Gail's Return

COPYWRITE 2010

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         “Drake brought home a hermit crab.”  Rosalie said.

         “Ok.” Alison said  oddly looking around the room.

         “His name is Bob.”  Rosalie added.

         “That’s a good name, I think.”  Janet said.

         “Yea, but I like what Jeremy and Frannie named their dog.”  Beth said.

         “I did not name that dog.” Frannie started.  “Jeremy got him for me for my birthday. Him and Jack suggested  Boogie and the kids loved it.”

         “and they weren’t drunk when they suggested it either.”  Alison informed.

         “Oh, I love that name.”  Janet said.

         “You know what he reminds me of?”  Beth asked.

         “Sherman with dreadlocks?”  Alison added.

         “No.” Beth started.          “Boogie kind of reminds me of a mutant mop.”

         “Oh! Remember the mop that mom had at the restaurant, that big old heavy one? “  Alison said to Beth.

         “Yea, that mop used to scare me.”  Beth added.

         “My dog is not a big scary mop, he‘s a Komondor”  Frannie said to Beth and Alison defending Boogie.

         “Speaking of scary things.”  Alison started. “Jack has a show in Liverpool on Halloween”

         “What is so scary about that?”  Abby asked.

         “Not Liverpool.  The girls and I have tickets to the haunted Halloween ghost tour at Chillingham.”  Alison answered.

         “The castle?”  Janet asked.

         “Yea,”  Alison.

         “Hey Janet remember when we did the ghost tour at the Tower of London?”  Abby asked joining in.

         “Yes I do.  Did you see Anne Boleyn?”  Janet asked Abby.

         “I don’t know, I kept catching shadows out of the corner of my eye, heard strange noises.  It was hard to tell.”  Abby answered.

         “I hate doing the ghost tours with screamers.  You hear a noise and they scream, makes it hard to enjoy the experience.”  Frannie added.

         “Have you guys done a lot of the tours?”  Alice asked.

         “Yea, we do several through out October and one every Halloween.  Been all over Europe.”  Alison said.

         “Nigel and I did a haunted house tour once.”  Janet started.  She sat for a few seconds and remembered something that happened just a few years ago. 

         “You are smiling, what’s up?”  Frannie asked.

         “The haunted house that Nigel and I did.  It was around Halloween, there was  a theater group that put on a haunted house to make some money.  Nigel and I went, we took the girls and a few of their friends.

         The kids were in the group before us.  Nigel and I were in the next group.  I remember standing there, waiting our turn.  There was this guy with his daughter behind us. It was our groups turn, we started through the house.

         “We were having a blast.  People were jumping out, others were touching our legs, there was even one lady that lightly brushed your hair as you walked by.

         “Well, we walk into one room and it is pitch black.  You can’t see the tip of your nose.  The guy with his daughter tells her not to let go of his hand.  I said the same thing to Nigel.  I didn’t want to loose him. 

         “As we are walking through the room, something or someone bumps into us.  I loose Nigel’s hand.  I hear the little girl tell her dad that she lost his hand too.

         “This guy says ’I am still right here, grab my hand.’  The little girl says that she had her dad’s hand, I had Nigel’s hand, so we continue.

         “Finally, I walk out and see Nigel standing there with this little girl.  I was just a little confused, until I turned around.  I was holding hands with the little girl’s dad.”

         “Oh my God, that is just too funny.” 

         “You had no idea that you were holding someone else’s hand?”  Someone asked.

         “No.  Nigel and I had been talking and so was this guy and his daughter.  We never thought for a minute that we had someone else’s hand.

         “We had fun that night.  The kids thought that it was funny too. They still make fun of us to this day.”  Janet finished. 

         “That sounds like it would be as much fun as looking for real ghosts.”  Alison said.

         “Have you noticed that we seem to look for things that may not be real.”  Frannie added.

         “Ghosts are real.”  Alison said.  “Ask Carley.”

         “I totally forgot all about that.”  Frannie said laughing.

         “Forgot about what?”  Alice asked.

         “Carley thinks  our grandmother is haunting her toilet.”  Alison answered.

         “That is  too funny. Still is after all these years.”  Beth  said.

         The girls looked a little confused and wanted to know more.  “My grandmother liked fountains, she had them everywhere.  I remember sitting in her garden just watching one of her fountains.”  Alison stopped for a minute and continued.  “That fountain is now sitting in my garden at the L.A. house.

         “Well anyway, when she passed away, the toilet in Carley’s house started running.”  Alison explained.

         “Do you believe in ghosts?”  Rosalie asked.

         “I do, I have always been fascinated by them.” Alison said to Rosalie.

         “Jill had an experience with a ghost.”  Frannie offered.

         “She did.”  Alison began.  “It was a few months after my mom passed away.  We were in LA working and decided to go up to Sacramento for a long weekend to see Zach and his family.

         “One night Jilly comes into the room where Jack and I had been sleeping and tells me that grandmum is gone.”  Alison stops.

         “Mum, grandmum is gone.”  Jill whispered.

         “Yes, sweetie, grandmum is dead.”  Alison said half asleep.

         “No mum, she is gone.”  Jill said again trying to her mom’s attention.

         “Jill, we know, grandmum is dead.”  Alison said again.

         “Mum?  Grandmum is gone.  The window, she is no longer in the window.”  Jill said calmly.

         “What do you mean, she is no longer in the window.”  Alison said sitting up.  Jill now had her mother’s attention.

         “She came to see me, but now she is gone.”  Jill said.

         “She turned and went back to the bedroom and went back to sleep.”  Alison finished.

         “Wow.”  Abby said.

         “Was that all that ever happened?”  Rosalie asked.

         “To us, yes.  Melinda has told me that every now and again she sees shadows in the hallways of the house.”  Alison answered Rosalie.  “There have been a few times that Melinda and my nephew and  nieces have smelled  the aroma of pasta sauce in the house.”

         Alison began to tear up and Frannie and Beth noticed it.  Frannie looked at Beth and she knew that Frannie wanted something done to get off the subject.  Alison’s mom had been gone for a few years, but she still had a hard time when she talks about her.

         Beth asked the group “So, what do you all think about lake monsters?”

         “Jeremy and I went to Loch Ness looking for that monster.”  Frannie said.

         “Did you ever see the monster?” Alice asked.

         Frannie didn’t want to answer and she was not very good at lying, so Alison answered for her. “I don’t think they had time to look for a lake monster.”

         “Really?”  Janet asked

         “Really, Jeremy had a monster that Frannie was more interested in.”  Alison said.

         “Alison!”  Frannie exclaimed.

         “Frannie!”  Alison said back laughing.

         “You know I am getting the feeling that you and Jeremy are a lot like Jack and Alison.”  Rosalie said to Frannie.

         “They are.”  Alison confirmed.

         “We are not that bad.”  Frannie said

         “I think you are. I have not had sex at Loch Ness.”  Alison said beginning to lighten up again.

         “So where is he most unusual place you guys had sex?”  Abby asked.

         “Oh God, we will be here all night if we let Alison answer that question.”  Frannie said joking with her best friend.

         “Beth, you answer, I have to think about that one.”  Alison said looking at Frannie.

         “Well, the most unusual place Michael and I have had sex.  It would have to be the courtyard by the White Tower at the Tower of London.”  Beth answered.

         “James and I had sex in a speed boat on the Thames.”  Abby was next.

         “Jon and I had sex in his court room.”  Alice was the next to offer information.

         “The kitchen here at the church.”  Rosalie said quickly, hoping that no one noticed what she had just said.

         “Here at the church? Rosie!”  Alison said and then continued. “With all the places that Jack and I have had sex, I can say that we have never had sex in a church.”

         “I had sex in a bathroom.”  Janet said.

         “So have I, bathrooms are no big deal.”  Alison said. 

         “It was your bathroom.” Janet said to Alison.  “It was during the dinner party you had a few months back.”

         Alison’s mouth dropped open with surprise.

         “Man, Janet, you have left her speechless.”  Frannie said. 

         “Rosie and Abby have me beat.  I can’t think of an unusual place that I have had sex.  Let’s move on and if I think of a place I will let you know.”  Alison said.  Sex with Jack was always  in different places, but none were really that unusual.

         “I had sex the night I brought Sherman home.”  Alison said.

         “We are not talking about when we had sex, we are talking about where we had sex.”  Frannie said correcting Alison.

         “Well, I don’t have anything.  We have sex a lot but not in unusual places.  So lets talk about Sherman.”  Alison said desperately.

         “Alright, lets talk about Sherman.”  Rosalie agreed, making Alison happy.

         “It was cold rainy night.”  Alison started.
         
         “It sounds like the beginning of a scary story.”  Abby interrupted.

           Alison looked at Abby and continued. “I was on my way home from the studio and saw this large plastic bag.  It kind of scared me at first, I noticed that it moved.

         “I tried to talk myself into believing that it was the wind that was making it move.  I kept driving, but there was something that was nagging me. 

         About 3 miles down the road, I pulled over and turned around and went back.  I found the bag and just watched it.  I got out and started to walk across the street and both myself and the bag were almost hit by a car.

         “I walked up to the bag and heard a slight whimper.” 

         Alison stopped for just a few minutes when Janet asked.  “Someone put a puppy in a bag and left him on the side of the road?”

         “Yea.”  Alison answered and then continued to tell her story.  “I tore open the bag and there was this tiny, skinny, dirty little puppy.  I picked him up and he just curled up in my arms.  The poor little thing was shaking and those big brown eyes just stole my heart.

         “I had to take him home, I couldn’t just leave him there.”  Alison said.

         “Awe.”  Abby said holding her hands together in front of her chest.

         “I put him in the car, turned on the heater and we were off  to his new home.  I walk in the house and found that no one was home.  I found a note on the counter that Jack had taken the kids to the Pub for dinner.

         “I took the puppy upstairs and gave him a bath.  We kind of made a mess in the bathroom”  Alison giggled.

         “I dried him off and let him walk around for a little bit.  I took a shower and put on some sweats and a t-shirt and went looking for the new member of the family.

         “I found him on the stairs, sitting there, crying.  I guess he got stuck.  I went down and picked him up.  I walked to the sitting room and put him on the floor, that is when he started to play.

         “We were running around the house, he would bark at me and I would lunge at him, he would run off.  I had lost track of time, and then heard the door from the garage open and the kids giggling.  I went into the kitchen and there was the puppy barking at the kids and Jack.”

         “So he tried to be a guard dog.”  Beth asked.

         “Well, he tried.”  Alison answered.

         “Did you have a hard time talking Jack into letting you keep him?”  Abby asked.

         “We never talked about keeping or getting rid of him.  The girls just started playing with him and Jack and I joined in.  We played for hours.  Both Holly and Jill fell asleep in the sitting room on the sofa with Sherman.  They were all just so cute.”  Alison stopped with a smile.  She loved those happy little memories.

         
           “Does anyone believe in Big Foot?”  Beth asked.

         “What is it with you and monsters tonight?”  Frannie asked.

         “I don’t know, I am trying to give the group some ideas for conversations.”  Beth defended herself, smiling at Frannie.

         “I believe”  Alison added continuing the new conversation Beth started.

         “You do?”  Frannie said looking at Alison a little surprised.

         “Yea,”  Alison began to smile and continued. “Have you seen Jeremy’s feet.”  She no longer held back the giggles.  The rest of the girls giggled as well.

         “You know what big feet mean?”  Frannie asked smiling happily

         “Yea, big socks.”  Alison said laughing.  She knew the girls wanted another answer, but Frannie satisfied them.

         “Well, the big socks have kept me from straying.”  Frannie said to the girls.

         “Alison?”  Rosalie asked smiling hoping to change the subject.

         “Yea.” Alison said still giggling slightly.

         “Where did you get the name Monahan.”  Rosalie asked.

         “Monahan is the last name of an old guy friend.”  Alison answered.

         “Really?”  Janet asked.

         “Yep, he was a guy I knew in high school.”  Alison added.

         “He doesn’t mind you using his last name?”  Alice asked.

         “I don’t know, I never asked.”  Alison answered.  “He took my virginity, so I took his last name.”

         “Wow!  Kurt took your virginity?”  Beth asked.

         “You knew that.”  Alison said.

         “No, that was me that knew that.”  Frannie corrected Alison.

         “Oh,”  Alison said.  She turned to Beth and continued “Well, now you know too.”

         “I thought that he was gay.”  Beth said to Alison.
         
         “No, he just told you that.”  Frannie said to Beth.

         “Weird.”  Beth said confused.

         It was quiet for a moment when Janet finally asked. “Since the girls are using Barrows, is that Jack’s last name?” 

         “Yes, Simon is Jack’s middle name, he was born Jackson Simon Barrows.” Alison started.  “He dropped the Barrows to protect his family.”

         “I don’t know how Jack’s step mom did it, she married a man with three boys and then had 2 more boys.  Five boys in the house, my one drives me nuts.”  Frannie said.

         “Well, she really only had one at home.  Ed, Jack’s older brother, and Jack were at boarding school.  Sandra only had David with her.  Then Robert came along and then Kevin was born a few years later.  So it really was not that bad.”  Alison explained.

         “You know what gets me?  Jack was in boarding school, he hated it and now look where his girls are.”  Beth added.

         “I know, part of the reason that they are in boarding school is because of our work, it was actually cheaper than keeping a full time nanny on staff.” Alison said.

         “Really?”  Abby added.

         “Yea, and then the girls were getting a little old for a nanny.  Anyway they are in a boarding school here in London.”  Alison answered.

         “Can you not take them out when you are home?”  Janet asked.
         
         “I used to, but taking them back was really hard on Jill, so I kept them there when I was home.  They do come home on the weekends.”  Alison said.

         “You know what bugs me?”  Alice asked the girls.

         “What?”  Rosalie asked.

         “Growing old.” Alice answered.

         “How old are you?”  Abby asked.

         “Thirty-three” Alice answered.

         “That’s not old.”  Alison told Alice.

         “Why do you think that you are old?”  Janet asked.

         “The doctor told me that I am not getting pregnant because I am too old.”  Alice told the group.

         “Ok”  Alison started.  “First, find a new doctor.  Second, you are not old.  Age is a state of mind.  If you feel old, then you are old, but if you feel young.” 

         “Alison, you are so full of shit.”  Abby said laughing.  The rest of the girls joined in the laughter.

         “Age is a state of mind.”  Alison said.

         “How old are you Alison?”  Beth asked.

         “Thirty-two.”  Alison answered proudly.

         “You have been thirty-two twelve times now.”  Frannie corrected.

         “My mom used to say, find an age you like and stick with it.  I like being thirty-two.”

         “Ok, so how old is everyone?”  Alice asked.

         “Well, there is something I hate discussing.”  Frannie stated.

         “People asking Frannie’s age is one of her pet peeves.”  Beth said explaining Frannie’s comment.

         “Oh come on, I told you how old I was.”  Alice said.  “And Alison sort of told us how old she is.”

         “Alright, I will tell you my age if Alison actually tells how old she is, and none of this “I just celebrated my twelfth anniversary of my thirty second birthday’ crap.”  Frannie agreed with conditions.

         “All they have to do is add thirty-two and twelve and they know how old I am.”

         “Not everyone wants to do math to figure out how old you are.”  Frannie said to Alison.

         “If they really want to know they will. Stop looking at me like that. Forty-four.”  Alison said, pleasing Frannie.

         “Beth, you owe me a beer.”  Frannie said.

         “Why does Beth owe you a beer?”  Alison asked.

         “Beth bet me that I could not get you to actually say how old you are.”  Frannie said pleased with herself. She looked at the rest of the girls told them her age. “I will be 45 next month.”

         “Forty-four.”  Beth said next.

         “Forty-six”  Abby jumped in.

         “Forty-six”  Janet was next.

         “Forty-four.”  Rosalie was last.

         “Does anyone know how old Gail is?”  Beth asked.

         “She is thirty-eight.”  Rosales answered.

         “God, how much do we all miss her being here?”  Janet asked.

         “I miss her a bunch.”  Alison answered.

         “I miss her a lot too.”  Frannie said.

         “We all miss her so much.”  Abby finished.

         “Any idea when she is coming back?”  Jane asked.

         “Her parents took her back to their hotel yesterday, but she has not made a decision on when she is going to return.”  Rosalie informed everyone.

         It was quiet in the little room once again.  The girls just sat there and looked at each other.  Each one of the ladies realizing the friendship they had all built over the last several months.  They had gotten to the point where they had all felt total trust with one another.

         “I was talking with my mom the other day.  We were talking about when I was a kid and when we used to make cookies.”  Abby said breaking the silence again.  “Every Saturday.”

         “I love making cookies.”  Janet added.

         “Every Saturday morning we would get up and go to the store to get everything that we needed.  Come home and make cookies all day long.”  Abby said to the girls.  “They house smelled so good.”

         “What kind of cookies did you make?” Frannie asked.

         “We made chocolate chip, sugar cookies and my all time favorite cookie, ginger snaps.”  Abby answered.

         “I love ginger snaps.”  Alison added.

         “I just may make cookies with my kids this weekend, I will bring you some, Alison.”  Abby told her.

         “Oh, Abby, thanks.”  Alison said.

         “What are some of the things that you guys remember from your childhood?”  Abby asked sparking yet another conversation.

         “Every fall my dad would take us to an  orchard outside of Birmingham to pick apples.  Then all weekend long we would do nothing but make apple sauce.”  Janet answered first.

         “Alison was away at a competition with Thunder.  Angela was getting ready to make pasta and needed help.  She saw me outside and called for me.”  Beth started.  “She asked if I want to learn how to make pasta.  I told her yes.”  Beth stopped again and continued.  “She told me that making pasta was like being married.  If you wanted it to be a success, you needed two people.” 
         
         Alison and Frannie both giggled a little.  “That sounds like my mum.”  Alison said.

         “I had so much fun that day.”  Beth said.  “We talked, and giggled.  She told me some stories about her grandmother and living in Italy.”

         “My mum was a great mum.  We had a lot of fun making pasta.”  Alison said to Beth.

         Alison pointed into the air and said.  “But that is not one my favorite childhood memories.  My dad used to take us fishing.  Zach and Carley in one boat and my dad and I in another boat.

         “My dad would tell us we needed to be quiet or we would scare away the fish.  So we sat there, not saying a word, waiting for the fish to bite.  Nothing happened.  Just sat there.

         “Carley would dangle her hand in the water, and then splash Zach, just a little, not much.  Zach would splash her back, I would giggle and they would splash me.  Before you knew it, the water fight was on, boats were tipped, and we were in the water.  There is a lot of fishing gear at the bottom of that lake.”  Alison shared with the girls.

         “Rosalie, what is your favorite memory?” Frannie asked.

         “Well, I have not told a lot of people about this, but when I was  a little girl my mum was part of a London Theatre group.” She began.

         “Really?”  The girls said happily surprised.

         “Yea, she was a trained opera singer.  When I was about 5 my parents split up and my mum went back to the theatre to earn some money. 

         “There were nights that I would go to rehearsals with her.  One of my favorite songs that she sang was If They Could See Me Now .  She would always sing it as a warm up song and she would bring me onto the stage with her and we would sing and dance together.”  Rosalie told the girls.

         “Can you still sing?”  Alison asked.

         “I still sing to my kids and in church, not sure if I am any good.”  Rosalie answered.  “Alice, what about you.”

         “My parents tried to make my childhood special since I was adopted.  Coming up with just one thing is hard, but it would have to be when my parents would take me to Richmond Park.

         “We would be there for hours, playing, walking around the big old oak trees.  We would spread out a blanket under the old trees and have a picnic.  Mum told me that one time after I ate my lunch I had taken a nap under the trees.”  Alice said to the girls.  “I so wish that I could do that with my kids.”

         “You will, someday, take your kids there.”  Rosalie assured Alice.

         “Frannie, what about you?”  Abby asked.

         “My grandmother and mother used to make quilts.  When I was about nine, my mom began to teach me how to quilt.”  Frannie stated.  “Remember the room in the house that had the big quilting frame?”

         “I remember that.  She had her very own sewing room.”  Beth added.          

         “It was a room that my dad had built on the  back of the house, just for her.”  Frannie began to remember.  “In the winter we would go into the room and just quilt and talk.”

         “Do you have a favorite quilt that you have made?”  Rosalie asked.

         “Yea, I do.”  Frannie answered with a smile.  “When I was about sixteen, my mom had started on this quilt.  It was huge, and all white. The squares have a heart in the middle.  My mum had put strips of fabric from the heart to make the square.  She put all the squares together with these silk strips.  It was just so pretty just like that, but then we added all this quilting all around and in the squares.  The stitches were hearts and swirls.”  Frannie finished.

         “That sounds so pretty.”  Alice added.

         “It is.  We working on that quilt for  2 years.  When I graduated school and came here to go to university, she packed it up and put it away.”  Frannie said continuing to tell the girls about the quilt.                    

         “What happened to it?”  Rosalie asked.

         “She finished it while I was away and she gave  it to me and Jeremy when we got married.  It is on our bed now.”  Frannie said.

         “Do you still make quilts?”  Janet asked.

         “I do, not like I did before.  I have made one for each of the kids when I was pregnant.”  Frannie said.  “When we go back to the states, Malory, Hannah and I  will have a day or two of quilting with my mom.”


         “Well, we have talked about the things that we enjoy doing, what about the one thing that you like that you would be ashamed of if someone found out about it?”  Rosalie asked.          

         “Oh, a guilty pleasure.”  Beth interjected.

         “Yea.  Anyone?”  Rosalie asked again.  “Beth?”

         “Oh, man.”  Beth started.  “It would have to be watching old Wham! videos. I love Wake Me Up Before you Go-Go.”

         “Alison?”  Janet asked.

         “The Bay City Rollers.”  Alison said quickly.

         “Really?”  Beth asked like Alison was joking.

         “Yes.”  Alison “I have them on my iPod.”

         “Oh I can see it now.  Alison cruising in the Porsche on the M25, the roof down, the iPod connected to the stereo with Bye Bye Baby blearing from the speakers.”  Janet described.

         Alison corrected Janet by saying. “It was not the M25 or the Porsche.” The girls all looked at Alison surprised but with smiles on their faces.

         “It was Coldwater Canyon Road in California and it was the Mustang.”  Frannie said laughing.

         “I was practicing the song for a show that I had coming up.  It was one of Carley’s charity things.  Don’t judge me!”  Alison said jokingly  defending herself.

         “I like to watch a guy shift a car.”  Janet stated.

         “What?”  Abby said.

         “Yea, how many of you have cars that you have to shift?”  Janet started. “Alison I know that you and Jack have a few. Have you ever watched him shift the car?” 
         
         “Not really, but I will now.”  Alison said adding to the conversation.

         “When women are behind the drivers seat they are sitting like ladies, legs together.  They even shift like a lady.  But a man, they relax and get comfortable in the seat.  They don’t sit like a lady in a car.  One leg leaning on the door and the other leaning on the middle console.”  Abby explained.

         “So, it really not so much them actually shifting, it is more that they are sitting there, legs apart, showing off.”  Janet started.

         “Janet!” 

         “What?”  Janet replied to Abby a little confused.

         “The showing off of the gifts is a nice touch, but think about it.  They are sitting there, hands on the gear shift, they force the car into the next gear, the power, the control, the jerking.”  Abby explained.

         “I am going to have Jeremy take me for a drive this weekend and watch him shift the car.”  Frannie added.

         “Anyone like to play games.”  Janet asked.

         “We like to play hide and seek in the fog.” Alison answered.

         “Hide and seek in the fog?”  Rosalie asked stunned.

         “When it is foggy we all go to the park and play hide and seek.”  Alison said.

         “It is a lot of fun.”  Frannie said giggling.

         “You’ve played?”  Alice asked.

         “Yes, Jeremy and I  join them from time to time.”  Frannie said looking around at the girls.

         “We are kind of weird, aren’t we?”  Alison asked Frannie.

         “No, they just don’t get it.”  Frannie started and then continued looking at the group. “We take the kids with us.”

         “Not all of our games are adults only.  We do involve the kids.”  Alison said backing up Frannie.

         “It is a lot of fun.”  Frannie continued trying to convince the girls.

         “You know as well as I do they are going to all give it a try the next time there is fog.”  Alison said to Frannie.

         “We go to Holland Park, I guess that we will all see you there.”  Frannie said  inviting the girls.

         “Talking about weird things.” Janet started.  “Anyone ever had a strange dream?”

         “I had one were Elvis clones were taking over London.”  Frannie admitted.  “They were everywhere.”

         “In my dream I was hosting a dinner party and a guest asked me if I had any skeletons in my closet and I said yea, come see them.

         “We got up and I opened my closet and there they were, hanging from hangers in a neat little row.  They were in every closet in my house.”  Abby was the next to tell about her dream.

         “I was hired to defend beer crazed elephants in court and the Judge was ordering them to be executed.”  Alice told the girls.

         “Oh I have one for you, there was this adoption agency that was buying baby apes, shaving them and selling them as human babies.”  Rosalie shared.

         “What in God’s green earth do you guys smoke before you go to bed at night?”  Alison asked the group.

         “Rosie?”  Alice asked change the subject once again.

         “Yes.” 

         “What do you like to do with the kids?”  Alice asked.

         “I like to do crafts with the kids.  We have kids that come  to the church on Saturdays and we craft.  The kids make cards, and scrapbook pages. 

         “Annie likes to paint, so I have a place for the kids to paint.”  Rosalie finished.

         “Sounds like you have fun.”  Frannie said.

         “We do, you ladies should bring your kids and join us.  Victoria comes and so does Claudia.”

         “You should see some of the stuff that Claudia makes.”  Janet added.

         “Alison, are the girls home this weekend?”  Rosalie asked
         
         “They will be home tomorrow after school.  Jack is still out of town, so it will just be the girls and I.”

         “Jeremy will be at the Pub all day, I am sure if Holly will come, Malory will be there too and I know that Hannah will enjoy all the crafts.”  Frannie added.

         “Jill does like to paint, she would enjoy that.”  Alison added.

         “I will bring Sidney and Suzie.  Janet are you going to bring Georgette?  Abby asked.

         “I could, she would never come before, but if she knows there will be girls her age, she may come.”  Janet said to the group.

         “And you know, Georgette gets along great with Holly, Malory and Leah.”  Alison said.  “Beth, you have to bring your kids.”

         “It is daddy’s day with the boys, so Leah and Charlene will be here.”  Beth informed everyone.

         “The catacombs in Palermo!”  Alison blurted without warning.

         “What?”  The girls all asked.

         “The Catacombs in Palermo, the most unusual place Jack and I had sex.”  Alison answered.

         “Sex among the dead, sounds romantic.”  Janet said. 

         “No, the most romantic place would have to be Edinburgh.”  Alison said to Janet.

         The girls sat and looked at each other again when a frail voice asked. “Do you guys know how much I have missed you all?” 

         The girls all got up and turned around to see Gail standing by the door in the back of the room.

         “Gail!”  they all exclaimed running to her.

         “How long have you been standing there?”  Abby asked.

         “Since Rose said that Drake brought home a hermit crab named Bob.”  Gail answered.

         “Are you back to stay?”  Alice asked.

         “After listening to  you guys tonight, I need to come back really soon.”  Gail said.  “I need to be here to keep you on track, you ladies were all over the place tonight.”