A Family Outing

Posted on Sat 9th Feb, 2019 @ 2:13am by Purulence Addams

630 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: The Addams Family House
Timeline: M1, 1400

Pulling out her earphones so she could talk, Ischemia Addams glanced over at her younger sister, Purulence, sprawled out on the other end of the sofa. She reached her bare red-polished toes over to nudge the foot closest to her. "Hey, do you think we could convince Chlamy to take an evening off for a little enjoyment? Tonight, for instance?"

Purulence glanced up from her copy of The Winds of Winter, having reached the scene of Ramsey Bolton's wedding feast at Winterfell. "Huh?" She shifted her mental gears away from Westeros and gave Ischemia a questioning look. "Why? What've you got in mind?"

"There's a play at the Delphi, a musical, that I've long wanted to see and simply never been in the right place at the right time. I think it would be lovely if we all went together to see it." She frowned slightly, "I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate for Six, though there's certainly nothing risqué about it. I think she might not find it to her taste, however."

"What musical?" Purulence asked. She set her book down. "My Fair Lady? 1776?"

"Aunt Chlamydia says that plays should never be read," Six said, coming in from the hall with her bass case in her hand. "That they are meant to be experienced as plays, not books."

"She's absolutely right," Purulence said. "Hearing the words sometimes allows the listener to understand them with an entirely different meaning. It's hard to explain, but I remember the first time I ever saw Hamlet performed. There's a line in it that contains the words, '...the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,' and for some reason I was able to get a whole different sense of 'contumely's' meaning than I ever got when I read the same line. And, of course, plays like Lysistrata are much more fun when performed than when read--although I laughed myself silly, the first time I read it. It proved to me that ancient Greeks were real human beings, just like the rest of us."

"Be that as it may," Ischemia brought them back to the point, "this isn't just a play, it's one set with music, and probably dancing. It's called Phantom of the Opera. I've heard of it, but never seen it performed nor," she emphasized, watching Six put the case away, "read it."

Purulence's eyes went wide. "They're doing Phantom here? Well, of course we must go--and drag Chlamydia kicking and screaming to it, if we have to! Oh, man, what do I have to wear that's not paint spattered?"

"Nothing," her sister said drolly. "Not one single thing."

"There's the thing with the silk Georgette and the lace..." Six countered.

"The green one?" Purulence asked. "Good thought! I can add an abalone necklace to it, and it will look lovely."

"Green always looks lovely on you, dear; it's so complimentary to your skin tone." Chlamydia Addams swept into the room, trailing a vague scent of corpses and disinfectant. "Who wants to go and see a musical about obsession, stalking, sexual harassment, betrayal and murder?" She held up a slim envelope.

Experiment Number Six held up her hand. "Yes, please."

Chlamydia swept over to the child and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. "Of course you do, oh best beloved; I can always count on you."

"Put that way, the performance will have an entirely different impact," Ischemia mused. "I'm in."

"It's an abject lesson in the value of having genuinely good manners," Purulence said to Six. "Unfortunately, the people who needed to have those good manners were the ones who raised a child."

 

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