Andrea Donovan

_____________(11)____________

SUNNY DAYS

"...Lights, camera, ACTION!" I said dramatically and began filming.

"...No, no, it's alright ...come this way honey. ...That'a girl!" Peggy said smiling widely.

There was then the sound of clip-clop, clip-clop as Pippi came down the trailer's ramp, a bit unsure of the unfamiliar apparatus below her as she was walked down to the dirt floor of the coral and then stopped with Peggy's "Whoa, girl."

Andrea now walked into the camera's frame and began talking quietly with Peggy as she petted Pippi Longstocking with the love and adoration of a large eyed little girl.

"I think she understands that today is a big day of life changing events and that she'll be living here from now on, Peggy" Andrea said with some mixed emotion crossing her face now.

"She does" Peggy affirmed, almost on the verge of tears herself now, it seemed.

" - Hey, you and Mark are always welcome here and you can visit Pippi, anytime, OK?" Andrea said rubbing Peggy's back with reassurance.

"...Wow, they really get to your heart don't they?" Peggy asked, wiping a few tears from her eyes that appeared as she was suddenly broadsided with emotion.

"They're supposed to, honey" Andrea answered, nodding.

Andrea and Peggy hugged; they were after all, birds of a feather.

I kept filming as Mary Lane now walked into the frame and also put her arm around Peggy with a reassuring half hug of her own.

"It'll be alright, Amiga, Pippi will be very happy here" Mary said.

Peggy now leaned her head back with a loud sigh of resignation and closed eyes. "I know she will, it's just not easy saying good-bye to her" Peggy replied.

"Look at it this way, Peggy, Andrea is your new riding partner and friend" Mary said reassuringly.

"Peggy, you, Mark, and your other animals aren't saying good-bye to her; she's just leaving the nest. Pippi's all grown up now" Andrea said.

This statement evoked a quick burst of laughter from Peggy as she quickly replied with "I've always said that it's a lot easier to be a horse's ass, than a horse's mom."

I kept filming as Brenda now walked up and stood beside me. She began taking photos of the ladies, with her phone. This was a commemorative moment for Andrea, Peggy and Pippi, and everyone wanted it documented for posterity sake.

Peggy lost her composure slightly for a few minutes as Andrea and Mary Lane stood with her in a three way hug.

"Well, never mind the tough cowgirl act that I've been putting-on, I guess we can all see that's bullshit" Peggy said, wiping her eyes.

"The tears just tell me that you're a better, horse's mom, than horse's ass, Peggy" Mary said.

"Ladies, let's get something to eat and relax with everyone. Peggy, we still haven't been introduced to everyone yet" Mark said as he walked into the frame and put his arm around his wife with a firm half hug.

It was obvious to everyone present that, here was a man that doted on his wife.

Peggy wiped away her tears and made no verbal reply to her husband.

"...Peggy, you and I have talked about this many times, she'll be happier here with Tim and Andrea than with us. Pippi won't have to play second fiddle to other mounts now, and just one look at this place tells me that these people really want her in their lives." Mark said firmly.

"I know, Baby, just let me be a sentimental lady for a few minutes please" Peggy answered a little impatiently with her eyes closed.

"...You're always a lady" Mark said proudly, kissing his wife.

This action made Peggy smile through her tears.

...Brenda and I took several minutes worth of footage and many still photographs of everyone posing with Andrea and Pippi Longstocking.

"I wish I'd kept my saddle, of course it'd be forty years old now" Andrea said whimsically to Mary Lane and Peggy.

"Honey, mount-up and let us get some photos and footage of you" I urged, still filming.

Without having to be asked twice, Andrea jumped up onto her stomach and pulled herself onto Pippi's back with help from Mary and Peggy.

"NOW stand on both sides of Pippi, ladies!" I encouraged Mary Lane and Peggy.

I now saw the "A.J. West" in Andrea come out in full force.

"My God, woman, you're gorgeous" I said in awe of Andrea as I viewed her on the screen of the camera.

Without speaking, Andrea now began to go through the paces of a professional model, turning her head at different angles, shaking her hair and moving her hands and arms into different poses while simultaneously using several individual facial expressions all within one seemingly solid and fluid motion while continuing to seduce the camera which I held. Part of me believed that Andrea still enjoyed the shutter of the camera yet she claimed otherwise. This kind of benevolent "horse play" in front of the camera was rare for Andrea and she'd had more than her share of work in front of the camera lens she had often explained to me. Quite frankly, I think Andrea was simply showing off now. Fine with me I thought, as I continued filming her and Pippi.

...Andrea was turning me on, I suddenly realized.

With one smooth motion Andrea raised her right leg and slid off Pippi's back and deftly landed on her boots "That's enough filming for now, you guys" Andrea said as she nodded at Brenda and me.

"...Tim, Andrea reminds me of Nena Hagen" Brenda said, looking at her camera's display screen.

"Who's Nena?" I asked Brenda.

"Ninety nine red balloons, Nena" Brenda replied without looking up from her camera.

"What?" I asked, looking at Brenda.

"...The song... - Oh here, I'll send it to you" Brenda said, slightly frustrated with me.

"K, Bren" I nodded, unsure of what to think.

"My God, Andrea, she's beautiful!" Hans now said, walking up to the horse as I began filming again. I knew Andrea would want Hans on video and so did I.

For the next fifteen minutes everyone, in turn, had their place with Pippi in front of the camera lens and Brenda's phone. Buddy and Amanda showed up a short while later along with several friends of Andrea's whom I had yet to meet. Hans and Buddy had their own reunion and began catching up with each other while Ricky and Mary Lane began preparing paper plates of food for the lot of us. Pippi, herself, seemed to be relishing in her place of center stage and Andrea was beside herself with joy in the animal and this showed within the footage I captured. People were now lining up for one of Ricky's steak burgers as the little yellow beetle, owned by Duffy, drove up and parked in the front yard. It was good to see so many of our friends sharing support for the arrival of Pippi Longstocking.

At last, Brenda and I also stood within the Bar-B-Q line as we chattered between ourselves on the subjects of photography and cinematography.

" -Tim, this is Ebbie, the lady that I was telling you about. She's my friend that works with the deaf and I think she can help us with Rick's silent movie." Andrea now said, touching my arm and drawing my attention away from Brenda momentarily.

"Ah what?..." I asked looking at Andrea and a lady whom I had never met.

"Remember when I told you that I have a friend that lip-reads? This is Ebbie and she may be able to help us decipher what Lovey's actually saying in Rick Sheffield's silent home movie, the one that's on Asia's YouTube page." Andrea said.

" - Oh yeah, Andrea mentioned you! ...It's Ebbie?" I asked excitedly and shaking the lady's hand enthusiastically.

Ebbie was an attractive lady around forty years of age with a cute smile and long brown hair, she was also attired with a shirt depicting a horse's frontal portrait with "COWGIRL" written in branding-iron print below the portrait within an elaborate banner ...obviously Ebbie was another lady that also spoke "Horse."

She'll be in good company around here today, I silently thought, glancing at Pippi again...

"Hello, Tim, a pleasure to finally meet you. Call me Ebony or Ebbie, either one is fine. Yes, I may be able to help you decipher, at least some of what she's saying. I've watched that video a few times and can get a little of what she's saying. Would you and Ricky like to view the video in a few minutes?" Ebbie asked.

"My God, yes! Want to check it out on the desk-top after we eat?" I asked, looking at both Andrea and Ebbie as I squeezed Brenda's shoulder in excitement.

Ebbie's cute smile returned with a quick "Sure, that'd be fine."

"RICKY! ...this lady is going to tell us what Mom's saying in Rick Sheffield's silent video!" I said as I gestured excitedly toward Ebbie and looked toward the Bar-B-Q at the front of the line where Ricky was serving people food along with Mary lane.

"What?" Ricky asked, looking up from the grille.

"This is Ebbie, she lip-reads and she's going to tell us what Mom's saying in the silent video of Rick Sheffield's - on Asia's YouTube page" I said enthusiastically.

"Oh, that'd be great! - Hi Ebbie, I'm Ricky" Ricky nodded as he handed Hans a plate of food.

"I'm going to TRY, Tim. Lovey was speaking very fast in that clip but I think I can get the gist of what she was saying - I'm going to TRY" Ebbie said, lightly placing her hand on my arm.

"...We're just happy to have you onboard, Ebbie. ...I see you also speak - Horse, like the rest of these ladies here today" I said, nodding at her shirt.

"I don't speak - Horse, as well as Andrea or Mary does but I'm learning" Ebbie said smiling as we moved up within the food line a space.

"Me too, Ebbie, I've been learning ever since hooking up with Andrea but I still have a long way to go before I'm fluent in the language. Do you have a horse yourself?" I asked.

"Not yet but I will as soon as my bank statement says I can, - and I'm close" Ebbie replied smiling again.

"We're so glad you're here for Pippi's house warming party, Ebbie" Brenda now said.

"Pippi will make Andrea a fine mount. What about you, Tim, do you ride at all?" Ebbie asked.

"No, I'm just happy to see Andrea finally able to - get back in the saddle again, figuratively speaking" I answered, smiling at Andrea and laughing at my own play on words.

"I've known Andrea a long time now, Tim, and she's always wanted another mount to love" Ebbie replied and looking at Andrea and then me.

Somehow, Ebbie's large brown eyes and childlike innocence with this answer went straight to my heart and caught me completely off guard, forcing me to look away momentarily for fear of showing open emotion. This fleeting moment of sentiment wasn't lost to Andrea I now noticed as she eyed me knowingly. ...Marriage is all about being vulnerable and showing genuine love and true emotion, my mother had often explained. ...My natural reaction to anything pertaining to love was still a sudden gut reaction that love was a sign of weakness and to be avoided at all costs - this was my old way of thinking. I really wasn't the cynical and self proclaimed desperado that I sometimes pretended to be. My quick and clever wit could almost always neatly avoid certain heartfelt feelings which were, even yet, uncomfortable for me to process and show at times. My desperado act was a well rehearsed and polished facade of bullshit neatly packaged within a chauvinistic performance of cynicism and designed to repel any strong sentiment such as love.

One that practices these beliefs however, usually does so alone...

Yes, I inwardly acknowledged, Pippi had gotten to me as much as anyone else but I hadn't quite connected the word "Love" to her yet ...at least not until now with Ebbie's comment. I hadn't connected the word love to our friendship with Hans either, not until Andrea had readily affirmed that all of us did in fact love the man. I knew how to love a woman, a dog or a kitty-cat and I also knew the rough and tumble "tough love" of having a bruiser for a little brother and a, rough around the edges, sister-in-law. Yet Ebbie's comment about Pippi was so much like something a little girl would say to her mom or dad in total awe and innocence. Ebbie's comment also reminded me of Mom... Maybe that's why it had shaken me up slightly and also because I had no quick and flippant wise-ass counter comment for it.

"You're right, Ebbie, it is all about love, isn't it?" I asked quietly.

Ebbie put her hand on my shoulder and looked up at Andrea "I think you'd better keep this one, Andrea."

"He doesn't own a yacht or a liquor store but he'll do, Ebbie" Andrea said using one of my own cynical lines.

"I didn't mean to bow you over with that explanation of love, Tim, but that's how I feel toward animals" Ebbie confided.

'I'm glad you did use it, Ebbie, marriage and being an adult is all about shedding old shields of armor and walking in faith instead." I said earnestly.

"That's a good way to describe it, Tim" Ebbie nodded.

" - Sorry Ebbie, I didn't mean to dump on you as if you were my bar tender or golf pro during mid-life crises" I said flippantly with a quick laugh - fuck there it is again, I thought...

"Steak burger, Tim?" Ricky asked abruptly. We were now at the head of the line, I noticed.

"Yes one that's well done please, thank you, Ricky" I answered as I simultaneously nodded yes to Mary Lane when she held up a can of Coca-Cola from the cooler for me.

Andrea and I found a quiet place by the coral to sit with Ebbie as the three of us began eating and making light conversation.

"Andrea, you said that Ricky's a master with the Bar-B-Q and you were right" Ebbie said with a mouth full of food and glancing at Andrea.

"Yes, he certainly is" Andrea nodded.

"Working with the deaf, I would imagine that you sign also, Ebbie?" I asked as I took a bite of the mouth watering steak burger and began chewing with euphoria of my own.

"Yes, my mother was born deaf so I've used sign language my whole life" Ebbie acknowledged, taking another bite of her own sandwich.

"I've always thought sign language and Morse Code were pretty cool, almost like secret languages." I said quietly.

"Well they're not really secret and you could learn both, Tim, it just takes some diligence" Ebbie replied.

"Is lip-reading second nature to you, Ebbie?" Andrea asked.

"Yes and no, it really depends on the individual and they're verbal habits. A person's dialect also makes a difference. People from Louisiana talk differently than people from New Jersey obviously, and some people are as fastidious with their speech as others are loose. Some people talk extremely fast and others slowly - all of that makes it easy or difficult to lip-read but if I can see the individual while they speak then I can usually get an idea, at least, of what's being said and piece things together. Some of it also depends on how noisy a person's hands are" Ebbie explained.

"Noisy hands, you mean like banging on tables and stuff when they talk?" I asked Ebbie.

"...Well kind of, Tim. Noisy hands, means a person that gesticulates a lot with their hands, such as - 'The fish I caught was this big!" Ebbie said holding up her hands similar to someone elaborating on the size of a fish they caught.

"I never really thought about it but some people do have, noisy hands, now that you mention it" I nodded in reflection.

"If you've ever seen football coaches cover their mouths when they talk to someone during a big game, it's out of fear that the opposing team has lip-readers with binoculars. The coaches and players are also very careful to have 'quiet hands' during any sideline conversations that they might have with their teammates" Ebbie explained.

"I have seen them cover their mouths, now that you mention it, Ebbie" Andrea acknowledged.

"I would imagine that being able to lip-read can be a positive and negative thing, both, Ebbie" I speculated.

"Not really, Tim, I don't even think about it unless it's relevant. A lot of people ask me if I like to spy on my neighbors with binoculars or tune-in to what people are saying at the other end of a restaurant, I don't. Most of what people talk about is mundane and uninteresting. People talk about their mortgage, soccer practice and what's on their shopping lists" Ebbie explained.

"There must be exceptions to the rule, Ebbie, tell us one that wasn't mundane - give us some dirt on someone!" Andrea said with a naughty expression on her face.

"Um ...OK, I was watching the News recently and there was a very prominent local politician gathered with a group of his supporters. Everyone was standing in front of a local shopping center with their political signs - they wanted to get a bill of some sort passed, I don't remember what the bill was. This politician had been telling everyone, for months, that if the bill passed it would help energize the local economy. I really wasn't paying too much attention to that particular News broadcast - I was just kind of zoning out in front of the T.V. after a long day. The politician stepped up to the microphone and told the local News reporter what a great thing it'd be if this new bill passed and how much it would help people - so on and so on. After about a minute of explanation the politician then stepped back and stood with his supporters again. The News camera then focused back onto the local reporter as he began to wind down the live coverage of that interview. I just happened to look past the reporter at the politician again and saw him lean over to one of his aids as he said 'Stupid - blanks, they'll never know what hit'em, if we can just pass this one bill then we'll tax the - blank, out of them" Ebbie reiterated with a certain degree of disgust in remembering the incident.

"I don't lip-read but I could have told you that's what he said" I replied cynically.

My analogy made Andrea and Ebbie both laugh out loud.

"I think Lovey's video will be a little more enlightening for us than lip-reading the words of a politician, Tim" Ebbie concurred.

"We're so glad that you're willing to sit down and watch the video, Ebbie. Everyone loved Mom" I said nostalgically.

"She certainly was a very pretty lady" Ebbie nodded.

"Yes ...she was" I said quietly.

"Andrea said that she was Swedish?" Ebbie asked.

"First generation American" I acknowledged.

"I still miss my folks, Tim, and they've been gone a long time now" Ebbie said looking at me.

"It's just weird not having Mom around and not being able to pick up the phone and just call or text her" I replied, quietly.

"Weird is a good description" Andrea nodded.

"I miss being able to just sit down with them for coffee" Ebbie said.

"Yeah... Mom always had time to sit down with someone over a cup of coffee. ...I guess, once they're gone, they never come back do they?" I asked with some emotion.

"No, they don't ever come back, Baby, but they watch over us and now you have me" Andrea answered as she leaned her head on my shoulder...

The ladies and I ate our steak sandwiches and talked quietly for a little over half an hour. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the party and several people were still posing for the camera with Pippi. Mary Lane was seated next to Vic as they watched a game of horse shoes being played between Hans, Duffy, Buddy and Amanda. Also present now was Indio and Rosita as they sat at the picnic table next to the Bar-B-Q with Ricky and Brenda. There were several of Andrea's real-estate friends whom had just arrived and four or five young kids were running around whom I'd never seen before. Looking around at the crowd I suddenly noticed Arch Stanton standing with a lady that looked about twenty years his junior, apparently the lady was Arch's wife, Andrea had informed me.

"Shall we watch your video now?" Ebbie suddenly asked.

"Yes, please" I said, taking Ebbie and Andrea's empty paper plates and cups as I stood up and headed for the trash barrel.

A few minutes later Andrea and I stood next to Ricky and Brenda as Ebbie sat in front of us at the PC within the living room. Ebbie began playing the video with many starts, rewinds and stops as she studied Mom in the old footage which had been filmed somewhere at a drag strip in nineteen sixty six. We still had no idea where the actual footage had been originally filmed.