I Love a Parade!

Posted on Sat 3rd Jun, 2017 @ 4:54am by
Edited on on Thu 8th Jun, 2017 @ 2:18pm

821 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Block Quarters and Promenade Deck 636
Timeline: MD 1, Early Evening

Hieronymus came out of the bedroom to ask his wife how he looked in his old suit. He hadn't gained a pound, but he wasn't a fashion plate. He only knew HE had no intention of wearing one of those dresses they called robes these days!

As he looked up, he caught sight of his dearly loved wife of over sixty years. After all this time, she could still take his breath away. She was half turned away from him, humming under her breath, pinching off small dead flowers in a bouquet. Her dress was as old-fashioned as his suit, but it still looked charming on her. It suited her, the green and blue waves of color moving as she moved. Her short hair was mostly dark, thanks to modern genetics, and curved gently into her cheek. She could still melt his heart.

"You look lovely, Gisele," he said softly. She turned to smile at him, then walked over and put her arms around his waist, her head on his shoulder.

"And you are as handsome as the first time I saw you," she told him, squeezing him slightly as his arms came around her. An old familiar stance that never lost its appeal.

"My looks have never improved, but no one is ever looking at me when we walk in together."

Gisele laughed, standing back, and smacking his chest lightly. "You can quit that any year now. You aren't getting more compliments out of me that way." Secretly, she was pleased he still found her attractive. So few marriages were more than short term contracts now. It was quite an accomplishment to have one of such long duration, though that wasn't how she thought of it - as an accomplishment.

He grinned at her and offered his arm. "If you are ready, my always-adorable wife, let us proceed to be pushed and shoved and crowded and stepped on as we try to watch this parade. It will probably be most dull and boring and we'll be sorry we went."

"If we are, then you can take me to that jazz place on Deck 600 to make up for it," she answered smartly.

"Orchids & Jazz?" He thought about that as they walked out the door and he thumb-locked it behind them. "I could probably stand that. Shall we have a very late dinner there, either way?"

Tucking her hands into the crook of her husband's arm, she nodded. "Yes, let's. I haven't been there in a while, and I do like the music. I might even let you dance with me." She grinned cheekily at him.

"That Miss Lantz has quite a flair for the restaurant business, and her staff is friendly. I never feel rushed or as if I'm a number and my time's up. Let's do go. I haven't been in quite some time."

Hieronymus pushed the call for the turbolift. "I stop in once in a while and chat with her, have a little snack. Her chef is excellent. It's really her, though, isn't it? I mean, her personality that makes the place so successful?"

Nodding, Gisele stepped onto the lift. "I expect it is. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to visit a planet populated by El Aurians. Do you suppose they all had that calm humor she has?"

Her husband shook his head. "I doubt it. Like any other people, they had differences. I've not ever seen more than one at a time, and not many of them, of course, so I can't be sure."

As the lift slid to a stop, she answered, "You're probably right, it's hard to imagine a whole race from just one person. And it isn't as if we can ask her." They stepped off and walked toward the noise of a crowd, the sound growing as they neared the center of Deck 636. There was a small park, with a bandstand, a wide boulevard which went around it, with spokes going off in four directions. Along the edges of each spoke, and around the central circle, people lined the grassy verges and the sidewalks in front of shops for quite a distance.

Gisele's hand slipped down to grasp her husband's and he saw excitement in her eyes. She glanced up at him. "Doesn't this remind you a little of the time we were in New York for the Disney-Macy parade?"

The gardener looked around, trying not to frown at people stepping into plantings and crushing flower beds. More work for his army of landscapers. "It does a bit," he agreed with her in spite of his annoyance, smiling down at her fondly. "I doubt we'll see any flying animals, though."

"You never know," she protested. "There could be a ... a ... a unity creature! Yes, that's exactly what there will be. I'm sure of it!" She laughed and squeezed his hand. "I do love a parade!"

 

RSS Feed

Comments (1)