Pizza, Cats, and Other Kinds of Love

"Auntie, do you have someone you love?", Tracy's six year old niece casually asked her on their outing. Tracy knew what Emma was really wanting to know, but chose to answer her in an auntie sort of way. "I love  Grams and Papa, your mommy and daddy, Uncle Drew and Uncle Jake,", she responded. "And of course, you little munchkin, I love you the best!." Tracy tickled her as she said that.  Through peels of laughter, Emma declared, "and ice cream.  You love ice cream!" Love really is a funny word, particularly when discussed with a six year old. Of course Emma wanted to know if she had a someone to love like her mom and dad loved each other, or as the child's grandparents, Tracy's parents loved each other.  Even her brothers, Drew at twenty four, and Jake at 20 had significant others. Yet Tracy, not wholeheartedly content with her life in the relationship department, the eldest in the family, approaching 30, had nobody to love in that way.

Really, there never has been a significant other. The longest dating streak with anyone she had was a little over a year, and that went back to college. Moving several times for her career, and now, what she hoped was a longer term move to Chicago, it seemed like a good time to think again about settling down. Having her niece visit for the weekend was stirring all kinds of nesting instincts she had been suppressing.

Tracy's sister Melanie and her husband Jason were celebrating their 5th anniversary this month. High School and college sweethearts, they learned they were expecting Emma right before college graduation. It took a couple years before they officially married, though seem to have been a married couple since they were both 17. For the official anniversary, the couple thought it would be a good weekend to make the six hour drive to Chicago to see Tracy's new condo, and perhaps snatch some free babysitting while they took a couple days and nights exploring the city. They wanted to come the weekend after Valentine's Day, assuming everything would be overpriced or overbooked the weekend before. Tracy was over the moon with the prospect of one on one time with her niece, and planned a Chicago weekend of their own.

Having never been on a train of any kind in her short six years, Emma was fascinated by the "L". They had a great time exploring the Chicago Children's Museum, visited the Navy pier, and ate Chicago deep dish pizza. Though Emma liked the sauce cheese on top, she said very definitively that pizza is supposed to be flat. "Chicago is famous for this kind of pizza, and I love it", Tracy responded, with a poor word choice. Over pizza and lemonade, the word "love" reminded the child she still wanted answers. She didn't let up on the love question. It didn't help that the remnants from Valentines's Day were still sprinkled throughout the city. 

"Yeah, you can love pizza, but why don't you have someone like daddy or papa?" The child thought a bit more, remembering something. "You don't have to have a boy to love. Libby has two mom's instead of a mom and dad." This was followed by, "Daddy thinks you should get a cat. I heard him telling mommy that."  Great, Tracy thought, not yet 30 and already labeled the spinster aunt. Not wanting to get defensive to a child, but also wanting to impart a few gems of wisdom, she thought how she should respond.

"Em, there's a lot of people that I could find to love like that. I just haven't yet.  Until then, I am so lucky that I have all kinds of other people that I love and make me happy." She paused, seeing the wheels spinning behind her niece's eyes. "I  have friends that I love and spend time with.  I love having adventures in my new home, like we are having today. I love that you came to visit me." For the moment, this seemed to satisfy the child.

It had been a full day, so they called it done at about 6:00 and headed home to make mac and cheese, popcorn, and watch a movie. Emma was out within 15 minutes of the DVD beginning. They slept in a bit before heading out for Sunday brunch and a trip to the science museum, before meeting Emma's parents back at her place. They decided through text messages on a meal together of Chinese take out before the family got back on the road for home. The subject of love stayed at bay for a long while until Emma saw her parents again. Tracy had left them the code and keys to her place, and they were already there when the wanderers got back, take out food in hand.

Emma gave both parents a hug, and started telling them very quickly all about her weekend with Auntie. Her parents were amazed at the detail she recalled, and smiled at Tracy, her sister mouthing "Thank you," at least a couple times. Then, out of the mouths of babe, love made its way back in the conversation. "And daddy,", Emma went on, "Tracy may not want a cat. She has to save room for someone else to love. That guy will need to love pizza and she hasn't found him yet."  Love is a simple and complex, funny word.


This short story is part of the Write and Link project at In the Writer's Closet. We take the cue of the month, and the lovely Natalia opens up a portal for us budding writers to share our hopeful gems of creativity. Please join in as a reader or a contributor.  It's great fun!

The Belfry

Bruges Belfry-Picture from Wikipedia

I want to travel the world, and Belgium, specifically Bruges is on my list of places to visit. While quite a dark movie, one of my favorites is In Bruges. Two hit men are sent to Bruges to hide out until the fate of one of them, who messed up a hit in a horrible way, is decided. I love Brendan Gleason's character as he attempts to make the banishment a sight seeing trip and explores all the wonders of the city. I always wanted to write something that took place in the that city after seeing that movie, using the Belfry, as in the movie, a pivotal character. Again, I might have gone all Harlequin on the story ending, so forgive me.Here are all the Write and Link submissions.

 The Belfry

The stairs were steeper than Connie expected, but she was determined to make it to the top. She knew she had lost a lot of her stamina in the last two years, but had turned a new page in her life with the turn of the calendar. She missed her old self, and decided she wanted her back. A few years earlier, as she approached 50, she slowly stopped doing many of the things she enjoyed.  These were activities that were keeping her toned and strong. Never having been particularly career driven, an evening with a calculator after an older work friends retirement party put some fear into her about her own future. Naomi was retiring young, at 62, with a tidy self funded retirement account, a husband with a firefighters pension, and they were going to now see the world. 

Hearing about Naomi and Franks plans, Naomi faced the reality that she was in her own boat for a future retirement.  The numbers didn't look good.  She had been putting a paltry 10% of her  income aside, but decided she now needed to contribute to the maximum allowed.  When she hit 50, she did the catch-up funds. This ate into her paycheck and soon her gym membership and rock climbing club went by the way side. She started scrambling for overtime, working late, eating microwaved meals, and using her lunch break for running errands she was too tired to do evenings. It was too much for Naomi, the loss of her carefree friend, who insisted Connie join her and Frank on their Belgium portion of their European tour. They had a cute two bedroom apartment in Bruges for a week, plenty of room for an extra, and air fare rates were at bargain prices. They specifically added Bruges so they could spend time with a younger cousin of Frank's, named Jack Cavanaugh, who was living in the city. Jack lived alone, his ex wife and adult children were back in the US.

Now here was Connie, in this beautiful Belgian city, looking up the staircase to make it to the top of the famous Belfry, back to her carefree self. "This will be magical," she told herself, having associated the Belfry with old world mystery and intrigue.  With each step, she pushed herself  along, a little smile forming at her lips.  She was happy her friend nudged her to come. The panic at being an old  woman who had wasted her life living like a carefree twenty year old, and now had to live on cat food, was gone. The annoyance she felt in the last twenty years since her divorce at well meaning friends and family trying to set her up with  just the right guy was stamped under each foot step. It wasn't that Connie shut the door on finding a partner, but she was happy enough with her life that she was not willing to settle for anyone less than perfect for her.  After a ho hum existence with the wrong person, she wanted something magical. 

At the top, she found glory. She saw the canal and people watched as they strolled in the open market. Before her climb, uncharacteristically, Naomi complained of a sore knee, and Frank didn't want to go up without her. She spotted them standing at a fruit cart, buying something, and walking towards a bench in the center. Naomi looked like she was walking perfectly fine, not favoring her strong knee whatsoever. She turned to take a look in the other direction and came face to face with a handsome man, almost bumping him in the nose with the top of her head. "Excuse me!" Connie said with a laugh, not knowing if he spoke English. "I need to watch where I turn." He smiled a warm smile back at her. "Not a problem at all. What's a bump on the nose between fellow Americans."  They chatted a moment about the sites, the sounds, the history of the city.  "It's just magical." Connie said.  Standing with his hands in his pocket he said, Do you believe in  magic, Connie?"  Not recalling saying her name at all, she was a bit taken aback. "I have to say, excuse me again.  I don't believe I told you  my name."  He took his hand out of his pocket and extended it towards hers. "Of course you didn't, but it is nice to meet you. My name is Jack."