Lunacy V

          Martiin turned the warmer off under the chicken. "Ah, it's probably overdone, anyway," she murmured.
          Valeron sighed. He looked out the window at the holiday traffic. "Some Thanksgiving, huh?" he said.
          "Well, at least we know we can start eating now. Josaaph's a definite no-show." Martiin took down a large palte for the chicken, then went beneath the sink to pul lout a small pot in which to make the gravy. Every year, she made the fresh, like her Nana used to make. "Some families are just like that," she said.
          "What?"
          Martiin flashed him a small smile. "Some members of the family make it a point to get together for holidays, and others don't consider them so important as what they feel called to do. It doesn't mean that they love their families any less. It means that they hear what they think is a higher calling, or a psychotic urge, or whatever you want to call it. You know, wanting to do something crazy."
          Martiin measured out the flour, then put the larger pot aside from the flame. She ladled some of the juices from the larger pot into the smaller one, then turned the heat to simmer.

Lunacy IV

          From the lonesome chicken in the pot, and and potatoes in the oven, to the extra setting on the table for a person who was preoccupied with doing next year's National Novel Writing Month on Phobos and choosing to give a last minute press conference, rather than eating a last meal with friends, at least for a year. Josaaph had made her choice. All that Martiin and Valeron could do was to try and support her.
          The long distance relationship would be even harder for Valeron. From the time Josaaph had decided to write her novel during NaNo one year on the summit of Mount Everest, to the top of a post for another year, Valeron was left to spend his holidays alone. If it hadn't been for Martiin's steadfast friendship, he would have succumbed to complete and utter sanity, many years ago.
          Not that he wasn't close to that point, and had been, many times, over the past several years. Valeron was proud of her but, sometimes, life without Josaaph to raise the roof with smacked of a solitary lifestyle just a bit too much for poor Valeron's tastes. At least, it wasn't as if he was a widower.

Lunacy III

                   When the phone rang, both Valeron and Dariin started. They stared at it. Once, twice, three times, it rang.
                    “Why don’t you get the phone, Val?” Dariin turned back to the stove. Four rings. “I have to check and make sure you didn’t mess up my supper.”
                   Five rings.
                    “Ha, ha. Very funny, Da,” Valeron said. “Let’s wait for the machine to pick up before we do. We don’t need a telemarketer telling us what we need, right now.” Six rings. “Not that they’d know, of course, but it’s annoying.”
                   Seven rings.
                    “Not a telemarketer, then. They usually stop at five.” Still, Valeron made no move ot pick up the phone. Dariin rushed to get it. “They really need to sell you a sense of humor. Hell, I would buy it for you. Just point me to the website.”
                   Valeron smirked. Everyone knew he hated getting the phone anyway. Better to let supper overcook, or burn, rather than answer it.
                   Dariin snarled at him and then picked up the phone. She checked the Caller ID. It was Josaaph’s cell. “Jo, hi!” Valeron moved to take the phone from Dariin, but she slapped his hand away. “What? Press conference? I understand.”

Lunacy II

          Valeron pushed the sandy-blond hair from his eyes. He tasted the soup, made a face, and then put it aside for the microwave. “When am I going to learn to actually let the water boil before pouring it?”
          Dariin snickered. “When you’re not preoccupied with what whack scheme your girlfriend’s going to pull, next. Anyway, she doesn’t plan to go till next year.”
          “They don’t even have Holiday Inn TM on Phobos!” Valeron said, wailing.
          Dariin put the soup in the microwave. “You do have a tendency to forget what you’re doing when Josaaph’s involved, don’t you?” Her long-suffering query ended with a tortured sigh. “Phobos isn’t the end of the universe, is it?”
          Valeron stuck out his lower lip. “It might as well be, for all that I’ll get to see her for close to a year.”
          “Well, you know what they say,” Dariin chided him. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Then she seemed to think better of it. She scratched her head. “Or was that ‘Abscess makes your tooth grow weaker’? Dan it, I can’t remember, now.”
          “Either way, it’s foul.”
          “Speaking of fowl, I wonder how the chicken’s coming along?” Dariin went over to the cooker

Lunacy

                    “I hope Josaaph makes it in time,” Dariin said. She looked in the mirror over the phone table to make sure that her dark brown hair stayed bound, so it wouldn’t get into the food. When she saw Valeron going to check the chicken, she said, “Stay away from that! We don’t want you shedding in it.” Valeron didn’t tidy his mop for cooking, and she always had to remind him of it.
                    Valeron put the kettle on for tea. "Are you sure that's what she said? It seems an extravagant thing to do, just for National Novel Writing Month."
                    "I'm sure. She's plotting to spend next year's NaNo on Phobos. " Dariin smoothed the tablecloth, then went to pull the dishes out so that she could set the places for supper. "Personally, I think she would have been better off sitting in a Barnes and Noble, wearing a bunny suit."
                    "What, no chicken suit?"
                    "That's been done already."
                    When it whistled., Valeron pulled the tea kettle from the stove. He poured the water on to the pills in the bowls,. Each one reconstituted itself into a bowl of Boston clam chowder. "I think she'll miss the soup," he mused.

A Morning Sunset? o0;;

The weather caster on News 12 just said something about the sun setting at 4:33 in the morning. Talk about a double take!