London Harmony: Small Fry (2 page)

June was beaming at her.  I was surprised Van's head didn't explode, saying so many words all strung together like that.  Then the chaplain asked, “Who has the rings?”

The gathered crowd laughed as Zilrita popped up from her seat like she was on springs, holding a baby.  “Gack!  That's me!”  I grinned at the goth as she ran up.  I was wondering why she wasn't in her place beside me.  But Fay had her 'baby drunk'.  She passed by the mothers’ West, who tried to snag baby Fay to no avail.

She held Fay like a giggling football as she dug into the pocket of her leather dress and pulled out two plain bands.  She held them out like she had just won an Olympic event.  June looked about to burst into laughter as she took a ring and slid it on Vanessa's offered hand.  Then Van took the other one and slipped it onto June's waiting finger.

Zil then went about trying to figure out which end was up on Fay, and deposited her on her hip.  The rector then smiled and said, “I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may... oh my... you got that part already.”  June and Vanessa were in a lip lock so hot most of us had a need to fan ourselves.

There was cheering and then June said in a voice far too booming to come from such a feminine looking woman,  “Okay everyone!  Back to London for the after party on the Water Witch!  I want to get to my honeymoon already!”  More cheering ensued as my two sisters made a run for the door and out to the SUV, which was appropriately and embarrassingly decked out for the newlyweds.

We all streamed out of the chapel with them, and birdseed was thrown at them.  I wondered why it wasn't rice, and the nice clergywoman explained it was for a treat for the huge swarms of birds around the chapel.   That they never had to sweep up afterward as the birds got every last seed.

I stood there grinning with a new piece of my heart glowing as I watched them drive off, dragging strings of cans behind them.

I sighed and exhaled then my smile suddenly dropped.  I mumbled, “Son of a bitch.  They were my ride.”  I turned to Zilrita, Elizabeth, and the mothers’ West, put a thumb out, and made puppy dog eyes.

Mission accomplished!  I scored a ride back to London with my newly expanded family.  That was an exciting thought for me.  For so long, Vannie and I were all each other had.  Well we have an Aunt and Uncle who we have never met.  Then June came into our lives and turned that all upside down.

We found that the friends she pulled around her like an armor shell were more like family than friends.  I couldn't help wondering if that's what a true family felt like.  Then June's family sort of absorbed Van and me before we realized what was going on.  We have been included in every family event and milestone since we met J-Dub.  Now they really are our family and I don't know why that is making my stupid eyes water.

Anabella was watching me in the mirror as she drove us to the docks where Tabitha Romanov's huge houseboat, the Water Witch, was moored.  Yes Tabitha Romanov, as in Tabby Cat, the mega rock superstar.

Have I mentioned just how surrealistic it was to work at London Harmony after school and on weekends?  I have met people I could have only dreamed of even simply seeing in concert, and they all sort of treated me like a little sister or maybe the record label mascot.

I mean, how bizarre is it to walk up the stairs to my desk and pass someone like Abigail Addison on the stairs and have her smile and say, “Hi Small Fry.”  That's enough to make me blush, not to mention that most of them are hot.

When I was younger, I know my sister hid from me, that she was attracted to women.  I guess she thought I'd think that was something wrong with her like her schizophrenia. I could never convince her that I couldn't care less about it.  In fact, once she sort of admitted it to herself when June came along it made me happier than a platypus in a bubble bath that she found someone who loved her for who she was, and saw past the disease that plagued her.

Then as I got older, I started to understand, as I found I was crushing on all sorts of men and women in the music scene.  At first I wondered if it was influenced by my sister, but I realized that nobody can influence your sexual preferences.  You just like what you like, and I seem to have no preference at all.  Cute is cute in my book.  Now if only I didn't appear to have some sort of people repellent that kept my dating life to virtually nil.

I've always thought my sister was very pretty, but she hides it away under the hood of that jacket of hers.  We have a strong resemblance to each other, so I hope I'm at least presentable.  I can never tell, some days I'm happy with what I see in the mirror, and other days all I can see are my flaws.

From what I have read in some of the psychology papers I have perused when I was fifteen; hey, I like to read, so zip it;  that is pretty normal.  Most people, when they look in the mirror, they first see the things they want to change about themselves before taking in the whole picture.

One paper spoke of body image, as a component of self-concept.  As it pertains to self-actualization and... okay fine, maybe I do know why dating is so hard.  It's difficult to find someone who finds everything interesting and fascinating like I do.

The past year I've tried to fit in.  I've dressed edgier, more hip, and into the underground rock scene that I am immersed in at work.  I thought it was working when I was asked out by a couple guys and a girl in my senior year.  But they all moved too fast.  I don't want to just hop into bed on the first date, and that seems to be a turn off to the types of people I am attracting with the persona I was projecting.  I want to make a connection before I, well... you know.

Maybe it is time to take stock of myself and try to figure out who I am.  Who is Francine Allie Brighton?  I'll be heading off to college in just nine short weeks.  Reinvent myself.  Maybe I can start over there.  Be... me, whoever the hell that is.  Strip off the leather jacket and headbands and see who is hiding underneath.

Oh, who am I kidding?  I just can't wait to get my hands on all the reading material in the campus library!  I admit it, I'm a geek.  I was offered a full scholarship at the University of the Arts London, Chelsea, and a room in the Halls of Residence.

I saw Anabella tilt her head almost in question to me.  She has always been scary intuitive about people, but I guess she needs to be as a US congresswoman.  I just smiled and shrugged at her.  Then I noticed Elizabeth looking between me and her mom.  “Hey, none of that silent communication crap ladies.”  I noted Mandy signing what her daughter said for her wife.

Anabella just chuckled as we pulled into the marina and parked.  It was a battle worthy of an episode of Star Trek as we all fought over the baby seat that doubled as a rocker slash carrier.  I won.  Go me!  Lizzy stuck her tongue out at me then we all proceeded to the crowded houseboat.  People were on both levels and on the roof deck.

I'm not sure how she did it, but after Zil gave us all one of her squid hugs as we joined the party, the baby seat was empty and a giggling goth was galloping away with Fay on her hip.  I muttered, “I done been baby napped.”

Liz bumped my shoulder and winked down at me from her imposing height and said, “Now you know how I feel.  I've been in London for a whole week now and I've seen Fay maybe three minutes of that.”  She gave a super toothy grin.  I thought she'd be depressed that her husband, Jeremy, wouldn't be able to join us until next week for a couple days before they all flew back to the States.  He's been working on a huge deal that he can't talk much about until everything is finalized.  He's such a cool guy, I can see how he was the lucky one to snag the Pacific Island Princess.

I loved her long, shiny, black hair.  Even braided like it was, it reached down past her waist.  It was sort of like her signature, I think.  That just got me wondering if I had a signature.  Maybe just my prodigious proclivity for my ponderous propensity to expand my vocabulary?  That's me, sexy like a thesaurus.  Pluh.  God, I need a life!

The reception was a blast, dancing and lots of live music from the artists we view as friends.  We were all treated to an incredible surprise, Mandy and Anabella took the mics and sang a song Mandy said she had written for June the day she was born.  I was floored by Anabella, she was easily the caliber of any of the stars who sang before her and her tone was like silver bells chiming, nothing like I would expect from someone who was deaf.  I teared up as June bawled like a baby,  Not much can phase J-Dub, but that song from her moms did.

They smashed cake into each others faces then ran off to the car and drove off to their three-day whirlwind honeymoon tour of Europe.  They had so much going on at LH that they said they couldn't take more than three days.  I watched them drive off from the upper roof deck where I watched them then I muttered, “Son of a bitch!  They were my ride home!”

There was an explosive laugh beside me and I glanced over to see Tabby.  She grinned. “I'm sure with the ration of Harris-Wests floating around the boat, we can get ya home Small Fry.”

I grinned at her. “I know but that just makes my teenaged outburst seem pointless, so I'll refrain from making that realization until the party winds down.”  I gave her a cheesy grin and she smiled and mimicked me by leaning on the railing to look at the moon rising over the city.  I loved London so much, but I found myself missing the New York skyline from time to time since it was my first home.

After a bit, she said, “Too much going on in your head there for someone so young.  Maybe you need to step back and enjoy the rest of the summer before you're forced to grow up even faster.  I hear college forces the issue on people. Not that I'd know anything about that.”

I nodded. “Just trying to figure out who I am before I go.”

She didn't even look over.  “If you can do that, let me know.  I don't think anyone truly knows who they are because we are always changing, evolving.  Our experiences are like building blocks, our emotions like the mortar that holds it all together.  You might start off as one thing, a warehouse of knowledge, and become something new like a skyscraper, soaring to new heights.  Humans weren't meant to be static, to be defined as just one thing.”

I smirked.  “I hate how easily words come to you creative types, that sounded like it could be in your next song.  Some of us are not as loquacious and find words so easy, especially when it comes to our lives.”

She chuckled. “Hmmm... you're right.  Let me stew in those words a bit.  And Small Fry, the Dictionary Queen, doesn't find words easy?”  I looked down and blushed.  Then she turned to me and locked her odd copper eyes on me. “You're not supposed to know who you are when you are so bloody young.  It will just drive you batty.  Take the summer, be a teen, it's the last chance you'll get and you'll be sorry if you waste that chance.”

I nodded and Liz spoke from behind us.  I was so startled that I almost jumped over the rail into the Thames. “Listen to Coppertop little 'sis'.”  I grinned at the use of sis as I turned to see her and Mandy and Ana with baby Fay.  Liz draped an arm around my shoulder and changed topic to spare me any more embarrassment. “We were hunting for you.  Figured the girls forgot you again and you'd need a ride back to the condo.”

I nodded and reached out to Fay and Ana just grinned and turned her hip away.  I signed and said, “Greedy baby monger.” I listened to her silvery laughter.

Then before you knew it, we were back on the road, heading to the condo that June, Vannie and I lived at.  I decided that yes, I was going to take Tabitha's words to heart and just get out of my own head and enjoy the summer before my life changed yet again, for better or worse.

The summer went by in a blur.  After June and Vannie had got back from their honeymoon, we took the Liz, Mandy, Ana, and Fay to Heathrow to see them go back to the Americas.  Oh god, just listen to me, I'm starting to talk like a Brit.  To the U.S., Fran, the U.S.

Anabella had been watching me for days.  And she finally pulled me to the side at the airport and told the others we'd catch up.  She pulled me down on a bench and just looked at me for a moment.  She had this almost tangible aura around her, that settled around her like a mantle.  She had been through so much, and wisdom was knitted into her eyes like a tapestry of emotion that made the tiny redhead seem impossibly strong.

She looked around then just signed without speaking, “Something has been weighing on you since we showed up Frannie.  I miss the fun and sense of wonder that sparkled in your eyes.”

I shrugged and smiled, was I broadcasting on all frequencies or was I sending off telemetry on a secret oscillating band that the women I respected could listen to like an old radio show?  I signed, “I'm just feeling a little lost.  I'm about to go to college and I don't even know who I am.”

She grinned, which surprised me then signed back, her hands so graceful compared to mine, “Good.”  She made a silly face and continued, “You're not supposed to.  If you did, then I'd be worried.  Your world is shaped by your decisions.  Those decisions are yours and yours alone, you should never make them based upon what you may think others expect.  Sometimes those decisions are sound, and sometimes they may lead you astray.  But that's how it is supposed to be.”

She reached over and squeezed my hand then spoke in her musical voice without signing, “That's how you find yourself.”

Then she signed, “Just relax and have fun this summer, don't stress about the future.  Then let the adventure begin on your journey to finding out just who one of my favorite people is.  Whoever you wind up being, I just know I'm going to love her.  And always remember to surround yourself with good people.”

My eyes were watering.  I signed, “I know why June turned out so well.”  I hugged her and she seemed much happier then, as she led me to the waiting group.  After tearful goodbyes, we headed back to the condo already missing that part of my new family.

There was so much work to be done at London Harmony, June felt we were getting to the saturation point that our little staff could handle, but she didn't want to get so big that we couldn't give each and every artist the personal attention they deserved.  So after discussions in the Pit, we are thinking of adding a location.  Spinning off the pop artists into a new studio.

I hadn't been privy to most of it, because almost everyone kicked me out to go have fun my last summer of freedom.  The thing is, working at LH is fun for me.  The group that I kind of, sort of, hung out with in high school were all on holiday so all the rest of my friends and family in London were at London Harmony.

So, what does an hip and happening, enterprising young woman do with all her free time that is forced upon her?  Why do something that induced thrills and precipitates an adrenaline rush of course!  I mostly hung out at the London Library in Saint James Square.  Oh good lord I need a life.

But... there are books there... filled with words.  A virtual cornucopia of imagination and wonder for any bibliophile.  A plethora of works that give conception to the visualization of new concepts and worlds.  Umm... stop looking at me like that.

The only thing I love as much as words is music, mostly because the emotional constructs the artists build with their words.  You can empathize with the feelings of the artist that brought forth such visceral passion.

So that was my summer, kicking back in the back of the library in a workstation, reading anything I could get my little hands on while listening to new talent from the city's underground music scene, looking for the next big artist.  The Frampton 200, over the ear, studio quality headphones which June hooked me up with last Christmas, made it sound like I was standing in the mosh pit, experiencing the music live.

Oh... and I saw a movie.  Don't tease me, but it was Heartsong Warrior Two.  I may or may not have snorted a few times during it.

So there I was, checking my bags before I headed over to my dorm room in the Halls of Residence.  I came out of my room dragging my two suitcases and paused.  Vannie and June were standing in our condo at One Hyde Park, with watery eyes.

I held my own back and said, “Oh come on now.  I'm going to be to be a whole entire two miles away.  Still working Saturdays at LH.  This will have a negligible impact on our social endeavors.”

They pulled me into a hug.  June whispered hoarsely, “We know Small Fry, but even still we're going to miss the hell out of you and your old lady vocabulary.”  I snorted and squeaked at that.  Good God, I was crying too.

I pushed away from them and wiped my eyes. “Yeah, this will be a great first impression, me showing up with puffy red eyes.”

Van tilted her head at me and tentatively touched my shoulder.  “I love you, little sis.  It won't be the same here without you.”

This would be strange, for the third time in my life I'll be living away from my sister.  When the foster system split us up, when she went into the mental health program, and now.  I took a look at her, taking a mental picture though I'd still probably see her every day or so.  I marveled at how she took care of me and always made sure I was safe even during her psychotic breaks.  When she wasn't sure of anything else, not knowing what was real or not, she always held onto us, our little two person family.  She was the strongest person I knew.  So I let her know. “I love you too big sis.  I'll see you guys for Thursday Night, Friday Night, and at work.”

They each tried to take a suitcase and I giggled. “Oh good lord women, let me go with dignity here.  I can get my cases in my car.”

Then June grabbed something off the coffee table, a small wrapped package and slipped it into my shoulder bag.  She crinkled her nose.  “Fine, fine.  Be on your way so I can ravage your sister.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “Eww.  Nice J-Dub.  Now I'll have to drive an icepick into my skull to get that image out of my head.”

Van was no help. “Oooo ravaging?”

To the sound of their chuckles as I pulled the suitcases out the door and they closed the door behind me, I started saying, “La la la I can't hear you!”  I paused a second and took a deep breath and steeled myself.  This was it, I was about to embark on...  I turned and saw shadows in the peephole.  I blurted, “Good lord women!  You don't need to watch me go!  I better not see you on the balcony when I get to the car!”  I grinned at the giggles then headed down to street level.

I loaded the suitcases next to the couple other boxes of things for the dorm, then chanced a look up to see my sisters standing on the balcony looking down.  I just had to smile, I loved them too.  Then I waved and they waved back and I hopped in and drove off, toward the Thames and the next chapter in my life.

But I wasn't thinking of that.  My weird brain was wondering how hard it would be for me to adapt to driving if we ever moved back to the U.S.  Since I learned to drive on the wrong side of the road here in England.