Monday, August 12, AF 726
After everyone had arrived for breakfast, and before anyone else could say anything, Genie stood, turned toward Stavros, and said, "Happy Birthday little brother. Given your amazing ability to get into trouble, you've still somehow managed to survive till 13 years old. I guess you're finally growing up."
Next she smiled at Danica and said, "Although we've only been back for just over a week, and we don't know you as well as we'd like yet, it's crystal clear that his meeting you has been the best thing that's ever happened to him. Therefore, Mario and I both, from the bottom of our hearts, wish for your happiness in the future."
Mario also stood, both raised their juice glasses, and said in perfect unison, "Congratulations on your engagement!"
There were mixed responses to their words. Danica and Stavros turned toward each other, blushed faintly, and squeezed each other's hands. Miranda on the other hand was so shocked that her mouth actually fell open. All her weeks of planning, the hours she spent awake at night gloating over how Genie would react when she surprised her with news of the engagement...all wasted.
Mimi had contrived to be bending over to pour some tea for Miranda and, with her free hand, gently pushed Miranda's mouth shut. "Careful Madame, you might catch a fly that way," she murmured.
Acting as if she'd seen nothing, Genie calmly asked, "Mother, is there some sort of celebration planned for this evening? If so, Mario and I are free and can help you get things organized."
Had Mimi not still had her hand on Miranda's chin, surely her mouth would have fallen open again. In her entire life, Genie had never responded so calmly to something unexpected. As Miranda struggled to think to of what to say next, Genie was inwardly shouting, "GOTCHA!"
Finally Miranda numbly nodded and managed to get out a few words, "Ah, yes, indeed. I could use some help. Let's discuss it after breakfast."
Genie nodded back, and from there on breakfast proceeded as usual.
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The party that evening was relatively small -- there were only 26 people present -- Danica's family, her uncle's family, Robert and Richard Donetti's families, Miranda's parents, and the imam. Consequently, all those who hadn't met yet had enough time to become well enough acquainted with each other that the stiffness of meeting new people wore off.
Miranda's parents in particular hit it off with the elder Karongos. As they all worked professionally with precious metals, the possibilities for future collaboration, and profits, were most attractive. Soon, Mario was drawn into their discussion, and, a few minutes later, Robert and Richard joined them. By the end of the party, all were seen to have broad smiles.
Once the formalities of the engagement were completed, the imam and Paolo drifted to a small table at the side of the rental hall and stayed there till the party was over. When they left, they shook hands and grinned at each other.
Meanwhile, Heidi, Danica, Consuela, and Danica's two teenage, female cousins spent the evening chatting about whatever topics cropped up.
Sara, Genie, Miriam, Zaynab, Miranda, and Zaynab's two daughters-in-law "supervised" and also talked about various things.
Stavros was left to survive dealing with Danica's two older brothers, and her male teen cousins. Fortunately it was soon discovered that all five of them had similar, mischievous personalities. Once they found common ground, they spent the rest of the evening entertaining each other with tales of all the trouble they'd gotten into when they were younger. Although Stavros was the youngest, the stories he told about what he and Consuela had gotten themselves into over the years, and more recently, what he'd finally figured out about Consuela and Heidi, garnered him substantial respect from the others. Afterwards, many speculative glances were directed at the girls.
While they were too young to be considered as a possible matches for Danica's brothers, her cousins decided that getting to know the girls would be a good idea.
By the time the party ended, the general consensus was that the two extended families were very likely to get on unusually well in the future.
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The next morning, after breakfast, Miranda wandered into her office. She was still muzzy, both because the festivities last night had lasted much later than anyone had expected, and due to the fact that she and Robert had continued the celebration after they got home.
For some reason, she had a vague feeling that she ought to be doing something other than her routine paperwork, but there was nothing that popped into her mind. Oh well. She stood behind her chair, stretched her arms over her head, and yawned. Whatever it was would...
Her eyes were suddenly drawn to a silver tray directly in front of her chair. On it was a letter sealed with bright red wax. Assuming that Mimi had put it there earlier in the morning, she sat and picked it up. Since Mimi hadn't said anything it couldn't be urgent. Still, since it was sitting where it would be the first thing she saw, it likely was of at least some importance.
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Yawning again, she picked it up. It would only take a few seconds to open it so then she'd know what... Ah SHIT! The seal on the wax said "Brewster's Books". Immediately her hands began shaking and a cold sweat broke out on her brow. Thus far, the only times Master O'Malley had initiated contact with her, she'd been in serious trouble.
She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself, then peeled off the seal and opened the letter. There were only two words written. "Look up." She did and found herself facing Master O'Malley, who was standing right on the other side of her desk.
She surprised both of them by saying, "OK. You wouldn't be here if I hadn't screwed something up. Right now, I have no idea what it is that I did wrong. So, please, sit down and tell me what it is."
O'Malley frowned at her. "You have an incredible talent for trashing my impeccably prepared plans."
They peered at her, wondering if she'd pick up on that, nodded, then waved a hand. "Not that you can remember right now, and that's not the point today. Still, your flexibility is one of your good traits. Anyway... The reason I'm here is to help you get rid of a particular behavior that I could say isn't so good, but that would be lying. The one we're going to talk about today is right on the verge of being heinous. Still, it is correctable, and actually easily...though you may not think so after I've explained.
"I'm amazed at how dense you can be at times though. In this instance I gave you a warning some time ago. Specifically at the party you threw the day before Mario and Eugenia left on their first trip." They stroked their chin. "Perhaps I should have let your face slam into the table after all..."
Miranda threw her memory back to that night and, once she remembered the incident, said, "Oh please. That trifle. What I'd planned was just a little joke."
"A joke. 'Just a little joke.' Since it was a joke, please explain it to me. I'd dearly like to know what you find so funny about humiliating people."
O'Malley tilted their head down and held up a restraining hand. "No, don't answer that. It was, mostly, rhetorical. I don't have a great deal of time today, so I'll just explain what's going on in your itty bitty brain to you, and, don't worry, I'll use small words.
"A so-called 'practical joke' can be fun, IF both people involved enjoy it. Indeed, some people take great pleasure in trading pranks with each other, sometimes for years on end. BUT, most of the time, the perpetrator puts their victim in a situation where they suffer at least some degree of pain, usually emotional, but sometimes physical as well. Most of the time the situation results in the victim being doubly humiliated, both by the prank itself and then again when the perpetrator shames them verbally by essentially blaming the victim's pain on their inability to see the humor in the situation. In other words, they twist things to make everything the victim's fault.
"I wonder which category your pranks fall into..." O'Malley was still not looking at her.
"Now, before you try to justify yourself, I want you to pay careful attention to what I'm about to say. Seeing as I'm in a good mood, and because you will, probably, understand, I'm going to tell you why you've been so thoughtlessly cruel so many times. It's because you're lonely.
"If you could look back to 10 years or so ago, you'd remember that your teasing at that time was verbal, and in front of the person you were teasing. Yes, they were sometimes uncomfortable, but, like when Paolo and Sara first teased you about being late for dinner, it was primarily an expression of affection.
"However, starting shortly after they were married, you began to drift into your current nasty self because you somehow convinced yourself that nobody loved you any more and that's why you weren't getting very many hugs. It's totally irrational, but humans and rationality have only a nodding acquaintance.
"How you're going to correct the problem will be, mostly, painless. Whenever you get the urge to think up one of these idiotic plots of yours, you are to find someone and hug them. You are to repeat the process, with however many people it takes, until such unworthy thoughts are no longer present.
"Since you will find the entire process embarrassing at first, and will try to find excuses for not dealing directly with your loneliness, I'm going to give you an incentive. If you actually start thinking up ways to actually prank someone, you'll have the dubious pleasure of experiencing what you did at my store when you tried to speak after I'd told you not to."
They bent forward and looked intently at Miranda from only half a meter away, "I trust that you remember that night."
Before Miranda could make any kind of response, O'Malley said. "That's all for now. I've informed Subaru to tell anyone looking for you that you're studying a particularly important problem and are not to be disturbed. You might also consider putting up a silence before you start, crying, screaming, or breaking things.
"That's all." So saying, O'Malley vanished, leaving the stricken Miranda behind to begin coming to grips with what she'd just heard.
She never explained why she was shut up in her office for over five hours that day, but, considering what her job was, nobody thought of asking her.
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Over the next two weeks, all the family, including Danica and Mimi, occasionally found themselves being unexpectedly grabbed, usually from behind, and tightly squeezed. When they were able to turn around, they would see Miranda, usually with flaming cheeks, hurrying away from them down the hall while they tried to catch their breath.
After three weeks had passed, things changed. Miranda would walk directly up to someone, say, "I need a hug," and then squeeze. She still blushed somewhat, but it was much more agreeable for everyone else as, now, they were actually able to breathe while Miranda was hugging them.
A month after that, much to the surprise of everyone in the family, they all found themselves hugging each other more often.
The ones who took the greatest pleasure from all of this were Danica and Stavros. Now they could they hug each other as much as they wanted in public. Otherwise they might have had their need to touch each other build up until they were alone.
This way they could avoid taking their relationship further than either was truly ready for. In particular, it helped them retain their composure when they were in the bath each night. Yes, both had continued doing their best to maintain something like a therapist-patient relationship there, and, at least so far, it was working. Oh, they did occasionally have thoughts about moving forward since they were now engaged, but they were able to keep things under control. (That Sara had now taken to dropping in at irregular times, along with Mimi's visits, may have had at least a little to do with their success.)