My mom woke me before my alarm went off, and after a few minutes of brain rebooting, I staggered into the shower, then got dressed for the day. Mom had laid out a sundress for me, but I really wasn’t ready for that. I don’t know if I ever will be. I wore a pair of light tan jeans, with a light red (no, it’s not pink-I don’t care who says it is) t-shirt. My usual ankle socks and trainers, of course, and I put my hair into a nice ponytail.
“Okay, Mom, I’m awake. Now can you tell me why I’m awake at 5:30 in the morning?”
She looked a little disappointed that I hadn’t worn the sundress. “I thought you might want to come with me to pick up your Dad, honey. We can talk about…things, while we drive to the airport.”
Oh, and I can just guess what we’re going to talk about, too. Ookay. I do want to see Dad, and get his reaction to me, and I guess I’m even looking forward to a friendly conversation with Mom as well. At least I hope it’s friendly…
We took Mom’s minivan so that we’d have room for Dad’s luggage and stuff. It was a little rainy, more of a mist than rain, actually. I was hoping the Sun would dry things a bit as the morning progressed. The beating of Mom’s wipers, back and forth, back and forth, was almost hypnotic, and it made me sleepy.
“Mom says that you’re getting along with Debbie now, and that you have a date? Seems like an awful big adjustment in a fairly short time. I’m worried that you might be trying too hard to fit in, and that scares me a little.”
“Mom, I-”
“Just hear me out, sweetheart. You’ve gone through a lot of changes recently, and I really think you need to give yourself more time.”
“Mom, I’m not trying to rush anything. I needed to be honest with Debbie, it was driving me crazy, and not trusting her could have been very hurtful. You don’t see me wearing a skirt or walking around in high heels. I’m really not trying to be more of a girl, not yet, and maybe not ever, I don’t know.
“As to the date? I don’t know. I know I get a bit giggly when he’s around, but we’re just going to a movie. Part of me is scared to death about this, but part of me is sooo…attracted to him for some reason. I have to figure out what my body is telling me, but I’m pretty sure it’s not saying ‘Hey, you need to be making wild passionate love’-at least, not yet! The only way a boy is getting in these pants is if I suddenly turn back into Gabe.”
Jenny laughed.
“All right, I was just concerned. Things will be different for you now. Some will be better, some will be worse, but some will be just annoying and unfair.”
“I know, Mom. I’m terrified about my first period, I’m nervous about my date with Tim, and I’ve never
really felt so vulnerable and weak before, but I’m not going to let that stop me from living!”
I could see that I had pleased her. We spent the rest of the hour’s drive talking about school, my magic lessons, and what I was going to wear on my date. I had just planned on my jeans and a T-shirt, but Mom was hoping I’d try the sundress. Oh, geeze! She had a good point, that Tim would be pleased, but I just wasn’t comfortable with that yet.
We got to the airport about 5minutes before Dad’s flight was scheduled to arrive. We parked the minivan near the terminal where he would be, and then went in and found some seats to wait. The flight was a little late, but I soon saw my dad. I was very nervous. Mom got up to meet him, and I followed behind her. They hugged, and then he looked at me.
“Hi, kid. How are you handling it?” He asked, “You certainly turned out beautiful.”
I blushed. “Thanks, Dad. I’m …adjusting.”
He held his arms open, and I gave him a hug.
“I’m so sorry you have to go through this, baby.” He said. “I just want to let you know that I’m very proud of the way you’re handling everything, and that you can count on me to support you any way I can.”
I hugged him even harder. “I know, Dad. I love you.”
“You two are going to make it hard to do these sales trips. I won’t want to leave again!”
We both looked at him. “Good!”
“You probably don’t want to hear about how well I did on this trip, do you?”He asked.
“Sure we do, Dad. We just wish you could be home more, that’s all.”
“Well, I had a conference call with the some of the company brass yesterday, and they said I’ve done very well, especially when you consider the past year. They had a few issues though,”
That didn’t sound good.
“What happened?” Mom asked.
“Seems they lost a Vice President and a major salesman this week. This is going to mean some major changes in our lives from now on.”
“You’ll be gone more often then, won’t you?” It just seemed like I’d never get to spend any time with Dad. He’d been gone so often, I sometimes didn’t even get to see him when he was home.
“Well, honey, sometimes you need to make sacrifices to get that promotion, or the raise in pay, and we’ll need that raise to support your shopping habits now.” He joked.
I just hugged his arm. “I just want you, Dad.”
His eyes got big, and he looked at Mom. “I can’t do it anymore, Jen.”
She smiled and nodded.
“The conference call was to tell me I was being promoted, sweetheart. Your dad is now the Vice President, in charge of sales, meaning somebody else does the traveling. I have to make one more sales trip to train my replacement, but I’m due to be back here early next month to take over my new job.”
“All right! Way to go, Daddy!”
“Aww, thank you, princess. It’ll be nice to be home, then. I can get out my old shotgun and intimidate your boyfriends!”
I gave him the evil eye. “Are you sure you really want this promotion? There’s a lot of stress being a vice president, you know.”
Mom and Dad laughed at me.
Comments
Cool Dad
Wow, what a cool dad. Talk about taking things in stride... he's talking to her like she'd always been a girl
He did have advance notice, so you have to figure on that
Jenny (Mom) did say that she had called Dad because she didn't want to surprise him, so he did have time to get used to the idea.
I've tried to show that Gabe was a very practical person-he handled the problem, then worried about what could have happened, which is kind of the way Emily does things, although she sure worried about telling Debbie her secret! Part of her problem is she's still doing, rather than really thinking. It's slowly getting through to her, but she's still in denial a bit-although she'd deny that.
Mike Randall is the same way, which helps him to deal with his customers. He knows his stuff, and he knows how he can help a customer. He doesn't worry about how the meetings going to go-he goes in ready to find out the best way he can solve his customer's problem-which is what sales really is, solving a problem, even if the customer doesn't know he has the problem.
Mike IS a cool guy. he's not real tall, about 6'1", athletic build, dark hair with a little gray at the temple. He's outgoing and always ready to help someone. Of course, no one is perfect, and Mike has a couple of issues. He can't handle a drink AT ALL. The rumor is that he could get tipsy just looking at a bottle. Of course, this isn't true, you have to open it first!
The other is that he can't dance or sing. He gets distracted by the technical pats of the music. He plays keyboard, any guitar, saxophone and (totally embarassing to Emily) accordian. His great musical ambition is to learn the bagpipes. Now that he'll have more time at home, his neighbors may not like him very much.
I'm still working on Debbie's parents and Tim's Dad. I like characters who are real characters, so they'll probably have some minor quirk. I do know that Tim's Mom has passed in a nasty incident, and it has left a deep influence on Tim.
Wow, said more than I planned to! I'll spend the weekend building a buffer for next week, and I want to finish introducing major characters sometime next week. See ya then!
Wren
This one piper piping…
Most often, one learns to play the bagpipes in town by using what's called a "practice chanter" for the simple reason that a full set is just too loud. My own teacher would practice with his full set on a golf course in the off-season. Around here (Minnesota), that's often out in the snow.
I did try to learn the pipes, but it was just too difficult to find suitable places to practice with the full set. So, I've since reprised playing the violin (thanks again 'Drea!), a subtler means of maintaining my Scots musical heritage.
The Rev. Anam Chara+
Anam Chara
Confused
Mom wanted her to wear a sundress and was unhappy she wore pants, yet cautioned her new daughter not to take things so fast? (Scratching my head)
Karen J.
* * *
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. - Winston Churchill
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I guess I should have written that better
My intention was to show that Mom was checking her out-seeing if she would go for it. She's not sure how Emily is handling her transition, and she wants to know more about what's going on in her head. I had thought about putting in a paragraph referring to that, unfortunately, that's as far as I got, and that's my fault. I had the story basically written out, and then as I posted it, I re-read it a couple of times, looking for technical mistakes (like the HTML blunder I did yesterday) or places where the story doesn't flow well.
This shows you the value of keeping a hard copy of the story. If I had done that, I might have noticed that I skipped a paragraph that should have been there just before Emily entered the kitchen after getting dressed. I didn't WRITE IT DOWN, it was just in my head. Whoops! Sorry!
It's a fairly minor screw up, and you were sharp to catch it! Thanks!
Wren
As far as I'm concerned...
It is still a very good story. Please keep up the good work! ^_^
Peace be with you and Blessed be
Peace be with you and Blessed be
Nice stuff Wren.
I really like Emily and the way she's got her head on straight. I loved the line about how the only way someone who get into her pants is if she turned back into Gabe. I'm not surprised her Dad's taking it okay it's a magical family after all.
*Big Hugs*
Bailey.
Bailey Summers
Daddy
I like the father. It looks like a very healthy, loving family. So nice. *sigh*
Thanks and kudos.
- Terry
"I’m …adjusting.â€
Indeed she is, and having a family in her corner will help a lot. I love Dad, he's amazing.
Dorothycolleen, member of Bailey's Angels
Comments are closed on #7
but I really wonder why it's more "girlish" to want a smaller vehicle? I know quite a few women who like big cars, to me the desire for a smaller vehicle is quite sexist.
Forgiveness
I have a bit of trouble with the total acceptance with Debbie. She was playing with powers she should not have and Gabe paid the price. Even though people know what she did she got off scott free, no real consequences at all. It is not an accident if you were doing something wrong in the first place and it went wrong.
But was it really Debbie's fault?
We all assume it was, but...
Emily's transformation sure seems awfully complete for a random accident. Even Grandma was surprised she could use magic. Could it be it was not an accident?
Still thinkin' about it!
Wren
Wild Magic 6
Was Dad helped to accept his daughter by a calming spell or has he always wanted a daughter?
May Your Light Forever Shine