Monsters - Chapter 12 – Where is Love – Part 2 of 2

Monsters

By Karen Singer

Chapter 12 – Where is Love – Part 2 of 2

In some ways, lunch was the most elegant meal Brandy had ever sat through.  In other ways, it reminded her of a bunch of people sitting around a picnic table at a barbeque.  The table, the dishes, the servants, the food, it was all so beautifully and elegantly done, while everyone at the table seemed so relaxed and informal, talking about this, talking about that, talking with each other about…who knew.  Such contrast.  But perhaps the one biggest contrast of all was when Janice Stokely insisted on saying grace before any of them could eat.  That alone surprised Brandy the most, especially considering everything she knew about Carol, and everything Carol had told her about her mother.  Such extreme contrasts!

Brandy sat next to Carol, who sat next to her mother, who sat at the head of the table.  There was no doubt in Brandy’s mind as to who the most important person in the room was – Carol’s mother!  Yet she was open and friendly and…so likeable.  A monster?  Again, she had to wonder about that.  And what monster would insist on saying grace before a meal?

When she could, she watched particularly the way Carol and her mother acted towards each other.  Pleasant, playful, the slight picking once in a while.  All done with so much love it could never be missed.  Once again, she remembered Bobby and his mother.  Now, Bobbie and her mother.  They had shared a love like that.  A love that strong.  What was it like to feel a love like that…from anyone?

She noticed Susan Wu and…her father…she guessed.  Well, she had called him father.  Not Dad.  Not Pop.  Father.  And she had said it as if she respected him more than anything else in the world.  She said everything to him as if she respected and loved him more than anything else in the world.  That strong love again.  Carol and her mother.  Susan and her father. 

What was wrong with her?  What had she ever done that she should be denied that kind of love in her life?  Her Uncle Vinny loved her.  A lot of her relatives loved her.  But not the kind of love that she saw between everyone else at the table.  What was wrong with her?  She guessed she knew. 

Carol had described herself as a monster.  Carol and her were so much alike.  In truth, Brandy knew from an early age that she had been a monster.  A holy terror.  She had pretty much terrified all the kids in the family, not to mention bullying all the kids at school too.  A monster.  She had never really used that word for herself before, but she guessed it fit.  Was that why she wasn’t allowed to have love?  Because she was a monster, did she deserve love?  She could only conclude that she didn’t.

“Brandy dear,” Janice said.  “You’re not eating.  Is everything alright?”

“Yeah.  Sure.”

“What’s wrong then?”

“Nothing.  I’m just…enjoying all of this and watching everyone else.  It’s so…nice.”

Janice smiled.  “I’m so glad.  So what would you think if after you and Carol are done here in the States, if we got you two together someplace where both of you could dress up again and show us all those beautiful gowns I’ve heard so much about.”

Brandy smiled…and blushed.  “I think I’d like that.”

“Good!  We’ll plan on it.  I’ll arrange everything!  Then afterward, you have to come down to the island and visit us.  You’ll love it down there!”

“Your island?  In Columbia?”

“Yes.  It’s a dream!  I had everything built just the way I wanted it.”  She stopped and watched as one of the servants hurried up to Susan.  The woman whispered in her ear.  Susan looked up at her for a moment.

“Is there a problem?” Janice asked.

Instead of answering her, Susan turned to Brandy.  “Brandy, while the maid was wiping off your riding suit, she noticed a slight vibration that she thinks is from your cellphone.  We just need to know if it could be anything important that you need to tend to right away.”

“My cellphone rang?  It never…”  She shook her head.  “The only person I know of who would call, is Ralphie.”  Her face turned more serious.  “And he would never call me when he knows I’m busy unless it was very important.  Please excuse me.”

She started to get up, but Susan’s hand on her arm stopped her.  “We’ll have the servants bring your phone for you.”  She looked up and nodded at the woman who had spoken to her.  She hurried away.

“May I ask who Ralphie is?” Janice asked.

“He’s…kind of like my secretary…sort of,” Brandy told her.

“I see,” Janice replied.

Nobody at the table moved or said anything else while they waited.  Two minutes later, Brandy’s maid came running into the dining room carrying the cellphone.  “Here you are, Miss,” she said as she laid it carefully on the table in front of her.

“Thank you,” Brandy replied, still not knowing what to make of the maid’s service.  She checked her phone.  She found several texts and several calls from Ralphie.  She looked up at everyone.  “Ralphie.  And he’s been trying to reach me…a lot!”  She called his number.  He answered quickly.  “Ralphie, what’s wrong?”

“Miss Brandy,” Ralphie replied.  “I’m so relieved you called.  I’ve been trying…”

“Yes I know.  What’s wrong?”

“Miss Bandy, I went out to the restaurant like you asked me to and got that report you wanted.  And like you told me to do every time I come back to the hotel room, I checked it for bugs.  And Miss Brandy, I found two!”

“Two!  Where are you right now?”

“I’m walking around on the street like you instructed in case something like this ever happened.”

“Good!  Keep walking, I’ll call you right back.”  Brandy ended the call and looked angrily at Susan Wu.  “Did you bug my room?”

Susan looked aghast.  “Bugged…no!  Absolutely not!”

“Well someone did.  One of the things I make Ralphie do is to sweep my hotel rooms every time he walks in.  And today he found two bugs.”

Susan stood up.  “Where is he now?”

“In cases like this, I instructed him to walk around and act like he’s shopping.”

“I’m sending a team up to your room right away to sweep it again.  How can they find him?”

“I’ll send him to the lobby to wait.”

“How will they know it’s him when they get there?”

Carol started laughing.  “You can’t miss him!”

“No, you can’t,” Brandy agreed laughingly.  “He’ll be the guy wearing a little girl dress, complete with petticoats and pink shoes.  And most likely, his diaper is going to be very, very soaked!”

Susan’s jaw hung open as she stared at Brandy, but only for a moment.  The smile on her face occurred at the same moment that Janice Stokely broke out laughing. 

“My goodness!” Janice said to Carol.  “You two really are alike.”  She looked over at Brandy.  “Brandy, did Carol tell you that she once made her high school math teacher wear a diaper under his clothes to school.  And she made good and sure he used the thing every day, right there in class!”  She started laughing.

Brandy looked at Carol.  “You mentioned your math teacher, but you didn’t tell me about that.”

“I forgot.  It didn’t last that long.”  She smiled.  “But it was certainly fun.”

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Ralphie stood in the lobby waiting on the people who were supposed to go up to the hotel suite and check it for bugs again.  Why did they have to check it again?  He had already found the bugs.  But Miss Brandy had told him he had to let them go through the room again, and that he needed to do whatever they told him to.  Could they give him permission to change his soaked diaper?  Miss Brandy had said no about that when he she had last called, so he guessed he better not even ask.

He hated having to stand around on display, especially dressed the way he was.  It was bad enough when she sent him out wearing regular dresses every day, but having to stand and wait in the lobby so the men could easily find him felt like he was purposely standing there just to put himself on display.  At least no one had come up to him asking to have their picture taken with him again – yet!

He saw the group of Chinese men hurrying into the lobby.  They looked intent.  Businesslike.  He noticed one of them was a waiter from the Chinese restaurant.  Guessing they were the ones he needed to talk to, he stepped forward to meet him.

“You found listening devices?” one of them said to Ralphie in a thick Chinese accent.

“Two.  I’ll show where they are.”

“No!  Stay out of room.  Wait here.  We check.”

“But you don’t want…”

“No!  Must stay here.  No noise in room at all.  Devices will be left in place.”

They weren’t going to remove them?

“Room key please.”

Ralphie handed over his room key and most of the men took off towards the elevators.  One man stayed with him, the restaurant waiter.  “We’ll wait over…” the man started to say, then stopped and thought better about things.  “Come with me, I’ll take you back to the restaurant where you’ll be out of the way, and I won’t have to stand around next to you.”

If he couldn’t go back to the room, Ralphie was all in favor of that idea.