Chapter One, Episode 113 - The Honeymooners - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update
Romantic fun. These are the two words that came to me when I finished this morning's review. I enjoyed writing the first draft, and today I enjoyed the revision. It was more development than revision. Some punctuation needed my attention, otherwise I merely added improved descriptors in the later paragraphs of this little bit of romantic fun. 

The Honeymooners

They walked along the beach at sunset. The tide was out, the water glassy, painted in light touches of peach and blue. Holding hands, they walked barefoot on the wet sand, cool after the heat of the day. “Do you suppose that this is what James and Martha are doing?”

Melanie frowned and then smiled up at Giles. “Giles, this is our honeymoon. A little late, but it’s ours. Leave James and Martha to their honeymoon. Besides, you don’t even know where they went.”

Giles turned and took Melanie in his arms. “You’re right, sweetie.” With both hands he brushed her hair loose from its normal restraints, her face beautiful and soft in the evening light. Holding her face with both hands, he kissed her. For moment, they held each other. Melanie stepped back. “Giles, do you suppose mom and dad are doing all right with the children? They’s not used to having children around this long.”

Giles laughed. “Who was it that just said that this is our honeymoon? Leave your mom and dad to their grandchildren. They are fine. Your mom is probably showing two of them how to make pizza, your dad has the other two out in the garage showing them how to build something.” Arms around each other they continued their walk on the beach. 

“Watch.” Giles suddenly stopped. He pushed both feet down into the sand, stepped back and watched his footprints fill with ocean water. “Now you do it.” Melanie took Giles' hand to steady herself and jumped forward, pushing her feet into the sand right beside the footprints Giles had made. She stepped back. Her footprints filled with water. Suddenly distracted, she pointed just a few inches ahead. “Oh look! There are beautiful white shells. Giles what are you doing?” While Melanie was looking at the shells, Giles had picked up a long strand of seaweed and draped it around his shoulders. It dripped water all over him. He took one end in one hand and with the other he scooped Melanie toward him. “Giles! You’re getting me all wet!”  Laughing and trying to pull away, Melanie stumbled backwards and sat in the wet sand. Picking up a sodden handful, she flung it at Giles. Soon they were both rolling in the gritty damp. When the rolling stopped, Melanie was on her back, Giles bending over her. Coyly, Melanie pouted “I’m soaking wet and covered in sand, Giles. I think I need a shower.” Giles smiled. “I’m feeling a little wet and uncomfortable myself. Last one to the shower has to make sure there’s enough towels.” They both scrambled to their feet, grabbed their shoes and hopped about trying to put them on. Any beach, strewn with broken seashells and especially at twilight could be dangerous on unprotected feet. Still laughing, they raced to their little cabin. Within minutes, windows were ablaze with lights, smoke furled from the chimney. From the little cabin, there were bubbles of quiet laughter and the strains of soft jazz. It wasn’t long before the music faded, and the cabin was silent. The lights went out and all that could be heard were the night birds. 

“Our honeymoon will shine our life long: 

its beams will only fade over your grave or mine.”

~ Charlotte Bronte

Chapter One, Episode 112 - Checklist - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update

Although the flow of this Episode 112 was fairly consistent, I did find it necessary to do some revising. The first thing I noticed was a confusing timeline. The story in this Episode pre-dated The Wedding (Episode 111 - reviewed yesterday) without any explanation, thus the addition of the very first couple of sentences.

Most paragraphs have had additions to them, to add clarity to dialogue or add detail to a setting - or it could be that I like playing with words.

Checklist

Jeremy had plans that pre-dated the magical wedding. Or had it been wishful thinking? 

Late in the day that Emelina had called him, waking him from his sleep drugged state, he found and opened his invitation to Martha and Digby’s wedding. He was ready to cry, having just clicked off from a phone conversation with Emelina. She wondered if he would be able to take some time off from the hospital and wouldn’t say why. “Only for a couple of weeks, Jeremy.” She said she wouldn’t give him any details until he could get the time off. Just like her in the old days. Ask for something without giving a reason. The only thing she would say is that “it will almost be like old times, Jeremy. When I still had Michael and you still had Elaine.”  Not much to go on but Jeremy really needed - and seriously wanted - some time off from the craziness of the hospital. The fact that it would be with Emelina made it all the more attractive. He was nervous though. Were either of them over their spouses? Michael had died five years ago, Elaine four years ago. Both had been ill and their deaths were expected but there had been a lot of love in both marriages.

~~~~~

Jeremy set all of that aside when he went to work. In his typical doctor fashion, he looked at this like any difficult condition that may require surgery. He would investigate what had to be done, do what was needed and the results would be what they would be. Once the emotional baggage was out of the way, he took a stroll to ICU and to the Covid floors, ticking off his own mental check list. ICU - no Covid cases. The last had been three days previously. Then it was on to the two Covid floors: three recovering cases on one, last discharge from the other the day before his little stroll. Then he checked the Emergency Department and with the Admissions clerk. Both areas were still busy, but there was only one suspected Covid19 case in ER with no apparent co-morbid conditions.

He took his numbers to the little garden on the roof of the hospital, where only two people were allowed at any one time. So it was just him and one other person that stepped up to be allowed into this leafy sanctum. His second mental check list was a short one; a brief outline of his own plan to present to the Hospital Administrator and the Chief Surgeon. His goal: be granted three weeks off. Two weeks to self-isolate after working so closely with patients diagnosed with active Covid19. Then he would have one week to spend with Emelina for whatever she had planned.

Down in the locker room, he checked his scrubs and his white lab coat. Any unpleasant splashes, stains or missing buttons? No. He checked the mirror - yes he looked tired, but then so did everyone else that worked in the hospital. Jeremy’s hair was slightly dishevelled. He was tempted to give it a comb to get it neat, but decided it may help his case. At the last minute, he pulled his comb out and tidied himself up.

Looking in the bathroom shaving mirror at his tired eyes and drawn face, he straightened his shoulders, and said aloud “Ok, Dr. Crawford. You can do this. You’ve known the Administrator, Sherman Smart a long time, and the Chief Surgeon - you’ve worked with her for the last eight years. Tanya McCormick is tough, but fair.” Jeremy kept talking quietly to himself all the way into the elevator, back up to first floor and along the hallway. 

His one sided conversation came to an abrupt halt when Dr. McCormick strode up beside him from another hallway “Tanya! I didn’t expect to see you! I'm on my way to Sherm’s office. Do you have a minute?” Jeremy’s stomach tightened as though he were about to enter the principle's office with the truant officer. 

Tanya had always liked Jeremy, pleased when their schedules coincided. Their shifts always went smoothly, no matter how busy. She could always depend on him, and if Jeremy were asked, he could always depend on her. “For you, Jeremy, any time. I'm going Sherm's office, too! What’s up?” They walked side by side up to the Administrator’s office. 

Jeremy held the big glass door to the Administrators office open for his colleague. He greeted the receptionist. “Hi Bonnie. How are you? Is Sherman in or is he busy?” Jeremy hoped that no one could see the perspiration that he was sure had soaked his scrubs and coat. 

Bonnie glanced at her phone for red lights. “He’s just finished a telephone conference. Let me check if he'll be able to see you now?…………Mr. Smart, Dr. Crawford and Dr. McCormick are out here and would like to speak with you. Send them in? Thank you.” Bonnie hung up the phone and with a big beautiful smile told them to go on in.

Jeremy had barely stuttered his request out of his very dry mouth when Sherman said. “You want time off? How much and when do you want to start?” The administrator looked up at Tanya: “Is that all right with you?” She nodded without hesitation. Jeremy was about to protest, certain that he would have to go over all his research, sure that Tanya would already have him lined up for an important surgery. Then it sunk in. “Could you repeat that Sherman?”

A jovial man, Sherman laughed out loud. “You didn’t hear me the first time, Jeremy? Maybe you’d better get your hearing checked on your time off.”

~~~~~

Jeremy went home that very day and called Emelina to tell her the good news. 

“Emmie, I have time off! Three weeks! But don’t get too excited. I’m going to self isolate for two weeks and then we can do or go wherever you want. Before I left work today, I was tested again for the virus - symptoms and a nasal swab.” Jeremy was excited and relieved. He could eat and sleep as much as he wanted. He could talk to Emelina every day. And the relief he felt. He felt like he had just taken a very, very heavy coat off and could finally breath.

“I won’t call you until tomorrow afternoon to give you time to get rested. After that, will it be Facetime or just the phone, Jeremy? We have plans to make.” If there was an equivalency measure for excitement, Emelina’s would have bested Jeremy’s but only by a hair.

“We are besieged by simple problems…Checklists can provide protection.”

~ Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

Chapter One, Episode 111 - The Wedding - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update

Aware for several weeks that I missed two very important people in the wedding party, I have added an entire paragraph in this Episode 111 - The Wedding. Martha's grandchildren, Abby and Ben, were promised in a previous episode, to be flower girl and ring bearer. They now have been given their place in that ‘magical day’ (Martha’s words) and I do hope they have forgiven my adult faux pas.

Aside from that significant addition, there were few other very minor issues to rewrite, involving punctuation and single word repairs (i.e. - using 'this' instead of 'the')

The Wedding

In a world gone mad with the sadness and tragedy of Covid19, it was as though this threat had never existed. The sun shone through the leaves of the ancient redwood. The wedding party, in the dappled sunlight, seemed blessed by fairy dust. Their big day had been magical. Martha Haverstock, radiant in her wedding dress all cream coloured and lace, wore a crown of yellow wild flowers that held a short veil drifting shoulder length at the back. Martha’s granddaughter Abby had gathered the wild flowers for her grandmother. The two of them made the chain of flowers that became the crown. Martha’s daughter, Joanie, dressed in a soft mauve summer dress, gave her mother away. James Edward Digby, the groom, was handsome in a grey summer tuxedo. He had thought it too informal, but Giles Thornton, the Estate chauffeur, had convinced him that today of all days, James’ butlerish formality needed to be set aside.

Leading the beautiful bride down the grassy aisle to her handsome groom were Martha's grandchildren. Nine year old Ben Richardson, ring bearer, dressed in his new summer suit of dove grey, walked proudly ahead of his sister. A little to firmly, he held a small cream coloured satin pillow. His precious two golden wedding rings tied securely in place, to present to the waiting ushers. Five year old Abby Richardson, walking between Ben and the bride, wore a brand-new dress of very light mauve, a cream coloured ribbon tied in a bow at the back, was at her waist. She carried a small bouquet of the wild flowers she had gathered. At the last minute, before they all began their measured walk, Martha picked out two tiny flowers from her crowned veil  to tuck one into Ben's lapel and another in the cream coloured head band holding Abby's shiny brown curls. Martha pulled a lacy handkerchief from her bosom and wiped her eyes of tiny teardrops. Tucking it back in it's place, she took her daughter Joanie's arm and stood tall, ready for their walk in the sun.

No one recognized Samuel Forrester, James’ best man. Usually seen in the garden in a worn straw hat and work clothes, Samuel had been into Hartley fora proper hair cut. Mary Elizabeth Saunders, better known as Cook, had insisted that he do so. He didn’t know what a best man should wear, so Elizabeth went with him. A men’s clothing store, now open to the public, was their hunting ground. He wasn’t going to wear anything ‘too uppity’ and finally chose slate grey slacks, a short sleeved white shirt and a summer weight navy blazer. Elizabeth, Martha’s maid of honour, chose a good cotton dress that she could wear again - a sensible shirt waist dress in a deeper mauve than Joanie’s Maid of Honour dress.

Giles Thornton and Brigitte Smithson, Emelina Beaufort’s companion and secretary were the ushers for the very small group. Two of the invited guests were Emelina Beaufort and her sister, Desperanza Eliot. Emelina’s closet provided her with a flowing knee length dress in a floral print of lilacs. Dez’s closet was quite bare for what she would have called dress-up clothes. Emelina took her shopping and dressed her in grey dress slacks and a deep purple tunic. She lent her a glass pendant encasing a black dragonfly. Dr. Jeremy Crawford, a long time friend of Emmie’s, Matt Hamilton, and Joey Tucker, the young man recently hired for housecleaning were the only other guests. Reverend Tucker, from Hartley and Joey’s father, officiated this long awaited wedding, meeting the bride and groom only weeks prior to the wedding. His son Joey, had recommended him to Martha and James when he overheard a troubled kitchen conversation that no minister could be found.

~~~~

“James, wasn’t everyone beautiful? And my sweet grandchildren! So precious. It was such a magical day.” Martha sat back in the front seat of their car. “Martha, you were the most beautiful.” She reached her hand to James, he reached his to hers. “Martha dear, here we are. Do you like this little cottage?” His new wife and oldest friend took a deep breath. “Oh, James it is absolutely charming. However did you find it?”

The couple originally planned a ferry trip to one of the Gulf islands, but restrictions had changed their plans. James scoured the internet for a cottage to rent on Vancouver Island outside of Hartley. He was about to give up when a little cottage a few miles off the main highway and close to the ocean popped on the screen. Tucked into the trees, and close to the ocean, they could walk to a near by beach. It was close to a small town with groceries so they would have all the privacy they wanted. It would be a week of loving and happy relaxation for Mr. and Mrs. James Digby.

“It is such a happiness when good people get together — and they always do.”

~ Jane Austen