Happy Monday everyone. I hope you had a splendid weekend. Mine was pretty good actually. It didn’t go quite where I expected it to go. I had a story idea and ended up writing it out instead of doing the chores I intended for the weekend so t will be house chores in the evenings for the next few days, but totally worth it. For now, let’s see what the morning writing prompt throw our way. Timers set for fifteen minutes and off we go.
I wasn’t entirely certain where I was going with this, but I think I might know now. I’m going to have to make a few notes before I let this go. but i think I know where this leads. It just took me a bit to get there.
Monday, January 12th: I held my questions.
I held my questions. It was difficult as there were many and they weren’t ones I couldn’t afford to have the answers to. For now I knew asking them was pointless. Not only would Britt not answer them but asking them now might make them stick in her memory providing a trigger. If that happened, then asking her the questions again later would just bring back the rant.
No as much as I wanted my answers and wanted to get started dealing with the mess instead of listening to the rantings it was better to bide my time.
Britt paced across the floor, arms waving, body shifting and voice moving up and down the vocal scale for greater impact. Even if the words were pointless, it was an interesting performance to watch.
Britt made her mark on television. One of those family comedies. She was six when cast and grew up on the set. She did well as a child actor and while her parents did their best to temper the worst influences around her, her childhood left it’s mark.
She avoided many of the excesses and still had a fat bank account and diverse stock portfolio due partially to her father’s skill as a hedge fund manager. She made enough during that time to live well for the rest of her life. Which was, all things considered, fortunate.
The show was popular until a couple of the older stars were caught doing things the public couldn’t forgive or forget. The show was cancelled. Unfortunately for Britt it was cancelled when she was at the awkward stage in her adolescence and work dried up. There were bit parts later, but they were few and far between.
For Britt that meant her drama migrated to her personal life. She tended to treat her life as though it was an just part of an ongoing series. Any inconveniences were wrapped up at the end of a dramatic scene. All those around her were the support crew.
I was drafted into the support crew sometime back because we were family and relatively the same age. Our parents had us spend time together to give Britt a grounding in normality. It meant I was the role of supportive listener and confidante.
The confidante part helped when others needed to be apprised of the details of a situation or if it was beyond the management of her team of personal assistant, beautician, housekeeper and personal chef. The team of four was formidable, but there were some things they wouldn’t touch. And so I was called.
I stifled my annoyance as Britt made another lap across the floor. I had my own work to do. But Britt decided long ago that my life was nothing compared to her own and so it didn’t matter. I tempered my own annoyance. I told my own assistant to reschedule this afternoon’s meetings. Janie, Britt’s assistant had been near panic when she called so I wasn’t sure what I would be walking into.
Slowly the story took shape. It wasn’t a pretty one.
Ten til Midnight 