Ted and Cedric

Hiya, everybody.  Before I get on to the meat of this post, does anybody get heartburn?  I get heartburn when I eat banana bread.  Searching online, I've found that some people get heartburn when they eat bananas, but I have never noticed heartburn after a banana, only after banana bread, and it is almost immediate.  Does anyone know why?  It's probably similar to why whole wheat bread makes my throat sore.  ???

Anyway, Ted is one of my favorite characters in a book that, actually, I'm writing.  He plays a deplorably minor role in the whole thing but I just love him.  He's an all-around good guy.  Are you allowed to love your own characters?  I don't know, but anyway, this is a section that I just wrote from a book that I have posted about before.  It has undergone so many revisions you wouldn't recognize it, and, at the least, the opening paragraphs will undergo many more.  But here is a section from the second chapter:

Cedric and Ted Carlyle headed home from an Underground meeting together that night.  Ted was humming and he was very cheery lately.  “What has you in such good humors?” Cedric asked him.
 

“I’ll tell you but it’s a secret,” said Ted.
 

“If it’s a secret,” said Cedric, “then don’t tell me.”
 

“Gee, what has got you so foul lately?” asked Ted.  “You’re always scowling.”

“I shall tell you if you promise you will not tell Mariah,” said Cedric.
 

“Why, Cedric, I would never tell Mariah something told in strictest confidence,” said Ted, pretending to be deeply offended.
 

“I never can be sure with you,” said Cedric, not unkindly, “and you know that nothing Mariah knows is long a secret.  And this is about Miss Mitchell.”
 

“Oh?” said Ted.
 

“I can not make up my mind what to think about her,” said Cedric.
 

“Explain.”
 

“She is so sweet, so sensible,” said Cedric, “but she hates The Underground.”
 

“Yeah, I noticed that.”
 

“The other ladies - present company’s lady excluded, of course - are too simple for my tastes,” said Cedric.  “Kate has a mind and she is wise and thinks deeply about things.  About everything , that is, except this blasted Underground.”
 

“You shouldn’t worry that I’d repeat this to Mariah with the kind of language you’re using,” Ted teased.
 

“Pardon me,” said Cedric.  “Do you think I could change her mind?”
 

“Miss Mitchell’s?”
 

“Of course.”
 

“Do you need to?”
 

“Well, she is wrong about this whole business.”
 

“Well, then, do you intend to?”
 

“I intend to try.”
 

Ted shook his head.  “But why, my friend?”
 

Cedric sighed.  “What is your condition?”
 

“Oh, I ordered an item through the general store and it arrived today,” hedged Ted.
 

“But you have had a bounce in your step for days,” said Cedric.
 

“I guess it was just the anticipation of it then,” said Ted.
 

Cedric sighed.  “Very well, I shall ask you right out, if that is what you want,” he said.  “What did you order?”
 

“A ring.”
 

“A ring?”
 

“Yep, a ring.  I ordered it special from a big city.  I’m going to ask Mariah to marry me.”
 

Cedric stopped in his tracks.  “You are?”
 

“Of course,” said Ted.  “Haven’t you noticed how much I am in love with her?”
 

Cedric tried to recall.  “I have noticed that you spend much of your time with her.”
 

“You know what your problem is?”
 

“Enlighten me.”
 

“You’re oblivious to much of what is going on around you.”
 

“Oblivious?”
 

“Well, not necessarily.  You could be naive.  One or the other.”
 

“That is very encouraging,” said Cedric, stepping forward again.  “I am glad you are my friend.”
 

“Hey, Cedric, why not make it a double wedding?”
 

“Who else did you have in mind?”
 

“What about you and Miss Mitchell?”
 

Cedric raised an eyebrow at his friend.
 

“Oh, come on, everyone has been expecting it for months.”
 

“They have?”
 

“Oh, come, my friend, you haven’t noticed?”
 

“No one told me so.”
 

“For all the prompting they have been giving you, my friend, they may as well have told you straight to get married right now,” said Ted.
 

“I think you are exaggerating to pressure me,” said Cedric, “although I cannot think why.  If I ever do decide to marry Miss Mitchell, I shall do it.  I will not need any prompting.”
 

“That is exactly why we are prompting you,” said Ted, and Cedric shook his head in bewilderment.  “If you are not looking to marry her,” Ted continued, “then perhaps you ought to let her know.”
 

“I beg your pardon?”
 

“It is not fair to the other men in the community if you do not intend to marry her,” said Ted.  “I hear Leith likes her very much.”
 

“Leith fancies Julia, and you know it,” said Cedric.  “Of course I intend to marry her.  You think I am some kind of casanova or something?”
 

“Well, so long as you aren’t serious about Miss Mitchell, I just thought the other men might take a chance with her,” Ted said.
 

“That sounded all wrong in every way,” Cedric pointed out.  “Anyway, I did not say I was serious about her.”
 

“Then what are you waiting for?”
 

“I am not sure I am interested in marriage just now.  I am not even sure she would want to marry me.”
 

“If you were sure, you wouldn’t have to ask,” said Ted.
 

“I thought of a proposal as more of a courtesy,” said Cedric, “a sort of game for the woman, part of the courtship.”
 

“Ah!  My friend,” said Ted, “I have always admired your sire for his great dignity and care in bringing you up, but now I see where he failed, and failed indeed.  You are much to proud.”
 

“I am not.”
 

Ted laughed.  “Well, in any case, I intend to marry fair Mariah, if she will have me, and I am sure we shall be delighted to have you join us, if you have the mind,” said Ted.  “Now, I’ve gone too far and I’ll have to double back.  I’ll see you on the morrow!”
 

“Till tomorrow, Ted.”

~Meggy