Vicky Banning (25 page)

She saw the pained look in Gerald’s eyes, the strained lines creasing his forehead, saying—
Oh no
,
so soon?—
and rushed to kneel beside his wheelchair. “Darling,” she whispered, speaking more and more quickly as she continued, “I know we’d agreed to these oh-so-long separations, and how much you enjoy your life at the spa, and that changing our lifestyle would be difficult, but would you please,
please
consider…
Come
with me.
Please
? I can’t
bear
to leave you again, to—”

“Wonderful.”

“—say good-bye to you as I’ve done with so many people I love. The cruise leaves out of San Francisco, so we wouldn’t have to do the airport thing, and the new ships are wheelchair friendly nowadays and we could…
what
did you say?”

“Wonderful.”

“You
mean
it? You’ll
come
?” Vicky cried, almost silently with emotion.

The twinkle was back in Gerald’s eyes. “Of course I’ll go. You think I’d give up the chance to see those pretty Tahitian girls in their little grass skirts?”

Standing, Vicky let out a shriek of surprised delight as she twirled to announce to everyone in the room: “We’re
going
; we’re going
together
! I can’t believe it.” She began to blubber over Gerald’s shoulder, stopped and straightened up again. “Sean, will you be able to come? I mean, with your wife and children and all. No one can care for Gerald the way you can.”

Sean simply nodded, grinning from ear to ear, which earned him a big kiss on the cheek from Vicky.

“I’d love to invite you all,” Vicky said, “but the boat’s not large enough. Besides you all have businesses and families with school-aged children. Also, you can afford your own cruises whenever you want. However,” she returned to Gerald, “if it’s all right with you, my darling, I’d like to invite my three best buddies from
Pennsylvania
: Roger, Steve, and
Doris
. Roger should be finished decorating the governor’s house by then, Steve’s coal mining union will certainly give him the time off, and
Doris
has accumulated masses of vacation time.”

“Yes, I’d love to meet them,” Gerald said, a bit overwhelmed at the complicated arrangements. “I feel as if I know them already. How and when did you manage all this?”

“I requested staterooms months ago by phone from the agent who just called. The ship was booked, but she managed to finagle the best suites for us—for a sizeable donation to her favorite cause, under the table of course.”

Suddenly, everyone in the room broke into applause and laughter, the children not quite understanding what they witnessed, but only too happy to join the celebration.

Keith drew near and pressed the shoulders of his parents in a warm embrace. Aloud, he announced, “I was afraid I might never see this happen. I’m thrilled for you both, and for all of us. And after the cruise?”

“We’ll think about ‘after the cruise’ after the cruise,” Vicky said. “Now, shall we continue with the celebration?”

“You didn’t say what ship we’ll be sailing on,
Victoria
,” Gerald said.

“Oh, Lord,” Vicky said with a frown. “I forgot to ask. But whatever it is, it’s partially chartered by a group that sounds like it would be fun to travel with. A few couples had to cancel at the last minute, which opened the space for us.”

“What group is that, Mom?” Keith asked.

A coy grin broke on Vicky’ lips. “Well,” she said, I’ve never actually heard of them myself, but they call themselves the
Happy Hedonists
.” Her look turned thoughtful, then impish. “I wonder,” she said softly, as if to herself, and then aloud, “The ads say that the highlight of the cruise is an elaborate gala costume party. Does anyone know where we can have some nun’s habits made?”

THE END

ABOUT ALLEN MCGILL

Originally from
New York City
, where he was an exec for an international airline, Allen now lives, writes, acts, directs, sings, dances, and does most everything else there is to do with theatre in a small town south of
Guadalajara
,
Mexico
. His favorite role was as the MC in
Cabaret
.

Through the years, he has written and published hundreds of articles, essays, short stories, plays, western poetry, and the various styles of Japanese short poetry. He was
haibun
editor for
Simply Haiku
and subsequently invited to the First World Poetry Festival in
Kaoshiung
,
Taiwan
—only one of two poets invited from the
Americas
.

His numerous writing credits include publications such as
The New York Times, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, and Newsday
. His work has been published in countries as far flung as Holland, India, Croatia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Algeria, and has been and translated into Japanese, Gaelic, French, Chinese, Croatian, and Russian.

The first of his plays to be produced was
Prelude
, performed in
Sacramento
’s
Geery
Theatre in 2004. Another,
Clothes Make the Person
, premiered in
Los Angeles
’
Masquers
Cabaret the same year.

ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC

JMS Books LLC is a small electronic press specializing in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender fiction (including erotica, romance, and young adult), as well as popular and literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. While our preference is for GLBT stories, we accept stories containing any and all sexualities, as well as general fiction without a romantic subplot. Visit our site at
jms-books.com
for our latest releases and submission guidelines!