the day.  It portrayed a woman with her face raised to the sun.  There was always something about it that held such sorrow for me, but at the same time, it screamed of love like I had never known until I met my Amber.

I've heard that for a week every year since it was unveiled, Mia Jacobs herself comes out and polishes the discarded hubcaps the impossible mural is made of, and repairs any damage, keeping the sculpture shining like new.  It was a true labor of love and one day I swore I would get the whole story behind it.  I just knew it was something personal to the reclusive artist.

Katy tilted her head, and her eyes narrowed a bit.  Ash and I looked at her questioningly, and she looked at us and grinned and just shook her head.  “It's nothing.  It's just, her eyes... there's something... how could she capture that emotion in such an archaic medium?”

I nodded in understanding.  Ash and I have often wondered the same thing.

Then we were off being tourists in my second home.  I was sort of thankful that I had a reason now to see a lot of the things I hadn't gathered the courage to see myself.  I have been getting more and more bold each time I came to Seattle with Ashley.  Seeing the Seattle Center and the Museum of Arts and Culture, the MAC.

I hadn't known there was a Wooden Boat Museum in downtown Seattle until Ash brought us there.

I felt like they were both gauging my anxiety levels as they picked which attractions we would visit next.  I was feeling bold so I told them I was good with whatever they wanted to do.

Seattle is just a fraction of the size of New York, but it is still a huge city, and you can't possibly see everything in a day, let alone a week or more.  So as the day wound down, the evil women made a list of the places to show Katy the next day before she had to head back to the land of hay and pickup trucks.

I just nodded in agreement to most of the places, I was feeling like a bobblehead.  I wanted to see most of the places too.  Except the Ballard Locks, in my head they smelled like fish since they were on the water, that's just how my screwed up brain works, I'm sure it won't be that bad.

Ash was grinning at me as she teased, “They don't smell like fish.”

I blushed and slapped playfully at her signing hands, giggling out, “Hey, get out of my head woman.”  I crinkled my nose at her, and she returned the crinkle, with change.  I blushed and couldn't hide my smile.

Then we were on our way home, the long way thank goodness.  When we hit Issaquah, we picked up a few bags of Chinese food.  I had Ash stop at the convenience store across from the restaurant and bought some Hostess Cupcakes I could slip onto Vernon's nightstand.  The man loved them, and I liked making him smile.

We hadn't been home for more than a few minutes, passing the little white boxes of food around, each of us picking at the contents with our chopsticks, sampling it all before winding up with our favorites in front of us.  Me with the chicken fried rice, Katy with her orange chicken, and Ash with the beef broccoli, God help us all.  I loved the woman, but beef broccoli didn't love her as much as she loved it.

Someone knocked on the door of the cabin.  Ash and I froze.  Someone was knocking?  Nobody ever came to the door.  Ash had the same thought as me and signed, “Vernon?”

I nodded and called out, “Come in you silly man, you live here too, you won't be bothering us.”

Another knock came.  Katy looked between Ash and me as Ash stood and shrugged as she wandered over to the door, her container of beef broccoli in one hand.  She opened the door, and Sandra Callahan was standing there, looking earnest as ever.

She was an amazing and outgoing woman who I didn't fully understand though I liked her immensely.  She was exceedingly rich, and heir to the Callahan Shipping empire, yet she used all of her money for the Callahan Foundation to help people on the street and children in the burn and cancer wards across the country.  She worked at the Duck Boats downtown, selling tickets, and here at Valentine's in the little cafe on the second floor of the lodge to support herself.

Not to mention the fact that she married the most controversial bad girl of the rock scene, none other than Penny Franklin.  Most people would call her simple, but if you spent just five minutes with the always smiling woman, you would see the fierce, unconventional intelligence bleeding from her every pore.

She had to have been getting close to forty, but her demeanor and attitude were that of a much younger woman, and you couldn't stop yourself from smiling at her when she turned her sunny smile on you.  She was always so pale, and her hair was a platinum blonde, but I think it was her natural coloring.  She almost looked albino to me, but her rosy lips and sparkling eyes dissuaded me from making that assertion.

She gave a cute tiny wave to Ash and said, “Hi!”

Ash waved back and gave her a toothy grin, motioning her hand inside.

Sandra shook her head and looked past her, seeing me she gave another smile and wave.  I waved back as she said to Ash, “I wish I could, it would be fun to visit, but Pen is waiting for me.  She and Crystal and Jane have something planned tonight.  I just wanted to deliver this, a messenger dropped it off at the lodge today, and I told Bobbie I'd drop it off to you girls on my way out.”

I grinned, she always spoke about people I didn't know as if everyone should know them.  Over time, I found out who this Jane and Crystal were, and at least I knew Bobbie... Roberta Valentine, the owner here and an amazing woman.

She handed Ash an envelope and then gave us all a happy wave goodbye.  She almost skipped off, excitement in her eyes.  We all looked around and shared a shrug as Ash shut the door, flipping the envelope over in her hands.

I asked, “What is it?”

She shrugged and handed it to me.  I looked at it, and it was addressed simply to, “Miss Leigh Johnson and Miss Ashley Lance.”  She stabbed into her container and took another bite of beef, then pointed at the envelope with her chopsticks, cocking an eyebrow at me.

I nodded and opened the envelope, I took a letter out of it and froze when three items slid out of the letter and onto the ground.  We all just stared at the items on the ground in stunned silence.  Katy finally bent to pick them up as she whispered slowly, pausing between each word, “Oh... my... god!”

The whole time we were visiting my parents I couldn't get my mind off of those girls at the Pike, the music they created, and on the fly, was just so amazing.  I had to help them share that music with the world.

I turned back to the conversation as a peanut hit my ear from behind and Vanessa mocked me as she spoke to mom, “June is off in her land of plotting and scheming again.”  Then she said to me, “Hey, space cadet, your mom asked you a question.”

I shook myself out of it, gave her a look of mock disdain and smiled at my mom.  She had mirth twinkling around in her blue eyes as I said, “Sorry mom, was just thinking about something.”

She nodded and chided as she said in her melodious voice as she signed, “Apparently.  And Zoey already warned you off from what I have gathered.”

I just smiled and nodded.  Mom shook a finger at me.  Crap, she always knew what I was thinking.  She said through a smile, “You and your mother, I swear.  Always scheming.”

I brushed it off with my own smile and asked as another peanut hit my hair, “What was it you were asking?”

Her hands moved swiftly as she spoke, “I just wanted to know if you are still planning on coming home for Christmas.”

Another peanut hit my neck and I heard Fay giggling.  I restrained a smile.  I replied after confirming it with a grinning Vanessa, “Your first holiday home where you don't have to rush back to the Capitol?  We wouldn't miss it for the world.”

She brightened then she tilted her head to ask Vannie as another peanut projectile hit me from behind.  “And little Frannie and her girl?”

Van chuckled. “Well she isn't so little anymore, but she sees you and Mandy as her parents, and I'm sure she would be thrilled.”  Small Fry and Tash were currently out with mother, scrounging up some supplies for cooking up some good eats tonight.

I sensed another impending attack, and I grinned hugely as I spun, looking down at Fay in her cute little sundress, blurting, “Ah ha!”  But she was unarmed, just standing cutely and waving at me.  I was pelted between the eyes with a peanut from above causing my niece to almost drop in a fit of giggles.

I rolled my eyes and looked up to Lizzy, who was standing behind her daughter eating peanuts from a little plastic bag, an evil smile on her face.  I growled out, “Lizard!”

Her smile turned into a toothy grin, and she asked innocently, “Yes big sis?”  She pelted me again with a peanut, causing mom and Van to chuckle.

I cocked an eyebrow, trying not to smile at her giggling progeny.  “There will be a reckoning.”

She shrugged, unimpressed and said as she sat beside me and pulled her minion onto her lap.  “Shut up and eat your peanuts.”

Mom said in her singsong voice, delight sparkling in her eyes, “Girls, behave.  Be more like Vannie.”

Elizabeth restrained a smile and signed without speaking, “I'd look terrible in a hoodie mom.”

My girl just grinned and said, “I can understand what you are saying, woman.”

Liz just crinkled her nose at her sister in law and said, “I know.”  Then she thrust the little bag toward her, “Peanut?”

We all chuckled.

I really loved the feel of the happy banter, it had the warmth of family and familiarity.  It was so welcome to me how my family had absorbed Fran and Van into the fold even though we don't get to spend a lot of time here in the States.  It felt like the odd pseudo-family I have built in London.  Warm and loving.

We continued sharing gossip from both sides of the pond until the other ladies showed up.  Mother had a smirk on her face as they brought in sacks of groceries.  The girls looked at me and started cracking up.  Mother's smirk became an innocent look when I squinted at her.  The girls composed themselves then looked at me again and promptly broke out laughing again.

I sighed in resignation. “Must you always tell embarrassing stories about my youth?”

Mother nodded with a serious look on her face. “Yes, it is in the parenting handbook, sandwiched between the 'teach your child respect for their elders', and 'let go of the bike seat even when you promise not to' rules.”

I sighed and mumbled, “I hate you.”

She grinned in triumph as she passed by me, kissing the top of my head as I grabbed one of the bags from her and stood to help.  “I love you too June.”

I started taking the treasure out of the bag to put it on the counter.  Oooo... hamburger patties, barbecue time!  I asked as the girls pulled more picnic-y items out of the other bags, “What was it this time?  The door to door dog washing service?”

She bit her tongue, refusing to meet my eyes as she said one word... “Squirrel.”

The girls started laughing again, making Fay giggle because she didn't want to be left out of whatever great fun they were having.

Oh dear lord.  Why did I always feel like I reverted back to my childhood around my moms?  “Hey, it was a really big squirrel!”

More of the contagious laughing ensued.

I lifted my chin indignantly and headed to the back door, snagging the matches from the pantry on the way, calling out, “Hey, Mini-Mite, come help me get the grill fired up.”

Fay hopped off her mother's lap and zoomed after me with a big grin on her face.  “K Auntie June.”

Liz chuckled after us, “Yes, teach my daughter to be a pyro, that can only end well.”

I shot a toothy grin back as we popped out the door, calling back, “Shut up and eat your peanuts.”

I planned my revenge as I got things ready for our impending meal with my tiny helper.  It would be something spectacular if only I could find a Swiss clockmaker to make some clockwork armadillos.  Oh, dear lord, I'm thinking like mother again.

I started humming as I thought about those girls at the Pike, Leigh and Ashley.  My entire day brightened when little Fay started singing the song I was humming.  It was one of mine, ‘Pickpocket.’ I sighed a happy sigh and sang along with her as I made my decision.  Zoey wasn't going to be happy with me.

Later that night I leaned over from bed and grabbed my purse.  I dug around for something and pulled it out with a grin, flipping it over in my fingers before nodding to myself and pulling out my cell to call the travel agency.  Vannie looked over my bare shoulder and kissed it, sending a tremor of need through my body, she whispered, “I was wondering how long you'd hold out before making the call.”

I looked back into her eyes, there was a hunger in them that warmed me to the core, and I tossed the phone to the side and kissed her passionately.  Hell, the call could wait an hour or two.  I smiled into our kiss as I claimed my prize.