July Apple Pies

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The Crawleys were one of the few very-important-families of Pallow City. After all, Mr. Crawley was–and had been for years–the Mayor of Pallow. His wife, Janette Crawley, was both the epitome of beauty–in other words, she had been a former Victoria’s Secret Angel­–and of selflessness. She was Pallow’s own Lady Diana. While her husband worked tirelessly fixing streets and building bridges, Mrs. Crawley spent her free time organizing fund raising events and charity balls, which were often attended by many of the worlds’ most iconic personalities.

     This year, however, the Crawleys had decided to keep their Forth of July celebration in a less elaborate and extravagant scale. Instead of their usual hundreds of guests, only ninety-six people where invited, all of them close members of the family. Or as close as a crowd of almost a hundred people could be.

     The reason the Scaffolds where in the carefully constructed and handpicked guest list was that, a long time ago, Mr. Crawley and Mr. Scaffold had been friends.

     In elementary school, Nora had been in the same class the Crawleys’ son had been in. It had been during their children’s school Father’s Day celebration that both parents met. Not long after, the few things they had in common led them to a strong friendship–which was based mostly upon golf. It was a happy friendship, but a short one at that, since it only lasted until Mr. Crawley was elected Mayor and his free–golfing–time had been significantly reduced.

     Even if they hadn’t spoken in years like actual friends, Mr. Crawley and Mr. Scaffold had had a few pleasant conversations since the former had become Mayor. And that seemed enough incentive to consider the Scaffolds close friends. Or maybe it was because Mr. Scaffold’s advertising company had grown quite a lot in the last few years, and election–or reelection–time was coming up soon. Either way, the Scaffolds had been invited to what would probably be one of the best parties in Pallow that year. They didn’t care about the reason why.

     “Okay,” Mr. Scaffold said as he turned to look back at his kids. They where almost on Crawley territory and he was taking advantage of a red light to speak to his children making serious eye contact. “This is a very important day, loves. If things go right, I could get an advertising deal that could lead to many other important deals that could put the three of you through college.”

     “You do remember Mimi and I are still in elementary school, right?” Dun said.

     The light turned green. Mr. Scaffold sat back and began driving again.

     “Yeah, well. With the way you talk I would expect you to be at least getting your Masters Degree, so,” Mr. Scaffold replied as he sat back and stepped on the gas pedal.

     “So?” Dun asked, eyebrows furrowed.

     “So, what, hun?” Mrs. Scaffold asked, looking back at her son through the side mirror.

     “Dad said ‘so’. Sentences are not supposed to end like that. It’s wrong.”

     Mrs. Scaffold shook her head lightly. “Do you have some type of Asperger’s Syndrome, hun?”

     “Yes, mom,” Dun replied, smiling.

     “That’s lame,” she joked back.

     Nora shook her head. “This would be alarming to anyone outside our family,” she said.

     “Nah. They’d know we are joking. They always do,” Mrs. Scaffold replied.

     “Don’t be so sure, love,” Mr. Scaffold said. “The other day this man on the supermarket line asked Mimi if she wanted to call Child Protective Services because we were kidding like that.”