Annie XXXVII: Meetings

(Chronological index: Between their first date and the wedding)

Ray glanced from the road sign to the printed directions. After eight dates and a sylph transfer in Jacksonville, it was his first attempt to find Denise's home in Brunswick.

There was a running discussion about behaviors going on in the car.

"Now, be sure to act like a guest. This is Denise and Pet's home, not ours."

"Of course."

"And don't grandstand. It's Pet's birthday party, so let her be the center of attention."

"Yes, I will."

"And be polite. Answering a question candidly may or may not be polite, but long and involved explanations are not."

"I know! I know! God, Annie, you act like I shouldn't be allowed out in public!" Ray protested.

"Sometimes," Annie replied. "Oh! And no matter what she cooks, be appreciative!"

"Give me a fucking break," he replied.

"Well," she started to explain, then noticed that he was slowing to park at a curb. "Are we there?"

"I think so," he said. "Ah! Yeah, that's Carla's car."

"So who else is here?" She was running back and forth on the dashboard, trying to see if there was any easy intel to gain from the cars. All had Georgia plates, though, and no bumper stickers to speak of.

Ray put his hand on the dash and waited patiently. "You want us to be fashionably late?" he asked.

"Oh, that would make you psychotic," she laughed. But she climbed aboard. He held her before the rearview mirror without her asking.

She made sure her hair was just perfect enough for a party, then nodded. He grabbed the gift and they went to the door.

Denise greeted them alone. She and Ray kissed, then she gently took Annie in hand and kissed her on the head. Annie had decided that Denise was worth such indignities and sat quietly through it.

"Come in, everyone else is inside." She led the way to the dining room. Annie looked at the house as they passed through it. Denise leaned towards earthen tones, woods and antiques.

And stairs. There were little stairways that lead up to and between almost every piece of furniture in the room. Annie made do at home with knotted string and a few ladders.

If the relationship between her and Pet's owners never went anywhere, Annie could only hope he'd at least adopt the Sylph Access Act that was operating here.

Carla and two older people sat at the table. Pet stood next to a pile of presents in the middle. There was another sylph beside her, one that looked a lot like Pet, but a little older.

"ANNIE!" Pet shouted as Denise put the sylph down beside her. She grabbed her guest in a hug and spun her around. "Everyone, this is Annie! She let me stay with her while Denny was in the hospital and nearly died so Carla's cat wouldn't eat me while you guys were out of town in Yuma."

Pet held Annie around the waist and kept turning in circles so that, on average, she was facing everyone. Annie noticed that the five humans overhead had nearly identical expressions of bemusement at Pet's speech.

"We set a giant trap and caught Ray and made him take us to Hooters. And I called Denny on the phone and we were in a special effect.

"Oh, and we went clothes shopping and drove in Denny's car and she won a lottery ticket and showed me how to cut the heads off Gummi Bears so they can be left in-" She suddenly glanced at Ray and covered her mouth with one hand.

Everyone at the table turned to look at Ray. He shrugged. "I woke up with it in my ear. If they were aiming for my nose, they got it wrong. If they were aiming for my ear, though…"

"We were," Annie said, patting Pet's hip.

"Then she a quick learner," Ray said.

"Yes, she is," Denise said with a smile. She pat her pet on the head. Pet smiled at the attention.

"So," Denise went on. "THAT introduction's done. You are done, right Pet?"

"Yes, Denny," she replied.

"And a wonderful introduction it was," the other sylph said.

"I don't know," the other man at the table said. "She left out a few things. Does Annie have a birthmark, Pet?"

"Yes, Chuck! On her butt." She had both hands on Annie's skirt hem before the older sylph knew it.

"HEY!" she protested, holding her clothes in place with both hands.

Chuck started laughing. "Dad!" Carla and Denise reprimanded him together.

Pet realized she'd been had and ran across the table to glare at him. "You tricked me!" she shouted.

"Hit him!" Annie called out.

Pet turned to stare at the other sylph. "I can't hit Denny's dad. Even when he's been evil."

"I can," Annie said. She made a production of rolling up her sleeves as she stomped over to his wrist. "Leave my little friend alone, fella! Or I'll have to muss you up!"

"You can't hit him," Ray said. "Not until you've been introduced, anyway."

"Then it's up to me," the older woman said. She dope-slapped Chuck with a resounding clap. He winced and apologized to both sylphs.

When the laughter died down, Denise picked up both sylphs and moved them back to the stack of gifts.

"Well, now that's done with, Annie, Ray? I want you to meet Buttercup." The other sylph waved at Ray and took his sylph into a hug.

"I've heard wonderful things about both of you," she said.

"That's sweet," Annie said. "But if Pet said wonderful things about my revered Master, they're lies."

"That's also what we heard," Buttercup replied.

"You know Carla. And this is my dad, Chuck," Denise went on. "And my mom, Carolyn."

"Pleased to meet you," Ray said, leaning over the table to shake hands. He sat down, looking at Buttercup. "You look a lot like Pet. Are you two sisters?"

"Flattery will get you everything," Buttercup said.

"She's my mom!" Pet said.

-----

Ray offered to help serve dinner but Carolyn wasn't having any. Visitors visit, she insisted, dragging Carla into Denise's kitchen. Ray and Annie got to talk to the other sylphs and Chuck.

Denise's father told a few old jokes, but outside of teasing one or more of the sylphs he didn't seem to have much of a repertoire. He later claimed that he hadn't felt like teasing the man sleeping with his daughter.

Ray later decided that the bastard had been setting him up for a practical joke at the wedding. "And he'd seemed like such a nice guy," he would say at the man's funeral.

Annie saw the glint in the old guy's eye that reminded her of Ray when he was about to tease her. She later said it was amazing that Ray didn't notice.

Right now, though, she was more amazed to meet related sylphs. "I mean, I've met sisters, but not mother/daughter."

"And you seem so young," Ray said.

Annie rolled her eyes. "He does not mean that you seem like you were a teen mother, he means that you age well, and your radiant energy makes you seem even younger."

"Yeah," Ray agreed.

"I've given up hope for him," Annie confided.

"See?" Pet asked her mother. "She talks like she's the one in charge!"

"I do see that, Pet," Buttercup said.

"Ah," Annie said. "You have to remember, Pet, that Ray was very young when I got him."

"You've trained him up well," Chuck said. Annie acknowledged him with a nod and a wink. Ray missed the byplay.

Dinner was a quiche, one of Pet's favorite dishes. Annie found her piece quite tasty.

"This is good!" she enthused. "We never get quiche at home."

"Ray doesn't cook?" Carolyn asked.

"He cooks," Denise said. "He's cooked a couple of meals for me."

"Not baked," Ray admitted. "I'm not that good a cook."

"What?" Denise asked. "That shrimp Creole was fantastic. I loved it and I don't like shrimp that much!"

"That was with a wok, though," Annie explained. "Baked dishes have to be completely correct before you put it in the oven. And if it goes wrong, you don't know until it's on the plate.

"Ray's not bad, but he has to stay right on top of what he's working on."

"So you barbeque," Chuck said.

"Man burn food with fire," Ray grunted.

"Good food," Annie added.

"Mmm-mmm," Pet said, her mouth full.

"Well, then," Carolyn said, "For Annie's birthday, we'll all come over and you'll fire some food for us."

Ray froze, staring at Annie. The sylph became quite interested in her food. "Annie, uh, Annie doesn’t celebrate birthdays," he said. The others were silent for a moment.

"Surely she's not THAT old?" Chuck finally asked. "Carrie stopped having birthdays when she turned OW!"

"No, it's not that," Ray said, politely ignoring the slap. "She, uh, well. It's just that…"

"The Annie that had birthdays died on The Day," Annie finally said. She still stared at her plate. Everyone stared at her. "That's what the governments of one hundred and eighty five UN countries say. The others say there's no such thing as sylphs.

"So, there are no more birthdays for the Late Annie Trace." Ray reached out to touch her gently on the shoulder. She leaned into it for a second, then went on.

"And the only major anniversary for Annie the Sylph is The Day. And I'll be god damned if I'm going to sing happy The Day songs or blow out the candles on my sylphing cake."

"Oh, Annie," Denise sighed.

"Annie? I'd never have invited you to my birthday party if it was going to make you sad," Pet said.

"Oh, no, Pet! I'm not sad!" She smiled at the younger girl. "This is your party. And I'm having fun. Just because I'm too angry at the universe to have a birthday doesn't mean you can't."

Pet still looked worried. Annie stood up and walked around the little table at the center of the human table to take Pet's hands in hers. "Pet, you're my friend. I want you to be happy. I'm happy for you. Don’t let my sour disposition make your birthday less happy. Okay?"

"Okay," Pet said.

"Friends?" Annie asked.

"Friends," Pet shouted, happily taking Annie into a hug. Everyone around the table relaxed and went back to eating. Annie returned to her chair and sat down.

"Hey, Annie?" Pet called to her after a moment of thought. "You want half my birthday? I mean, if you don't want to celebrate anything else, we can share a birthday."

Annie stared back at her friend, jaw hanging open. Buttercup leaned over to hug her daughter. "That's a very generous offer, Pet."

"It sure was," Ray said. "Wasn't it, Annie?" He tapped her chair with a fingertip.

"Yeah," she said softly. "I mean… Um. Generous."

"She'll have to think about it," Ray said. "At least until tomorrow. We'll let you know."

"Yeah. Think," Annie mumbled. "Tomorrow." She started to open her mouth again. Ray snatched her out of her seat and put her into his pocket.

"Knowing Annie, she's going to want to say something snarky, to keep up her reputation. But we don't want an Annie outburst spoiling the mood, do we?"

Out of everyone's sight, Annie pushed her face into the shirt and against Ray's chest. Tears flowed. She breathed through her mouth to avoid sniffling.

Ray told the others about some of the occasions that Annie's comments had gotten them both in trouble. He stuck to the funnier ones to lighten the mood.

By the time she had herself under control, he was talking about the joke challenge she'd made with the old guy at the culinary class dinner.

He deliberately told one wrong, giving his pet an excuse to fight her way out of the pocket, shouting the correction across the table.

"That's not the joke!" she shouted. "It goes, 'Why don't you let a sylph drive the car?' And the answer is, 'because they like to ride on the shoulder!' Honestly, you're horrible at jokes!" She turned to the table, "I've given up hope for this one."

Desert was cake and ice cream. The three sylphs shared a bowl of their own.

Then they both helped Pet peel the gift wrap off of her presents. \

Ray and Annie gave her the smallest MP3 player they could find, with shoulder straps. Annie had loaded it with every song Pet had enjoyed during her visit. Pet squealed happily, then twice as loud once Denise assured her that their laptop could support it.

After that, it was time to start the long drive back to Jax. They said goodbyes to the group. Denise picked up Pet and followed them out to the front porch.

Annie hugged Pet so tightly the other sylph couldn't breathe. She didn't complain, though, she just hugged back.

When the older sylph finally let go, Pet gasped a bit, then said, "I'm glad you came, Annie. And I hope, next time, it's a dueling ceremony?"

"Dual ceremony, Pet," Annie said softly. "And…I'd love that." Then, more loudly, "That is, if the giant are still dating by that point."

The two humans were kissing and made no reaction to Annie's comment.

"Aw," Pet said as they looked up at the smooching, "they're so cute."

"Indeed," Annie said in her best Darth Vader voice. "The schmaltz is strong in this one."

Pet responded immediately with a credible imitation of Yoda: "Once you start down the love path," she croaked, "forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will."

Annie stared at Pet with surprise. It was like hearing Teddy Ruxpin break out in Shakespeare. "Good one," she finally said, "very well done!" Pet beamed at the compliment.



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