Monsters
By
Karen Singer
Chapter 12 – Where is Love – Part 1 of 2
Two motorcycles followed the state
highway north out of Las Vegas. One held
a rider wearing a red and black riding suit.
The other held a rider wearing a black riding suit with yellow
accents. Once free of the city, with
nothing but open desert land surrounded them, both riders pushed the pace faster. Carol, knowing that Brandy wasn’t as skilled
on the bike as she was, kept her pace reasonable. Even on the bikes they were riding, it would
still be a good two-hour ride for them to get there, and she was very much
looking forward to getting there. Her
mother was at the end of their ride. Their
destination was so far because it was the closest that Wu Enterprises dared to
bring her mother to the big city, even though Carol knew that her mother would
insist on them bringing her into Las Vegas at some point, just so she could
enjoy herself. Wu Enterprises had
protocols for that too.
While the highway kept them in
Nevada, it mirrored the state line, so they were never that far from California
on the other side. After the first hour,
Carol pushed the pace even faster until they came to a small city where they
had to slow way down for the speed limits.
Carol took them off the road they had been following and led the way
west, into the hills. The landscape that
for the most part had been dry and barren, gave way to trees. A welcome change to everything else. Carol finally turned onto a smaller road that
they followed for nearly half a mile before it stopped in front of a large
house surrounded by beautiful landscaping.
As they parked their bikes in front
of the house, Brandy noticed all the people spilling out the front door. Most stayed on the steps. She noticed Susan Wu was there. A Chinese man stood next to her. She also saw four women wearing maid’s
dresses, all lined up in a row. But
front and center between them all, was an older woman who could only be –
Carol’s mother. She certainly didn’t
look like any kind of monster. She
looked like your average, every day, just past middle-aged woman. Her hair was brown and styled in short
curls. It looked like the pounds had come
visiting and some of them had decided to stick around her waist and hips like
many other women her age seemed to contend with.
“Carol!” the woman called happily
as she hurried down the steps.
Brandy watched as the woman and
Carol hurried to hug each other, but it was a hug that lasted and told the
story of a bond between the two, the likes of which Brandy couldn’t understand.
“Mom,” Carol said, “I’d like you to
meet a friend of mine. A good
friend of mine.”
The emphasis on the word good
wasn’t lost on Brandy.
“Mom, this is Brandy Salvatori. She’s from Cleveland.”
Carol’s mother went straight to
Brandy and hugged her. “Oh, it’s so good
to meet you. My daughter has so few
friends anymore. I’m Janice Stokley,
Carol’s mother, and any friend of my daughter, is a friend of mine.”
“It’s very nice to meet you,”
Brandy replied politely, not sure what to make of this woman that others seemed
to fear so much.
Janice went back to her daughter
and hugged her again. “Oh Carol, I’ve
missed you so much!”
“Me too, Mom,” Carol replied.
Brandy felt someone moving up
beside her.
“Are you okay?” Susan Wu asked her.
“I’m fine,” Brandy replied, her
eyes still on Carol and her mother.
“Are you sure? You look like you’ve got a problem.”
Brandy watched as Carol’s mother
put her arm around her daughter and led her up the stairs into the house. “What’s it like to have a mother that loves
you?” Brandy asked, not expecting an answer.
Susan put her arm around Brandy and
led her toward the steps. “Come. Lunch is ready. We have clothes you can change into.”
Brandy let herself be led up the
steps and into the house by the strange woman.
Once inside, Susan handed her off to one of the maids that had come
outside earlier.
“Natalia, take her to her room
please,” Susan told the maid. “Make sure
she has everything she needs.
“Yes Ma’am,” the maid replied.
“Brandy,” Susan said to her. “Go change for lunch. We don’t like to keep Mrs. Stokley waiting.”
Brandy only nodded. She turned and followed the maid toward the
stairs.
On the second floor, the maid
stopped outside an open door and gestured that the room would be hers. “Would you like me to come in and help you
dress?” the maid offered. “Or would you
prefer that I wait out here?”
Help her dress? Brandy shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m good.”
“I’ll wait for you here then. Should you need anything at all, just ask,” the
maid told her.
“Thanks,” Brandy replied, not sure
what to make of the service. Maybe she
could pick up a few new ideas for Ralphie.
She went in and the maid closed the door. Brandy saw a nice looking dress laid out on
the bed for her, complete with shoes to go with it. She pulled the heavy riding suit off, glad to
be rid of the thing. She found a
bathroom attached to the room and washed her body off quickly. She donned the dress and the shoes. The dress was light and comfortable. Not her usual style, but pleasant to
wear. Figuring she was ready, she opened
the door. The maid was still there,
waiting for her. She was surprised when
the maid seemed to stand there and look her over very carefully.
“Ma’am,” the maid said, may I
please?”
“May you what?” Brandy asked.
The maid led the way back inside
and over to the dresser where she picked up a brush. She started brushing Brandy’s long hair. The attention was nice. It was another thing she was going to have to
train Ralphie to do. She felt the maid
doing something with her hair, arranging it.
She watched as she reached back to the dresser and picked up a glittering
gem encrusted comb. She felt the maid
sticking the comb into her hair to hold it in place. The maid picked up a mirror and handed it to
Brandy. Brandy turned around and used
the handheld mirror and the mirror over the dresser to see the back of her
hair. The gems on the comb glistened
above her black hair beautifully.
“Acceptable?” the maid asked.
“Very. Thank you,” Brandy replied.
The maid smiled. “Lunch is this way.”
Brandy followed her out of the
room.
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Janice sat on the bed while Carol pulled
her riding suit off. “Your friend Brandy
seems nice.”
“She is. But it’s something more than that Mom. Something…weird. Something neither of us can explain.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Mom, the two of us, Brandy and me,
we’re so alike, it’s frightening. And I
mean, really alike. It’s
so…weird!”
“What do you mean?”
Carol shook her head. “We think alike, and we’ve done so many
things that were so much alike. The more
we talk, the more we find out that we’re almost the same. And Mom…”
“Yes?”
“I’ve never met anyone like her.”
Janice held her breath for a
moment, then let it out softly. “Carol
dear, please answer me honestly.”
“You know I will. I always do.”
“Yes, I know. But this is different. Carol, do you love her?”
Carol stopped what she was doing
and stared at her mother. “I don’t
know. I’ve never been in love
before. But I can tell you that I’m…infatuated
with her, and I know she feels the same way about me. It’s all just so…weird with us. Both of us.”
Janice nodded, then chuckled. “At least it wasn’t a man.”
“Oh yuck!” Carol exclaimed laughingly
as she threw the dress in her hands at her mother. “You know how I feel about men!”
Janice laughed as she caught the
dress. “Yes. Just like me.
So you two are alike?” She shook
the dress out and handed it to her daughter.
“More than anyone could ever
believe. We both like doing the same
things. It’s just…everything! There’s only one thing, one way, that we’ve
found that we’re different.”
“What’s that?”
Carol shook her head and looked
seriously at her mother. “She never had
a mother that loved her. She can’t seem
to understand the love that you and I feel for each other.”
“I take it her mother died when she
was young, or she never knew her?”
“No. According to her, her mother didn’t die until
a few years ago. Drug overdose. They’re pretty sure it was suicide.”
“That’s not good.”
“No. But growing up, Brandy’s mother never
bothered with her at all. She was raised
more by their servants than anyone else.
When her father was murdered, her uncle took care of her. According to Brandy, he’s been more like a
real father to her than the one she had before.”
“So she never knew the love of
either of her parents,” Janice stated.
“That’s so sad.”
“Yeah. But in all other ways, it’s scary how much
alike we are.”
“Hmph! That alone is frightening, knowing how you
turned out.”
“Yeah. Who would have ever thought?”
“Not me! This lifestyle of yours, what you do, is not
what I had in mind for you.”
Carol shook her head. “Finishing schools and garbage like that
aren’t for me, and you know it.”
“No, they’re not,
unfortunately. I wanted you to enjoy all
the benefits of the money we have.”
“I do. I just enjoy them in ways you never thought
of.”
“Like all the motor bikes and
such.”
“You told me I can afford them.”
“Easily! But didn’t I hear recently that you bought
something new, something very different?”
“Me? What?”
“A dress maybe?”
“A…you heard about that?”
“Susan told me. She said you looked amazing in it. I can’t wait to see it on you.”
Carol shook her head. “It was just…a lark. I saw it and…I don’t know. Maybe it was the ritzy hotel. I have no idea. But…I just wanted it. I wanted to get all dressed up for a change,
so I bought it. And here’s the really
weird part. Brandy did exactly the same
thing at the same time. She doesn’t get
to dress up much either, and she went shopping and bought a beautiful black
gown, and we both met….”
“You met?”
“We didn’t even know we were
staying in the same hotel, on the same floor.
We had only met the day before. I
was all dressed up for dinner and heading to the elevator, and she was all
dressed up and heading for the elevator at the same time and we…”
“Met?”
“Yeah. It was…weird.”
“I can imagine,” Janice replied
with a smile. “How is she in bed?”
“Huh! Need you ask?
Sensational.”
“So you two have become friends.”
“Yeah. Weird, huh?”
Janice got up and hugged her
daughter. “Weird…and wonderful,” she
told her. “Don’t forget to brush your
hair before you come down for lunch.
I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
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