Jessica Hayles

October 03, 2020 6:53 PM
One of Jessica’s favorite places on the property was the balcony adjacent to her bedroom. It was tall enough for her to sit in privacy, but open enough for her to see out, to some degree, over the rose garden. There was also a trellis of climbing noisette roses just high enough and just close enough to the balcony for her to pluck a bloom, if she wanted to, and while she was too far away to smell the grape-like scent of the evergreen wisterias beyond, she could see the grand purple show they put on – however briefly, never more than a few weeks, and sometimes as little as a fortnight – clearly. When it was simply too hot to hide under a blanket when she needed some serenity and the swimming pools both felt too exposed, she could retreat to the balcony and feel safe there. If still, this time of year, very hot.

It could, sometimes, take a lot of flowers to make up for the heat in Atlanta for the vast majority of the time between May and October. Jessica wasn’t sure if the summers were getting worse or if she had just lost her tolerance for them after spending so much time in a false Ireland, but necklaces and bracelets had been unceremoniously banished from her wardrobe almost as soon as she’d gotten home, and it would take a very formal, very indoor occasion to persuade her to take her hair out of a ponytail. Her pastel yellow sundress was about as light as a garment could be while remaining decent, but she could still feel sweat beading up high on her temples and along the back of her neck within seconds of stepping out of the heavily air-conditioned interior of the house.

Despite this, she still sat down at the little table she had on her balcony and put down her writing paper and favorite pen. She’d buzzed downstairs for a glass of lemonade and ginger ale, and that would be up any moment, and help a lot with the heat while she wrote letters, forcing her brain to write Spanish first, which was always a little more difficult than speaking or even reading it.

Dear Felipe,

How are you? I hope you’re settling in well at home again. I’m glad to be at home now, with my family, even though it is so hot here – though I suppose awful weather is the price we pay for flowers. I’m looking at all ours right now, I’m glad I got here in time to see the wisteria bloom this year. It’s so beautiful, but it doesn’t last long.

Anyway, just touching base – if you need anything, I’m…I guess an owl away, though I could probably get Daddy to loan me the jet in a pinch. You’re always welcome here, too, if you want, or just need to get away, though totally ok if you don’t want to.

Un fuerte abrazo,

Jessica.


She had spent far too much time debating how to end the letter. She had never really felt comfortable with the traditional English sign-offs other than ‘love’, and Spanish had an even wider variety, with even greater degrees of subtle differences in appropriateness. Finally, though, she had decided that in the context of their relationship, whatever the heck it was, ‘a strong hug’ was appropriate, and so she went with that.

Mrs. Hernandez arrived with her drink. She thanked her cook with a smile and took a sip, enjoying the rough bubbles of the ginger ale half, as she switched back to English in her head.

Dear Sadie,

Hey, it’s Jessica. I hope your summer is getting off to a good start! And that it’s okay that I’m mailing this, this way – let me know if it’s not, goodness knows I don’t think my parents are totally used to owls flying around yet, though they’re getting there.

It is all very exciting here! We are launching new products, and at the company they are filming TV commercials – I’m not really involved in any of that, but I’ve been able to go watch a few times, so glamorous. Enclosed is a sample of our new eau de toilette, Miss Arvale – it’s meant for the younger crowd, like a first kind of grown-up perfume that isn’t too old. The atomizer is gorgeous so let me know if you’d like a bottle. The ‘notes’ sound like a super-fancy French dessert, but there’s some other stuff in it that thins it out and keeps it from being too silly, I think – almonds, and something woody, under the lemon-rose-vanilla stuff.

I got you a nice powder compact, too – I know some people say I am just too old-fashioned, but I think every girl ought to have one at least once, just to try it out. I always feel so elegant, popping it open and fixing my lip balm (parents still won’t let me have a real lipstick, so must make do!).

Outside the company, I mostly read and swim, and write a little. It’s relaxing after school always being so busy. The fair was pretty cool after all, to me – I hope you enjoyed it too. Sorry I didn’t catch you before we left school.

Lots of love,

Jessica.


She thought it might all be a bit much, but she had had Sadie on her mind a lot since leaving school; the younger girl had seemed down at the end of the year. Normally, Jessica would have invited her over for a girls’ spa night thing, but the end of the year was so hectic….

Last but not least, she started trying to write quick hey-good-summer notes to the Deutschestent girls, along with more Miss Arvale samples and some lip glosses. ‘Trying’ was the operative word, as her written German – while significantly better than her spoken version – was stilted at best, and though she could think of how to say that she had gone swimming every day and that she enjoyed swimming, her independent study program had been strangely devoid so far of words about cosmetics. She was pretty sure that Hilda and Johana Leonie were going to find her grammar hilarious when she tried to explain what the gifts were, worked out as it was with the help of a dictionary, but it would have to do.
Subthreads:
16 Jessica Hayles A Thousand Words (technically, 1057) (Felipe, Sadie, German Tent Girls) 1442 1 5

Felipe De Matteo

October 03, 2020 10:08 PM
Felipe was younger than most of his class because his birthday was in the summer. For most of his time at Sonora, that hadn't bothered him; it meant he got to spend his birthday at home, with his family and his people. This year, however, his birthday was practically a day of mourning.

Leonor spent most of her time either studying or off in town, which was a big improvement and one that made the patriarch and matriarch of the De Matteo family smile at each other with knowing pleasure at their little heiress' success, and Felipe spent most of his time trying to avoid feeling like a leper. He was pretty sure he hadn't caught a plague at any point, but you wouldn't know that from talking to his family.

They had refused summer care from Dr. Greene, who had been generally satisfied enough with Felipe's state of being that she hadn't pushed the matter too much. She had, however, insisted that she be able to correspond some with the family to ensure that certain measures of safety were taken and to make sure they weren't about to push him right back over the edge. Those things had been very amicably agreed to right until the conversation was over, and then Felipe's parents proceeded the way they would have if they had never had that conversation at all. It wasn't as bad as some people's parents would have been, Felipe was aware, and he knew it mostly came from a place of confusion and hurt, but it still sucked. He wasn't sure how to deal with his mom suddenly not wanting to chat with him about his day, or with his dad suddenly not wanting to go on walks, or with his food suddenly being brought to him for most meals instead of him being summoned for meals with the family. He understood; it was easier to act as though he was just very sick or act as if he weren't there at all than it was to act as if what had happened had happened. It made for a terribly un-exciting birthday, and it was the first one he sincerely wished he'd have been able to spend at school.

Most of his time was occupied with exchanging letters with Zara, and they were able to spend some time together, although her parents had more concerns than did his own. And when he received a letter from Jessica, Felipe couldn't help smiling. It was nice to hear from a friend and it was nice to have something new and it was nice just to have something to focus on for a while. It was a kind letter too, if a bit stiff; things were not back to normal, much as they'd predicted they wouldn't be, but they were improving. In this case, her note also made him laugh, because the idea of a jet - a thing he only vaguely knew about anyway - arriving in Ciudad de Matteo to drop off Jessica Hayles was hilarious.

Since she had gone with Spanish, he considered doing the same. However, she'd gone with his language so it only seemed polite to go with hers. Besides, her Spanish was good but his English was better.

Dear Jessica,

I'm glad you were able to see the wisteria. I've spent more time in the gardens this year than I have any other year previously and I still can't say I'm sick of it. I think that I'd enjoy being a botanist or some such if I can pass my exams in the coming years. To make a garden grow, to watch flowers blossom and know you had something to do with it, seems like the best thing. Of course, you like the flowers, and I like the other little shrubberies and grasses and plants. Perhaps a combination is the best for any garden.

It's sweet of you to offer, but I think a jet would probably not be the best choice (that's the large metal flying apparatus that uses combustion to propel itself, correct?) although it would be funny to see Leonor's face when you landed. I'd suggest a dragon might be the most fun, but that's unlikely.

If you'll have me, I'll take a rain check on that hug.

Counting down the days,

Felipe


It was easy to ignore what she was really asking about and to just write back to what he wanted to. That was the nice thing about letters and he thought about it as he addressed the envelope and carried it to the owlery. The owls hooted and nuzzled at him lovingly, recognizing the young man who had once been the young boy who came in just to give them snacks and try to mimic their hooting. He'd been much more carefree then, although he'd still carried the weight of a metaphorical crown. He'd never really been carefree all the way, except when he was with Zara. Caring about her was easy. He wanted to wrap her up and make everything good for her, which was the primary reason he was working so hard on getting better; for her, he wanted to be good. But for Jessica, he wanted to be good in a different way. He wanted to laugh and play and joke and not think about whether or not he was okay or whether or not he needed help. For today, he would be okay. He would have to be okay. And he would keep doing that everyday until he believed it. As he watched a massive barn owl with a perfectly white face carry his letter towards Georgia, he hoped maybe that would happen sooner rather than later.
22 Felipe De Matteo A Picture 1434 0 5

Jessica Hayles

October 07, 2020 3:49 PM
Jessica tried not to consciously think about it in the days between when she sent her letter to Felipe and when he replied, but she couldn’t deny a flash of relief when she recognized the handwriting on a letter she received as his. He had seemed to be doing…okay, by the end of the year, but how was one to be sure? How could she know that something wouldn’t happen that would tip him back into bad shape?

The answer, of course, was that she couldn’t. This, like almost everything else in the world, was outside her sphere of control. She did not like how many things were not within her ability to even influence, much less actively control. It would be so much better if she could just wave her wand and….

Well, she couldn’t, so there was no reason to think about it. Instead, she opened the letter and read it before getting supplies to reply with. The words came more smoothly this time, both from the relief that he was, well, alive, and the relief that she was not overstepping some invisible line that hadn’t broken back down yet by communicating over the summer at all.

Dear Felipe,

I agree that gardens do best with a mix of plants. Some can be very beautiful in their own way without flowers. I love the old trees here in Atlanta – the city was almost built around them; we have way more trees than most major cities in this country – and the places where you see rosemary shrubs, and fern-beds and things. Though mostly our garden is roses, because as noted before, my father is a dork. I’ll try to take some pictures, though fair warning, I never took any classes in photography, so I don’t know how good they’ll be. I’ll look up some tutorials first.

You’ve got the gist of what a jet is, yeah. I’ll look for a picture of that too, I think there might be one on the website somewhere. We’d probably have to land it at the nearest airstrip and then hire someone local to drive us most of the way (since I’m pretty sure neither Daddy nor Robert is allowed to drive in Mexico). A dragon might be fun, if I could be temporarily fireproof, and would definitely put some looks on faces, but I don’t think I’m going to have luck finding one (or becoming fireproof). Do we even have dragons in the Americas? Have you ever seen a dragon anywhere in real life?

Rain check formally issued.
(Jessica took a moment to doodle the basic lines of a check on another bit of paper, then filled it out with details appropriate to the joke.) Looking forward to it.

Jessica.
16 Jessica Hayles Multiple Pictures (plus a doodle) 1442 0 5