Anniversary

by Thomas Mc

Chapter 2 : Friendship

Vincent awoke to the warmth and brightness of the sun on his face. He was startled and disoriented. Where was he? The first thing he noticed was the morning sun streaming in through the sheer curtains across the French doors. The sun was already high in the sky so it was pretty late. Then he became aware of Catherine's emerald green eyes, still slightly red rimmed from yesterday's tears, gazing into his. Over their bond, he could feel that the sorrow of yesterday was gone. There was even a hint of contented happiness but the melancholy was still hovering around the edges waiting to return.

"Thank you for staying with me last night. I don't know if I could have made it through without you." Her smile had a hint of sadness in it. "It's already daylight. I'm afraid that you are going to be trapped here with me until nightfall." Then her eyes got wide. "Oh, my. I have to take care of something." She quickly untangled herself, scrambled out of her bed, and made a dash for the bathroom.

Vincent jumped up out of Catherine's bed, (like a scalded cat), and nearly ran for her parlor. He was very uncomfortable about being in her apartment, much less her bedroom, or even more embarrassing, in her bed. He glanced out her balcony doors. She was right about him being trapped. He paced back and forth in her parlor like a caged lion for a couple of minutes then he realized that Father would probably be very worried about him by now.

Vincent spotted Catherine's phone and approached it. He never had occasion to use a telephone but he knew how it worked. He was searching his memory of all the helpers he knew, trying to find any phone numbers that he might have known. He came up empty. He was glancing around looking for a phone book when the phone rang. Vincent started to reach out for it but hesitated. It rang again. Vincent still hesitated. Catherine was still in the bathroom. It rang a third time. As an act of will he picked it up but said nothing.

"Hello? Catherine, are you there? Hello?" The voice was startling in its familiarity.

"Father? Is that you?" Vincent finally responded.

"Vincent, thank God. I was so worried about you and I came above to Edward's market to call Catherine for help finding you." There was a momentary pause. "Why are you still there?" Vincent could clearly hear both the relief and the scold in Father's voice.

"I'm sorry Father but Catherine needed me." Vincent answered simply. "I'm afraid I stayed too long and fell asleep. I can't leave here during daylight but I will return right after sunset . . . unless Catherine still needs me."

At the other end of the line, Father cleared his throat, surprised at the way Vincent had phrased his response. "Well, I suppose there is no way you can return right now, but please be very careful, my boy and come home as soon as you can."

"I will Father, I promise." Vincent set the phone back in the cradle and turned to see Catherine, still in the same nightgown and bathrobe, standing in the bedroom door watching him. "Father was worried about me." He remarked. "He was calling to get your help to find me." He shrugged.

"Why don't I fix us some breakfast?" Catherine remarked and headed for the apartment's tiny kitchen.

~ o ~

Catherine and Vincent sat side by side and looked at the pictures of her and her mother. They both laughed as she told him about the story behind the picture of mother and daughter apparently both covered with multiple large splotches of paint. ". . . and Daddy was laughing so hard that he nearly dropped the camera."

She gazed over at Vincent becoming serious. "Thank you, Vincent, for helping me to remember all the good times. Sometimes those memories get buried beneath the sorrow of Mother's absence; especially around this time of the year." She resolutely closed the album. "I'm hungry. What would you like on your pizza?"

"I don't know. I've never had a pizza before." He shrugged.

"Then it's about time you did." She jumped up and fetched a flyer from the kitchen. It was a menu from a local pizza place. She pointed to the list of possible toppings. "Which items on this list do you like?"

After he had pointed out the topping selections that interested him, she went to her phone and called.

"Yes I would like two pizzas please. One medium and . . ." She glanced over at Vincent. "One extra large." She listened for a moment then continued. "For the medium pizza I want the veggie lovers . . . On the large . . . make it a supreme with extra pepperoni and mushrooms." Another pause. "That will be fine." She gave them her address and hung up. "The pizzas will be here in a half hour." She cocked her head at him. "Would you like to watch a movie?"

He shrugged. "I suppose so." He wondered how she was going to manage it.

She pointed to a small shelf next to the television where he saw what he had taken to be paperback books. On closer inspection, they turned out to be boxes containing plastic cassettes that held reels of what looked like extra wide recording tape. He had seen an occasional movie and he had seen television at the occasional helper's home but the idea of movies in these small plastic cassettes was a new concept to him.

He picked out the one titled 'Singing in the Rain'. The movie was unknown to him but the title reminded him of the time he and Catherine had been caught in a rainstorm during a concert. The picture on the front of the box, of a man hanging from a lamppost in the rain with his umbrella closed, intrigued him.

Catherine turned on the television and placed the cassette into a machine that sat on the shelf below it. The machine said Beta II in large letters on its front. A small wave of sadness passed through her as she stepped back from the machine. She looked at Vincent who had put his arm across her shoulder. "Daddy gave me this player the last Christmas before he died."

She started the machine and they sat down as the movie started with the silly image of three people wearing bright yellow rain gear, carrying umbrellas, and singing a bouncy tune all about singing in the rain and being happy again.

~ o ~

They had just come to the point in the movie where the Don Lockwood character had found the Kathy Seldon character dancing as part of the entertainment for the postproduction wrap party, when the phone rang. Catherine pressed a button which left the actors frozen in a rather comically undignified position and answered the phone. It was the lobby security guard announcing the arrival of the pizza delivery boy. She told the guard to send him up. Reluctantly Vincent took refuge in Catherine's bedroom while she took delivery of the pizza. It was the middle of the day so it was too risky to go out to the balcony and the small kitchen was not a very good hiding place.

Catherine set the pizza boxes on the coffee table then grabbed some glasses and tea from the kitchen as Vincent returned to the parlor. The pizzas smelled wonderful. Once they were again seated, she resumed the movie as they both dug into their lunch. Vincent was pleasantly surprised at how much he liked his pizza.

At one point, they both had to stop eating because they were laughing so hard at the "Make 'Em Laugh" dance number. Catherine leaned into Vincent, laying her head on his shoulder, as she munched on her pizza and watched the rest of the movie. Vincent responded by putting his arm around her shoulder. He was enjoying sitting there with Catherine cuddled up against his side.

Vincent soon became fascinated by what the story told of the difficulties faced in making the early sound movies. He was also surprised to discover that he was actually familiar with a couple of the songs in the movie. All during the sequence where Don was singing and dancing in the rain after Kathy told him she loved him, Vincent was remembering Catherine's joyous reaction when they had been caught in the rain. By the end of the movie, the melancholy that had been threatening to overwhelm her was gone.

It was still about five or six hours until sundown. Catherine pulled out a deck of cards and they spent a few hours playing fast-paced card games and talking about similarities and differences in both of their early childhood.

When dinnertime rolled around, Catherine again ordered out, this time for Chinese. They ate at the dining table and talked about some of their favorite foods when they were young. Then the subject shifted to William, and how he ran the tunnel kitchen. Vincent remarked to Catherine that he planned to discuss the concept of pizzas with William the next time he saw him. She responded by handing him the flyer with the list of toppings to show William. After the meal, Vincent helped her clean up the dining table.

It was still about an hour until sundown and Catherine picked up the book of Shakespeare's sonnets that Vincent had given her. "Vincent, would you read to me for a while?" She asked him as she held the book out to him.

"I would be happy to, Catherine." He responded as he took the book.

Vincent sat down and Catherine cuddled up against him then he began to read to her. He could feel her contented happiness over the bond as he read. He was pleased that he had managed to get her mind off her problems.

Vincent felt a tinge of disappointment over the bond. He glanced at Catherine to see her looking over at the balcony doors. He followed her gaze and saw that it was dark out. He finished the poem that he had been reading and closed the book.

With a resigned sigh, Catherine stood up and then picked up Vincent's cloak from the adjacent chair. Vincent carefully set the book on the table beside the empty pizza boxes and stood up. He admitted to himself that his own disappointment, over the fact that the day was over, matched hers. He knew that he had gotten just as much out of this time together as she had.

Catherine handed his cloak to him and walked him out to the balcony. She threw her arms round him and hugged him tightly for a very long time. She looked up and smiled as their eyes met. "Thank you Vincent for spending the day with me and for helping me make it through last night." Her smile widened into a big grin. "I actually had a wonderful time today." She suddenly stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him quickly on his lips. She had done this a few times since last Halloween but it still never failed to surprise him. She stepped back and watched as he took a moment to recover then slipped over the balcony wall and climbed up out of sight.

~ o ~

Father looked up as Vincent entered the library. "Welcome back, Vincent. How is Catherine feeling?"

"She is feeling much better now, Father." There was a slight wistfulness to his smile as Vincent continued. "I am also doing much better as well."

Father nodded. "That is good to know." He thought he understood.

Vincent smiled and placed his hand on Father's shoulder. "It was a most interesting and instructive day."

Father placed his hand over Vincent's, returning his smile. "So tell me, what did you and Catherine do all day today?"

THE END

'Beauty and the Beast' and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.