Weak Magnolia Endearments

Weak Magnolia Endearments

It was a gray and rainy day when Christen opened the door to the library. She needed something to distract her, to lift her out of the funk that these gray days had helped put her in. Such is life, right? Mystery, Sci-fi, Horror, none of the usual genres seemed appealing to her at this time.

Running her fingers along the book spines, her mind drifted and she wandered into the Young Adult section, a section she rarely frequented. In fact, the last time she had perused this section was for the Twilight Saga. Her fingers caught on a book that was a bit different than the others, different on the outside anyway because there were staples, staples that caught her fingers and pierced the delicate skin on her middle finger.

She snapped to attention looking at her bloody finger and the strange stapled book. Finger in mouth, blood situation handled. With her other hand she pulled the book from its spot on the shelf and flipped it over to read the back cover. She loved Judy Bloom when she was younger and this book read just like one of her stories. Satisfied with her find of a book to distract her, she headed up to the counter with her finger still in her mouth.

"Wow! Are you okay? Looks like you came from a crime scene! Excuse me miss?"

 "Do you need help?"

Christen turned around and noticed a girl about the same age walking towards her, her arms full of books.  She looked concerned, her forehead wrinkled with curiosity, smashing her eyebrows and making her look like she was constipated. Her eyes were huge and looking at Christen, not at her face but at her body.  I know I am hot, she thought, but this is uncomfortable and now awkward. She looked down and noticed blood all over her white shirt; no wonder this stranger was getting in her business.

"This? It’s just a staple cut, it looks worse than it is." She smiled at the stranger, who was still staring at her. She refrained from putting her finger back in her mouth since she didn’t want to frighten her anymore than she already was. 

"I'm Maddie, sorry to bother you I just wanted to make sure you were ok or see if you were a vampire, what with all the blood."

She chuckled. "I'm Christen, and no worries, thank you for asking.” “Oh yeah, not a vampire either."

They conversed awhile and Maddie noticed the book in Christen was holding. "Hey!  I know this book" she exclaimed, taking it from her hands.

“It is part of a series and we had to read them in high school and I have been looking for them to read again and I have them all but one; this one! I have been looking for this one forever! It's been so hard to find. Are you checking it out or returning it?"

"Checking it out, I have never heard of it but I cut my finger on the staples holding the binding together. I guess the universe (at least the universe of staples) wants me to read it."

Maddie laughed.  "Staple universe, I like that, ha-ha. Would you let me know when you are finished please? I have the books in the series before this one if you want to read them, I don’t mind loaning them out to avid readers like myself.”

They conversed some more and realized they had so much in common it was like they were best friends. They exchanged information and began a friendship that would last a long time; their kids grew up together, they knew each others' dreams and fears, and they could finish each others' thoughts they knew each other so well. They enjoyed playing word games like Scrabble and Upwords, they went to concerts all the time, and they both liked to experience new things. 

The stapled book never made it back to the library; Christen gave it to Maddie when finished and Maddie gave it back along with the stories before it. Then they just kept it and occasionally brought it back out to re-read. It was a really good book, I wonder what the late fee would be if they ever took it back. Ha ha.

It had been 25 years since they met, Christen thought as she got in the Uber to take her to Maddie’s wedding. This was the first wedding she had ever been in and the fact that it was for her best friends’ wedding only made it more special. She was so excited! Things had been a little weird between them lately but she knew it was only because their paths had suddenly split and gone the opposite. Christen was moving to Honolulu, Hawaii for a fresh start; she had been in a car accident disabling her from living a normal life. The pain was so bad that she started smoking marijuana medicinally because she just couldn’t take it! 

Maddie had a bad opinion of all drugs, including medicinal marijuana; her childhood had not been an easy one and when she got older she realized that it was because of the drugs that her parents were on, when they were around. When Christen began smoking and eating edibles, Maddie began to look at her funny, you know the side-eye glance. 

Christen didn’t get it. She was still exactly the same as she was before she started using, so why was Maddie so put off by it. Maddie’s daughter Cole was in high school and Christen still attended as many of her events as she could, she was just high while there; being high only made her laugh more and eat way more than she should. Maddie didn’t care, she hadn’t told Christen about Cole’s last performance but Christen found out anyway; Cole was her goddaughter and she had a very close relationship with her.  Christen never brought it up to Maddie and decided to just let it go. After all, she was getting ready for her besties wedding and some things just weren’t important.  

This was Maddies fourth marriage, her previous three were before she met Christen and she was really nervous to take the plunge again, so Christen made sure she was

The Uber pulled up to the front gates of Maddie’s house. The driver rolled down his window preparing to use the intercom, and he asked, “Who shall I say is calling, ha-ha.”

“The maid of honor,” Christen said.

The driver pressed the intercom button. Nothing happened. He pressed it again, and still nothing. Christen started calling Maddie from the backseat of the Uber, but she didn’t answer the phone. She sent texts, emails, more phone calls, all while the driver kept pressing the intercom button (he was enjoying this bit of action during what would usually be a boring shift). Christen was worried, what the hell was going on? The driver began honking the horn loudly, but still no response. There was no way in without gaining entry through this gate, so she told the driver to head to the nearest police station; she wanted a welfare check.

As the car was backing out of the driveway the intercom crackled a high pitched static whining sound. 

“Christen?”

“Finally bitch! What’s going on? I’ve been waiting forever, let me in so we can get you married!”

“Hang on, I’m coming.”

That was odd, Christen thought. Why didn’t she just let her in like she always did? After a few minutes they could hear the motor of a golf cart speeding towards them. Maddie appeared, full makeup on, curlers in her hair, and wearing a pink fluffy robe. She parked and walked up to the gate.

“Let me in cheeseball (her nickname, Christen’s was bean enchilada).

“I’m sorry but I can’t do that. I can’t let you in and I can’t be friends with you anymore.”

“What?” 

“You heard me. I don’t trust you because you’re just like my parents, getting stoned all the time.” 

“What?”

“Don’t you feel that we don’t have anything in common anymore and that we have drifted apart?”

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK MADDIE!”

“I have been thinking about it and you’re really just like my mom, who you know I don’t speak to, who I have disowned, you know…..that mom. We have nothing in common anymore anyway.”

“We still have everything in common. We love music, our kids, dancing, eating, laughing, word games, oh my god a billion things. Are you freaking out about the wedding? What’s really going on? Tell me or stop acting nuts because if you don’t, I am out of here. Oh yeah. Try not to get too wasted before you walk down the aisle, hypocrite. Every time I see you, you have a drink in your hand but now you are criticizing me for my pot smoking, which I use for my head pain. Sooooo hypocritical. You spoiled snob.”

“I just don’t trust you Christen and I don’t want you to be involved in my wedding or my life anymore.”

Christen just stood there in disbelief. She thought they would be friends forever.

Footsteps. Christen looked up and saw a figure coming towards them.

She could see Cole walking up to them behind Maddie, something in her hands. Cole didn’t reach them, she stopped about 1000 feet behind her mother; this is where she placed the item in her hands, a box with a bow on it. 

Christen looked up at Maddie, tears in her eyes, “Whats this?”

Maddie turned and retrieved the box. Walking back to Christen she said, “Maddie didn’t want to hug you, she is too angry with me and she didn’t want to cry in front of people. Sorry about that. This is for you,” she said, sliding the box through the gate bars to Christen. Christen took the box and gingerly opened the lid. Peering in at the contents of the box, her heart dropped. 

Inside the box was one item, a stapled book. She took it out of the box and looked at Maddie. Maddie’s face was made of stone, so empty of any warmth, any love or feeling for her now former best friend. Christen felt as though her heart was being ripped out of her chest, although this had happened once before when Maddie stopped talking to her because she canceled too many of their hang out sessions so she could go home and sleep. Then Maddie had a kid and realized how tired she was; that’s when she called Christen apologizing and they resumed their friendship. So Christen really shouldn’t be surprised at this unexpected turn of events. 

She felt a bubbling in her stomach. Was she going to throw up or crap herself?  Nope, nope, neither thankfully. She realized it was pure rage. Angrily she began ripping the pages out of the stapled book, throwing the crumpled paper balls in Maddie’s face. She dropped the book on the ground and twirled around towards her car. She couldn’t see through all of the tears streaming down her face, and she sure couldn’t say anything since her voice had mysteriously become hoarse with emotion. This didn’t stop her from getting in her car and driving away, leaving Maddie just a small vision in the rear-view mirror. 

When she got home, Christen noticed shreds of paper still on her hands, fingers, pants, and even some in her hair. She sat in the car crying, unable to move with the heavy weight of grief that now settled upon her. She was so very sad. She could not believe that this was happening again, but she was resolved to never allow Maddie back into her life. Brushing off the paper shreds covering her, she thought back to how they had met.

“Stupid stapled book,” said Christen, and with that, she turned and walked into the comfort of her warm, loving home.