Left-Handed Engineers From MARZ
The Thanksgiving Episode
It started out quietly enough... Thursday morning, Reg seemed pretty scatterbrained,
but Zephyr figured that it was because the routine was being broken. Spending
the weekend at Portia's house was a holiday routine, but it wasn't a weekly
routine. Zephyr finally got them both ready and into the car and Reg drove
the 3-hour drive to Portia's house.
Marlone and Jack were already there (they are Zephyr and Portia's mother
and stepfather, for the uninitiated) and Portia's in-laws were trickling in,
but dinner wasn't ready yet. Portia's kids did their usual huggy clingy thing,
which Reg usually doesn't mind, but that day he seemed very put off by it.
In fact, the full house in general seemed to unnerve him, although he wasn't
saying anything. So Zephyr took Reg to the guest room for some peace and
quiet.
That didn't last long, though - Portia's little girls, Brit and Tammy, soon
joined them, and Zephyr found himself in a Q&A session about his and Reg's
personal life. Reg was still prickly but tolerated the girls... then Marlone
walked in and objected strongly to Zephyr talking sex with them when they
were still so young. Zephyr and Marlone started to argue... and Reg freaked
out.
What Zephyr didn't know was that Reg had that replica of the Melody Brandes
in his head. The Other Voice, shaped like Melody, was pacing up and down
in the back of Reg's mind, experimenting with a variety of imaginary crutches
and other tools, talking to itself, and had been since he had met the real
Melody the day before. Reg found this highly abnormal - not only that, but
the Other Voice was neglecting its usual duties, and Reg found it difficult
to operate without its guidance. He was on the verge of mental overload,
so he decided to concentrate on limiting his exposure to stimuli until the
Other Voice stopped doing this very disruptive thing. He especially had
to avoid being touched, because that would allow other people into his awareness,
and the last thing he needed was to have to deal with other people.
So Zephyr had a difficult time calming Reg down. He got Marlone and the
kids out of the room, but Reg wouldn't let him near him. He finally gave
up, and Reg eventually calmed down on his own. Just in time for Thanksgiving
dinner! So they went downstairs and sat at the table.
Reg didn't want to eat, though. Zephyr tried to make him eat... and tried...
and when the person sitting on Reg's other side tried to help, Reg decided
he had had enough and went back upstairs. Zephyr followed him and tried
to talk to him, but Reg was too distracted by the little girl pacing and
babbling to hear what Zephyr said. Zephyr went back downstairs to eat and
Reg lay on the bed and watched the digital clock change.
A little while later, Zephyr tried again. Reg was really fed up with the
Other Voice by this time and was desperate for something familiar... anything
at all. Making out with Zephyr seemed like a good option. But when he
started kissing Zephyr, the Other Voice admonished him to stop. It claimed
that Reg would divert too much energy away from it. Reg said he didn't care,
and he was going to do what he wanted to do, and he shoved the little girl
further back into his head and closed her off. Just before she disappeared,
the Other Voice shouted, "You can't function without me!"
Free of distraction, Reg focused on Zephyr again... but his mind was uncomfortably
empty. He had never been without the Other Voice before. The Other Voice
navigated for him, told him what words to say, kept his thoughts organized,
kept track of the daily routine, and dealt with anything unexpected. He
didn't know how to do any of that stuff without its help. Reg panicked,
which made Zephyr panic.
Zephyr really had no idea what was going on. One minute he was having a
tender moment with his spouse, and the next moment Reg was throwing himself
around like a crazed animal. At an opportune moment, Zephyr managed to pin
Reg to the bed, and was reminded that Reg was much stronger than he was.
But he somehow managed to hold on (he was heavier than Reg, which helped)
until Reg stopped struggling. Zephyr wasn't good at comforting people, but
he held Reg and tried his best, and wasn't entirely sure at the results.
Reg kept mumbling cryptic comments like, "I can function without me..."
But he at least stopped fighting.
By the time Zephyr dared to leave him alone, all the other guests had gone.
Zephyr told the Muellers that Reg was taking a nap, and went into the kitchen
to hang out with Portia and the baby. The older kids were watching TV with
their father, I think. Zephyr and Portia had a long, intimate conversation
that concluded in the thought that Zephyr ought to get Reg home, but Reg
was in no condition to drive. They agreed that things might be different
the next morning. Later that evening, Zephyr tried again to get Reg to eat,
with no success. I'll skip the entire night because it was private stuff.
:oD
The next morning, Reg ate breakfast (yay!) Zephyr made omelettes for everyone
(except for Tammy and the baby, who had Cream of Wheat) and they had a nice
breakfast as a family. Portia's husband, Dan, was a bit overwhelmed at the
sheer weirdness of his in-laws (I wonder what Marlone had done to contribute
to that the day before) but he didn't say anything. After breakfast, Dan
escaped to go do yardwork. Brit and Tammy went out to play. Reg seemed to
be doing relatively well. He was wandering around aimlessly a bit, but otherwise
seemed okay... until he grabbed Zephyr and said he was looking for something,
and he couldn't remember where it was (or what it was called). He asked
Zephyr where 3 was; Zephyr said she was at their house. Reg remembered where
the thing he was looking for was, but then confided in Zephyr that he appeared
to have lost their bedroom.
Portia pointed out that Reg really wanted to go home, and offered to drive
them and take the bus home. So they all piled into the Buick (much to poor
Dan's dismay, leaving him with four small children) and had a very emotionally
charged ride home. The minute they arrived, Reg leaped out of the car and
disappeared into the basement workshop. Zephyr collapsed on the couch,
griping that Reg hadn't even taken time to greet his cat. But 3 was satisfied
with Portia's attentions instead.
They ordered Chinese and ate while Reg banged and sawed and drilled downstairs.
They couldn't convince him to come up and eat, and Zephyr worried about the
fact that Reg had gone down to only one meal a day. Portia suggested Power
Bars. Why didn't I think of that? Well, now I have. Zephyr and Portia stayed
up reminiscing until very late, and when Reg showed no signs of giving up
on his project, they went to bed amidst the noise (which must have been significant,
because he was doing mostly metalwork down there). They woke up to it the
next morning (Saturday) and had coffee.
Zephyr called Marsh to ask him to give Portia a lift, and learned that Marsh
had spent the holiday alone watching football. Portia immediately insisted
that they invite Marsh to her house for Christmas. Marsh came over to discuss
things, and met Portia for the first time. Portia wanted to be driven to
the bus stop, but Zephyr thought the bus was too much trouble (if it was even
running that day) and asked Marsh to drive her all the way home. Marsh would
have been reluctant, but for one thing - he was a lonely guy, and Portia sure
was cute. And friendly. Against his better judgment, he ended up driving
her the whole way. For three hours they had a most wonderful conversation
about their respective children (Marsh has three teenagers and Portia has
her four, ages 1 to 9) and then about their respective childhoods (they didn't
talk about Zephyr specifically much, but Marsh learned a lot that surprised
him) and when they got to Portia's house, she invited him in for dinner (much
to Dan's dismay). It was evening by the time Marsh started the 3-hour drive
home.
In the meantime, Reg finally came up for air. He was utterly exhausted,
but he refused to rest or eat. He tried to convince Zephyr that a trip
to the MARZ office was necessary because he needed the more sophisticated
machinery there. Zephyr dragged his feet until Reg fell asleep in spite
of himself. Then Zephyr mostly just watched TV and moped for the rest of
the day. Reg woke up and had some leftover lo mein and then slept for most
of the night, and bright and early Sunday morning they threw Reg's half-finished
creations into the Buick and Reg drove them to MARZ.
Once there, Reg disappered into the workshop again, and Zephyr camped out
on the sofa in his office. Sometime in the afternoon, his phone rang. It
was Marsh. He offered to drop by with a pizza and keep Zephyr company. Marsh
realized the sad irony that he was going to spend his Sunday at the office,
hanging out with his business partner, because he had nothing better to do.
(For Zephyr, the situation was a step up, ego-wise... it wasn't every day
that someone besides Reg actually wanted to socialize with him.)
They ate pizza and deftly avoided talking about Portia and then went downstairs
to check on Reg. Reg had made significant progress on his work... but it
was immediately apparent that he had built much more than what the client
had ordered. Marsh figured it would be best to just give it all to them
at the originally negotiated price... after all, it was all designed to make
the little girl's life easier, which was a good cause. And besides, freebies
were good for business.
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