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#Post#: 3216--------------------------------------------------
Constellations of the Heart
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: February 18, 2017, 12:41 am
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HTML https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2714/32923393406_cf832421ee_n.jpg
The cityscape of New York can be a daunting and lonely place. No
one knew this better than Colleen Murphy, a green eyed brunette
with her head in the clouds and a song in her heart and a dead
end job as a faceless nameless file clerk at a slowly dying
newspaper. Nearing her thirty-third birthday she found that she
was still searching far and wide for her Prince Charming,
dismally thinking she would never find him. It was as if her
very soul ached. Enter one Jeremy Groves, an antiques dealer on
the cusp of forty with nothing but a carefully procured shop and
vast estates. No one to share them with and a very similar ache
in his soul. A moment of happenstance overtakes both of them as
the Fates step in and bring two dreamers together in all places,
a corner bodega on a busy Wednesday evening.
Playlist:
HTML https://open.spotify.com/user/highlandfling22/playlist/1eGJsAamZmO9EATYl8RtpK
Theme: Book of Love - The Mark Vincent 2 Cellos version
#Post#: 3222--------------------------------------------------
Re: Constellations of the Heart
DIR By: Wolfy
Date: February 26, 2017, 1:46 pm
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I squealed loud when I saw the title of this piece! ahh, I also
really love that photo of Jennifer! and I am so excited to read
about these two with how much you have been giving mention to
them over these last couple of days / weeks. I have followed the
playlist too, of course, because it's definitely got a bunch of
favourites in there c:
#Post#: 3228--------------------------------------------------
Re: Constellations of the Heart
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: March 8, 2017, 5:22 pm
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Aha! Thank you so much! I thought it was lovely and I couldn't
help but use it, dare say it's stroked Col's ego a bit as well.
I was wracking my brain over it and somehow the song popped up
into the playlist so I suppose it was meant to be. I dare say
these two proved to be an interesting pairing and I can only
hope I've done them justice, I fear they'll never let me hear
the end of it from them both if I didn't. ;) I had a bit too
much fun with this first part, see if you can spot the
inspiration because Colleen's feline friends and a few muppets.
Aurelia was actually based off the dearly departed and greatly
missed Ginger, an homage if you will.
“Hello and good Friday morning. The time is now 5:45 and the
forecast is looking intermittent rain with a high of
eighty-five degrees and a nighttime low of a balmy seventy-six.
In other news….”
The smooth voice from the local instrumental music station
jolted the bleary eyed brunette from her slumber and roused her
into the dreary waking world once more. Rubbing the back of her
neck and looking around her tiny shoebox of an apartment Colleen
Murphy heaved a sigh. The day looked like she felt, grey and
forlorn. Rain had already started to patter against the window
and began to mingle with the myriad of other sounds that made up
the city around her. She’d just been roused from the most
pleasant of dreams. It was one she’d had for the past four
years, perhaps longer without fail. It had been filled with
views of vast rolling hills and one of the most beautiful
gardens she had seen. Frolicking in the mists and between the
dappled rays sunlight on spring days and curling up before a
roaring fire in the evening. She could tell that she was with
someone, most likely a man judging by the laugh but she had yet
to actually see his face and that fact irked her to no end. He
was forever turned away from her but she always reached him
telling him she’d found him. She was her own trader in the dream
because she always took off running in the opposite direction
just as the tall sandy haired man prepared to turn around.
“You’d think after four years of the same dream he’d at least
show his face. Leave it to me to get a bashful figment of my
overactive imagination.”
She grumbled before tossing back the covers and shoving her feet
into her pink bunny slippers. When both feet hit the cold wooden
floor she let out a momentary squeak and groaned. As hot as it
was outside the floors on the ancient apartment building that
she called home were always ice cold.
“Statler! Waldorf! Gimme back my slippers you mangy
freeloaders!”
Twin Siamese heads popped around the corner and sauntered into
the bedroom and greeted her looks of feigned innocence. Meowing
her a double greeting and batting at the hanging belt on her
robe they wound themselves around her feet as was their usual
proper greeting to her each morning.
“You know you two are the worst roommates I’ve had so far? And
that even goes back to college.”
She remarked as she walked down the tiny hallway and out into
the combined living space of the one bedroom apartment.
Colleen’s place wasn’t exactly one that would end up as a House
Beautiful spread but for two hundred a month she made it work.
It had come partially pre furnished and most likely belonged to
a man. Given the worn leather couch, the firmly affixed Guinness
dartboard that she still couldn’t get down and the various left
behind articles of clothing that she’d dutifully hung up in the
hall closet alongside the rather comfortable looking leather
jacket. She figured if their previous owner didn’t show up for
them she could at least donate them. She had been saying for the
past two years and still hadn't done it. Something about them
gave the place a lived in feel and hey, if anyone broke into the
place they might just turn right back around thinking the place
wasn’t worth it if a woman didn’t live alone.
Sighing she set up the coffee maker and popped a piece of toast
into the toaster. Glancing down at the matching food bowls she
saw that they were empty. She had filled them to the tops the
night before and it was as if she’d never touched them, not a
crumb was left.
“Oh come on you two you ate all that food last night? Well,
you’re going to have to wait until I get out of work to go
shopping for another bag.”
Reaching into the fridge for the milk she saw that she had
exactly two eggs left. Looking over her shoulder for a moment at
the two expectant faces of her furry roommates she sighed. She
couldn’t stand when they pulled the “But we’re oh so hungry now,
lady.” look. They had both been little more than skin and bones
when she’d found them one night when she was coming home from
work. She had just rounded the corner on St. Mark’s when she was
caught in a downpour and saw the sides of an old battered box
give way. Inside were these two, barely six weeks old and in no
shape to even defend themselves. She shuddered to think what
could have become of them had she not scooped them up and
brought them home with her. Many sleepless nights and hand
feedings later they were her constant companions who were aptly
named judging by their curmudgeonly personalities towards anyone
but their mistress. Winding around her legs once more when they
spotted their owner reaching into the fridge again and coming
out with the all coveted eggs a thank you ceremony was in full
swing. For some strange reason they had a love of eggs, not
caring if they were scrambled, fried, poached, over easy or raw.
Colleen had asked the vet about it and all he could say was
“Well as long as it’s occasional and they enjoy it let them have
it. It’s doing wonders for their coats.”
“Don’t ever say I don’t bend over backward for you two.”
She said as she went about scrambling their breakfast in a
frying pan on the worn looking kitchen range. A distant clap of
thunder sounded far off in the distance and Colleen sighed,
praying that the rain would let up before she had to be out the
door to work. Technically she could take a mental health day but
she decided against it. She’d just end up sitting around and
brooding about that damn dream and there was no use in that.
“Alright, let this cool and I’ll feed you two after I get out of
the shower, okay?”
She was met with momentary glares and jabbers until she gave
them a hard look.
“You remember what happened the last time I gave you guys
something still warm from the pan. You both yakked all over the
place. I had to replace the rug in the hall.”
Statler and Waldorf, to their credit had the sense to look just
the tiniest bit embarrassed about their past food experience
faux-pas. If mistress had been kind enough to cook for them they
supposed they could at the very least wait until she was out
from her shower to dine.
Pouring herself a mug of coffee and grabbing her now cold toast
from the toaster she sighed.
‘You’re losing it Colleen, really losing it. This is the most
interaction aside from work that you get. Talking to your cats
in your bathrobe. You’ve got to get out more.’
“So, you’re telling me that you’re looking for an 18th century
teakwood hall table preferably made in Spain without any
intricate carvings of any sort?
Why had he thought that today was going to be an easy day?
Pinching the bridge of his nose he sighed before assuring his
elderly patron that he would personally hunt for it himself.
Gently replacing the phone back into it’s cradle he sighed as he
looked out the vast shop window. The day had dawned just as grey
as yesterday had, with the exception that rain and thunder were
now included in the balmy weather. A soft whine and a nudge at
his left elbow snapped him out of his self pity for a second as
he locked eyes with his constant companion and would be business
partner, had she possessed thumbs and the ability to affix price
tags.
“Oh really Aurelia I’m fine. Just a bit out of sorts…”
The long face of the Borzoi looked rather unconvinced as she
gave him another nudge and a gentle lick to the back of his hand
as if to assure him that everything would work out. He had
always mused that if she could speak, Aurelia would sound quite
a bit like his dearly departed Gran. A self assured yet caring
woman with a phone voice to beat the Queen herself. He gently
gave her long neck a pat before turning back to his vast
catalogs of inventory trying to find the aforementioned table.
He hadn’t realized how much time had gone by until the antique
clocks all gonged together in a cacophony of sound around the
shop. Any other day it would have made him smile, to be
surrounded by beautifully made time pieces but today it only
reminded him that time was surely fleeting. Reclining back in
the oversized desk chair he scrubbed at his face with both hands
before raking both through his sandy colored locks with a groan.
The impossible order from an otherwise lovely customer wasn’t
the only thing weighing heavily on his mind. He supposed it
wasn’t even the passage of time that was bothering him. It was
the fact that he had spent a vast majority of his time alone,
save for his furry friend and a few dinner parties thrown by
others in his circle. It was the dreams, or rather two
particular dreams he had been having off and on for the past
four years. No matter where he had been during the waking hours
his dreams always revolved around two particular places. The
first being a vast rolling expanse of hillside in the middle of
nowhere as the mists rose and the tall grass waved gently on the
breeze, the second was a vaguely familiar looking garden that
looked like it was walled off from everything and everyone else.
It held some of the loveliest blooms he’d ever seen, they’d even
rivaled the ones he’d cultivated in his greenhouses at the
country house; their fragrances wafting sweetly on the slightly
chilly spring breeze while he heard most joyous laughter all
around him. He felt a gentle touch and a call of “Found you!”
only to turn and see a glimpse of long dark hair as the woman
took off around a stonewall corner into an even more private
hedge maze.
“Why in the world won’t she show her face? Damn it. Leave it to
me to get a dream woman that can out run me.”
He mumbled to himself before he felt another nudge to his elbow.
Aurelia had settled in by his side and studied him for a while,
as she was one to do. Settling his gaze one again on his dog he
noticed she’d given him another nudge before casting a wistful
glance at his untouched buttered toast topped with a smattering
of strawberry jam.
“Oh fine, take it. I wasn’t hungry anyway.”
Jeremy muttered before offering the delicate bone china plate to
his steadfast companion along with a gentle pat to her graceful
head.
“You really have to get out more, Jeremy. You’re pining over a
dream and talking to your dog.”
Aurelia to her credit merely looked up at her owner and tried to
figure out why in the world that was such a bad thing. After
all, she considered herself quite the conversationalist. She
hadn’t the heart to try and tell him that perhaps he just needed
a friend without fur. Gently taking the remains of the toast she
ambled back over to her silk cushion in the corner and lounged.
After all, even conversationalists have the right to dine
comfortably didn’t they?
Jeremy cast a sideway glance the dog’s way and couldn’t help but
shake his head.
“Something tells me that you’re going to prove to be tough on
whomever I happen to meet when and if I meet them. Aren’t you my
dear?”
Aurelia casually looked up from her spot and gave a slight sniff
as if to say 'Well, yes darling I wouldn’t be doing my job if I
wasn’t now would I?'
Sitting back once more Jeremy shook his head.
“You’ve finally lost it, Jeremy. God help the woman that ever
falls for you.”
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