[November 19th] [The Rockford Files-related] Chronicles of a Friendship, 19

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Title: Chronicles of a Friendship, scene 19
Day/Theme: November 19th - The World Ends With You
Series: The Rockford Files (using characters from The Queen of Peru episode)
Character/Pairing: Ginger Townsend, Lou Trevino, Mr. and Mrs. Townsend, an unnamed angel
Rating: PG-13/T

Stand-alone piece. Whew, I'm just barely making it in. It was mostly written days ago, but I've been having trouble deciding that it's done and adding more!


By Lucky_Ladybug

Lou knew that Ginger felt that Lou was the singular most important person in his life. And he knew that Ginger would be irreparably shattered if Lou died. Oh, Ginger would gather himself together and go on with his life, but he would never be the same.

Lou feared death because of that, and also because of Mike and the rest of his family. They would be crushed too. And of course, he just plain didn’t want to die. He still had things he wanted to do. He wanted to live and be with everyone he loved.

He couldn’t bear to think of Ginger dying, either. But something had certainly gone amiss. Ginger was lying in his arms, his breathing pained and growing shallow and weak. He had been growing increasingly ill over the past few days, until it had culminated in this collapse. And from what they had been experiencing and discovering, it was not a normal illness or collapse.

On the New York hotel floor near them was the cursed amethyst that a fleeing thief had slipped into their luggage. Ginger had found it and that had been the beginning of his illness. Although he didn’t want to believe there was a connection, the ominous inscription upon it seemed to indicate otherwise.

Today he had been looking at it again, desperately trying to further read the inscription upon it in the hopes that something there would give a clue as to how to mend the mysterious sickness that had been brought on him.

It did not. Instead, touching it that time had seemed to accelerate his illness and the collapse. And eerily, the further Ginger slipped away, the more the hotel room no longer looked like a hotel room.

“What the blazes . . . is it just my twisted perception of the room, or are we on a strange rock, surrounded by lava while a volcano spits up in the distance?”

Lou held Ginger close to him. “That’s what it looks like to me, too,” he exclaimed. “I don’t know what’s happening to you or the room or why any of it’s happening! And I don’t know how to fix it. Dear God, I don’t know how to fix it.” His voice cracked.

“The amethyst contained that cryptic inscription about bringing death to anyone handling it who has stolen in their lifetime,” Ginger gasped. “I suppose that means, by its standards, that I am to perish. And unfortunately, it looks like it’s not just a children’s fairytale. Don’t touch it, Lou. Whatever else you do, don’t touch it.”

“I don’t even see it!” Lou exclaimed. “I think it sank into the lava. Oh, what am I talking about?!” he wailed. “This has to be some creepy hallucination. We’re in the middle of a hotel in New York City!”

He looked down at Ginger. His best friend definitely seemed to be slipping away. His body was growing limp and his eyelids heavy. He blinked rapidly, trying to keep his eyes open, but he was beginning to fail.

Lou reached out, gently brushing the hair away from Ginger’s clouded blue eyes. “Ginger, please, you’ve gotta hold on,” he begged. “It’s going to be okay. There has to be a way to save you. I can’t believe that some old curse would really have a hold on you now. It’s the 21st Century! More than that, you’ve tried to turn your life around. Okay, maybe you still kind of want to steal jewels, but you’ve already made up your mind that you’re not going to. That has to count for something.”

“Those ancient laws and curses were usually quite strict,” Ginger said bitterly. “They wouldn’t be fair or just by modern standards. And I doubt that a rock would be capable of discriminating between current and former thieves.” He slumped further against Lou.

Panicked, Lou reached and unclasped the medallion from around his neck and tried to press it into Ginger’s hand. “Here, Ginger. Take this.”

Ginger weakly closed his fingers over it. “You know I don’t really believe in religious relics,” he mumbled.

“I know you don’t, but we’re being forced to believe that this rock has some kind of awful power. And if something can curse you, I say something else should able to bless you,” Lou replied.

“True. But would I be worthy of such a blessing?” Ginger wondered. “Perhaps the punishment would be considered what was coming to me.”

“I don’t believe that,” Lou insisted. “You paid for what you did. And we’ve been spared so many times . . . too many for it to be coincidence. You believe that part yourself.”

Ginger didn’t respond. Lou could tell he was fading. Frantic, Lou held him as though he could stop Death itself from swinging its scythe.

“Oh God, this isn’t right,” he prayed in desperation. “Ginger doesn’t deserve this. Please . . . stop this or tell me what to do to stop it. Please!”

“I’m sorry you . . . have to see this,” Ginger whispered. “I wonder which is worse—to see someone die and be unable to stop it, or to find them later, already dead.”

“All of it’s horrible!” Lou shot back. “But I think . . .” He swallowed hard. “I think I’d rather be there even if I couldn’t help, instead of just finding someone later and wondering if I could have helped had I been there.”

“Then perhaps it isn’t too selfish for me to be glad you’re here,” Ginger said. “I didn’t want to die alone.”

“You’re not dying!” Lou cried. “You’re not.”

“My body is certainly doing a good imitation of it.”

Ginger groaned, abruptly falling completely limp. The medallion slipped from his fingers and onto the rock.

Lou went sheet-white. “Ginger?! Ginger, no. Wake up. Please wake up.” He laid Ginger on the rough, bumpy rock and bent over him, seeking a pulse or the feel of breath. At last finding a weakening heartbeat, he began to deliver artificial respiration, praying to strengthen Ginger’s desperate last grip on life. Ginger was not getting better. But he was not getting worse, either. He was still alive as the minutes ticked by.

“Lou? You truly love our son.”

He looked up with a start at the ethereal voice, tinged with a British accent. He had heard it occasionally in the past, before it had been silenced in the mortal world. “Mrs. Townsend?”

“We’re both here, Lad.”

Lou swallowed hard, bowled over to be hearing Ginger’s parents speaking to him from beyond the grave. “You both know how much Ginger means to me,” he said in grief and earnestness. “And I know how much you must miss him, but . . . surely this isn’t how and when he’s supposed to go. Is it?!”

“No, not at all. He’ll live, by his efforts and yours as well.”

“The inscription on the amethyst isn’t a binding curse. Those worthy of another chance will be spared.”

“Yeah? Well, how does it know who should get another chance?” Lou frowned. “It’s just a rock!”

“It’s God who chooses, not the rock.” Mrs. Townsend paused. “I’m so glad Ginger has you, Lou. He never had a close friend before. Certainly never one as loyal and true as you are.”

“Tell him we said Hello, won’t you?” Mr. Townsend added. “We’re always about, watching over the both of you.”

“I’ll tell him,” Lou said quietly.

It was strange, how the scene suddenly became dual. Lou knew he was resuming the artificial respiration. And yet at the same time, he was staring off into the distance and witnessing Ginger standing before an unseen figure, being thoroughly questioned about his thievery and other crimes as well as his attitudes on such and on humanity. Ginger was dignified and sobered in his responses, but he was becoming angry the longer it dragged on.

“What is the purpose of all this?” he snapped at last, after admitting to his distrust of most people. “Surely you know what I am . . . what I’ve done.”

“I am not God,” was the reply. “And I have been charged with questioning you because you touched the amethyst.”

“That wasn’t my fault!” Ginger snarled. “Someone planted it in my valise. That person is the one who stole it. What would you expect someone to do if he suddenly discovers a priceless jewel among his belongings that he cannot identify? Simply leave it there?!”

“If it comes to what I would expect, that would be for the person discovering it to try to sell it, if they were an international jewel thief, as you were.”

“I am not any more,” Ginger retorted.

“But you have admitted you still wish you were stealing jewels.”

“Sometimes, yes. I’m not perfect. I enjoyed the challenge of strategizing, the victory of knocking off jewels, and the profits from passing them along to interested buyers. But I will not return to that life.”

“Only because you don’t want to be arrested and thrown into prison again, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s also because Lou has changed for the sake of changing, not for fear of retribution, and I will not ruin that for him.” Ginger narrowed his eyes.

“Then it all comes down to Lou. What if you were alone? What if Lou was dead?”

“I can’t fully say what I would do. How could I know when that treacherous situation isn’t upon me?”

“You would return to your criminal desires, wouldn’t you?”

Ginger hesitated for a long moment. “No,” he finally said. “I don’t think I would. Lou wouldn’t want that for me. I would try to find another way.”

Lou managed a quiet smile. They had never talked about it, but Ginger was right about how Lou would feel in such a scenario. And Lou believed that Ginger really would stay on the strait and narrow, no matter what happened in the future.

“Why do you care so deeply about that man?”

Ginger considered the query before answering. In the past, he had said that he was not sure how he had first come to like Lou. But even if he was still puzzled about that, he was not puzzled anymore about his feelings in the present day.

“Because he cares about me unconditionally. Because he’s intelligent and good to talk with. Because he’s never tried to change me, only to accept me. And because that is the way he will always stay. He will never turn against me or betray me.”

“Then you have a gift that many people don’t find.”

“I am very aware of that. So will you let this adults’ version of Twenty Questions come to an end and allow me to go back now?”

“Yes, go back. Don’t worry about the amethyst; you will not be troubled about it any longer.”

“I would hope not.”

“Your friend, by the way, has been working feverishly all this time to keep you alive.”

“Of course he has. He won’t give up on me.”

“Perhaps someday, his influence will extend to causing you to want to change for the sake of changing instead of for your current reasons.”

“I don’t deny that’s possible.”

“He is also more hopeful about the good in humanity than you are. He may pass some of that on to you as well.”

“If anyone could alter my misanthropic attitude, it is he.”

And just as suddenly as the scene had been there, it was gone. There were only Lou’s continuing, frantic, yet almost mechanical attempts at artificial respiration, still with no reaction. But Lou could still feel the weak pulse in Ginger’s wrist.

“Come on, Buddy,” he pleaded. “The judgment’s over. Come back.”

At last Ginger coughed, his eyes fluttering open.

Lou leaned back to give him space. “Ginger?” he said hopefully.

Ginger squinted up at him. “Lou?” He coughed again. “I’m still alive?”

“Yeah.” Lou smiled, reaching to help Ginger sit up.

“I heard a voice and was asked some odd questions,” Ginger frowned, “about stealing jewels and other crimes I may or may not have committed. I thought at first that I was being condemned.”

“You passed,” Lou said firmly. “It was fair after all.”

Ginger reached and picked up the fallen medallion. “Perhaps this did do some good.”

Lou took it and replaced it around his neck. “God was looking out for you,” he agreed, “but I think it was mainly the person you are that saved you.”

Ginger frowned. “If I was still a thief, I would have died?”

Lou paused. “I don’t think so,” he mused. “Not from what I heard. If you were still a thief, it’d just mean your change of heart was still down the road. You’d still be deserving of another chance.”

“That’s an interesting way to look at it, anyway,” Ginger grunted.

“Makes sense to me. And it only seems fair. But Ginger, how are you feeling?” Lou asked in concern.

“Not bad,” Ginger mused. “Yes, the sickness is gone.”

“Great! And so’s the rock and the volcano and the amethyst,” Lou said in relief as the scene faded, leaving them back in the hotel room.

“Good riddance to them,” Ginger growled.

“And welcome back to you,” Lou added, quietly but joyfully.

Ginger looked to him. “Yes,” he mused. “Welcome back . . . to both of us. I sensed you were there.”

“I was, but I don’t know how,” Lou admitted. “And right before that happened, I heard your parents talking to me. They said Hello and that they’re always watching over both of us.”

Surprise flickered in Ginger’s eyes. “Well,” he said, trying to recover from the shock, “they always did like you.”

“They’re good people,” Lou said.

Ginger nodded. “They are.

“And now that I’m feeling quite recovered, I suppose we had best get down to that meeting and apologize for keeping everyone waiting.” He reached for the edge of the mattress and began to pull himself up.

Lou rose too. “You’re sure you feel up to it?”

“Yes,” Ginger assured him. “I’m completely well.”

“But even when you weren’t, you figured we’d have to keep the meeting somehow,” Lou pointed out.

Ginger grunted. “Actually, right before my collapse I was considering either telling you to go on alone or requesting we postpone it for a few hours. I knew I was in no condition to attend a meeting.”

Lou relaxed. “You sure weren’t.” Encouraged that Ginger really was feeling better, he straightened his tie and coat and headed for the door.

Grabbing up his heavy overcoat, Ginger followed.

Lou waited for him to catch up before stepping into the hall.

Ginger looked to him as they walked. “You know, perhaps it was actually you what saved me, really, instead of anything I did,” he remarked. “The bloke questioning me was very interested in what you’ve done for me and how you’ve been changing my outlook on life.”

Lou looked back. “From what your parents said, it was the both of us together that saved you,” he said. “And the fact that I could even have any influence on you for good, I think that’s where God came in. That, and the fact that the questioning seemed to be fair when we thought it wouldn’t be.”

Ginger thought about that. “That makes sense, I suppose.”

“There’s a scripture that says the worth of souls is great in the sight of God,” Lou said.

Ginger pressed the elevator button. “And if it’s my soul we’re talking about, that proves it must certainly be true,” he remarked.

Lou shook his head. “One of these days, I hope I’ll be able to convince you that you’re better than you think you are.”

They stepped into the elevator. As the doors closed, Ginger looked to Lou. “Perhaps you will,” he acknowledged.