Anastasia

Anastasia was sat round a square table in the Carlyle Café with her Grandparents, right next to the stunning grand piano. They had just finished their mains and Anastasia was so pleased that she hadn't spilt any of her tomato pasta sauce down her new dress. It was a long sleeve turquoise green dress that trailed along the floor behind her as she walked, she was very conservative but it did hugged her body to show off her athletic body. She was prim and proper and was brought up with the finer things in life but was not snobby, she appreciated all the things she has in her life. She is awfully grateful to the people that gave her a life, so she didn't have to live in foster care. 

"Joanne what would you like for desert darling" George asked in his charming posh accent. Handing Joan the desert menu. She mused over the list then looked up at her husband, her best friend that had stuck with her even through the terrible years, she had a twinkle in her eye.

"Hummm, well we are on holiday so I could have some chocolate cake" Joanne giggled.

"Grandmother, you cannot honestly be deliberating of consuming that many calories" Anastasia gasped.

"Well you do only live once dear and I am in shape, so I believe I am entitled to a little treat, sweet" Joanne retorted.

"Well, when you conjecture like that, I sound like a appalling Granddaughter" Anastasia remarked.

"I apologise dearest, but what is life without a little fun. Please dear be adventurous and a bit more unreserved. For example you could except that invitation to the Summer Ball hosted by Lord and Lady Vermont, it does say plus two, you could take some chums from school. I am sure they would adore that" Joanne inquired.

Anastasia grew quiet, her shoulders were slouched in a very unlike Anastasia posture. She was looking down in her lap when she whispered  with raw emotion "Why do you ask that of me Grandmother, you understand that I have no one, only you two"  Joanne leaned forward and lifted Anastasia's head by her chin, then crested her rosy cheek and wiped away the unshed tear in Anastasia's eye.

"Princess please don't cry, I only want you to be happy, surely you want friends your own age . Girl friends to gossip with and tell your secrets and dreams. To know that someone has your back like your Grandfather has mine. You need to be able to trust, to trust the right people"

"I do Grandma but...but" Anastasia is trying to hold in her sob "no one likes me, I am peculiar, the abnormal are not loved!"

The surrounding tables had grown quite as they were more interested in Anastasia's break down than their food.

"Shhh pet, you are not abnormal you are extraordinary, of course you are, me and your Grandmother brought you up. Being ordinary is quite frankly dull. Variety is the spice of life, so what do you say to a naughty treat, then you will try to sleep before our flight, okay poppet?" George said peacefully, sedating Anastasia's emotions.

She pulled herself together and told herself to put her big girl panties on.  She had been brought up better than this and anything she set her mind to she could conquer. She was prepared to make friends but what she wasn't prepared for was the form in what her friends came in.

"I would like a treat" Anastasia giggled "I would like the triple chocolate fudge cake with chocolate sauce, ice cream and squirty cream, please" Anastasia asked sweetly with a smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes.

"Of course sweet "Joanne breathed out, pleased to see that Anastasia had snapped out of her melt down. In a raised voice Joanne asked the charming young waiter in spotless white suit who was passing by with a sliver tray with delicate glasses of champagne in  " Excuse me waiter, could we please have two triple chocolate fudge cakes with chocolate sauce, ice cream and squirty cream, please".

"Would be my pleasure to get your desserts madam" the waiter replied and heads towards the kitchen.

"Well that was polite" said Joanne a little taken back.

"He might want to poison us" Anastasia mentioned, finding it amusing. Her Grandparents didn't find it amusing, they had a mysterious look on their faces.

"I was only jesting Grandma, you normal complain and say that the youth of today are so unmannered and discourteous" Anastasia noted, annoyed that her Grandparents were acting unnatural and then just like a switch had been flipped, they looked back to normal and were laughing.

"You are right sweet, more men of the younger generation should act like that" Joanne  told Anastasia.

"Ahhh look here are our deserts" George announced.

The waiter came back with two pearl white plates with a generous slice of triple chocolate cake with chocolate sauce drizzled over the top with vanilla ice cream and squirty cream on top of the cake with a cherry on the top.

He set the plates down onto the table under the watchful eye of George. "Thank you" Anastasia and Joanne said at the same time. They devoured their desserts in no time at all, Anastasia felt absolutely full, like she might burst out of her dress any moment.

They paid for their meal and headed out to the lobby to get the lift to their suite. While they were waiting for the lift Anastasia noticed how still her Grandfather's body had got however not his grey eyes, they not stop moving. The ding of the lift focused her Grandfather's eyes to the doors opening. the lift was empty, they piled in the lift Joanne pressing the button for the top floor. They were all quiet on the way up, as well as the walk to their room. Once inside Anastasia got herself a fresh glass cold water. "I think I am going to retire to bed, as we have an early start" Anastasia declared "Goodnight".

"Goodnight dear" Joanne said as she walked up to Anastasia and enwrapped her in a hug,  squeezing her in tight. Joanne let go of her bright Granddaughter that didn't have a clue about the world go on around her. Anastasia went to her room undressed and put her clothes in her suitcase so all she had to do in the morning was pack her pyjamas. Her pyjamas where lilac silk shirt and shorts that had her initials A.T. R sewn onto the pocket of her shirt and the left hand side of her shorts.

She fell asleep in no time at all, Joanne came in to check on her and knew she was asleep because of her even breathing and her long blond hair spread in every direction across the pillow her head was rested on.  Joanne slowly backed out of the room, closing the door effortlessly without a sound. She headed to her bedroom and found George sat up in bed waiting for her.

"Is she asleep?" he asked.

"Out like a log" she replied whilst hopping around the room trying to get out of her tights "Arrgghhh" she grunted in triumph "Now will you unzip me dear " Joanne asked George. He pulled the covers off and crawled across the bed to unzip her little black dress that was beaded all along the hem.  "What are we going to do about Anastasia?"George inquired Joanne.

"What  on earth do you mean George?" Joanne responded as she turned round to look at him in the eyes with a puzzled look on her face.

"You know what I mean, she might get the letter and if she does do you think she ready. Look at what happen in the restaurant, she like a china doll" George snarled at Joanne.

"Excuse me. One be quieter she is only two rooms away. Two do not use that tone with me and three we raised her, so she is capable of anything. She will be able to handle whatever the future holds for her and we will be there to support her and help her every step of the way. We are not too old yet we still have a few tricks up our sleeves" Joanne said whilst giving her husband a wink.

"I guess your right"

"You guess?"

"Yes I guess, we have been out of action for a while and the guy that was tailing us today should not of even known we are here, I still don't know how he got the intelligence" George rambled on.

"We will figure it out, now we need some sleep we have to be up at four thirty for our flight" Joanne said as she kissed the top of George's head an curled up under the covers. George turned off the lamp and laid down next to his wife. He tried to fall asleep but his mind was racing, he was worried about Anastasia and he couldn't relax he had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

George was still awake when the alarm went off to tell them that it was four thirty. George and Joanne got out of bed with ease, waking up at odd times was second nature for them.  Joanne was up and dressed in five minutes and went to wake up Anastasia. Anastasia is not a morning person as she would normally stay up late trying to crack codes and invent new languages for computers, she worked better at night. So it took Joanne a lot of effort to get her up,  in the end she threw off Anastasia's covers. "Anastasia if you do not give us the pleasure of your company willingly then I will get a wet flannel, we cannot miss our flight!" Joanne shrieked.

"I'm up, I'm up for goodness sake Grandma don't get the flannel" Anastasia pleaded. As she swung her legs out of the bed and tumbled onto the floor in a heap. "We are leaving in ten minutes, so hurry up" Joanne told her Granddaughter.  She leaped up from the floor and started getting ready stripping off her pyjamas and stuffing them in her suitcase and putting on her pastille pink shirt with a black woolly pull on jumper on top. With a chequered black, white and pink skirt. She always wore long white socks with cute little bows at the top, which were part of her signature look, with leather black shoes.

George checked around the suite to make sure they hadn't left anything behind, then shoved the girls out as they were on a time scale. Ten minutes later they had checked out and were in the back of yellow New York taxi that smelt like beef burgers and cigarettes.  It took them forty minutes to get to the J.F. K airport so they arrived just after half five, they then had to queue up for the desk which wouldn't open till six o'clock.

"I think it is quite ominous being in the airport when it is not a mass of moving bodies like a river" Anastasia pointed out to her Grandparents.  Who looked around at the few people milling around for the early flights. It was going to be a long day.