Mirabella: a Novel (with notes embedded)

Mirabella (beauty) had a friend Maricella (strength) who had a friend Donatella (giving). The three were friends in a row, not a trinity but a single line. One knew some of what the others knew. The three were few. Mirabella wanted nothing in return from her friend Maricella who spoke sparingly of what she thought. In turn, Maricella brought her life to Donatella. 

Mirabella liked her porch swing she moved inside not long after Maricella's sequential sneezing began to erupt as they tried to talk on the front porch. Despite her already fiercely punctuated perspectives, the sneezing interfered with what Mirabella was able to take away. She enlisted Jamal's always faithful help in wielding an array of tools inherited from his father who although uncharacteristically for a college professor of mathematics masterminded home projects galore. Jamal recalled his father's installing a hide-a-bed in the family basement that seemed to Jamal a better place to reside than the upstairs living room and dining area. Besides, he liked being alone, as he shared with Mirabella who cautiously asked about his relationship with Anne-Marie. 

Like his father before him, Jamal was good with geometric imagination. He plucked the porch swing from its lofty perch and began to reassemble the conversational throne in Mirabella's living room, where he had spent so many happy afternoons. "I think it's going to work better here than where it was," he bravely mentioned. Mirabella wrinkled her nose, noting "What we do for friends."

Jamal's view of Maricella was mixed, given her dislike of the local college. She felt the place lacked music, and told him so. He reminded her that mathematics was the closest field to music, but she snorted, "Not according to my staves." Maricella taught oboe and played with an ensemble including flute, clarinet, keyboard and her own fleet-of-fingered musical prowess. Jamal had attended numerous of her concerts, and had encouraged her to join the orchestra in the nearby larger town. Maricella had several private students, whose parents had sacrified to stimulate their musical gifts. She recognized that many of the young oboe players had voices like gymnasts, nasal and prompt and lacking in the leisure of noun sounds. She fancied herself a vocalist as well as an avocational linguist. 

Mirabella, meanwhile, was eager to try out the indoor porch swing with Maricella, and did not doubt that Maricella would be reporting the refurbishing project with Donatella, who loved absorbing such renderings second hand, alleviating the need to weigh in on the matter with "Her Nibs" as she imagined Mirabella. Donatella relished Jamal for his generosity of spirit and his signature skill, recalling how adept as "everything" his father had been. She herself enjoyed thinking about how pivotal Maricella typically was in Mirabella's life. 

The indoor porch swing, while still functional, showed itself to be a bit of a nuisance, as Mirabella had not factored in its girth and auditory inflections that seemed loud when indoors. Just as Maricella's repeated seizures of sneezing had interfered with the normal flow of converation, the swing now ironically did the same. Jamal insisted that WD-40 would "do the job," but clearly it had its shortcomings. In addition, the cat named Perla began to show signs of near hysteria when it became clear that the roost she ruled was prone to the ideosyncrasies of the noisy swing. At feeding time, Perla hovered beneath the bed and occasionally railed vocally as she tried in vain to respond in kind and with authority to the now overtly in-charge indoor porch swing.

Donatella did not know Mirabella except in passing fashion, for Mirabella was Maricella's friend. That said, Mirabella factored into Donatella's life. Donatella, too, had a cat she loved to spoil, and measured the quality of acquaintances according to their responses to Shay. Shay the cat, like the French echo of his name, embodied being at home. His dominion was not up for dispute. His authoritarian air was off-putting to friends of Donatella who secretly believed members of the feline species to be second rate when compared with human associates. Donatella found this quirk not only embarrasssing, but enraging. In her view, Shay had a clearer way of being than what others considered "some of her best friends." Shay appeared immediately to discern who was worth befriending. He frictioned his back against the legs of such individuals as the niece of Donatella named Desiree, who herself purred in his presence. There seemed no more to be said on that subject, but the situation became clear to Maricella when she watched Donatella allow the home to be directed and represented by Shay. 

On the matter of Desiree, Donatella often praised her niece when speaking to Maricella, in the hope that her friend would recognize that Donatella had done a good job of semi-raising said niece. Shay was one indicator. Both cat and niece brought a level of calm to Donatella's home, in stark contrast to that of Donatella's sister Doreen, whose self-proclaimed prismatic vision of life was readily proclaimed by Doreen. She held Desiree in modest esteem, and likewise Shay. For Doreen, a requisite level of noise affirmed someone's worth. 

Desiree had a fondness for closing deals, as she often whispered to Donatella, who couldn't have cared less about business. She principally liked her cat and paintings. Shay looked good beside the prints of flowers. If only Donatella could paint, she would have something to show Shay and offer her niece something that might sell.