2020-12-31 New Years Crossroads

 2020-12-31 New Years Crossroads

During the holidays and  after Elise’s party, Miranda Rogers was very busy. The looming family photo session did happen on the 20th of December and it was actually a sweet and bonding experience for all of them and Levi. Anna Wright, the photographer was very professional and made sure what was being reflected was what the family wanted. The pictures turned out great too with a variety of group shots, some of the three teenage siblings, some couples shots of Duncan and Fernanda as well as a few more of Jasper and Levi. She worked a lot up until the 24th because Carpenters had lots of last minute shoppers but it was a cheerful time at work. Gary set up a hot apple cider urn for customers and the store played Christmas music. It was a very fun time to work in retail on the island. The Rogers family weren’t big spenders on gifts. They mostly exchanged second hand books, socks maybe the odd pair of mitts so the holiday was about time spent together baking, eating, watching holiday movies. It extended to the Samuels household and the Negron household based on Levi and Fernanda but those just added to the joy. Christmas day was a fairly small family dinner though as they’d already done a huge Hanukkah celebration at the Samuels house and the Negrons did their big Puerto Riccan meal tradition on Christmas eve. But on boxing day, the winter festival kicked off beginning with the new format for the Alexandra Winter Formal which was informal this year and outdoors with concerts on the library rooftop and attendees below dancing in the streets. The streets were lined with ice candle lanterns and strung with little white fairy lights between the lamp posts so when night fell it was truly magical. 

Miranda had gone to the informal formal for some of the music with Tyler, as friends not as dates, but he was mopey when he saw Winona dancing with Brayden Kim so Miranda steered them away from the scene and walked with him through the residential streets checking out holiday lights and decor before hanging out with he and his little brother at the Wheeler house playing video games. She wasn’t at all a gamer but humouring her friend. She found herself in the position of divided time between her two best friends right now. She would make separate plans with each of them trying to discreetly not talk about Winona when she was with Tyler. Of course she had told Winona about Tyler’s heartbreak. His avoidance of her made it impossible to not explain. Then Winona felt sorry it hurt Tyler but didn’t really know what to do about it. She was so happy and in love with Brayden but of course she didn’t really want to hurt Tyler. “Give it time…” Miranda said, hoping she was sharing the right advice on their girls movie nights and now slightly more rare sleepovers. But for now she had a busier schedule seeing them separately. She was also busy volunteering for the winter festival and spending time with family. The volunteers ended up on rotation to different activities. The first night she did two hours before the concert just wheeling firewood to the little warming fire barrels and stocking them up to light later. The second day she helped run the chicken bowling for a while, which was hilarious and then helped at the kid’s craft tent by the hay maze. She tried to do the maze after the volunteer shift, before she was fully off for the day but being 6 feet tall she could see it too well from above and got through it in about a minute. A group of small children got wise to her height advantage and followed her through and she high fived them all. She even took in the free morning yoga classes each day on the inlet. That was actually really cool, both in temperature and concept.

Miranda was busy enough that she only saw Gene Sinclair in passing. They said hello now and even somewhat smiled but she still didn't know what to do with her feelings for him. She was now acknowledging she had them and she had to work hard not to think about him. He was in her daydreams, her night dreams when she wasn’t lying awake thinking about him, even once or twice fantasizing about him and whatever he had meant by liking a bit of a “wild ride”. It enticed her. Her previous encounters and boyfriends had all felt very contrived and scripted as if they would if they could have handed her an itinerary for the order of the sexual acts on their menu, of course all gearing towards the male pleasure for the most part or barely and fumbled attempts for the meeting of her needs. She was longing for a wild ride, someone who would just go for it and make her feel absolutely wanted and adored and wild and free. Gene could have her with a word even if he didn’t know it. He could walk up to her and whisper “Randy” in his low voice and she’d devote herself to him for all eternity and do anything he wanted. But she kept her distance, kept it in check. Sure he said hi and had been friendly at the party. That wasn’t an invitation, it was just part of him being a good person.

Miranda also met with Natalie Sokal in the Samuels and Sons office a few times to tell her every detail and share her thumb drive of what she had saved about Spencer Newcastle. That process was still ongoing but Natalie seemed determined to nail Spencer Newcastle to the proverbial wall. Miranda had done her part and they had a trial date. Now Natalie was trying to steer the rest as the wheels of justice hopefully turned.

On New Year’s eve she hung out with Romeo and his friends. Winona had a date and Tyler had online gaming plans that she was grateful  he didn’t want to try and include her in. She was terrible at video games and he loved the zombie ones, despite his otherwise skittish nature. Miranda would die within the first five minutes and then be basically listening to Tyler yell in terror at fictional undead. Instead this crew played board games and cheeky card games that made them all laugh. No one kissed for real at midnight but there was theatrical pretend kissing with hands over mouths pressed palm to palm with dramatic dips. Jake did it to Romeo and then to Zach and then started walking towards Keisha who grabbed Miranda and did it to her almost as a defense from Jake’s advance. Keisha was smaller than Miranda and ended up dropping her on the kitchen floor in her dip attempt so that led to hysterical laughing and pictures shared on the social media site they all used; Crossroads.

Keisha had tagged Miranda and posted it on the Alexandra Student group page, a selfie of the two of them sitting on the floor laughing and Miranda pretending to rub her hip from the fall:

Keisha Hawkins-Domino  “Never dip an Amazon...they fall hard. Happy New Year Bitches!” @Miranda Rogers @Romeo Rogers @Jake Carpenter @Zach Wong

Miranda Rogers loves this.

Elise Girard loves this.

Tyler Wheeler loves this.

Levar Hawkins-Domino  @Keisha Hawkins-Domino “Happy New Year. Don’t break the Captain:)

Jake Carpenter @Keisha Hawkins-Domino @Miranda Rogers “It should have been me. Sorry Miranda!”

Sophia Wong “Are Miranda and Keisha a couple now?” #lesbians

Miranda Rogers @Sophia Wong “Go fuck yourself and stop spreading rumours.” @Keisha “That was not a shot at you. I wish I was a lesbian to be your Amazon….lol XOXO”

Sparrow Walsh loves this.

Keisha Hawkins-Domino @Miranda Rogers “Oh my….XOXO”

<><><>

Gene Sinclair had never in his sixteen years, had a Christmas holiday anything like his first in Alexandra.  The whole Winter Festival thing was even new to him and he found he liked that it was more a celebration of the season than the commerciality of Christmas around the rest of Canada, or at least where he’d been raised.  Shea, Sparrow and Lyra had walked with him to see the decorations, which were put up early, but they'd not seen them as a ‘family’.  And the Walsh family was like a real family to him.  By the time Christmas rolled around, he had presents for all of them and, to his surprise, he had presents from all of them.  And not only them.  He’d exchanged presents with Dante and Gen as well.  Even Elise and Nolan had exchanged small gifts with him.  That covered his small circle of friends, although he’d been invited to a Christmas dinner not only at his own home with the Walshes, but at Lydia Alvin’s house with Dante as well.  Since being released, he had begun to put on weight and fill out a bit more.

Even though Alexandra seemed to be on a holiday for 2 months, it wasn’t.  He still had to work.  Walking there was always nice.  He’d hear songs sung by India Tor, Acoustic Spirit, the Negron family as well as harp music that made him feel lighter of step on his way to the job he already loved.  He also walked past Miranda Rogers several times during the school’s Winter Break. She who had committed a crime for him and spoken incredible words about his poem. He would grin, nod and say hello to her and she would as well.   Their relationship had apparently landed on neutral ground, but if he was honest with himself, he had to admit that … yes … he found her attractive.  She had invaded his dreams in both mundane and erotic ways that took his breath away and left him frustrated when he woke up.  At first he couldn’t stand her.  Now he was neutral, but that neutrality felt false in too many ways.  If she walked up to him demanding a kiss … or even more … he would not hesitate to give her what she wanted.  All she’d need to do is ask.  He resisted doing the asking himself.

Gene had only been with one girl that had not paid for the privilege.  He loved her and he liked to think she loved him … but when she had paid for being with him she couldn’t handle it.  Danielle had come from a good and decent family, but even before disaster struck, she was showing signs that Gene hadn’t cared for.  He knew, for example that marriage and children would be out of the question.  Her parents did not know that she was even involved with him until after she had been raped.  Even know they were involved.  Dani had kept blowing off introducing him, giving flimsier and flimsier excuses.  Anything besides that he was INdiginous and she was white and her parents would not approve.

He wondered now and then if that would happen if he and Miranda got together.  Then he would remind himself that she was a good woman from a good family … and that she was out of his league.

But that didn’t stop him from wanting her.  A guy could dream, right?

<><>

Keisha Hawkins-Domino loved the winter holidays. It was hard not to in Alexandra with all the decorations and cheer that began on December 1st. Working at the Perkatory also meant she saw everyone on breaks from their shopping and gatherings coming in for the beloved holiday drinks. Working with and for Buni was always a riot. She had begged for the job to be her in the play and understand what that was but now she just loved the job, and of course Buni as a boss. Gift cards for the Perkatory were also in high demand as Christmas presents so business boomed in every possible way.  Because of her extra hours, she decided not to volunteer for the winter festival but she of course would take it in when she was off work.

The Hawkins-Domino Christmas lunch was always beautiful chaos. This year it included not only Otis Carpenter who was Levar’s long time boyfriend but Tony Penhall who was LaTonya’s boyfriend, deemed serious enough to be invited to Christmas with the family. Tony fit right in which was not surprising. The Hawkins-Domino clan were a family who drew names for gifts because they liked to keep it modest. So that year Keisha had drawn Tony and was at a loss as to what to get the little musical superstar her sister had fallen for. She asked LaTonya and LaTonya told her a few things about Tony she never would have guessed, including the fact that he played D&D. So Keisha happened upon a funny long sleeved black t-shirt with a multi sided die that said this is how I roll so she got him that and a coffee gift card for the Perkatory. He seemed amused by it. Their family ate ham at holidays and their mother’s infamous baked mac and cheese and green bean casserole and wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and bacon bits. They joked that people who didn’t like or eat pork should never come over. Scott and Amanda were baconvores. Keisha felt a little bad for her sister and brother and their respective significant others because both couples would be attending two holiday meals on Christmas to accommodate the Carpenters and Quentin and Addy and Addy’s father Pete O’Brian. It made her glad to be single so she could just curl up in front of the TV with an eggnog and her parents while they were all doing a whole other family scene.

By new year’s eve Keisha was glad to be getting back to school soon and a more regular routine but she loved having a board and card games party night with her friends at the Roger’s house. The boys, her boys, and Miranda. Jake Carpenter had asked her out awhile back and she had sort of pretended not to quite get the question. But he had been being weird around her for a while and she did figure out he liked her. Jake was sweet, sweet, awkward and funny, but she just didn’t feel that way about him. So they did this awkward dance now and then and this night was no exception. The group started goofing around at midnight about the whole kiss idea. No one actually kissed but Jake started a whole joke about pretending to, pressing palms together with hands over faces and dipping dramatically. He did it to the guys and then started for her but the look on his face made Keisha worried he'd skip the hand and actually try to kiss her. So she deflected him by grabbing Miranda and initiating the same joke. But Miranda was built like an Amazon and the dip became a hilarious disaster where she dropped the poor girl on her hip. Thankfully Miranda found the whole thing funny and just sat on the floor and laughed hysterically. It was contagious so Keisha ended up down there with her and then took a  selfie and posted on social media. She looked up after posting and made eye contact with Romeo, her breath catching in her throat. If it had been Romeo walking towards her to kiss her for real or even as a joke she would have waited for him and even maybe hoped there would be no hands between them. But Romeo saw her as one of the boys. “Keisha-dude”. She was that to him while he seemed to be dating everyone else. Keisha was quite staunchly single, but if she was going to ever break that streak it would be for Romeo Rogers. It was too bad he didn’t even know she was a girl.

<><>

Vincent Reinhardt’s life had peaked.  There was something about the island, he believed.  And winter was a special part of it.  He and Fiona were married now, although that had happened in the fall and the whole Reinhardt clan was growing by leaps and bounds.  There was not a place on the island short of the Municipal Center or the Community Center that could hold the whole family for a meal, but that didn’t stop Colleen Reinhardt from trying.  This year she was making game hens .. it felt like 100, but was probably only half of that, he’d told himself.  Seamus, Iris and little Katie, of course, plus Iris’s family; Greyson, Lisette, Paige and Sasha and little Thea.  And all of those who already lived in the Reinhardts house, plus floating relatives like Michael, Stephanie and Tristan.  The Beaulieus had their Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, which was a thing to be grateful for.

However, he and Fiona had other plans.  The one part of the family that could not realistically participate was Owen’s new branch.  Owen, Slaine, Liam and three newcomers.  Only a month old the triplets were a handful on the best day.  So he and Fiona were giving them a Christmas present of a homemade dinner.  Two roasted lemongrass chickens with a sweet lime sauce was the main part of a large dinner he and Fiona made together and brought over to the new parents and big brother. Darcy joined them and brought along a glorious trifle for dessert.  Afterwards, they took Liam over to spend the night with Katie to give the new parents as much of a night alone as was possible with month old triplets.

After all of that, Vinent most looked forward to New Years Eve, the day he had, in the most awkward way possible, finally confessed his love for Fiona.  Early evening visiting their friends, but by the stroke of midnight they would be home celebrating a new year as well as a love that never felt old.  And the next day they would pop in at the wedding of Fiona’s friend Ziggy.  Vincent as more of a Plus One, as Fiona’s husband, but he liked Ziggy quite a lot, even if he didn’t feel as close to har as he did some of Fiona’s friends like Addison.

<><>

Walter McLeod had a busy holiday season as always. The radio station did  lots of remotes from the winter festival as planned. His work life with Sally was always good, because Sally was the best cohost he could ever ask for. But he wanted her back in another partnership, one he had fucked up so many times now it was almost pathetic to even hope.

They spent Christmas apart, another Christmas apart. Of course he’d gone to Paul and Cheryl’s and celebrated with their family, the girls and his mother Joan. But it never felt the same without Sally and this year particularly stung him. So by New Year’s Eve he was feeling like he had to shit or get off the pot. They’d been very cool to each other since the fight about Lorna’s texts where his phone ended up in the fish tank. But bravely he sent Sally a text from his still fairly new phone, asking her to meet him for a New Year’s eve dinner at the Catch of the Day fish restaurant. She hadn’t replied but Walter took a chance and just went to the restaurant at the time he suggested, dressed up even in a decent grey suit that was fitting him better since he lost some weight. He’d gotten a  haircut and trimmed his beard. He bought flowers and ordered a bottle of wine. He also hadn’t smoked a single joint that day and Lorna the cat lady was deleted from his contacts.

Sally had gotten Walters massage and had then spent the hours before the mean pacing from her living room to watch movies to her bedroom to pick clothes for the date.  By now you'd think she’d know not to trust Walter.  He liked the attention of this new fan or that new fan.  Or slutty locals who thought the more pussys she owned the more pussy she could give away for free.  In the end she had sworn out loud and dressed in the most inconveniently accessible outfit in her closet, then walked the short distance to the restaurant.  Looking coldly at the flowers, she still thanked him, but did not allow or give him a kiss, even on the cheek.  When the waitress arrived, she ordered salmon and then, before Walter could order anything, ordered the crabs for him as a catty little hint.  Her eyes sparked as she looked at him.  But the dinner was still wonderful.  They talked about this holiday season and the shows ratings.  All business.  No pleasure.  When it was over she took the flowers and made a show of offering him her hand to shake.  Then she went home and watched lonely movies, hoping Walter could do what it took to earn her back … but she doubted he would.

<><>

Fred Sewid often thought himself the luckiest man in Alexandra.  He was, after many long years, with the woman he loved.  He had had three good years with his daughter and granddaughter.  Roberta had gone back to the mainland to be with her husband Brad son SImon as soon as Alexandra and the ferry had reconnected, but she still stayed in contact.  Gwendolyn had remained in the two bedroom apartment she and her mother had been assigned and began paying rent.  She had a good job as a welder on the island and made good money.  Fred and Gwen got on quite well together, and of course, he had Shirley with him in a little house near the cliffs on the south side of the island.

This first Christmas back had been quite rich, as the time cut off had missed many of the luxuries of a life connected to the mainland.  But all Fred cared about was a holiday with his family.  Gwen joined them at the Brates for Christmas dinner.  Fred had actually enjoyed the family banter, as the Brate family was growing in size.  Little Izabella Brate was not afraid of Fred, but he did not growl as much with his family as he did in his public persona.  Most who had known him over the years may have had a hard time recognizing the hard assed former mayor of Alexandra.  He had relaxed quite a bit since retirement.  It helped him to know that he was still needed by his beloved island.

Fred took time to tease Gwen about life with her cat Brigid who Gwen explained to them was named after the Celtic goddess of the forge, hearth and sacred flame. She also represented the fire of inspiration in creative pursuits.  Undaunted, Fred then teased her about her smarts, although they both laughed about her decision not to attend college and become a wielder.  She had gained a great deal of experience under young Mint Portia during the fog and, after it, the deconstruction and construction of several buildings on the island.  Once reconnected, Mint and Adam Brate kept her busy, but Gwen’s brains often came shining through, and when they did, Fred was there to tease her about it.  At dinner, it was about her becoming one of Alexandra’s cat women, especially if she didn’t get a husband to curb the collection, as Adum had with Megan.

He was highly amused when Gwen told him a few days later that she had a strange encounter with one of the regular workers.  Pedro Negron had approached her about making some iron trellises for his mother.  She had always brushed him off, but this was business and when they shook on the deal, she explained that she’d felt a literal spark between them.  He had asked her to go to his brother’s wedding, but she declined.  Instead they agreed to a light dinner after the reception to get to know each other better.  Fred had grinned and told her the legend of sudden love that can come between two people on Alexandra.  This love was described as an irresistible spark or even like a bolt of lightning.  Sometimes it progressed quickly and other times slowly, but love was inevitable.

He hoped that the island legend was true for his granddaughter.

<><>

Quentin Tyrell was the happiest he’d ever been. He and Addy were engaged. Tony seemed to have found love. Tony had asked to bring LaTonya to Christmas after all, and she seemed to be well matched to him. Nobody had walked in on them doing the nasty on the couch anyhow. So this holiday time was full of gigs and parties and the festival which was always such a good time. He and Addy danced and danced at the informal formal and it was magical. He liked the outdoor format. It made Kagiso and India and Tony’s voices echo in the winter’s chill and reverberate in new ways. Quentin was of course a creature and connoisseur dedicated to the world of sound. He did notice it was a bit hard on the instruments though tuning wise. The Negron brothers especially went through quite a few guitars and cuatros in rotation trying to keep things on key. But other than that they’re sets were tight and the Pueto Riccan music added to the culture of alexandra so perfectly.

Christmas dinner had been a cozy affair hosted by Pete in Statutes while it was closed with the big fireplace going. Pete had cooked a traditional Irish goose with dumplings and apple sauce. It was both unique and delicious. Tony and LaTonya seemed to have a hard time finishing their plates though after a big lunch with the Hawkins-Domino family. Somehow they found room for Addy’s Irish Soda bread pudding for dessert though. Quentin played DJ and spun holiday tunes from around the world through the meal and the relaxed fireside chat after with tighter belts and food comas setting in.

On New Year’s Eve they had a short visit with Vincent and Fiona before Quentin had to work  the New Year’s gig at The Blue Door. But Addy came with him and he set up as many playlists as he could so they could just focus on dancing. No one minded, and he did in fact chime in for the countdown at midnight of course. 2020 had been a bittersweet year in so many ways. Alexandra came back to the world but then the world was forced into a near post apocalyptic lockdown. But Alexandra stood apart from much of that. People gathered more safely, people married and fell in love and had babies. It was a magical place and always would be.