Chapter 19: Missing Something

Calvin sat on the thin wooden rocking chair, reading Godel, Escher, Bach, and trying to ignore Alexandria, who was putting her clothes away angrily.

When they had arrived at the cabin, Alexander had put his things in one of the two bedrooms. Alexandria had started to put her things there as well, before Miranda started to throw a fit, quite uncharacteristically, Calvin thought. She had complained that, if the twins were to share a room, then she would have to share with Calvin, which wouldn't work at all, as they didn't know each other well.

That made sense.

She then had said that she would share with Alexander, and Alexandria would share with Calvin. But then Alexandria had complained that she didn't want to share with Calvin, because their relationship wasn't like that, and she didn't want to cause scandal.

That made sense.

Alexander had wearily suggested that he would just share with Calvin, and the girls could room together, before both girls turned on him and said they would do no such thing. Neither of the men had predicted how much the two girls did not get along.

So that put the group in the somewhat impossible situation where no room combination would be pleasing for everyone.

Calvin had offered to sleep on the threadbare couch in the fireplace room, but Alexandria said that was ridiculous, and had finally agreed to go with Miranda's plan, and room with Calvin after all. Which she obviously wasn't happy about, as she was throwing her clothes in the rickety dresser with a not inconsiderable amount of force.

“Are you sure you don't want me to sleep on the couch? I really don't mind.” Calvin tried again. It was a little frustrating how irrational everyone was being about all this.

“No, Cal, it's fine,” she said.

Calvin tried to figure this out. If it's fine, why was she so angry? And if this room sharing was really the problem, why would she turn down such a simple solution? So she must be angry at something, or someone, else, and was just using this as an excuse. If that's the case, then she was unhappy at either her brother and Miranda. Or both.

But in previous situations, she would usually contradict herself, if he gave her enough time. He waited.

She finished hanging up her winter coat, and turned around. “Actually,” she said, “it's not.”

As usual. Calvin thought back to some of his conversations with Alexander, when they were preparing for Theresa's dinner party game.

After they had figured out a couple story related items, Alexander and Calvin had resumed their discussion about the 'book' of human interaction and stories.

“The classic example of this 'book' is small talk,” Alexander had said. He had picked up the concept of the 'book' quickly, and related it to tropes in literature. He had expanded it to conversation in general. “I know you're not exactly the master at small talk, but let's see if we can complete the pattern.”

Calvin thought back to how happy Alexander had been when discussing these things. Well, not happy, exactly, but certainly more pleasant than he had been in memory.

“Hello,” Alexander had said.

“Hello,” Calvin had replied.

“How are you?”

“Good, thanks.”

Alexander had waited. “You usually would also ask how the other person is doing. Reciprocation is an important part of conversation. But I think you understand my point: in any typical conversation, the first few exchanges are completely mapped out. You can get through an entire conversation by seeking common questions and common rejoinders, and not doing any original thinking whatsoever, and many people actually do this. People get so ingrained in these patterns of talking and thinking; it's impossible to break out. Why do you think people talk so much about the weather, or things like that? Neither party is really interested, but no one wants to go to the trouble of original thought. And this happens all over the place. Watch for it the next time you're in a conversation with someone.”

Alexander had gone on to describe some of the common 'tropes' in human conversation, one of which being the assertion then negation trope that Alexandria was using now. It was fascinating how often Alexander was right about things like this.

“It's just not okay for them to put us in this situation.”

Calvin tried to follow this, too. He felt that he had a good understanding of their relationship: good friends. Nothing more. And if Alexandria felt the same way, sharing a room shouldn't be any problem. That's when he realized that Alexandria probably didn't feel the same way, that there was a good chance that she might want to be more than friends, and that this really could be a problem.

That, or she was just upset about not getting her way, and this was her excuse. It was hard to tell the difference. He stood up.

Alexandria looked up from her work. “Where are you going?”

“You're still fine with rooming with your brother?” he asked.

“Yes, I suppose,” she said. She frowned. “Why?”

“I'm going to ask Alexander if he will room with you, and if Miranda wants to sleep alone; I'll take the couch.”

“That's ridiculous, Cal, you don't have to sleep on the couch. Please don't worry about it.”

Alexandria started to argue again, but Calvin just left the room. There was no point with arguing with someone who didn't know their own mind, or what they wanted.

He knocked on the other bedroom door, and entered.

“Hi, Calvin,” said Miranda. She was sitting on the bed aside Alexander, who was sprawled out on top of it, eyes closed. “What's up?”

“How settled are you two?”

Miranda looked back at Alexander, who appeared to be sleeping.

“Not very,” she said. “I've only unpacked a little, and I don't believe that Al has unpacked at all.”

“Lex is still unhappy about everything,” said Calvin.

“I'm not surprised.”

“Would you be fine with sleeping by yourself, in this room?” Calvin said. “The twins would room together, and I would sleep on the couch.”

“Calvin, don't be silly,” said Miranda. “You don't need to sleep on the couch.”

“You both keep saying that,” said Calvin. “But you don't seem to consider that, regardless of how I feel about it, it would solve both of your problems. And I don't mind in the slightest. I have yet to hear a sensible reason why it won't work.”

Alexander stirred-- or maybe he hadn't really been asleep in the first place. “It's because you're a guest,” he said. “And Lex wants you to have the bed. But she can't sleep on the couch instead because, deep down, she's not happy about us rooming together, not where you sleep.” He got up. “But she can't have everything she wants, Calvin. Tell her that.”

Calvin left. He had no intention of telling her that, obviously. It would create far more problems than it would solve-- actually, it wouldn't solve any problems.

He realized that part of the reason this whole rooming thing was so difficult was hidden preferences, that he just hadn't seen yet. There were probably some preferences that he would never figure out. He went back into Alexandria's room.

“I'm sleeping on the couch,” he said. “The way I see it, you're upset about both rooming pairs, and since I can't do anything about Al and Miranda, I can at least solve our problem.”

Alexandria stood for a second in shock, and then opened her mouth as if she was about to say something. She closed it again, looking stubborn.

Calvin waited for a little longer, and then finally gathered up his bags, and went to the fireplace room. He sat down on the couch. The fireplace was empty and cold. He got up again, and went outside to gather some wood.

The snow came up to the wooden porch, but had not yet encroached upon it. The pine trees swayed gently in the winter winds, but no snow fell. As Calvin looked around for the wood pile, he heard the door open and close behind him.

He turned. Alexandria stood there, her long brown hair blowing over her face in the wind. She was wearing an oversized sweater, but shivered despite it. Her breath lingered frostily in the air.

“I'm sorry for being so difficult, sometimes,” she said quietly.

“It's fine,” Calvin said. It really was, but it was a bit annoying how often people felt like they had to apologize for normal, if irrational, behavior. “You look pretty cold. Perhaps you should go back inside.”

“I am cold,” she said, but didn't move. She looked as if she was expecting something. Calvin couldn't imagine what it was. He went back to looking for the wood pile.

“Moon's pretty tonight.” He heard her talk behind him. “I love a full moon. It's pretty low. I bet it's just above the tops of the mountains.”

Calvin looked up at the mountains. It was too dark to see even the silhouettes of the peaks, but there was a moon there, and it was rather low. But it wasn't full. It was three quarters.

He turned to see Alexandria, who was no longer looking at the moon, but looking at him instead. He pointed up at the moon, wordlessly. It was now only half full. She gasped.

“What's going on?” she said, almost frantically.

“That's no moon,” Calvin said.

They waited, and the glowing orb slowly shrank down to a crescent, and disappeared. Alexandria exhaled. There was no longer any light to see her breath by.

A few seconds later, a slim crescent appeared on the other side of the new 'moon.' It started to grow.

“You're going to want to get Al and Miranda for this,” Calvin said at last.

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