Chapter 8 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

I watch as Parsley is plodding slowly round the kitchen making himself a hot drink.  The pain he is feeling he wears so visably all over his face and in his eyes which have lost their usual shine.  He glances in my direction for a second and I can see he has tears in his eyes  "Do you want one?"  I shake my head as I look down at the half empty cup sat in front of me.

Parsley understandably hasn't been himself lately, he has felt totally lost since his twin brother faded and Prelude really hasn't been a lot of help, spending most of the time since getting totally wasted at the local dive bar and sleeping it off on one of our couches.  For Parsleys sake they have moved in with us for a while, well at least until Prelude pulls himself together, so I'm getting quite used to seeing my cousin moping about the house all the time.

Prelude in particular has completely lost the plot since Storm faded.  I guessed he would not take losing his son lightly, I even thought that he might be the one to go out and seek revenge, but he didn't instead he hit the bottle and is continuously wasted, and apparently this isn't the first time he's been down this road.  It was really no surprise to my Dad who says he expected him to 'fall off the wagon' .... I didn't even know that Prelude had a drinking problem until now.

Thankfully my parents have managed to keep him sober for the funeral, later today, but I don't doubt he will be totally wasted again before the day is out.

Parsley sits down at the table, plonking his mug down quite loudly, spilling some of its contents because he's not paying attention to what he's doing too busy staring at me.  "Where is Honey?  I thought I saw her earlier."  he says quietly.

"She's up in Corals room, they are fixing their makeup."  I laugh, because for a change they are taking it off, they didn't think, both of them slapped it on this morning neither of them having thought through that wearing make up today is not a very good idea.  "Fixing panda eyes!!"  Girls being girls all they have done this morning is cry. 

"I don't get it?!"  he says suddenly,  I frown at him not quite sure what he is referring to  "You and Honey,  not so long ago you literally threw her at Storm .... what was it you said .... she's my best friend and that's all it will every be .....  you actually sat there, in that very seat,  laughing at the thought of you and Honey being together!!!  So how all of a sudden do you become loves young dream?"  he picks up his mug and takes small sips of his coffee, he is still looking at me suspiciously over the top of his mug.  I stay quiet, puzzled, trying to work out why he should be so  suspicious.

"I hope you are not messing her about!!   This better had be real Tap, you better not be playing her because of the pregnancy scare."  he starts drumming his fingers on the table  "You know how she feels about you - I hope you are not planning to dump her if she isn't pregnant!!"

"No!!!  It's not because of the pregnancy scare ... I was an idiot okay, I didn't see what was right under my nose,  pregnant or not, we are together so get used to it ... although I'm not sure why you are getting so stressy over it?!"

"I like Honey, and you know if you go upsetting her ... Strawberry, you know what she's like ... she will just give me a headache over it all!!!"  He stares at me for a moment then starts to laugh suddenly  "Tapestry, ONLY YOU would be stupid enough to get her pregnant first time!!"

"POSSIBLY pregnant- it's not definite yet!!"  I say to him not really wanting to talk about this topic of conversation just in case I give myself away..  No doubt by the way Honey has us going at it, she will be pregnant by the time she takes that test, they just don't know it, and they must never know what we are up to.

"Has she not told you yet, she's been chucking up for the last few morning - I'd say its looking more than possibly ......maaaan you are such a jerk!!!"  I can't look at him, trying to keep the expression on my face straight, I need to keep the smile off my face that is trying to break out.  I try to think about why she has not told me she has been throwing up, it's what we have been waiting for - why would she not tell me?  "Did you switch off in sex-ed because you obviously weren't listening!!"

"How do you know she's been chucking up?"  I ask him a little confused as to why he would know about it and I don't.

"How do you think ..... Strawberry, they share a room remember."  yeah it would be her, his girlfriend, Honey's twin sister, she doesn't seem to be able to keep her mouth shut about anything!!

Prelude sat down at the table.  "We will be setting off in an hour .... Tap you and Honey can jump in with us there isn't enough room in your Dad's car."

"I should go and get changed."  I say as I start to get up thinking about the horrible dark suit that my Dad was trying to get me to put on this morning that is now lying on my bed waiting for me, but I'm really glad of an excuse to get away from the conversation that me and Parsley are having.

"No need to change, stay as you are, I've just had a row with your Dad over what everyone's wearing, except for your Mother and Affair, I don't want any black or colourless clothes today!!."  he says as he holds his hand out to me  "Your Dad sent me to find you he says you are to take this."  I'm sat looking at a small round tablet that I recognise on the palm of his hand.  I look up at him and shake my head  "Just take it Tapestry, one thing I seriously don't want today is one of your emotional outbursts ..... the mood I'm in I'll probably deck you .... and it's not going to fade you, I've taken one too!!"  he says as he grabs my wrist and puts the pill in the palm of my hand  "Take it!!"

As if it hadn't been bad enough that my Dad woke me up at the crack of dawn this morning just to stand over me to make sure I took my medication.  Now this!!!  I hesitate for a moment, but the look on Preludes face makes me swallow the tablet even thought I really don't want to take it, I know exactly how I am going to be spending the rest of the day - spaced out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Storms funeral was never going to be normal, the police presence at the entrance to the cemetery showed you that straight away.  Whoever heard of security for a funeral and a guest list, if your name isn't on the list you don't get in to pay your last respects, for berry's sake it's ridiculous,  but that is what Storm is getting and all because of his Mother, who is being allowed a few hours release from the prison to attend her sons funeral.

Manderines presence at the funeral has caused a lot of debate and arguments over the past week or so amongst all of the adults.  Most of their 'meetings' have been held at our house, because as usual with our family my Dad is the one who ends up organizing everything, this time mainly because Prelude has fallen apart and has been too wasted and incapable of sorting out his own son's funeral.  So I have got to overhear a lot of what everyone has to say on the matter of Manderine attending the funeral, and most of it has not been very nice, although I can't work out why everyone hates her so much - that part they are definitely keeping to themselves.  

We are standing around in the cemetery now waiting for the infamous Manderine to arrive.  I've got my arms wrapped around Honey, trying to cheer her up because I'm worried all her crying is just going to set me off.  I see my Dad keep nervously watching me, I think he is worried that there could be one of my outbursts coming even though they have given me a sedative to try and keep me calm, I can see he doesn't trust that I won't still go off on one.

He is not the only one who can't take his eyes off us.  Sunny.  Every time I glance in his direction he is staring at us, he's watching every move that me and Honey make together.  I know what his problem is, he doesn't want us together, but until we know the result of the pregnancy test he has promised to leave us alone.

Every time he sees me look at him he scowls at me, and doesn't look away, he doesn't care that I know just how much he hates me.  He is really starting to aggravate me and If we weren't stood in the cemetery because of Storms funeral, I would  have given him a piece of my mind by now just to pee him off, I doubt his opinion of me is ever going to change, so what difference is it going to make.

"Ignore him!!"  Honey whispers in my ear  "You and my Dad have been glaring at each other for the past five minutes, don't wind him up Tap, you'll just give him more of an excuse!!"  I kiss her forehead, then start to wipe away the tears that are still occasionally rolling down her face, then reach down for her hands.

"He is seriously winding me up, he's not taking his eyes off us for a second, I'm finding it really hard to hold my tongue and if we weren't here today I'd give him something to look at!!"  this makes Honey giggle.

"You know, I'm sure Storm wouldn't mind, in fact, he'd be well up for it!!  You know how he used to love to wind up the oldies!!"  she says with a mischievous grin on her face, as she starts kissing me, but she's not happy with just kissing she goes the whole hog, grinding herself against me, her hands wandering like she's about to start tearing off my clothes.  Now what is she doing, only seconds ago she told me not to wind up her Dad, and she goes and does this!!??

That did it, it takes a matter of seconds for him to react, Honey is ripped out of my arms by a furious Sunny.  "Show some respect young lady!!"  he says to his daughter, but it's me he is intensely glaring at  "Girl you are just like your damn mother."  he says half under his breath but loud enough for us to hear as he pulls her by the arm away from me putting plenty of distance between us.  She blows me a kiss as shes dragged away, the hugest grin on her face which makes me laugh for a moment.

She seemed to have gained some pleasure from winding her Dad up, although I wish she hadn't done it, she really is not helping matters between me and Sunny.  If only he knew what we have been doing every day and more than once a day, purposefully trying to get Honey pregnant so that she can escape going to Uni and prevent him from splitting us up, it wouldn't just be Storm we are burying today!!!  I am really not looking forward to his reaction when he find out that she is pregnant.

This reminds me of what Parsley told me earlier, I need to talk to her about it, her throwing up and not telling me, I look over in her direction and she's no longer smiling, Sunny is tearing strips off her, she doesn't look too happy!!  It will have to wait until later.

Now I'm standing alone, my attention wanders over towards the entrance to the cemetery as I watch my Mother putting flowers on two of the newish looking graves, I presume they are newish because they are not overgrown and covered in moss and ivy like a lot of the other ones.  I wander who's graves they are. I carry on watching them oblivious of everything else going on around me, Dad has his arm around Mom and they stand there and talk quietly for a while before they wander off back over to Prelude.

My attention is focused on those graves now, I wish I could read then I would know who's graves they are, but there is no point me even going to try and read what is written on them.  An old woman suddenly walks into my view that I've never seen before, she makes her way to the smaller of the two graves and is putting flowers down next to the ones my Mom placed only minutes ago.  She also has another bunch of flowers in her hand.  What is it with women and flowers?!

I don't really give too much thought to the old woman and her putting flowers on that grave until I see Mulberry make his way over to her, he must know who she is, but I am really surprised when I see him start shouting at her.  I look around confused and notice that Mulberrys shouting at the old woman has attracted almost everyone's attention in particular Prelude who is now marching angrily over to join Mulberry.

Prelude too instantly starts to yell at the old woman, but I am too far away to hear what is being said clearly.  I see Prelude snatch the flowers off the woman and he throws them to the floor, stamping on them as he starts to lose it.  Then my Dad jumps in, at first he tries to pull Prelude away but then he just ends up arguing with the woman too. Who is she?  It is obvious that the three of them know who she is.

My Mother is a short distance from me, she's watching the scene and seems to be as confused as I am.  She starts to walk slowly towards the commotion then she stops suddenly, putting her hands up to her mouth like something has just shocked her.  I presume she has just heard something that has alarmed her, both of her hands cover her face as she starts to cry.  It looks for a moment like her legs are going to give way and she starts to sway - when her arms drop limply down by her sides - I know the signs - she's going.

I automatically run towards her and I reach her at the same time as Mosaic does, we both grab her and keep her on her feet, Mosaic is wincing in pain, his shoulder is still very tender and he probably shouldn't be doing this. Mom is a dead weight that we are trying to hold up because she has blacked out - 'switched off'.  Mosaic shouts Dad who comes running over and lifts her up and carries her off to sit her on the bench.  Me and Mosaic just stand there staring at the old woman who is staring back at us, a look of confusion on her face, she looks at Mosaic and her eyes suddenly widen.  "He has my hair!!"  she says in a shocked voiced.

Prelude explodes at her.  "Now see what you've gone and done to Lilly!!!  Just go, you should never have come here!!!!"  .   

"Son please ........"  Me and Mosaic exchanged a quick shocked glance before we both look back at the old woman ..... she just called Prelude Son!!

"Son?!  Don't you dare!!!!  You lost the right to call me your son years ago!!"  Prelude is now raring at the woman that I now know is 'his Mother', fudge that makes her my Mom's Mother and my Grandmother.  "And you definitely have NO RIGHT thinking you can attend my son's funeral!!  You didn't want to know your Grandson when he was alive, so why now Mother?!  Why now??"  Prelude is almost chocking on his own words as he starts to crack up. 

"Mom you need to leave!!"  Mulberry is saying, he also is looking very upset over his mothers presence  "Don't you think today is hard enough without you doing this to us!!"   I'm not sure that the old woman is even listening to Mulberry she is too busy staring at Coral who has just wandered up carrying Cotton.  Suddenly she mutters  "My she looks just like Lilly!!"

"She would do seeing as she's Lilly's daughter!!"  Prelude snaps at her quite nastily  "Another one of your Grandchildren that you turned your back on - it beats me why you would even want or dare to show your face here today!!!!  Wisteria had no right to bring you here!!!"

"Affair, you remember Affair don't you Mother?!"  Prelude suddenly seemed to spring into his mean mode  "He was the first one you turned your back on because of his colour ...wasn't he Mother?!"  Mulberry put his hand on his brother arm  "Don't do this Prelude - I'll get her out of here."

"No maybe we should introduce her to all of her grandchildren, look they are all here, she might as well get a look at what she's missing before she buts out of all of our lives for good!!"  I almost feel sorry for the old woman standing there in complete silence, tears rolling down her face as she is staring at all of us.  "All of them are here - including her two grandchildren's graves that she has the nerve to come here to put flowers on!!  Maybe the living ones should know why their Grandparents have turned their back on them, all of them except for Wisty because she is the only one who is a pure purple berry!!!"  he says nastily before he shouts Juniper telling her to bring her brother and come join the party.  Party not really being the word I would have used!!

We were all there Affair, Wisty and Parsley are together, I am with Mosaic and Coral who is holding Cotton, Juniper and Blueberry go over to stand with Mulberry.  All nine of her grandchildren stood in front of her.  She just looks at each one of us without saying a word.  We are all looking back at her curiously, all except for Wisty who already seems to know her.

"So where is Dad??!!!"  Prelude looks around him  "Is he lurking around here too??"  he shouts at the old woman.  She shakes her head and says he's at home.  So we have a Grandfather too - another set of grandparents - I didn't know either of them even existed my Mothers parents have never been mentioned and I've never even wandered why because I just presumed they had faded.

"Prelude I'm really sorry, I'm going to have to take Lilly home, she is seriously out for the count!!"  My Dad suddenly appears  "The shock she's had will probably keep her in that thing for hour, if not the rest of the day ... I'm sorry!!"   I can see the pain on Preludes face as he glares at his Mother, as mean as he can get, he leans on my parents for support and I'm not sure how he is going to get through the rest of the day without them being here.

I look over towards the bench, My Mother "switched off" motionless and staring blankly into space, sat on the bench being held by Caramel.  The shock of seeing or finding out that the old lady is her mother must have triggered one of her "black outs"  and there is never any telling how long she is going to be in there.

"What is wrong with Lilly?"  the old woman asks, I hear Prelude laugh sarcastically before he turns on her again.

"Don't you even pretend to care about that girl now!!!"  Prelude shouts at her  "I need my sister here ... now see what you've done!!!!"  he rares at his Mother  "Somebody get her out of here before I bury her with her Grandson!!"  I can see he is starting to get very angry as well as choking back the tears.

"She can come with me and wait at ours until Wisty comes to collect her."  I am surprised to hear my Dad say.  He told Coral to take Cotton to the car, there is no point the baby staying if my parents are going home.  It doesn't feel right that my parents are going to have to miss the funeral.  "Maybe you should come too."  he says looking at me.

"NO!!!! I'm staying here!!!"  I snap at him quite nastily.  I can see what he is trying to do, remove me just in case I do have one of my outbursts and he won't be here to sort it out.  When I refuse to go he doesn't argue with me, he just tells Mulberry to keep an eye on me, like I'm a baby, and walks off towards the bench. 

I feel Honey's hand slip into mine as I am watching Dad carry Mom off to the car being followed by Coral and the old lady.  After putting Cotton into her baby seat Coral helps the old lady into the car then heads back slowly in our direction.

As Dad's car pulls away, a police car pull up.  A police officer jumps out of the front of the car and after taking a quick look around he opens the back door.  A woman in handcuffs is helped out of the back of the car.

Manderine has arrived.

She stands there glancing around at the sea of faces in front of her, there is a cold eerie silence as nearly everyone has turned to glare at her, the adults with hatred, the children with curiosity as most of us have never seen her before.  The only two people who seem happy with her presence are Prelude and Parsley.  She is looking around at everyone with quite a blank expression on her face, most of us I doubt she would even know anyway. 

Prelude takes a hold of her and she falls into his arms holding him tightly and starts to cry.  I can see now where Parsley and Jade, especially, get their looks from, they both look a lot like their Mother.

A cold shudder suddenly runs through me - this is the first time that I've ever seen her and I just get this feeling instantly that I really don't like the woman.


~~~~~~~~~~~