THANKSTAKING WITH IMPRESSIVE WINGSPANS

Chapter One:  Parade( as in ‘rain on my,’)

“And finally, a mishap occurred in a local farm today when miss Daisy Cohen dropped one of her sewing pins in a bail of hay – stymied by the hay, Miss Cohen and her family could not find her sewing pin and have regrettably announced that they are to buy a new one…soon.

Join us tomorrow morning for the sunshine news at five, I’m your host – Rory Gilmore, for the 1080AM, WTIC – Hartford,” Rory sighed into the mike as she finished her afternoon broadcast.

Two years at the most prestigious school in Hartford,

Four years at the most prestigious university in the country…

A degree in communications and journalism…

And the greatest bit of news I get to tell the world is that Daisy lost her needle in a haystack.

What’s it all worth, eh?

The whole notion of ‘someday’ has worn itself into the ground…

She smiled sadly and finished off her latté,

Well, if I had everything I ever dreamed of – life would be pretty damn boring…

So, I guess fickle fate just wants to keep me on my toes…

That bitch.

She stood up and made her way out of the WTIC building, greeting her co-workers as she passed.

 She stopped as she reached Larry Carmichael’s – the resident radio-veterinarian – desk. Resting on top of his PC was a piece of tinsel…

Not already?!

It was only july a few days ago!

She leaned over the small cubicle to find larry’s calendar.

The page, no matter how many circles, crosses, birthdates and comments clogged it, showed clearly that not only was it November – but it was three days until thanksgiving.

Aw, gee! 

“Thought it was still July?” a mocking voice came from behind her.

She spun around to find her best friend and room-mate, Sarah, looking rather amused.

Rory gave the famous Gilmore withering stare, then launched into conversation mode,

“Seriously, though! Wasn’t it like – last week – that we lay on the sofa’s, totally STUFFED with food, still shovelling ourselves ice-cream while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade?”

“Well, yeah,” Sarah admitted, “but we were just stuffed with food like usual while watching the tape of last years parade!”

Rory frowned, “why would we record last years parade, let alone watch it?”

Sarah shrugged, “I dunno, it was your idea!”

“Yeah…well…since when do you ever listen to me, anyhow?” Rory huffed as she gathered up her things and marched down the hall, Sarah followed,

“Since I have nothing better to listen to because you burned my Mariah carey cd!”

Rory stopped and shook a finger at Sarah,

“I could not live under the same roof as that! I told you it was either IT... or me!”

“Yeah! And you burned it before I could kick you out!”

Rory grinned and stepped inside the elevator,

“I’m not as dumb as you look!”

The doors were sliding close,

“lame call!”

“what did you expect?”

“just that lame a response, afterall you are a GILMORE!”

the doors clunked shut as the two burst into giggles.

Rory rested her

Oh so weary  

Twenty-six year old body against the walls and closed her eyes.

Mmmm at least I have a friend like her to make as much fun of me as possible…

Ah – so much like home!

Half an hour later she was stumbling in the front door to her apartment.

We really shouldn’t leave our shoes here…

Meh – oh well

She kicked off her shoes – leaving them in the mounting pile blocking the doorway- and made her way to the kitchen, where she pressed play on the answer machine whilst pouring her 6th coffee of the day.

*BEEP* “You have..FOUR.. new…messages.”*BEEP*

*BEEP BEEP* “hey rory, its sarah,”

haha must be bored at work again

 “I’m bored at work again. Darren has given me the 4.30pm news report so I’ll be on an hour after you. So if you get this… and I’ve already seen you… and hopefully made a mockery of you – as is tradition, my dear sweet Borey -  remember to ignore this message. But. If I haven’t seen you … here are the insults of the day :”

Rory laughed as her friend listed as many rude things as she could think of,

Ah, she’s losing her touch…

----flashback----

Rory glanced at her orientation booklet,

Room 54…

Isn’t that a seedy nightclub?

She gazed again at the huge mahogany door with the brass numbers “54” on it.

…here we go…

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

She jumped as she heard a muffled wail -

“Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!”

Suddenly the door was flung open to reveal a disgruntled girl – who had obviously been woken from her slumber.

Oh that’s gotta suck as a first impression…

She took a good look at the girl standing in front of her..

Mmm long red hair… bright green eyes… short-ish…

Fluffy bunny pyjamas…

Rory grinned at her,

“hi, you must be sarah… I’m rory Gilmore…and I guess – well, it says that this is my room, so .. we’re room-mates!”

Sarah stared long and hard at rory…

Why does this remind me of a physical…

“yeah.”

That was the last thing rory heard before the door slammed in her face.

----end flashback---

“so, yeah – that’s enough for today! I’ll be back by seven hopefully, dinner better be ready when I get in that door, donna reed! .. WHAT??? … NO!!! GODDAMIT, DANNY!!! I ASKED FOR THE STORY ON THE BEAR ATTACKS- NOT THE NEW CINEMAX!!!!” *BEEP BEEP*

gee, sare, danny’s only been there two days!...

Rory pouted

I guess I’ll just have to get the rest of the team to be nicer to the new intern…

*BEEP BEEP* “hey! It’s lane!”

 Rory squealed.

“just checking to see whether you were home yet – I called earlier but sarah refused to tell me where you were, saying something about screening your calls because of you performing an exorcism on her favourite cd’s… so .. yeah! Give me a call later!” *BEEP BEEP*

I’ll call her back during dinner – she always loves to hear how much food I can shove in my mouth and still be able to say ‘the dead presidents’ at the same time…

Ah how ‘chubby bunny’ has evolved…

*BEEP BEEP* “hey sarah, hey mary – tristan here - just a little message to check whats doing. Sarah – don’t forget, I’m picking you up at 6, not 7 – it’ll be a trek but , rest assured, the restaurant is beautiful… Mary- nice broadcast on the man who found his lost sock!   Bye girls!” *BEEP BEEP*

his ‘sense of humor’ will never change, it seems…

I suppose I’ll just have to make do with the fact that he’s better than he used to be…??

----flashback---

It was rory’s first day and she was just going back to her locker when a guy from her class comes up behind her,

“I'm Tristan,” he says, eyeing her.

He seems nice, maybe we’ll turn out to be good friends…

Rory grinned, “Hi.”

Tristan smirked and moved in closer to her, “So you new?”

Rory faltered,

Something seems a little… off… with him… “Yeah, first day.”

Nodding and smiling sympathetically, he moved closer still, “Remmy's class is rough.”

..maybe not

Rory responds with a nod, “Yeah, it seemed very intense.”

….he wasn’t this close before… how did he move so fast?

He was moving closer still, so she backed up…

 What is he…

Tristan moved his head back an inch, “I could loan you my notes, if that would help.”

I’ll catch up! That’s so nice of him!

Rory grinned once more, “Really? That's be great!”

They were inches apart and he pressed her up against the lockers, “Yeah? How great?”

Rory was appauled.

----end flashback---

Rory took a swig of orange juice from the fridge as she listened for the final message.

*BEEP BEEP* “hey sweets, its me! You know! You’re mother! Yea… reckognize my voice??? Want me to sing? Lalalalaaaaaaaa” “ LORELAI!!!” “oops, SORRY LUKE! Anyway – it’s the most.. wonderful tiiiiime of the yeaaaaaaaaaar!” “LORELAI, I  MEAN IT!” “haha, ok ok ok… rory, its thanksgiving in three days and you haven’t told us whether you’re coming or not! …I don’t want to miss out on everyone seeing you again! Last year was sarahs – this year is mine! MINE! ALLL MINE! MUAHAHAHHAHA” “LORELAI!!!!!” “…but… i… HEY! DON’T-“ “rory, it’s luke. Call us if you’re coming. Bye.” *BEEP BEEP*

thanksgiving at mom’s…everyone seeing me again…

everyone?

No… it couldn’t be everyone – he’s still in the outback somewhere, probably busking for his food…

No that’s not his style. He’d never beg.

He may have knocked over a few banks by now…

Whatever gets him where he wants to go, I guess…

---flashback---

The Gilmore table looked as if a swarm of locusts – or worse, Gilmores- had attacked it. And indeed they had. The turkey was left as a carcass and the bowls of food on the table were empty – except for the green beans, of course.

Everyone was chatting happily around the dining room when Jess stood up and tapped his glass.

Rory frowned,

What is he doing?

“Ladies,” he nodded at Rory, “ and gentle-freaks,” he gestured to the rest of the room,

“I have a small announcement to make. . .”

oh my god… he’s finally going to do it… he’s going to propose!

I’m going to marry the love of my life and live happily ever after with my soul mate…What sort of dress will I wear? Sookie will have to do the cooking…

Ooooh flowers!!

“… so I have decided to take a sabbatical and travel around the world on my own.”

Rory could do nothing but stare…