As Amy and Daria talked, Helen talked to her mother.
“Do you know what happened?” Theresa Barksdale
asked.
“Just that there was an attempted carjacking.”
“It seems Lawndale is not as safe as you thought it
was.”
“Oh no! It was more likely to happen in Highland, than
here. It can happen in any town. Our moving to Lawndale is not responsible,”
Helen answered.
“According to the latest news, the crime rate is
increasing.”
“Where are you getting that information?”
“I have been getting the Sun Herald delivered,”
Theresa answered.
“I see.”
“Anyway, I can tell you that it does get easier, with
time…”
And so, the day continued, with each survivor of the
Lawndale Morgendorffers unloading in a healthy or not so healthy way.
Helen continued taking and making calls, reflecting on
how Jake helped her not feel lonely in College and later on, in the Commune.
“…That sounds right,” Willow Yeager considered. “You
two completed each other, and now you’re bereft. But you don’t have to be
alone. You can always call Coyote and I.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Helen responded.
Daria and Jane hung out together, much as they usually
did. Daria told Jane of the good times, she and her father had when she was
younger, although she considered them to be few and far between.
“I don’t think they were,” Jane said as she looked at the
afternoon shadows in the backyard. “But then, my experience is atypical.”
Daria nodded. “Still, knowing that is all that there will
be, does make me sad.”
Jane nodded. “Still, I’ll need to be going. Ms. Li
allowed me to skip school today, but I don’t know about tomorrow.”
“True.”
However, Quinn was still taking it quite hard, no matter
what Stacy and Sandi were saying, or not saying. As they got ready to go, they
knew that Quinn was going to continue taking it hard.
The next day, Daria was back at school, but Quinn wasn’t.
“…And that’s why Quinn isn’t in today,” Helen
said.
“I see, Mrs. Morgendorffer. However, I expect her to be
back as soon as possible.”
“She’ll be back when I think she’s ready.”
Lawndale Sun-Herald
Thursday November 12, 1999
Obituaries
Jacob Elias Morgendorffer
June 23, 1952 – November 8, 1999
Husband of Helen, Father of Daria and Quinn, Daughter of
Ruth.
The Funeral was held on a snowy Tuesday.
The Morgendorffers weren’t religious in any way, although
they were New Age during their Commune days. However, there was tradition.
Jake’s mother, Ruth was still a regular Episcopalian parishioner. Therefore,
the funeral was held at the local Episcopalian parish, St. Andrews.
Helen, Daria and Quinn arrived at the church and met Ruth
and Jake’s sister Deborah. Theresa, Amy, Rita and Rita’s daughter Erin arrived
shortly afterwards. There were a few others who had known Jake in Lawndale and
elsewhere, but that was it.
After a hymn it was time for the Eulogies.
Helen was first.
“Jake was my partner. He was the father of my daughters.
He was there for me no matter how hard it got during Law School…”
Then it was Ruth, followed by Daria.
But it was Quinn’s Eulogy that was the most hard hitting,
as she poured out her raw emotion.
“…I will not forget the last words he said. For With
Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.”
After the funeral, Quinn knew that she had to do
something. But she wasn’t sure. Her mother and Daria were going on with their
lives, but she wasn’t sure. She opened her closet and laid her eyes on the
SpiderGirl costume she had used that night. “With great power comes great
responsibility,” she repeated to herself. She then produced some webbing and
drew it out of the closet. “I know what I have to do!”
The next day, Helen brought breakfast to Quinn. “Are you
going to school today?” she asked.
“Not today,” Quinn answered. “But maybe on Friday.”
“I see,” Helen said.
With her mother gone, Quinn re-opened her sketchbook and
continued redesigning the suit. She came up with a skin-tight version, with
polarised lenses. She had many old sunglasses she could use for that last item.
She spent the morning making it.
However, there was a problem, her hair came out the
bottom of it, even when tied back in two low buns. The rest of the suit worked
well. Nothing showed that she didn’t want to show. She took the mask off. ‘Maybe
the hair could come out as a ponytail, pigtails, or a bun?’ she wondered. She
spent a while making another mask, to allow the hair to come through as either
a ponytail or pigtails.
Another problem. She was sure that there weren’t too many
redheads in Lawndale. “So, what is the average hair color and length at
Lawndale High?” she asked after taking the mask off again. She grabbed her
yearbook and started going through it.
“A light brown,” Quinn considered, in the mid afternoon,
after her mother had brought her lunch. She wrote that in her sketchbook. “And
shorter. I can live with that.” If she didn’t like it, she could re-grow it,
and use a temporary dye. She quickly sketched a picture of herself with light
brown hair, slightly shorter than Daria’s.
“Right. I’ll see if I can get an appointment at a salon
tomorrow.”
And so, she left her room and went down to the kitchen to
look in the telephone directory, as she wanted to use a different salon than
the one she had used since she arrived in Lawndale.
“Quinn?” Helen
asked when her younger daughter got off the phone.
“I want to try something new,” Quinn answered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“I just don’t want you acting rash at a difficult time.”
“I know.”
The next day, Quinn was nervous, but she also wanted it
over with.
“So, you want like that?” the hairdresser asked, showing
a magazine article.
“Yes. That shade of brown is cute, and not too similar to
either of my friends’ shades,” Quinn answered. She didn’t want to be too similar
to either Sandi or Stacy, given that the former would be even more of a rival
and the latter would be even more panicky.”
“And you’re sure you want to go that short?”
“Yes!”
An hour later, Quinn walked out of the salon slightly
refreshed. She knew the shorter hair would take some getting used to, but she
had liked what she saw in the mirror. She headed straight home.
Daria was back from school by the time Quinn got home.
Quinn entered and Daria thought for a brief moment that she was looking at a
popular version of herself. Only the lack of glasses and their clothes really distinguished
them from each other. “Oh!” she said.
“Is that all you can say?” Quinn asked.
“Not really. Just that you look more like me,” Daria said
quietly.
“Not really, your hair is auburn,” Quinn responded. She
ran her hand through her hair. “This is light brown.”
“There’s not much difference,” Daria shot back. She then
went up the stairs with her afternoon snacks.
Quinn sighed. With her father gone, she wanted to at
least get on better with Daria. She wasn’t sure when she first came to that
realisation. She then headed up to her room.
Having put her suit on again, she put her hair up in
pigtails. ‘Not too similar to Brittany,’ she thought. That was one reason why
she didn’t go blonde, she supposed. She then put the mask on. ‘Perfect,’ she
thought as she looked in the mirrors. The black and red of the suit, along with
the barely shoulder length light brown pigtails looked very stylish. She looked
outside. It was getting late and the sun was beginning to set. ‘Time to start,’
she thought. She opened the side window and then swung up on to the roof.
She looked out over Lawndale towards downtown and then
set out to fight crime. She gave a yell as she jumped off the house from above
her mother’s bedroom and swung away.
Officer Xanthe Peterson came to the scene, where a
suspect was stuck in some kind of web. That was something she was unfamiliar
with. She also saw a piece of paper attached. On it, in stylised writing was
written; Courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood SpiderGirl.
There was a sound above as of a thwip! She looked
up and saw an obviously feminine figure wearing a concealing suit swinging away
into the distance.
No comments:
Post a Comment