The Covington Family – In Pursuit of Happiness

©Natalie Keshing
Editor-in-Chief
http://www.natswritings.com
About Natalie Keshing

Miranda, Was The Glue
The Adviser
The Seasoned Negotiator
By Far The Passionate One

Until Aubrey Came
Then She Was Undeniable
The Fast One
She Could Read A Paragraph
Close The Book And Recited
Almost Word For Word
Aubrey Negotiated For Us
To Have More Fun

“Mother Watched Aubrey
With A Careful Eye
When Aubrey Had
Convinced Herself
That She Was
In Love At Sixteen
An Argument Ensued.
Oh It Was Bad…
“The Argument”

Mother Said,
“What Do You Think
Your Father
Fell In Love With First?
It Was My Mind
All The Other Stuff Was
An Added Bonus.”

“Girls, Your Mind Needs To Grow;
Especially Mature.
Your Schooling and Intelligence
Will Take You The Farthest
In This World.
This Is The Way
You Survive In The
“Real World”.
And…
Mother Said, To
Aubrey and I Suppose Me
“We Can’t Always Think
In Terms Of Being In Love
If We Did, Nothing Would
Get Accomplished.”
Well, That Did Make
A Lot Of Sense To Me.

Mother Was Also
The Disciplinary One.
As You Probably Guessed.
If We Tried To Be Smarter
Than Her. Which Was Often.
As We Grew And Wanted
To Establish Our Own Identity;
A Single Entity,
And Not An Appendage.
Aubrey Would Grab
My Hand And Say,
“There’s Another Way
To Handle This.”
Then We Would Go To
Father And Ask.
His Response And
Answer Was
“I Stand By Your Mother’s Word.”

Then Aubrey Would Say,
“Yes, Well That’s
All Well And Good.
We Are Asking For
Your Opinion, Father.
You Do Have An Opinion,
Don’t You Father?

Father asked introspectively, His Eyes Brows Coming Closer Together, And Aubrey Smiling at me. 
“What Is It You’re Asking Girls?”
“Natalie and I Have
Been Invited To
A Slumber Party
At One Of Our
Dear Friends Homes.
It’s Karen.
You Remember Father,
Dropping Us Off At School
You Met Karen.”

“Yes, A Friendly Girl.” father said.

“But Natalie and I Can’t Get
A Word In Edge Wise
Without Mother
Vetoing And Saying
This Is Not Open
For Discussion.”

“Father There Is
Some Leverage
Here To Discuss
With Mother.
Remember When
Mother Said,
“They’ll Not Learn A Thing
If You Choose
To Shelter Them.”
Well, This Is The
Appropriate Time
To Bring This Up
With Mother.”

“Yes, You’re exactly right Girls, I will go speak
With Your Mother Now.”

Aubrey grabbed me by the hand and said,
“Hurry, Lets Go Pack Our Night Bags.”

Mother Knocks
At Our Door,
And Enters With
The Great News
“Your Father and I
Have Discussed
Your Request
To Sleep At Emily’s Home.
We Will Take
You There And We Wish
To Introduce Ourselves
To Emily’s Parents.
If I Feel You
Shouldn’t Stay
That Will Be My Final Word.
Do You Understand Me?”

We Smiled And Nodded.

On Our Way
Cozy And Warm
In The Car.
Mother Said,
“One Of You Shows
Great Talent
To Be A Lawyer
In Negotiations.”
Aubrey Looked
At Me And Smiled.

Aubrey And I
Loved Our Parents
A Great Deal. And There
Wasn’t A Dull Moment
In Our Family. Mother
Made Sure Of That.

On Holiday In The Suite
Aubrey and I Were Playing
An Intense Game Of Chess.
The Ocean Was Beautiful and Humming In The Background.
Mother Said,
“Your Father And I Need A Nap.”
Aubrey Blurted Out,
“It’s Not A Nap
It’s Doing The Passion Thing.”
“Mother Ignored The
Comment and Left
Humming To Her Yourself.”

“You See Natalie
That’s The Proof
When She’s Humming.”

That Reminded Me
Mother Usually Came In
Humming For Breakfast.
Aubrey Would Ask
To Earn Her Kudos with Mother
“Did You Sleep Well Mother?”

“Completely and Utterly Fantastic.” mother replied.

Other Times
Coming Into The Kitchen
On a Normal Day
Mother, Looking Like The Host Of A Party
Mother Said To Us,
“Girls, I’m Inspired Till My Bones Decay.”

Mother Had Dreamed
Of Becoming A Writer.
And So She Became One
Under Her Alias.
Of Course
She Thought Long
And Hard Before
She Chose The
Name She Felt
Was The Most
Appealing and Gave Her Readers
A Hint of Who She Was
“Eve Nightingale”

I Said, To Mother and Aubrey
“Mother That’s A Fantastic Name.”
First, Eve Represents
The Name Of The First Woman
To Cast Her Temptations
To Catch A Man.” Aubrey looked at me surprised.

Mother Said, “And Not Just Any Man
Mind You.”

“Then The Second Name
Comes From A Migratory Bird
In The Thrush Family,
Luscinia Megarhynchos
Of Europe,
Noted For The Melodious
Song Of The Male.
Primarily, Sung At Night.
During The Breeding Season
“Adam Calling Eve” “

“Exactly My Darlings,
I Want To Write About Love.”

That Certain Love
That Is Found And Fulfills
Something Deep Within You.
More Than An Itch To Scratch.
More Than A Conquest To Conquer.
More Than One Night
Of Empty Passion. 
And so on and so on and so forth…..
“Girls, These Our My First Words
That Lead To This Kind Of Love.
These Are Excerpts I Shall
Share With You Now.”

“I’ll Not Go To The Clearing
If You Can’t Promise Me
You’ll Be There.
Yes, I Know It Isn’t Easy For You
As It Isn’t For Me.”

“We Set Sail
Our Love
Without Meaning To.
Waves Of Desire
Came Over Me.
To Hold You,
To Be With You.
A Winds Shift
Of Emotions
Took Over Me
And Now I Am Yours.”

“He Came,
Just As I Asked.
Gliding Towards Me
In The Chariot With The Sun
Shining On His Face,
His Hair, His Lips
I Had Only Tasted Once
But I Knew.”

“Were We Destined.
Was It Fate?
Was It The Gods?
Who Brought Us Together
And Now It’s Practically
Impossible To Relinquish
And Deny Our Love
For Each Other.”

“Complimenting Each Other
He She
She Him
Intellectually Compatible,
Passionately Irresistible,
Compassionately Giving,
Time, Happily Going By…”
~ Eve Nightingale

“Shimmering Moments
Keep Us Wanting More
A Kiss, A Night,
The Moon, The Stars,
A Heart, A Poem, A Book,
A Mind Causing
A Dizzying Succession
Of Deep Feeling Wanting More.”

Good Night
And Marvel
In The Presence Of Everything…Natalie