Glitter Years

Haunted Leg

Lorelai, Rory, Anna, and Emily are sitting in the living room of Gilmore Manor. "Well, this is nice, isn't it?" Rory looks around the room. "So, Grandma, Grandpa is traveling again?"

"Yes, he is." Emily nods.

"Business must be good." Rory smiled.

"Seems to be." Emily stares off to the side, refusing to look at the couch because then she would have to see her daughter. Lorelai was looking off the side, refusing to look at her also. Anna sighes, leaning back into the couch not wanting to deal with this childish behavior.

"That's great. Isn't that great, Mom?" Rory tried to get her mom into the conversation.

"A jig is forthcoming." She shakes her legs.

"Mom's business is great, too. I mean, not that it's without its problems, you know, but they're usually funny problems. . .like, um. . .oh! Mom, why don't you tell Grandma about the mouse?" She tried to start a conversation.

"What mouse?" Emily looked alarmed.

"Mom?" Anna knew this wasn't going to be the outcome that Rory wanted, but getting the argument out of the way was the only way to move on from this.

"There's a mouse at the inn." Lorelai reluctantly told her.

"Is the place dirty?" Emily asks with no hesitation.

"No, it's just surrounded by this thing called nature and. . .mice happens." Lorelai sighs.

"Mice carry diseases, you know," Emily told her like it wasn't a common fact.

"It's a tiny little field mouse, Mom," Lorelai said through gritted teeth.

"There is never just one mouse. They are pack animals." Anna had been telling her this.

"Be quiet, you're not helping." Lorelai hissed at her youngest before looking at her mother. "Let's just change the subject, shall we?"

"You should set a trap," Emily advises.

"Got it covered." Lorelai points at her.

"Just make sure you don't use poison," Emily recommends.

"Got it covered." Lorelai sips her wine.

"They will eat the poison and then go into the walls and die, decompose, and the entire place will smell." Emily had a friend who made that mistake.

"I've got it covered, but thanks." Lorelai was trying to get rid of this conversation.

"I just have to say, I don't know why you're the one sitting here with an attitude. I'm the one who should be mad." Emily was tired of dancing around the subject.

"Let's not do this, okay Mom?" Lorelai didn't want to have this argument again.

"After all, you're the one who just walked out of here last week without saying a word." She looked towards the door.

"Because I couldn't get a word in." Lorelai defends herself.

"Your father and I were shocked and upset." Emily felt like they had a right to their emotions.

"So what else is new?" She rolled her eyes.

"You didn't give us five minutes to digest the news." She needed time to process.

"Please, find the off switch." She whispers to her children.

"You simply dumped it on us and walked out. I hardly think that's fair." Emily hated the way her daughter handled conflict with them. She would either blow up or walk away.