Candy Apple Red

With her Christmas Eve party about to manifest, Brenda feels a new urgency to live a Bohemian life.

Farleigh packed his overnight case, and told neighbor Greta that he would be gone for a few days. His perceptions were stable enough to venture into Brenda's territory for a quick visit. He took the back roads, and noticed that there were snow flurries in the air, but the flakes did not adhere to the pavement. He missed hearing Edwina sharing her witty commentary about all of the people and places she had encountered when they used to take Sunday rides together. His occasional contacts with the Spirit world usually manifested through a fleeting thought  followed by an Earthbound sign. 

A bird might land, a particular song may play on the radio, a sunset could theoretically be trying to speak to him somehow, and let him know that "all was well" for everything in the Universe. He wanted badly to go to a seance. He trusted Fiona and Brenda, but unless he could hear from Edwina somehow, his own ability to become a medium was most likely an exercise in futility. He saw things. There were flickering lights, visual distortions that were voluntary, and involuntary. On rare occasions he heard voices. They were not creepy. They sounded just like people in another room, or on a radio talking. Farleigh longed for more contact, embodied, and otherwise, but the harsh light of day demanded that he take a break from the rut he was in.

Brenda's shop window featured the Little Match Girl and her imminent death from the cold. The mannequin held a fist full of burnt long matches and her "grandmother" held a giant Ronco lighter that had been a prop in a major display window. Grandma was there to fetch her grandchild. The flame was a glowing electric light. The rest of the window display featured toys, and draped cellophane. A pair of red toe shoes rotated on a lazy Susan. 

The postman delivered a small package from The Stanley Cosmetic Company marked " A Gift For You." Daniel had secretly ordered it from a magazine ad. She immediately tried on the "Candy Apple Red" lipstick, and vowed to wear it for the party. Helene and her girlfriend were busy getting their costumes ready in Brenda's old apartment above the locksmith shop. They would be providing a bit of entertainment for the guests, and made certain that the pianist could play Chopin's 19th Nocturne.

CJ Marks