Chapter 3

“That’s fine,” Maryse smiled. “I’m kind of in training too.”

“Well, that’s an interesting way of looking at it,” Barbara smiled, beckoning to a petite Asian-American woman.

Maryse’s head hurt by the time she left the offices of Boyd Investments Group. But she was confident that she and Barbara and Gina had hammered out a solid plan of action; a plan that would keep most of the money for herself and not give the bulk of it to the IRS.

The Ministry of Faith Thrift Shop was a smorgasbord of Petite clothing. Maryse was thrilled at the amount of clothing she was able to find. Dresses, blouses, skirts all went into her buggy.

A beautiful young blonde woman and two four year old girls were also carefully picking through the clothing. Maryse smiled as the two girls insisted on helping their mommy as she sorted through the haphazardly arranged racks.

“They’re starting Bible School in a few weeks,” the woman explained, smiling. “And of course, while I’m here, might as well see if there’s any um, any outfits I might like.”

“Bible School?” Maryse asked the two smiling blonde girls. “You mean to tell me, you two are old enough to go to Bible school?”

“Uh huh,” one of the girls said while the other girl tried to hide behind her mother’s legs.

“Yes ma’am,” Katya Carter gently admonished Alisa.

“Yes ma’am,” Alisa said.

Maryse could tell the girls were twins, but there was just enough difference between the two girls that she could see they were not identical twins. Fraternal twins was the term she’d heard; it was when there were two eggs fertilized rather than one egg splitting into two after fertilization.

“Well! I have never been to Bible School; what do you do at Bible School?” Maryse asked the two girls.

Both girls were delighted to tell the pretty, friendly woman that you learned about Jesus and God and the Bible. And you sang songs and you made pictures and… Their mother smiled as she continued to comb through the selections available.

“Huh; I wonder if they’d have the shoes…” Katya mused, finding a Cabrini High School uniform blouse among the blouses. “I got that skirt…”

“My mommy’s a dan…” Elmira began to say.

“Elmira, that’s enough,” Katya smiled, gently putting her hand over her usually very shy daughter’s mouth.

Looking at the blouse, then at the blonde’s face, Maryse saw a small blush on the woman’s face. Glancing at her already full buggy, Maryse told the mommy and the two girls ‘good-bye.’

“But I bet you two are going to be the smartest and the prettiest little girls at Bible School,” Maryse encouraged.

“Say ‘thank you, Miss, Miss, I don’t think we got your name,” Katya smiled.

“Hmm? Oh, oh I’m Maryse Boudreaux,” Maryse smiled.

“I’m Alisa Dmitry Carter,” the talkative twin supplied.

“Dmitry?” Maryse asked, not sure she’d heard right.

“Family name,” Katya supplied. “And this is Elmira.”

“Well, Alisa and Elmira, I just know you’re going to love Bible School,” Maryse smiled and pushed the buggy away.

“Bye, Miss Maryse,” Katya and Alisa said while Elmira hid herself again.

Abdul’s Department Store was closer to her home than Babbage’s so their lingerie department and their shoe department benefited from Maryse’s decision to emulate her Aunt’s sense and style.

And, upon arriving home, Maryse remembered she needed to do some grocery shopping. The clothes were dumped onto her bed; she did not know if she would ever be able to sleep in what had been her aunt’s bedroom.

“Not without changing that lumpy old mattress,” Maryse said.

Maryse was a good cook; her mother had taught her the basics and Maryse had picked up skills here and there. Aunt Mary, of course, knew how to cook Cajun foods and had been happy to pass her knowledge along. Maryse quietly enjoyed the simple act of shopping, carefully looking at each bell pepper, each yellow onion. Finally, she pushed her buggy to one of the registers.

There was a rack of magazines on one side of the checkout and the usual assortment of candy bars, chewing gum, and breath-mints on the other side of the check-out lane. The cashier needed a price check on something of the customer just ahead of Maryse; the bar code had been gouged on the box and the scanner would not pick it up. Maryse idly looked at the magazines and spotted the familiar ‘Parasols’ logo. The smiling face peeking out from behind a large open umbrella looked vaguely familiar and Maryse picked the magazine up and dropped it onto her other groceries.

“You old enough to get that?” the cashier asked, already quite aggravated with the other customer and the delay.

“Eighteen,” Maryse said, digging out her driver’s license.

“What you want that for anyway?” the woman demanded.

“Why do I want these frozen vegetables? What am I planning to do with eighteen eggs? What about this gallon of two percent milk?” Maryse snapped in reply.

“Two forty nine,” a young man said. “Monica, there a problem?”

“No, no,” Monica grumbled, keying in the dollar amount and completing the first customer’s groceries.

Maryse stood, stone faced as the cashier rang everything up. She swiped her debit card, made sure everything, including the magazine were in her cart before leaving the store.

After unloading the groceries, sorting and hanging up her clothes and folding her new lingerie into drawers, Maryse argued whether to go to Clark’s for supper, or stay in and make her supper. Maryse decided to be practical and made herself a meal. After cleaning the kitchen, Maryse settled down on the living room couch and opened the magazine.

The featured cover girl’s identity was made clear by the third picture in her pictorial; the photographer had snapped a photograph of the young brunette wearing nothing but in-line roller skates, perfectly toned buttocks flexing as she skated away from the camera.

“That, that’s that girl Gabby!” Maryse realized and now very carefully read the words accompanying the pictorial.

In the magazine, she was known as Britney. Maryse shrugged; if she’d posed for a magazine, face heavily made up, hair teased out, licking her own nipple, spreading her labia wide for a camera, she most likely would not use her real name either.

The last photograph showed Gabby/Britney in a heated kiss with a blonde woman. The blonde’s face was not visible, just her head of long, thick blonde hair and her very lovely backside could be seen. She had a small fleur-di-lis tattoo on her right buttock and Maryse was unsure if she liked the tattoo or not.

Looking through the rest of the magazine, Maryse made the decision that she would subscribe to the magazine; she would get twelve issues delivered to her home for the price of eleven issues. The articles were interesting and the article on homosexual exploration was very informative.

“A friend I can trust,” Maryse mused as she closed the magazine.

When she’d been younger, there had been some twins that lived on the corner, at 719 Frontier Trail. To play with Layla and Kayla Leblanc, Maryse had to look both ways and cross Frontier Trail. Then she had to again look both ways before crossing Crocket Drive. Ms. Leblanc was a very sweet woman that welcomed Maryse with large hugs and a kiss to the top of her head. Layla and Kayla were two chubby girls that fought constantly with one another. How the three Leblanc girls were chubby was a mystery to Maryse and to Aunt Mary; Ms. Leblanc couldn’t cook anything to save her life.

But, then Ms. Leblanc got married to Warren Reynolds and Layla and Kayla Leblanc moved away. And, in the apartment buildings that her father lived in, there were rarely any girls her age. The same was true of the trailer park he now lived in; there were no other children her age. Since the marriage of Ms. Leblanc, most of Maryse’s friendships in the DeGarde area had been fleeting.

“Maybe I should have gone to Clark’s,” Maryse thought as she readied for bed, slipping on one of her new nighties.

She paused for a moment to admire the frilly, lacy baby doll top with matching panties. The top was held together over her breasts by a single bow and the panties fit over her hips with simple bows. The lavender color looked good with her dark hair and her swarthy skin. Turning and peering over her shoulder into the full-length mirror, she decided the outfit also looked fetching from the rear.

“Clark’s,” a gruff male voice answered the phone at eleven thirty the next morning.

“Hi, uh, is Stevie working this morning?” Maryse asked.

“Stevie? Yeah, got her out there sweeping the pad; she ain’t got time be on the phone,” the man said. “I’ll tell her you called, hear?”

“Going be hard to do that if you don’t even ask who I am,” Maryse grumbled when the man terminated the call.

Maryse concluded the On-Line registration for the Summer Semester of the University of Louisiana at DeGarde. Then, pausing for a moment to admire her soft top and somewhat short skirt, she skipped to the garage.

“Hi, welcome to Clark’s,” Gabby, Britney chirped, thrusting her impressive chest into the car. “Back again, huh?”

“Yeah, yes, I, can I get Stevie?” Maryse stammered, sure her face was scarlet.

“Ste…yeah, sure,” Gabby shrugged, still smiling her friendly smile.

“Hi!” Stevie warbled happily, skittering to a stop next to Maryse’s window. “Gabby said you told her to go away; you only wanted me.”

“Said if I touched your car again you was going sue me,” Gabby quipped over the roof of another customer’s car.

“What? I, I did not!” Maryse squealed.

“Yeah you did; I heard you,” the male customer of the other car said, joining in on the fun.

“Oh! What, whatever,” Maryse huffed as the three others laughed.

“Hi; I’m glad to see you again,” Stevie said, resting a soft hand on Maryse’s shoulder.

“I, I’m glad to see you again too,” Maryse stammered.

“Let me see; chili dog, add mustard, cheese fries and a chocolate malt, right?” Stevie guessed.

“Yeah,” Maryse smiled; pleased that Stevie remembered.

Watching the pretty blonde skate away, Maryse practiced what she would say when Stevie returned. Stevie returned a few moments later. Watching the smiling girl approaching her car, Maryse lost her nerve. As she nibbled on her food, she watched as Gabby, Stevie, and an unknown blonde whizzed back and forth.

“Maryse Elizabeth Boudreaux, you better not chicken out,” Maryse told herself as Stevie raced up to collect the tray.

“I, uh, so, uh, um, what time, when you get off?” Maryse heard herself asking.

“Hmm? Four thirty,” Stevie answered, pausing with the tray in her hand.

“Four… so um, you, you doing anything after?” Maryse asked, sure her face was tomato red.

“No. Not really,” Stevie shrugged, smiling.

“I, uh, so, you want to um…” Maryse faltered.

“Listen, it’s Ricki’s night to cook,” Stevie said. “And that girl can’t cook nothing, I swear!”

“Oh! Um, so, oh! Oh! There’s that new place, Sassy’s? You ever eat there?” Maryse asked.

“Right there? Where oh, what was it? Mickey’s! Where Mickey’s used to be? No. You?” Stevie asked.

“Want to?” Maryse asked hopefully.

Maryse got Stevie’s phone number. She also gave Stevie her phone number then left. She smiled and waved as Gabby gave her a friendly wave in parting.

Maryse again debated on what to wear. She picked a soft blue sundress that ended just above her knees. With a naughty giggle; she went without a bra. Then she sat and waited for five forty five to roll around. As she sat, she wondered if Katya Carter had managed to find enough clothes for Alisa and Elmira.

“Goodness! I, we just bought that and you’re already outgrown it?” Aunt Mary would say quite often throughout her summer vacations.

“Hard enough to shop for one girl; got to be hard to shop for two,” Maryse said.

At five forty one Maryse grabbed her purse then went and sat in the car until her watch said it was five forty four. She then reached up and hit the button for the garage door to open.

Pulling up to the small house Stevie lived in, Maryse saw the door open and a smiling Stevie stepped out. Stevie had not put much thought into what to wear for their date. Baggy jeans and a Justin Timberlake tee shirt and some tennis shoes that had seen better days.

Maryse fought down her displeasure and her disappointment. She reminded herself; she had not specifically said that this was a DATE date.