I'm still plugging away at Neeta Lyffe. I'd hoped to be in the editing stage, but life (not Lyffe) had other plans for my time and attention. However, we got our furniture on Saturday, which means we have the kids' stuff, and that might help some.
At any rate, I did get the second half of the Door subplot done. As you may recall from a couple of weeks ago, Neeta's boyfriend, Brian, offered to buy her a new door because her old one sticks and he thought it was annoying her. She compromised by getting it repaired so that it opens smoothly, but it didn't feel as secure to her. Her friend, Ted, then gave her a door limiter that he got at a wild party.
A couple of days later, Brian comes over and discovers that not only didn't she take him up on his offer of a new door, but she put on Ted's door limiter.
She shut the door and took his hand, but he didn't budge, still staring at the door as if it offended him.
"So I offer to replace your door, let you have the fanciest one you could ever want even, and all you asked for is some paint and a door stop?"
"It's called a door limiter, and actually Ted gave it to me. It's got kind of a funny story--"
"Ted? You asked Ted to fix your door?"
"What? No! See he got the door limiter at this wild party--Seventh Day Inventists, surely you know about them--and I own a door and he doesn't so--"
He pulled his hand away from her and gestured at the door. "I could have bought you a door limiter if you'd wanted one."
"I didn't! At least, it never occurred to me--"
"Yet there it is!"
Neeta looked at Brian's face, flushed from heat that had nothing to do with the day. Her jaw dropped. "Are you jealous?"
He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, then burst out, "Yes! Yes, I guess I am!"
"Of a door limiter?"
Again, he opened and shut his mouth, looking something like a giant carp, but this time nothing came out.
Part of Neeta seethed, but mostly she just thought he looked silly and pitiful.
"Wow. Maybe next time, I'll get Roscoe to get me a doorknob."
A pause, and then his anger turned from real to mocking. "Forget it, babe," he said. "If anyone provides the doorknobs in this relationship, it'll be me."
So what's this really all about? Is Brian jealous of a piece of metal? Is Neeta stubborn to have not accepted his offer of a great, new door?
Yes and no. The underlying issue is one of control and understanding. Brian has a romantic notion of Neeta as the strong but lonely heroine who needs a man to understand and protect her. Neeta, however, does not want to be coddled and cared for. She does just fine on her own. She really wants someone she can buddy with, who understands that she's not psychologically fragile because she whacks off the heads of the living dead. Someone who's going to give her a door limiter because he's thoughtful, not because he wants to rescue her.
Guess you know that means she prefers Ted, but will she get him in the end? If you want a spoiler, go buy The Zombie Cookbook and read "Wokking Dead."
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