Honeycomb Hearts

A Few Wires Short of a Circuit

Once again, Yang found herself sitting on the porch, a trowel and a cheesy romance novel flanking her. If it were not for the birds chirping nearby, the silence would be suffocating. Sighing, she picked up the novel and skimmed the back. "No synopsis, of course. Gotta have the 'raving reviews' in plain sight nowadays." She opened the front cover and began to read:

"A few weeks before Christmas, professional writer Blaine Bellenus heads out to do some shopping, before she stumbles upon a homeless person in dire need of help. She offers the homeless person a place to stay, and learns her name is -"

"Helloooooo!"

Jolting Yang from the cover and nearly causing her to drop the book in the dirt for a second time, a cheery voice sang from the direction of the town. Yang turned to see a short girl with even shorter orange hair. A toolbox jangled on her belt, immediately catching Yang's attention – for how tired she was, it seemed she couldn't stop finding new things to pay attention to.

"You must be Yang, right?" I'm Nora, nice to meet you!" Nora extended her hand warmly, closing the distance between the two before Yang could even respond.

Yang took the girl's hand and shook it weakly. "Yeah, nice to meet you. I assume you're the Nora I heard about from the Belladonnas?"

"The one and only! Ruby asked me to come over here and look at the circuits – she wasn't so sure about the electricity running to here after its been abandoned for basically decades." Nora began to ramble, "Ya know I never met Papa Branwen, but I heard he was a really cool guy. Always had stories to tell of his youth. I wonder if he even used the electricity here, I heard he used to be a real outdoorsman."

"For never meeting him, you sure know a lot about him." Yang remarked, "Was he that popular?"

"Well... It was that and the fact that nobody's really moved in or out of this place in what seems like forever. I mean Ren and I were the last arrivals before you and Ruby came, and that was almost ten years ago!"

"Ten years? How old are you? You look about my age!" Yang tilted her head, "Or maybe not – is that a gray hair I see?"

"AAH! Where?" Nora squealed. She began to slap at her head, pulling forward every hair that she'd be able to see. "I can't be having gray hairs at twenty-six!"

"Wait, you moved here at sixteen?"

"Yeah – here, I'll tell you the story while I check the circuits, deal?" Nora began to ascend the stairs, waving at Yang as if she'd need permission to enter her own home. As soon as the two entered, Nora immediately drew breath and winced. "I already see an open wire – if Ruby has plugged anything into this socket the whole house may have burned down."

With wide eyes, Yang was speechless. However, she didn't need to speak, since Nora immediately switched gears back to her cheery self. "So a bit of backstory, my mom was an electrical engineer, and by dad was a pastry chef. That's how I know so much about this without going to college, my mom showed me everything she knew. They met one day on a job at my dad's café, and, as everyone says when they hear the story, the love at first sight was electrifying."

"Pretty shocking." Yang smirked, "So was your dad in... charge of the business?"

"Ooh that's a new one! Nah, my dad was a cashier at that age, but now he owns the place with my mom. Anyways, that's kind of how I met Ren as well. He got fired from his job as a chef since he couldn't communicate well with the other cooks, being too quiet and all. Meanwhile I was in a major rebellious phase and had just run away from home, and was running across some telephone wires."

"You mean those things that line the side of the road? Aren't those dangerous?"

"I had rubber gloves and shoes, I was fine. Mostly, until the rubber made me slip and I fell. Luckily my fear of impending demise made me scream, and Ren caught me romantically and perfectly with his head and back, and we ended up as a pretzel on the sidewalk. Maybe it was the rebellious phase or maybe it's just that he's the perfect man, but I fell in love instantly."

Yang pulled a chair from the table underneath Nora and spun it around, leaning on its back. "So, did Ren feel the same?"

"Not at that point," Nora said, pulling a pair of wire cutters from her toolbox, "He fainted shortly after, so I don't know how much of me he actually saw. But after he came to, I learned he was basically homeless without his job, and I needed a break from my boring life, so one thing lead to another and we moved to Apis Mellifera!"

"That's kind of a big jump. Glad to see you two are still together though."

"Oh no, Ren and I divorced years ago. Turns out he was a raging alcoholic."

Yang's eyes widened, and fell to the floor. "I'm... sorry to hear that. I had no idea."

Nora jumped onto the floor, shocking Yang's eyes back up to her smile. "Just joking! Ren and I got married a few years back and we've never gotten along better. Sure, we have disagreements now and again, but it's mostly about what ingredients to put in the pancakes, or me re-wiring the toaster for the seventh time."

"So, normal relationship stuff." Yang's smile returned, "So how are the wires?"

Nora sighed, planting her hands firmly on her hips. "Well everything's fine now, but some of the wires were slipping out of their coating somehow. I taped them together though so it should hold for a good few years minimum. If you need I can make a more permanent fix."

"That should be fine for now. Thanks Nora." Yang offered her hand and helped Nora down from the table. "So, how much do I owe you for fixing this?"

Nora scratched her chin, eyes drifting out the window behind Yang. "Let's call it fifty-five thousand lien. That tape was gold-plated." Before Yang's jaw even hit the floor, she began to laugh again. "I got you again! How about you just come have dinner with us tonight – I invited Ruby, so it'll be all four of us – maybe more if Coco and Velvet decide to come over."

Drawing a seep sigh, Yang nodded her head. "On one condition – no more heart attacks like that. I hardly have a thousand lien to my name after this whole moving ordeal."

"Sounds good!" Nora and Yang shook hands, both slightly surprised at the other's grip strength. The two met eyes and nodded, a silent resolution of respect. "See you tonight Yang! I may take cash or credit, but I do NOT take rain checks!"

With a wave, Nora was gone and the door was closed. Yang slumped down onto the couch, letting her eyes rest for the first time that whole day. However, though she wished to just rest her mind and body, Nora's words stuck out to her. She had fallen on Ren, and Ren had failed to catch her – then they ended up together soon after. The events of the morning played through Yang's mind – offering to catch Blake, miserably failing, but what stuck in Yang's head was how beautiful Blake looked with the sun shining behind her, her long, black hair draped over her and shining in the sunlight.

"Damn it..."