Daffodil #6, Tea Rose #5, Tyrian Purple #25

[kay_brooke]

Name: kay_brooke
Story: Unusual Florida
Colors: Daffodil #6 (new growth), Tea Rose #5 (every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies), Tyrian Purple #25 (the Midas touch)
Styles/Supplies: Canvas, Seed Beads, Miniature Collection
Word Count: 951
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply
Summary: They all wondered about the house on the hill.
Note: Taking a break from Allison/Charles for a day, but they will be back. Constructive crit is welcome, either in the comments or through PM.


"Hey, Greg." Lily nodded to the grocer as she surveyed that day's spread of vegetables. His little boy Carl, playing next to the apples, waved at her. "Did you see the hill? Construction crews and everything. What's going on up there?"

"Someone's building a house," said Greg. "Big name people, movie producers or something."

"Really?" said Lily, all ears. Nothing that interesting ever happened in Peach Tree. "Wonder why they chose here."

Greg shrugged. "Who knows why those rich types do what they do."

#

"There's two of them, husband and wife," Terri said, nudging Lily's shoulder. Their husbands had disappeared into the house to escape the summer heat, but Lily really needed a tan.

"Who?"

Terri nodded toward the hill, which was clearly visible from her backyard. "The movie people in the big house. They own their own studio, I heard. Breaker Productions. Ever heard of them?"

"No," said Lily, but she wasn't surprised. Why would anyone who was really big time choose to live in the middle of Florida?

#

"Is that the woman from the hill?"

"Mel, quit staring," Terri admonished. "You want her to think we're all slack-jawed yokels?"

"It's not our job to impress her just because she deigned to come and mingle with the little people," Mel sniffed.

Terri didn't think Mrs. Breaker looked like she was "deigning" to do anything. She was dressed casually as them, in sandals and a flowery skirt, a t-shirt pulling tight across her heavily pregnant belly.

"She looks like she's going to pop any second," said Terri.

"God forbid it happen down here in the squalor," said Mel.

#

"Haven't seen any activity on the hill for awhile," said Troy.

"What do you care?" Mel hated how much everyone was obsessed with the family on the hill. So what if they were semi-famous? What made them think they were any better than the rest, in their house overlooking the whole town like they ruled over it? Nothing about that family had ever sat right with her.

Her boyfriend shrugged. "Usually you see people coming and going all the time. Been quiet this summer."

Mel scowled and decided to banish Troy to the couch for the night.

#

"Finally getting married, man!" Lance pounded Troy on the back. "What made you ask?"

"She threatened to throw me out," said Troy, which wasn't far from the truth. "I need to find a place for the reception." Every time Mel spoke the wedding got more complicated. Color schemes, food, seating arrangements; it was enough to send any sane man to the nearest bar.

"You know, the Mitchells rented out that big gazebo on the hill for theirs," said Lance. "They said it was real nice."

"The Breaker place? I think she might actually kill me if I even mentioned it."

#

The wife opened the door, balancing a baby on her hip. Behind her, a toddler played in the hallway. Lance tipped his head at her. "Mrs. Breaker, I heard you were looking for a landscaper."

"Oh, can you do that?" she said. She looked, Lance thought, like every harried mother he had ever seen. Odd. He thought rich people had nannies and all that.

"Yes, ma'am. I did the gardens in front of the mayor's house last year."

"Those were beautiful!" She stepped aside. "Come in. I'll show you what we're thinking for the backyard."

#

"They're nice people," said Lance. "They paid me twice what we agreed on, because of the bricks being on back order."

"You shouldn't have accepted," said Inez. She couldn't believe how dumb her husband was sometimes. "Now we're in their debt. Those rich people, they don't stop until they've sucked every drop out of you."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"How do you think they got to be rich in the first place?"

"They started a movie studio!"

"Hollywood types," said Inez, shaking her head. "That just makes it worse."

#

"She's pregnant again?"

"I saw her in town, big as a house."

Rosa opened her soda can. "How many is that? Six?"

"Four." Dani grabbed the soda and took a long drink.

"Hey! Moocher." Rosa took her soda back. "It's just irresponsible having that many kids."

"They can afford it."

"Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should pop out a billion of them," said Rosa. "What about overpopulation and all that?"

"Rosa Marie, you will stop gossiping about the neighbors!' called Inez from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mom." Rosa rolled her eyes. "I swear she has super hearing."

#

Carl was in his backyard when Rosa came over. She dropped her bag on the picnic table and sat across from him. "I'm here. What did you want to talk about?"

"Let's get married," he said.

She blinked. "My mom would kill me. I'm starting college in the fall."

"You can still do all that. But I want to marry you, and I want to do it before anything happens."

"What's going to happen?"

Carl took her hands. "Probably nothing. But just in case..." he glanced up toward the hill. Thankfully, trees obscured the ruined remains of the Breaker house.

#

Greg got up for his morning run, same as he'd been doing the past forty years. That day, though, he left his usual route and hiked to the top of the hill.

There was nothing left of the house. Just a foundation, already overrun with a new growth of grass. Mrs. Breaker and her youngest, both dead in the fire, hadn't been cold in the ground when the wrecking crew came and towed everything away. Greg didn't know what happened to the rest of the family, but they hadn't been seen since.

He hoped they were okay, wherever they were.

Comments

[bookblather]

I absolutely love the structure of this, gossip flowing from person to person in a small town over the years. It seems like Amy and her family were never really welcome in Florida, no matter how much she romanticizes it-- it's kind of interesting to get this outside perspective on it. Great job.

[sarcasticsra]

I also like this outside perspective, and the way the gossip spreads through this small community seems very realistic to me--well done.

[isana]

I like this perspective too, and how it seems to stay as time goes on through the community, from parent to child to grandchild, almost. I feel bad for the Breakers and how they were never accepted, no matter how innocuous they were.

[clare_dragonfly]

Ooh, so that's who they are. I love the gossip and seeing them from an outsider's perspective.

[kay_brooke]

Yeah, they were always set apart from the town, and even though it's not mentioned here, the kids all went to a private school and so didn't really associate with the town kids at all. So it's definitely a romanticized view--Amy was just too young when they left to understand how the townspeople felt about them.

Thank you for reading!

[kay_brooke]

Thank you!

[kay_brooke]

Yay, I'm glad you got the sense of time passing I was trying to go for. I wasn't sure that came across.

Thank you for reading!

[kay_brooke]

Thank you!

[shipwreck_light]

I like that the plot of this is the house. It goes up, it becomes complicated and beautiful. It comes down and people go there for runs. Everything and nothing happens in such a perfect, almost wistful way.

[kay_brooke]

Thank you. :)

[delirio]

I LOVE how you did this scene. It fills in the gaps in the history of the characters without being direct. It's really cool!

[kay_brooke]

Thank you!