Episode 5
“Mom, dad, this is a surprise,” says Amanda. “What are you doing in Brighton?”
“We came to see you, of course,” says Frank. “We’ve missed you.”
“Sorry I haven’t kept in touch much. I’ve been busy.”
“We know,” says Carol. “That’s why we’ve come.”
“How long are you staying?”
Frank and Carol look at each other, then at Amanda. “We haven’t decided yet,” says Frank.
“What’s up? I may have been away from home for a while but I can see you’re bursting with some kind of news. So spill, please.”
“We’d like to move here,” says Carol.
“Oh.”
“We bought the Brighton News and will be taking over control very soon.”
“Oh, I see.”
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic about it.”
“Well, I can’t help but feel that I’ll be roped into doing something with the paper, and I really don’t want that. I’ve got too much on my hands right now.”
“We’re not asking you to help. We understand you have a life of your own and we’re very happy for you,” says Frank.
“I know we’ve never said anything to you about it,” says Carol, “but we really are proud of what you’ve done for yourself.”
“And we want to be around to see more of you.”
“What about the Clearwater Post?” asks Amanda.
“Steve and Laura are handling it. We wanted to expand, get into a bigger market.”
“Honey, we just wanted to tell you ourselves so you wouldn’t think we were trying to sneak something by you. We don’t want to interfere in your life, but we’d like to see you more often.”
“All right. I’m OK with that. But please don’t expect to see too much of me.”
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“Oh, I just felt the baby kick. He’s been very active today,” says Lisa.
“I wish I can be around to feel it more,” says Rick. “Where is he now?”
“Here,” Lisa says, as she takes his hand to guide it over her abdomen. “There!”
“You know, it could very well be a girl.”
“Maybe, but I’d like to have a boy first.”
“You can’t always get what you want. Which reminds me. Now that Julia is no longer working, everyone has to put in just a little more.”
“Why don’t they just hire more people?”
“With all the changes, having new people around trying to get their feet wet would be more of a hassle right now.”
“How long is Julia expected to live?”
“I don’t know, but the family doesn’t seem to be very hopeful that it will last more than a month.”
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“What are you doing?” asks Carrie.
“Shhh! Julia is sleeping. I was just admiring all her jewelry. I can’t believe she has left all this unlocked,” says Leslie, as she draws out some costume jewelry from a box on Julia’s dresser.
“I wonder how much they’re worth?”
“I don’t know, but doesn’t this look wonderful on me,” Leslie says, as she tries on a pair of earrings.
“Nice. What about me?”
“Here. Try this.”
They try on several necklaces and earrings.
“Do you think she’d miss anything?” asks Carrie. “After all, she won’t be using any of them anymore.”
“Well, she can’t really miss a couple in all this.”
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Filed under: All That Glitters