Timing is Everything

Chapter One

 

Timing is everything.  Brinnie knew that if she could wait until the end of the recital she'd be alright.
She also knew damned well that if she gave in and sneezed right then she would create a disturbance and ruin the evening.

Brinnie was not in the habit of playing by the rules.  She had spent her life, so far, doing pretty much what she wanted, whenever she wanted without much regard for the consequences.

She had been raised by her mother and her four older brothers.  Her father had left them shortly after Brinnie was born and they never heard from him again.  Her oldest brother, Mike, said once that he thought their father was in the Navy in San Diego working as a machinist but no one bothered to find out if that was true.

Brinnie could have found out easily if she had wanted to.  She knew where to look and who to call but wasn't that interested.

Mike had been like a father to her and she figured that finding the real thing would have only been confusing.  She didn't need the headache. 

Mike had always been there for her.  Her first period.  Her training bra.  Her Senior Prom when he chased Albert Conswiker all the way to his house after Albert had tried to kiss her.

Actually that pissed her off a lot as she had wanted Albert to kiss her but Albert was painfully shy, much more so than Brinnie.

When Albert put his arm around Brinnie and leaned in to kiss her he accidentally stepped on her toes.

She was, uncharacteristically, wearing open toed shoes as a part of her prom ensemble and when Albert landed she screamed.

Mike had been nearby talking with some friends and when he heard Brinnie cry out he, naturally, thought that Albert was getting cute and came running.

When Albert saw Mike approaching at the same speed he had exhibited as a star end on the football team, Albert took off toward his house which was not that far away on Hillside.

Brinnie lived on the other side of town in an area known as The Marshes.  It was an odd name given that the closest marsh was 100 miles to the south near the ocean.  The developer thought it was a clever name to give to the subdivision and even gave the streets nautical names like Dune Drive and Seagrass Circle.

Mike caught up to Albert and was just about to pop him one when Brinnie came limping up, yelling for Mike to stop.  She explained that Albert had done nothing wrong but the damage was already done.  Albert never did kiss Briniie.  In fact he never spoke to her again and she never forgot, even though she, as always, forgave Mike.  She certainly gave Mike a piece of her mind as he drove her home though.  If nothing else, Brinnie was definitely not shy.

She left home shortly after the end of school and has not been back to The Marshes since.  Mike still lives in the family house.  He married Natalie after college and their kids go to the same high school he did.  Mikey has tried to get on the football team but he's not very strong and no where near as fast as Mike was.  Coach made him a trainer for the season but Mike is still disappointed. 

He tries not to show it to Mikey but Mikey knows it anyway.  That may be one of the reasons why Mikey is gay but neither Mike nor Natalie know.

Brinnie knows but she would never tell Mike.  She is really more of a mother to Mikey than Natalie and Mikey confides in her, mostly because he knows he can trust her.

Brinnie grew up taking care of herself, pretty much.  Her mother, Margaret, was a good mother but somewhat aloof when it came to mother-daughter relations.

Margaret found it difficult to understand what Brinnie needed.  Margaret had been the only child, albeit adopted, of a very wealthy couple and her father was rarely home.

Margaret's relationship with her mother, Grollie as the kids called her, was strained at best.  Grollie spent all of her time at "The Club" right up until her death at 92.

As a matter of fact Grollie died at "The Club" right after lunch one day.  She just passed away in her chair at the table.  The waiter found her slumped over shortly after he had brought her coffee.

She had eaten the salmon and decided to have a small piece of Key Lime Pie before her coffee.

That was the last meal Grollie had.  Broiled salmon on rice with asparagus.  Key Lime Pie and coffee.

Brinnie hated Key Lime Pie.  She found it too sour.  She could tolerate it when Grollie served it for dessert but only because of the whipped cream.

It was real whipped cream with a lot of sugar added.  Alba, Grollie's cook, made the best whipped cream around and often gave Brinnie the spoon to lick if Brinnie happened to be in the kitchen when Alba was making dinner.

Brinnie loved Alba but didn't trust her.  Brinnie had seen Alba stealing from Grollie's pocketbook once but didn't say anything to Grollie.  She didn't want to get Alba into trouble.

Brinnie figured that Grollie could spare the $20 and if Alba needed it badly enough to steal it than what the hell.  No harm, no foul.

So Brinnie decided "what the hell" and let go a whopper.  It was a four-parter and went from a huge inhalation to a dramatic earth-shaking finish.  Four separate times.

Once would have been bad enough but four times? 

It actually saved the evening for Brinnie and almost everyone else in the room.  The music had been deadly boring and not well done at that. 

Mozart is often delightful and Brinnie loved almost all classical music but this performance had been tedious from the outset.

The recital had been made even more unbearable because Brinnie had been forced to go with Jackson DiLoretta.

Jackson thought of himself as a man of the world.  He was, after all, her boss but he was an incompetent when it came to personal relationships.

Brinnie had originally found Jackson very attractive but after she had worked for him for a few months she began to see him for what he really was...a poser.

Jackson had been a legacy at Columbia and that was the only reason he had gotten in.  He desperately wanted to be a WASP but his Italian last name made that impossible.

His father had pulled strings to get him an interview at The State Department and after he got his first assignment he quickly started going after what he really wanted which was a position at The CIA.

Brinnie had been recruited right after high school.  She was beautiful, tough as nails and unusually smart. 

When the recruiter approached her in the park across from her house that early July day she had no idea what the future would look like. 

She would find out very soon thereafter...