Before I am Famous

literature is something we infer after the story is told

Firefly Chapter 21

Posted on | October 2, 2008 | 3 Comments

Beth heard the phone ring and answered. The numbers on the clock read six a.m.

“Hello,” her heart thudded.

“I’m sorry but Theresa died in her sleep.”

Beth dropped the phone and emotions exploded. Fred woke up and asked what was wrong but he knew.

After the autopsy, they discovered it was a morphine overdose through her IV. The police started an investigation. They viewed cameras and found nothing out of the ordinary. The same night Theresa died, there was a theft of morphine. Checking with the nurse whom the card belonged to, she claimed she was at home and her card went missing earlier that day. Baffled, the police let the leads die.

Beth brought the girls back to Catskill, since it was their home. She planned a funeral and a wake. The funeral happened the day Ray was supposed to have her surgery. She saw EJ dressed in black with a skinny blonde crying uncontrollably. Michelle attended and paid her respects as well as many people from town and a slew of media. Apparently, the twins’ life was a huge story.

The pastor preformed the funeral service. Beth grew numb. At the end of the service, she saw someone. Pushing through the people, she yelled, “Diane, stop.”

Diane stopped and turned around. No longer did Diane and Beth carry the same reflection. At 37, Diane looked ten years older with a wrinkled face and worn and tired gray eyes.

“Hi ya Beth,” she said smiling enough that Beth could see she was missing teeth.

“Diane, what happened? Why are you here? Why did you leave them?” Beth interrogated

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Diane asked noticing Beth’s overstuffed stomach.

“Twin boys.”

“MMM, are they separated?”

“Yeah, it looks like it.”

They sat on a pew in the back. Fred motioned to her, another man motioned to Diane. They waved them off.

“Is that your husband?” Diane asked.

“Yeah, we were married a couple of months ago. Is that yours?”

“Yeah, married for five years. He made me come.”

“How did you find out?”

“The news. You know it was big in New Jersey, that’s where I live.”

“Okay,” Beth said, “why didn’t you come before?”

“Don’t know. Ashamed I guess. I can’t have kids. I fucked up big time. You know when I left the hospital I  ripped my staples and I bled all over. Now I can’t have kids,” Diane said looking for sympathy.

“It was your fault.”

“Yeah I know. When he brought up kids, I told him everything. Now we might adopt.”

“That’s nice,” Beth replied distant.

“They were my kids, you know I had to say good bye.”

“Please, Diane spare me the mellow drama. You said good-bye a long time ago. You gave birth to them but you didn’t raise them. And they have names.”

“You did a god job of raising them. I liked the names Carrie Willow and Theresa Diane.”

They stopped talking and got up to go to the cemetery.

“I know I fucked up everything Beth. I fucked it up with Carrie and Theresa. There’s nothing I can do to change the past but I can work for a future with my family, you Beth,” Diane said softly.

“You know I missed you over the years. I’m not promising anything but let’s make it through today together and we’ll see how it goes.”

Diane hugged her, “oh Beth, thank you so much. Tell me about Carrie and Theresa; I want to know them.”

“There will be time for that,” she said as she hugged her sister back.

End.

Category: firefly

Comments

3 Responses to “Firefly Chapter 21”

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    October 6th, 2008 @ 7:37 pm

    [...] M Scott – “Firefly Chapter 21” – The last chapter of [...]

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    [...] M Scott – “Firefly Chapter 21” – The last chapter of [...]

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