Genie held her head with her hands, shaking. The elaborate bun that was her hair on the top of her head was missing a lock of hair or two, that were now stranded around her neck, hugging her face as if to protect her. Her eyes were red and swollen, and it was obvious she hadn't had any sleep at all. It was 5:30am and the sun had started to wake up in this already hot summer morning. Genie sniffed a tear back into her eyes and looked up. Mimi was there, trying to calm her down. “I promise you, he will not go unpunished”, she was saying to her friend, who couldn't believe luck had struck her such a painful blow. “How could he do this to me, Mimi?”, Genie said and once again tears started to fill her yellow-green-blue-with-orange-streaks eyes. “It's horrible, I know, but we'll fix it”, her faithful friend was trying to calm her down.
Suddenly, the door sprung open and Genie 's father dashed in. “I will kill him!”, he exclaimed, the anger making a vein in his forehead drum like Dave Grohl's set. He got on his knees and hugged his little girl. At the sight of her father, new waves of misery and disbelief drowned Genie . Mimi didn't know how do deal with this family tragedy. She slowly and quietly backed out of the room, leaving the family to deal with the pain.
She went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. The gold-and-crystal glass shimmered in her hand like a Snitch. She thought of the time she was tricked into watching that abominable movie and shivered. She made the sign of the cross and reminded herself that this was a house blessed by His Holiness the Archbishop. She drank her water and took out her phone to call Will.
Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring... but... can he possibly be sleeping? Ring... Ring....
*Click* “-cough cough- Hell...o?”, Will answered.
“I don't believe it! Are you sleeping?”, she whispered-hissed at him. “Huh? Mimi?”, Will was trying hard to wake up. “Yes, Mimi, you animal! How can you be sleeping when you've caused such a commotion?”, Mimi couldn't believe her ears. “What are you talking about?”, Will was now trying hard to understand.
Mimi had no choice but to lay out the situation for him. Genie crying, her father ready to kill him, her mother lying in bed sedated, her brother already out to find him. “Er... why??”, Will managed to utter once Mimi was done explaining. Mimi shook her head. “Will”, she said. “Do you remember last night?”. Will remembered last night. He remembered dinner, very clearly. He remembered the gift he gave Genie , to commemorate their anniversary and honor their upcoming wedding. He remembered driving her home. He remembered his surprise for her, that underlined how much he would always be by her side and tend to her needs. He remembered every single thing he said and still couldn't understand what could have caused such a reaction.
Mimi tsk-ed. Three times. That couldn't be good.
“Will”, she started. “I have known Genie for ten years. The only time I have seen her so upset was that time when she dove in the pool and the water was not the right temperature and the day the jeweler called her to tell her that you hadn't picked the ring she had specifically demanded for your proposal. I remember those times like a nightmare, Will. The pain she felt has been etched in my mind. And this is how serious this is”. Will held his breath. “But... but...”, he whimpered. “I did nothing”.
Mimi checked in the hallway to see if anyone was listening. The last thing she needed at that point was for the family to think she was fraternizing with the enemy. Noone was coming and she could here Genie 's mournful cries and her father's threats and curses from her bedroom. She went back in the kitchen and sat at the table.
“Will... what did you say about the pigeons?”.
That was easy. Will was very proud of his idea, and he had taken care of the whole thing himself. His courage built up and he said, with renewed strength: “Oh, wasn't that good? I cancelled the pigeons and told the priest too”, he said, happy that, finally, his good side would show again. “It is my way of showing Genie how I'll always support her choices...”. Seeing as Mimi didn't sound as convinced as he would have hoped by now, that renewed strength started to drip slowly from his PJ bottoms and form little puddles on the floor. “...You know... because she joined PETA... And chose to become a vegetarian... And professes her love for animals...”. Her silence was deafening. “... Because pigeons are caged... Mimi?”. Now his courage had started to slowly leak out of the room, to be as far away from him as possible.
Mimi sniggered. “Oh Will...” she started. “And the food...”. “But she is a vegetarian now! I thought she would appreciate a vegetarian dish!”, Will got defensive.
Mimi sighed at the realization that she would have to explain. “Will... She joined PETA because it is hip to care about animals. If she loved them, she would have at least one in the 5000 square feet of a house she owns. Having pigeons do a flying show at her wedding had been a dream of hers since she was a little girl. Them writing 'Genie we love you' with ribbons hanging from their feet was a plan she thought of when she was 7. These pigeons have been especially trained in Bulgaria. They are deprived of food and water so they are focused on what they have to do! They sniff a cloth with her perfume every dawn and are given special spelling classes by Transylvanian monks”. Will gasped for air, but Mimi just kept going. “And she became a vegetarian because Gwyneth Paltrow is a vegetarian. But having a vegetarian dish at the wedding only shows your guests that you couldn't afford a real dish. Do you know what this will do to her image? KILL IT! She was eating meatballs and bacon here while telling me about it. You destroyed her wedding, Will. I don't think she wants to marry you now”, she finished him off.
Suddenly there was a cracking sound coming from outside and Mimi jumped out of her chair. “I have to go” she said quickly and hung up.
Will stood at the other side of the line staring at his dead cell phone and wondering what he had done. What Mimi had said suddenly now made sense. Did he not know who he was marrying? Did he not know his wife-to-be? How had he gotten himself in that mess? What was he to do? He thought of the cottage in the country he loved so much, that now seemed to have stretched out a pair of diabolical bat wings and started to fly off towards a more understanding fellow. His eyes watered. The cook had warned him that this would be the final change to the menu, otherwise he would quit the wedding and they would need to find someone else to accommodate his fiancé's ridiculous demands. The pigeon trainer had spat something at him in Bulgarian or Transylvanian and he was sure the word “legs” had come up, though he hoped he was talking about the birds. How could he call them back? And the internal pool... was suddenly drained in his head... In its place... a bathtub and a sick laughter he had no idea where it was coming from.
He put his head in his hands and cried. How could he have been so wrong?? So wrong!!
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