Miranda and Lancelot's Happy Ending

                       Miranda and Lancelot’s Happy Ending

                                                                     Mary Botsford, 1310 words

Miranda stared at the blank screen for over an hour, praying for the inspiration that had sent her latest book, Upon a Starry Night, soaring toward the top of the bestseller’s list. She knew inspiration alone had not sent the novel to its destination along with the other hot titles.

If she was honest with herself, which she patently loathed doing, Miranda admitted the storyline just dropped in her lap after a childhood best friend, Suzanne, met the love of her life. During several late-night phone calls, her bestie bemoaned a growing attraction for a charming rogue much too young for her. As soon as she said ended the calls with an ‘Love you, girlfriend’, Miranda would race to her keyboard and type feverishly to capture the compelling romance on paper. The book had practically written itself!

Shaking off those memories, Miranda abandoned the empty page to scroll through cat rescue pictures. Coming across the sweetest little orange and white kitten, she fondly recalled her own little tabby. Admitting it was really her ex-boyfriend’s cat, she also sadly realized that Brandon loved that cat more than he had ever loved her. A sudden idea stabbed her in the gut. Why not write our story? I can tweak our spectacular but disastrous ending. I can make happily-ever-after happen.

                                     Chapter 1

That day, which had seemed to hold such promise with its breathtaking sunrise full of pinks, scarlets and magentas suddenly turned treacherous. Soft, puffy clouds piled on top of each other, creating a gray blanket over Chicago.

Looking up from her screen, Miranda shuddered as she took in the view from her window overlooking Lake Michigan. An inheritance from a garrulous but generous uncle provided for a

home that most starting authors could only dream about. A cloudless blue sky that had been here just moments ago had morphed into a roiling and dark impending storm. I must have gotten glimpses of the changing day without realizing it. Of course, that’s it! Everyone says I’m clueless to what’s around me when I’m writing. 

Small goosebumps disappeared as Miranda spent the next few hours mapping out further details to her plotline. Memories of her time with Brandon came at her with the same syncopated beat of the driving rain on the windowpane. Recalling wonderful encounters that would become the bones of her story, she also chose a few of the really bad times. Those will provide tension, right? They’re not painful hints that a happy ending wasn’t likely, right

* * * *

As the stately grandfather clock that had also belonged to her uncle chimed 10 o’clock, Miranda looked up. After hours of intense writing, she wasn’t sure if the ten chimes signified morning or evening until she saw glowing streetlamps giving light to a darkened sky. She had just begun writing a scene she knew would add powerful tension to her story, just as it had in real life. Knowing she needed to capture the intensity of the feelings tonight instead of waiting for morning, Miranda gingerly rose from her computer chair in search of caffeine and cookies.

As her fingers positioned over the keyboard froze, Miranda suddenly recalled going to her older sister’s first piano recital. She had watched in sad fascination as Maggie’s hands hovered over the keys and then just stopped. Afterwards, Maggie had tearfully tried to describe her fear of failure and rejection she felt in that moment. A single tear fell from Miranda’s eyelashes as she remembered both her sister’s distress and her own anguish re-awakened by the painful memory she was trying to put into words.

Chapter 13

“How could you be so clumsy? You’ve just ruined a thousand-dollar suit!” he shouted. They both watched in horror as dark red splotches grew ever larger across gray linen. “Bitch, we’re through!”

By now, Miranda was sobbing as she forced herself to capture the rest of that awful evening. Reaching for a tissue, she knocked over a mug of coffee. Unable to tear her eyes away from staring at her white carpet with growing dark brown circles, she was right back in that moment with Brandon months ago. The irony that she had spilled her coffee just now dawned on her, even as every uttered sneer and put-down came flooding back with mind-numbing intensity.

Unwilling to hear one more spiteful word rattle around in her brain and unable to reconcile what had just happened with her spilled drink, Miranda staggered off to bed. Instead of the oblivion she had hoped sleep would bring, she kept seeing red splotches on gray linen or blossoming coffee stains on white carpet. Eventually, in exhausted semi-wakefulness, she couldn’t recall if she had actually spilled coffee or red wine on Brandon when they had hurriedly made love that evening months ago. Maybe I was drinking wine last night, and way too much of it. That  would certainly explain such a bizarre sleepless night. Just before dawn, sleep finally overtook Miranda as her last thoughts were, Well, maybe-

  * * * *

Usually an early riser, Miranda glanced out her bedroom window and noticed that despite a bright, cloudless sky, there was none of the usual sunlight streaming across her room. A quick glance at her bedside clock confirmed she had slept well past noon.

While deliberately having her coffee and toast at the breakfast nook instead of her usual perch in front of the computer, Miranda pondered her last thoughts before drifting off to sleep. Perhaps, the rainstorm that had happened as she wrote about one wasn’t coincidence. With growing excitement, Miranda became sure that spilling coffee while typing out that horrible memory about Brandon’s ruined suit wasn’t a fluke. She believed with growing certainty that it was an unexplained and wonderful gift.

Racing to her computer, Miranda was convinced she could not only give a happy ending to her characters, she could re-write her own love story. Fingers flew across the keyboard in gleeful abandon as she typed the words that would surely bring Brandon back to her.

Chapter 25

She had just finished brushing her new kitten, Lancelot, when she heard insistent knocking at her door. After reluctantly setting the ginger tabby down on his blanket, she made her way toward the door.

         With hands once again suspended in the air, Miranda paused to wait for the knock she was sure would come. Time stopped as tears shimmering like diamonds adorned her eyelashes in the heartbreaking stillness. She brushed away a final tear just as determined tapping at her door shattered the silence. She flung open the door and jumped into Brandon’s arms.

“I knew you would come back someday. I knew I could make you come back to me,” she cried.

           “I couldn’t live without you,” Brandon said while carrying her to the bedroom. “I confessed to my wife about our affair. I told her I’d go mad if I couldn’t be with you.”

           “Wait. Your wife?” Miranda shouted as she batted his hand away from her blouse, “What in the hell are you talking about?”

           “I thought you knew that I was married,” he said while pulling himself upright. “We worked together too long in that gossip mill for you not to know!”

           Leaning over Brandon, she paused while deciding to give him one last kiss or a hard slap across the face. A cracking sound echoed as Miranda hurried over to the computer, punching the backspace button until the only words remaining were-

She had just finished brushing her new kitten, Lancelot

               Swiveling and tilting her computer chair just right, Miranda peered into her bedroom. Looking away from the empty room with a satisfied smile, she broke into giddy laughter as an orange and white kitten brushed up against her legs.

Miranda picked up the little tabby and tucked him under her chin. “Why, hello Lancelot!”