Explosive Hello

Brick's and Annette's picnic in the shade of an old white oak was chaotic and yet as organic as it could be when a couple of grief-stricken and overworked parents meet and fall instantly in love. It was a firestorm. No waiting around. No shy stuttering greetings, but a rocket launch into intense talk about their daily troubles as only a couple of lonely and fiercely attracted burnouts would do. Life was gut hard for both of them. So unlike Liza's tentative attempts to interest Jasper, and Bruce's reluctance to act on his passion with Olivia, Brick and Annette went straight past GO, not even collecting their two hundred.

Teen Annolea sulked most of the evening, ate almost nothing and made herself scarce. The rest of the kids, first focused on their food, then upon each other, roamed the vast farmland that was their natal home, romped and argued and yelled and played ball and otherwise ignored their parents, for which Brick and Annette were thankful. He stayed after Bruce took Olivia and the girls home in his truck and stayed to sit on the porch with Olivia, watching the waxing half moon, allowing silence in their togetherness. Once Bruce took her hand in both of his. That was all.

Brick and Annette cleaned up the dishes, went into the house and sat on the couch long into the night, telling each other highlights from their life stories. They spoke endlessly of their children and their doomed marriages--Annette's through death and Bruce's through his wife Alice's rampant alcoholism, thus accounting for his girls' missing mother. Thus accounting for Annolea's anger. They literally fell into each other's arms. It was kismet. By the time Brick left reluctantly for home, Annette's pinned up hair was undone.

The benevolent temps turned out to be a long summer/autumn's last hurrah. Immediately afterwards, temperatures dropped uncharacteristically to a record low, and everyone was dripping their faucets at night.