(no subject)
Convincing --> An Odd Number of Stars
Cherry Vanilla 12. fish out of water
Butterscotch
Malt [I remember the day that happened]
Gummy Bunny: 500themes: 197. The moment.
rating: PG-13 (mentions drug use) words: 1753 summary:Ruth and Lewis meet the biological mother of their children
The diner was small and cheap, the waitress a bored blond teenager on her summer job chewing her with an obnoxious perseverance and the red and white tiles were swimming before Ruth’s eyes. Everything about this diner screamed black market drug dealings, a Hopper painting of some sort, not the place to meet the woman who might be caring your baby. The place smelt of burnt coffee and Ruth was so nervous she could hear her pulse in her ears and taste the blood in her mouth as she chewed her lips. The clattering air conditioner seemed to have no effect on the heat, which seemed to overwhelm her.
Lewis put a calming hand on hers. His hand was cool against her clammy hands, and she smiled at her husband thankfully as he leaned back against the red plastic seat, seemingly at ease. Even though to a stranger, Lewis seemed relaxed, Ruth knew him well enough to recognize though symptoms of nervousness. His left index finger and thumb rubbed together, a habit he had developed from his work in primary schools, playing with the drying glue on his fingertips.
He caught Ruth’s eye and smiled encouragingly.
They didn’t need to communicate through words anymore. Almost ten years of marriage had taught them the importance of a smile, or a soft touch, or even an encouraging brush of the hands.
The door of the diner opened with an annoying ring, to which all the customers looked up, curious. In the door stood a neatly dressed woman in an ill fitted but expensive suit, her excessive makeup making her eyes look small and her lips a disgusting shade of pink. The woman following her was wearing a normal, bleached yellow t-shirt that was arduously stretched over her large stomach. She was wearing ordinary jeans, but had left them wide open to accommodate her bump which revealed some bright orange underwear. Her hair was bleached blond and she looked pale and unhealthy.
The girl was the first to spot Ruth and Lewis and she recognized them immediately from the forms that she had read the night before. They looked exactly like described and Candy was almost disappointed. The other three couples she had met with in the previous month had all life in some way or another on the forms, whether it was from their hair color or their career. Candy had hated liars. The two people in front of her looked the part of a middle class doctor and primary school teacher. She liked that.
As she shook hands with Ruth and Lewis Bourne and introduced herself as Candy, just plain Candy, all that she could think of was the pure contempt she had for her social worker, Spencer. They sat down to the inane chatter that Spencer felt was necessary while Candy tried not to inhale the fumes that were allegedly Spencer’s perfume. The waitress came.
Ruth took a black coffee.
Lewis ordered some blueberry pancakes and received a questioning look from his wife, at which he shrugged.
Spencer had a non-dairy, non-fat, no-taste smoothie.
Candy wanted a hit. She ordered a roll with tuna salad and Special K cereal. The waitress didn’t even bat an eye.
“Is the cereal on the roll, or on the side with some milk?”
“On it.” Candy specified. The waitress sauntered off.
She looked back at the table and the couple sitting opposite her to find Ruth inspecting her and Lewis leaning back, rubbing his index finger and this thumb together. Spencer coughed.
“This meeting is all about you getting to know Candy and Candy getting to know you.” She said through false smiles and overdone makeup. “Do you have any questions for Mr. or Mrs. Bourne?” Spencer asked, turning to Candy.
These were the three questions that would distinguish whether these people would make good parents. Candy leaned forward and paused for dramatic effect. “You know it’s twins.” Candy stated, though she meant it to be a question.
“Yes.” Mrs. Bourne nodded.
“Twin girls.” Another nod. “What would you name them?”
Mrs. Bourne smiled. “Charlotte and Grace.” She said without even pausing to think. “And we’d ask you to select a middle name for each.”
Candy liked that. She liked the name Grace: it reminded her of that song she used to sing in church with her mother, whenever her mother had had another abortion or dumped another useless boyfriend. Off to church they would go, her mother hoping that one trip every once in a blue moon would cleanse her of all the sin she had collected since the last time she’d come to church.
Charlotte made Candy think of those little cakes that Danni had made her when she’d told him she was pregnant. They were sweet, and the gesture had been even sweeter. “I like those names.” She said with a warm smile at Ruth, which the older woman returned, looking obviously relieved.
Their food arrived and with a flurry of movement it was laid out in front of them. Candy started eating her roll with a hunger she hadn’t been aware of earlier. “Will they grow up knowing they’re adopted?” Candy examined Ruth and Lewis over her sandwich.
Eye contact between Mr. and Mrs. Bourne. A light touch of his stationary hand. “We’re not quite sure.” Mr. Lewis’s voice was slow and steady and exuded a sense of comfortable confidence. Candy had little doubt that he was a successful primary school teacher. And then what he had said: total honesty. In the world she operated in there was little of that.
Last question. “Why should I choose you?”
This question interested everyone/Spencer leaned forward slightly, sipping at her thick smoothie strenuously through a thin straw. Mr. Lewis watched his wife with a calm curiosity. Mrs. Bourne just leaned forward on the table, staring Candy right in the eye and grinned. Her smile told Candy she was relieved the young blond had asked such an easy question. That was the moment, in Candy’s mind, it was decided. Completely decided.
“You should choose us because we know what we’re doing.” Ruth said simple with a smile. “Lewis is a primary school teacher and I’m a doctor. We’d be able to take care of both the emotional and physical needs of our child, not to mention financial. We’ll love our children no matter what, Candy. If they’re blind then we’ll live in a bungalow. if they’re deaf, then we’ll learn sign language. If they’re gay we’ll go to pride with them; if they’re transgender we’ll go to every single operation with them, if they’re sick no expense will be spared to make them better. That’s why we’re going to be good parents.”
Candy decided that she like Ruth. She decided that Ruth had a certain quality about her, which made her, despite her age, incredibly sensual. Suddenly, Candy was pretty sure she could have talked anyone into sleeping with her. Not that she needed to. Candy grinned. “Wonderful.”
Spencer glanced between the two women and then cleared her throat. “Do you have any questions?” She asked the couple sitting opposite her.
“A ton.” Lewis replied, all of a sudden matching his wife’s eager posture. “Tell us about the father.”
Candy smiled. “He’s Brazilian. He goes to college. He’s doing a MFA at the moment, at Iowa.”
“In what?” Lewis asked, eyebrow raised.
“Creative Writing.” Spencer replied. “Inecio Bardem knows that he is the father and is both aware of what Ms. Ruthford is doing and has given his full permission to this procedure.” Candy bristled as Spencer referred to her by her legal name. She hated that name. She had renounced it years ago.
Candy was starting to feel a bit dizzy. The babies were pressing down on her bladder and she was starting to feel a little sick. Her hand shook as she reached for her water glass.
“What drug is it, Candy?” Ruth asked, cocking her head to the side with an almost provocative look.
“I’m chasing the dragon.” No response. “Heroin.” Candy cleared up. Candy lifted her arm from where it hard rested in the crook of her elbow to reveal the tracks that were painfully obvious on her pale skin.
“She doesn’t have AIDS.” Spencer quickly explained. Ruth nodded slowly before fixing Candy with a steady glare.
“But the babies - they’re addicted too, aren’t they?” Ruth wasn’t asking a question, though Spencer nodded carefully. Ruth’s eyes held a mixture of horror and worry. Candy looked at the table in shame. This wasn’t her fault.
“Ms. Ruthford will give birth in a special ward of the hospital. We can then just hope that the children survive the ordeal that most grown women are too scared to commit too.” The glare was obviously aimed at Candy.
“They’ll be fine. Both Cody and Gloria were just fine.” Candy snapped.
“Twins are naturally weaker, so I wouldn’t count on it.” Spencer snapped back at her ward, until she noticed Ruth’s face become pale. “I’m sure they’ll be fine though.” She corrected herself with a smile. Candy gritted her teeth in annoyance.
“Fucking bitch.” She murmured under her breath. Ruth smiled slightly while Spencer decided not to hear.
“Any more questions?” She asked, turning to the prospective parents.
“Due date?”
“1st of April.”
“Diseases?”
“Clean. I was tested for down syndrome and neither were positive.”
“Family illnesses?”
“My little sister has asthma.”
“Diet?”
“Healthy. I’m not drinking or smoking.”
“Just shooting.” Spencer muttered under her breathe. Candy glared at the annoying social worker.
“Shut the fuck up.” She hissed.
“Can we get you anything?” Lewis’s smile was kind and Candy considered for a moment. Other than the urge that was making her head pound she was well taken care of, thanks to Danny. She smiled happily.
“No. Nothing.” The couple nodded with a smile. “I need to go now though.” Candy muttered, getting up as her stomach lurched and her need for the drug made her hand shake noticeably now. Ruth recognized the tone and the look and nodded with a smile that told Candy that she didn’t condemn her, though she did disapprove.
Candy left, Spencer following her out in a flurry that wasn’t suitable for this hot weather. Ruth watched them go before turning back to her husband.
“Well, that was interesting.” She commented with a smile on her face. Lewis smiled back.
“Fascinating.” He agreed.
Cherry Vanilla 12. fish out of water
Butterscotch
Malt [I remember the day that happened]
Gummy Bunny: 500themes: 197. The moment.
rating: PG-13 (mentions drug use) words: 1753 summary:Ruth and Lewis meet the biological mother of their children
The diner was small and cheap, the waitress a bored blond teenager on her summer job chewing her with an obnoxious perseverance and the red and white tiles were swimming before Ruth’s eyes. Everything about this diner screamed black market drug dealings, a Hopper painting of some sort, not the place to meet the woman who might be caring your baby. The place smelt of burnt coffee and Ruth was so nervous she could hear her pulse in her ears and taste the blood in her mouth as she chewed her lips. The clattering air conditioner seemed to have no effect on the heat, which seemed to overwhelm her.
Lewis put a calming hand on hers. His hand was cool against her clammy hands, and she smiled at her husband thankfully as he leaned back against the red plastic seat, seemingly at ease. Even though to a stranger, Lewis seemed relaxed, Ruth knew him well enough to recognize though symptoms of nervousness. His left index finger and thumb rubbed together, a habit he had developed from his work in primary schools, playing with the drying glue on his fingertips.
He caught Ruth’s eye and smiled encouragingly.
They didn’t need to communicate through words anymore. Almost ten years of marriage had taught them the importance of a smile, or a soft touch, or even an encouraging brush of the hands.
The door of the diner opened with an annoying ring, to which all the customers looked up, curious. In the door stood a neatly dressed woman in an ill fitted but expensive suit, her excessive makeup making her eyes look small and her lips a disgusting shade of pink. The woman following her was wearing a normal, bleached yellow t-shirt that was arduously stretched over her large stomach. She was wearing ordinary jeans, but had left them wide open to accommodate her bump which revealed some bright orange underwear. Her hair was bleached blond and she looked pale and unhealthy.
The girl was the first to spot Ruth and Lewis and she recognized them immediately from the forms that she had read the night before. They looked exactly like described and Candy was almost disappointed. The other three couples she had met with in the previous month had all life in some way or another on the forms, whether it was from their hair color or their career. Candy had hated liars. The two people in front of her looked the part of a middle class doctor and primary school teacher. She liked that.
As she shook hands with Ruth and Lewis Bourne and introduced herself as Candy, just plain Candy, all that she could think of was the pure contempt she had for her social worker, Spencer. They sat down to the inane chatter that Spencer felt was necessary while Candy tried not to inhale the fumes that were allegedly Spencer’s perfume. The waitress came.
Ruth took a black coffee.
Lewis ordered some blueberry pancakes and received a questioning look from his wife, at which he shrugged.
Spencer had a non-dairy, non-fat, no-taste smoothie.
Candy wanted a hit. She ordered a roll with tuna salad and Special K cereal. The waitress didn’t even bat an eye.
“Is the cereal on the roll, or on the side with some milk?”
“On it.” Candy specified. The waitress sauntered off.
She looked back at the table and the couple sitting opposite her to find Ruth inspecting her and Lewis leaning back, rubbing his index finger and this thumb together. Spencer coughed.
“This meeting is all about you getting to know Candy and Candy getting to know you.” She said through false smiles and overdone makeup. “Do you have any questions for Mr. or Mrs. Bourne?” Spencer asked, turning to Candy.
These were the three questions that would distinguish whether these people would make good parents. Candy leaned forward and paused for dramatic effect. “You know it’s twins.” Candy stated, though she meant it to be a question.
“Yes.” Mrs. Bourne nodded.
“Twin girls.” Another nod. “What would you name them?”
Mrs. Bourne smiled. “Charlotte and Grace.” She said without even pausing to think. “And we’d ask you to select a middle name for each.”
Candy liked that. She liked the name Grace: it reminded her of that song she used to sing in church with her mother, whenever her mother had had another abortion or dumped another useless boyfriend. Off to church they would go, her mother hoping that one trip every once in a blue moon would cleanse her of all the sin she had collected since the last time she’d come to church.
Charlotte made Candy think of those little cakes that Danni had made her when she’d told him she was pregnant. They were sweet, and the gesture had been even sweeter. “I like those names.” She said with a warm smile at Ruth, which the older woman returned, looking obviously relieved.
Their food arrived and with a flurry of movement it was laid out in front of them. Candy started eating her roll with a hunger she hadn’t been aware of earlier. “Will they grow up knowing they’re adopted?” Candy examined Ruth and Lewis over her sandwich.
Eye contact between Mr. and Mrs. Bourne. A light touch of his stationary hand. “We’re not quite sure.” Mr. Lewis’s voice was slow and steady and exuded a sense of comfortable confidence. Candy had little doubt that he was a successful primary school teacher. And then what he had said: total honesty. In the world she operated in there was little of that.
Last question. “Why should I choose you?”
This question interested everyone/Spencer leaned forward slightly, sipping at her thick smoothie strenuously through a thin straw. Mr. Lewis watched his wife with a calm curiosity. Mrs. Bourne just leaned forward on the table, staring Candy right in the eye and grinned. Her smile told Candy she was relieved the young blond had asked such an easy question. That was the moment, in Candy’s mind, it was decided. Completely decided.
“You should choose us because we know what we’re doing.” Ruth said simple with a smile. “Lewis is a primary school teacher and I’m a doctor. We’d be able to take care of both the emotional and physical needs of our child, not to mention financial. We’ll love our children no matter what, Candy. If they’re blind then we’ll live in a bungalow. if they’re deaf, then we’ll learn sign language. If they’re gay we’ll go to pride with them; if they’re transgender we’ll go to every single operation with them, if they’re sick no expense will be spared to make them better. That’s why we’re going to be good parents.”
Candy decided that she like Ruth. She decided that Ruth had a certain quality about her, which made her, despite her age, incredibly sensual. Suddenly, Candy was pretty sure she could have talked anyone into sleeping with her. Not that she needed to. Candy grinned. “Wonderful.”
Spencer glanced between the two women and then cleared her throat. “Do you have any questions?” She asked the couple sitting opposite her.
“A ton.” Lewis replied, all of a sudden matching his wife’s eager posture. “Tell us about the father.”
Candy smiled. “He’s Brazilian. He goes to college. He’s doing a MFA at the moment, at Iowa.”
“In what?” Lewis asked, eyebrow raised.
“Creative Writing.” Spencer replied. “Inecio Bardem knows that he is the father and is both aware of what Ms. Ruthford is doing and has given his full permission to this procedure.” Candy bristled as Spencer referred to her by her legal name. She hated that name. She had renounced it years ago.
Candy was starting to feel a bit dizzy. The babies were pressing down on her bladder and she was starting to feel a little sick. Her hand shook as she reached for her water glass.
“What drug is it, Candy?” Ruth asked, cocking her head to the side with an almost provocative look.
“I’m chasing the dragon.” No response. “Heroin.” Candy cleared up. Candy lifted her arm from where it hard rested in the crook of her elbow to reveal the tracks that were painfully obvious on her pale skin.
“She doesn’t have AIDS.” Spencer quickly explained. Ruth nodded slowly before fixing Candy with a steady glare.
“But the babies - they’re addicted too, aren’t they?” Ruth wasn’t asking a question, though Spencer nodded carefully. Ruth’s eyes held a mixture of horror and worry. Candy looked at the table in shame. This wasn’t her fault.
“Ms. Ruthford will give birth in a special ward of the hospital. We can then just hope that the children survive the ordeal that most grown women are too scared to commit too.” The glare was obviously aimed at Candy.
“They’ll be fine. Both Cody and Gloria were just fine.” Candy snapped.
“Twins are naturally weaker, so I wouldn’t count on it.” Spencer snapped back at her ward, until she noticed Ruth’s face become pale. “I’m sure they’ll be fine though.” She corrected herself with a smile. Candy gritted her teeth in annoyance.
“Fucking bitch.” She murmured under her breath. Ruth smiled slightly while Spencer decided not to hear.
“Any more questions?” She asked, turning to the prospective parents.
“Due date?”
“1st of April.”
“Diseases?”
“Clean. I was tested for down syndrome and neither were positive.”
“Family illnesses?”
“My little sister has asthma.”
“Diet?”
“Healthy. I’m not drinking or smoking.”
“Just shooting.” Spencer muttered under her breathe. Candy glared at the annoying social worker.
“Shut the fuck up.” She hissed.
“Can we get you anything?” Lewis’s smile was kind and Candy considered for a moment. Other than the urge that was making her head pound she was well taken care of, thanks to Danny. She smiled happily.
“No. Nothing.” The couple nodded with a smile. “I need to go now though.” Candy muttered, getting up as her stomach lurched and her need for the drug made her hand shake noticeably now. Ruth recognized the tone and the look and nodded with a smile that told Candy that she didn’t condemn her, though she did disapprove.
Candy left, Spencer following her out in a flurry that wasn’t suitable for this hot weather. Ruth watched them go before turning back to her husband.
“Well, that was interesting.” She commented with a smile on her face. Lewis smiled back.
“Fascinating.” He agreed.