Chapter Eightteen: Scandal

Tuesday, July 5, 1910

"I have immunity!" Amanda proclaimed with much bravado.

Sarah cringed. "We're not actually going to play that stupid game are we?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Sarah. We haven't had a good scandal session in years." Lynn clapped excitedly.

Audrey raised an eyebrow. "Wait a second; I'm confused. What's Scandal?" Jan shrugged too.

Emily replied, "Scandal is… well, instead of describing it to you, let's just get the cards ready."

Lynn scrambled to the parlor. She returned she began shuffling cards, looking for specific values and suits.

Jan was concerned but curious.

Lynn picked out five cards and said, "Ready." She laughed to herself, "I haven't played since Great Falls."

Amanda spoke in a serious tone, "Jan, Audrey, you are about to enter a controversial realm. Lynn, place the cards face down in the middle of the table and mix them up a bit so, as the dealer, you won't be able to determine which one's which."

Lynn nodded and began mixing the cards. "Done."

Amanda said, "And now, I, your host, will lead you on this journey. I want each girl to take one card. Leave it face down and only turn it over when I tell you to do so."

The girls each took a card. They remained face down.

"The five cards relate to specific types of secrets.

The Two of Hearts: you must answer an embarrassing question, secretly to the person on your left, who, in turn, will keep your information in confidence. However, the question must be chosen by your friends.

The Queen of Diamonds: you will appear, in public, wearing an outfit created by your friends. It might be a wedding dress or potato sacks, it doesn't matter; whatever it is, you are required to wear it, no questions asked.

The Eight of Spades: you must eat a bowl of food blindfolded.

The Jack of Clubs: a friend must describe to everyone something you have stated publicly that you would never do which you did anyway.

And finally, the Queen of Hearts, your most embarrassing moment involving a boy. The responses and play will began moving right to left.

Is everyone agreed on these rules?"

Lynn smiled. "Agreed."

Jan nodded. "Ok."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Audrey nervously nodded.

Emily rubbed her hands together and cackled. "I can't wait."

"Then," said Amanda in a sultry, playful mood, "We're ready. On the count of three turn over your cards."

Each girl anxiously held on to their card. They looked to one another, uncertain but fiendishly excited about the future.

"One."

"Two."

They each took a deep breath. "Three."

As soon as they turned over their cards each girl cringed and cackled with glee.

They took a moment to breathe.

Amanda said, "Let us begin. Lynn, what is your card?"

Lynn sighed. "Two of hearts."

Amanda chuckled. "You are most fortunate, Lynn Watson. Emily, Jan, Audrey, Sarah, what would you like Lynn to reveal to me? I'll give you one minute to come up with an answer."

Emily, Jan, Audrey and Sarah all huddled together around the table. Coming up with the question took less time than anticipated. Emily was chosen as the spokes person of the group.

"Ahem," Emily cleared her throat. "Lynn?"

Lynn swallowed and gave Emily her full attention.

"What is your middle name?"

Lynn made a sour face. "Do I have to tell…?"

"Yes! What is your middle name?"

Lynn sighed. She whispered something in Amanda's ear. Each girl leaned in hoping to uncover the mystery.

"What?" Amanda exclaimed.

"Sssh! Don't say it out loud!"

"How on Earth did you get that name?" Lynn whispered again.

Amanda chuckled. "Oh my goodness. Well, alright, your secret is safe with me. Jan, you're next."

Jan moaned, "Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eight of spades."

Sarah snickered. "I've got a black sash; we can use it as a blind fold." Sarah excused herself and went upstairs.

Emily beamed a wicked smile; "Jan, wait in the master bedroom. We'll get you when your gourmet dinner is ready."

Jan collapsed her shoulders. She got up and slowly walked down the hall.

Emily spoke in a low tone. "Here's what we're going to do." She explained every detail of her plan.

A few minutes later Sarah returned from the master bedroom escorting a very shaky, blindfolded Jan.

Sarah asked, "Ready?"

Emily shook her head. "Audrey and Lynn aren't back yet."

As soon as she said that, Jan heard the two walk through the front door.

"Did you get them?" Amanda asked.

"Big ones." Audrey proudly pronounced.

Lynn whined, "Crud! I broke a nail while digging through the ground."

Jan gasped. "Da, da, da, digging through the ga, ga, ga, ga, ground?"

She heard a bowl placed in front of her.

Sarah said, "Dinner is served."

Emily placed Jan's right hand in the bowl.

"Ahhh!" Jan yelled. "No! No! I ca, ca, can't do it!"

"Don't be such a scardie-cat Jan!"

"Emily's right, dig in… Audrey and I sure did."

Jan heard more subdued laughter.

Amanda held on to Jan's left hand. "Come on dear, you can do it."

Jan whimpered. "I want to go home."

"No! You're spending the night with us, now eat up!"

Jan took a deep breath. "Ok."

She fiddled around in the bowl. She grasped a morsel and slowly put it in her mouth.

"Bleech! Icky! Gross!"

"Are they crunchy or chewy?"

"Cr, cr, cr, crunchy."

Emily wrapped Jan's fingers around a glass of water. "Drink this. They're used to living in the ground so they might slide down faster." Jan gulped the water.

Sarah said, "Come on, Jan, three more bites."

Jan was almost in tears. "Ok."

She took another bite. This time one of the slithery morsels got away and dropped on the table.

Audrey picked it up; "Oh no, you're not getting away that easy." She placed it Jan's mouth.

Jan took two more bites.

Sarah said, "Well girls… do you think she's had enough?"

They discussed it among themselves. Emily conceded, "Sure."

Sarah loosened the blindfold. "Jan Johnson meet your dinner."

Jan slowly peeked open her eyes. She screamed, "Ga, ga, ga, ga green beans in brown sugar?"

The girls laughed heartily.

Jan shook her head and laughed along with them. "You guys are so mean!"

She turned to Sarah. "Ya, ya, ya, your turn."

Sarah held her card aloft.

Emily grinned. "Do tell."

"Last year about Christmas, I had gone to see Emily. Everything was shutting down; a blizzard was on the way. I saw a beautiful decoration on the awning of that new feed store which had not yet opened. It was hanging by a single hook and blowing around on the wind. I was concerned. Sure enough, a gust of wind came by and blew it right down.

No one was in the store and the lights were off. I didn't know what to do so I walked back to the bakery. I could hear Emily and her parents talking in the kitchen, preparing for the storm. I didn't think they'd care if I borrowed their step-ladder along with a long strip of cord and a small box of brass thumbtacks which Em had used earlier to hang up a banner. I thought that if I had something attached to the sign and the awning it would stay still. My plan was to tie the cord around the decoration and use the thumbtacks to then attach the cord to the awning. I grabbed it and headed back to the feed store.

As I was attempting to do this I lost my balance and fell to the sidewalk."

Amanda said, "That must have hurt!"

Sarah continued. "It knocked the wind out of me. And then I felt a hundred pricks of pain on my bottom. I looked down and saw blood coming from my backside. I threw my hands on my mouth to keep from screaming. I closed my eyes and heard, 'Are you ok?'

I looked up. It was Tommy Grossman.

I was in tremendous pain. I mumbled, 'I think I just fell on a box of thumbtacks.'

Tommy put one arm around my back and the other beneath my knees. He said, 'Here, I got you' and he picked me up. I put my arms around him, which wasn't too bad, and he ran me over to the Dr. Westbrook's office. By now the snow was really coming down and everyone was inside preparing for the blizzard.

Tommy rang the emergency bell. 'Help! Help!'

Dr. Westbrook came down into the waiting room. As Tommy was carrying me to the examination room, I briefly explained what had happened. Tommy laid me on the table, bottoms up. He could see the blood now pouring out of me. I was screaming in hysterics and pounding the table. He said. 'I'll be in the waiting room.'

Dr. Westbrook grabbed his elbow. 'You're not gong anywhere. Hold her down.'

I heard Tommy reply, 'Um, yes sir.'

The good doctor then got some scissors and cut off the lower half of my dress and then he sliced through my bloomers to expose the wound."

Lynn gasped, "You mean?"

Sarah nodded. "Tommy Grossman saw my derrière!"

They all laughed.

Sarah shrugged. "He had no choice. The doctor needed to remove the thumbtacks as soon as he could. Nurse Westbrook wasn't there; no one else was in the office. I was hyperventilating partially from the pain and partially from the embarrassment. He gave me a shot of something.

He covered my backside with alcohol and sopped up the blood with some towels and then began to carefully remove the thumbtacks. I could tell that witnessing all of this made Tommy uncomfortable. He said, 'Um, sorry about this Sarah.'

Dr. Westbrook chimed in, 'Don't be sorry, you may have saved her life. Relax kid, it's just a fanny.'

I said, 'This is so humiliating.'

He removed 5 thumbtacks and then 6 and then 7.

Dr Westbrook chuckled, 'Don't be so uptight. It's an accident that's all. Believe me I've seen stranger sights and much uglier glutei maximi than yours young lady.'

Tommy replied, 'I guess that's right, her seat ain't too bad.'

I growled, "Thank you that is the best compliment I've had all day.' The men laughed.

After a couple of more minutes Dr. Westbrook asked me, 'Is that it?'

I said, 'No, I still feel one more.'

'Mmm? Where?'

I was so frustrated. 'I can't give you a precise location I just know that there is one still in there.' He began pressing his fingers into my hinny. Tommy said, 'I see it Dr. Westbrook.'

'Where?'

'Go left, down, left. A little below that mole.'

'Got it. All better?'

I finally calmed down. 'Yes sir, thank you.' He put lotion on me and bandages. He then asked Tommy to help lift me up off the table. He gave me a hospital gown on me and a long coat to wear home. And a bottle of pills for the pain.

I rode home in the back of Tommy's wagon. He'd been in town to buy fresh hay for his horses. It was soft enough to keep me comfortable.

My parents wondered why a boy was bringing me home. They were also curious as to why I was reeking of alcohol and unable to walk straight or speak coherently.

Tommy explained what'd happened but my mother had to see for herself. She went behind me and lifted up the hospital grown to see my bandaged rump. My father did not need proof.

They thanked Tommy and then walked me upstairs to bed."

Sarah shook her head in frustration. "Now that is the most embarrassing story I have which involves a boy."

The girls laughed.

Audrey asked, "Ok, since I am next, does that mean that I get to wear something tonight only?"

Sarah shook her head. "Oh no. We'll think of something for you tonight and you'll wear to breakfast in the morning. Ok, since Emily has the Jack of Clubs, one of us must tell a juicy story. Since everyone has something on Emily…."

Emily interrupted with a curtsey. "Thank you."

Amanda said, "I'll have to decide who does it. Ok, I'm thinking of a number between one and ten,"

"Six?"

"Four?"

"Nine?"

"It was eight. Jan is the winner."

Jan smiled. She began writing.

Sarah was curious.

Audrey was intrigued.

Emily was nervous.

After a couple of minutes, Jan was ready.

Lynn grabbed the paper. "Let me read it."

She cleared her throat. "A couple of weeks ago, Emily was staying at my house. My boyfriend Robert, Karen's boyfriend Benjamin and Emily's boyfriend Jeff came over for a pool party. An hour later the pool was packed with guys from Jennings. Karen brought out a cart full of booze, ice and glasses. We all started drinking and…"

Audrey interrupted her: "Everyone except Emily started drinking."

Jan made a goofy face and rolled her eyes aping Audrey's pronouncement.

Lynn nervously laughed. "Um… we all got blasted. Emily was drunk as a skunk. Karen decided to…," she stopped reading aloud. "I don't want to read any more."

Audrey was aghast. "You got drunk?"

Jan gave her a smug look. "Li, li, li, lighten up."

Lynn spoke carefully, "Look, let's just forget this and go back to the slumber party."

Emily sat silently at the table, forlorn. Amanda asked, "What else does it say?"

Lynn ripped up the paper. "Nothing. Forget about it."

Audrey growled at Jan, "I can't believe you two!"

Jan was laughing. "Ra, ra, ra, Robert couldn't keep his eyes off her,"

Audrey snapped, "Emily, you lied to me!"

Emily tried to cover her embarrassment with a half-hearted smile. "I didn't want you to think ill of me."

Audrey stormed into the parlor and began looking through her suitcase for clothes.

Lynn asked, "Audrey? What are you doing?"

"Leaving! I'm going back to the Helena!"

Jan stuck out her tongue. "Prude!"

Audrey hollered, "Shut up, Jan!"

"Audrey?" Lynn ran over to console her.

Emily ran to the parlor.

Jan clapped. "I na, na, na, na knew she'd break."

Sarah tilted her head. "Huh?"

"Ka, ka, ka, Karen's gonna la, la, la, love this."

Sarah shifted her eyes. "Wait a second, how'd those boys from Jennings just happen to drive up to your house wearing bathing suits? How'd Karen already have the booze glasses and ice on a cart? Pool parties don't just happen! They take planning!"

Jan made a funny face. Sarah was flabbergasted. "You jezebel!"

Jan stuck out her tongue, thinking it was all a joke.

Amanda stood and felt her way to the parlor.

"Why would you want to compromise her like that?"

Jan shrugged. "Ba, ba, because I can. Good girls are ba, ba, bad girls if they think they won't get caught."

Sarah threw her arms up. "I can't believe you!"

Jan stood up and started walking down the hall to the master bedroom.

Sarah stomped the floor as she chased after her. They walked into the mater bedroom, Sarah slammed the door.

In the parlor, Audrey was crying, "I'm trying so hard to change my life. I thought Emily was different from those two." Lynn held on to her. Emily flopped on the couch and hid her face in her hands.

Emily said to Audrey, "Let's talk in the kitchen." Audrey nodded and they stepped out of the parlor.

Audrey looked at Emily with heavy eyes. She spoke in a wintry tone somewhere between fury and perplexity. "Why did you do that?"

Emily's mouth opened but she struggled to make a sound. "I dunno."

"Do you feel bad because you got caught?"

"Only as half as bad as I feel when I got away with it!" Emily stepped back and examined the moment attempting to decipher if such a poignant confession had come from her own mouth.

"Audrey, listen, I'm human." Emily shifted her eyes. "Let me restate that, I'm stupid, sixteen-year-old girl human. I wanted to believe so much that Jeff was my boyfriend that I easily chose to risk my reputation and my physical health to be near him. Such is my lot that in spite of my experiences, commitments and better judgment I am often caught in the thunderstorm of emotional conflict, tumbling down a wash, grasping for some elemental truths to save me or at least slow me down before I am swept away. That is my pitiful condition. That is me and if you hope for anything better than you are naive and if you expect perfection than you are the world's biggest fool for I am neither incapable nor gifted with wisdom enough to know when I should walk away from most situations."

Audrey bowed her head; disappointed, frustrated, frightened that the one thing she ever truly believed in was in fact merely a collage of high minded ideals forever out of reach. She mumbled to herself, "I thought you were different."

"I am Audrey, I am." She put a hand on her shoulder. "And I'm not, Audrey, I'm not."

Audrey bit her lip and searched for some hidden meaning in the panel floor.

Emily popped her lips before she spoke. "I am a Christian, Audrey. I am sincere. I am also incredibly stupid at times. So far, I have avoided any permanent consequences from my impetuousness; that being said, I'm going to do dumb stuff, no matter what, for… I dunno, six or seven more decades. I will never reach a state of perfection. No one ever is perfect. On second thought, one guy was perfect and the powers that be killed him."

In the parlor, Amanda stuck out her hand to Lynn. "Lead me to the kitchen."

Audrey's lower lip quivered: "I changed because of you."

"No you didn't," said Amanda. Emily and Audrey both looked to her.

"Audrey, you did not change because of Emily; you changed because of you. Emily was the catalyst but you made the decisions and, more importantly, took the action that brought you into this new life." Amanda reached out her hand and placed it on Audrey's shoulder.

Amanda was melancholy. "Years ago, I placed a high value on my beauty. I let it define me, as girls our age do some times."

Emily smiled. "My brother David was so in love with you. You were so beau… I mean… um."

Amanda nodded. "It's ok Emily, I understand, believe me. Audrey, at the risk of being vain, I can tell you that I was the prettiest girl in town. Emily, Sarah, all of the younger girls looked to me as their ideal. In 1907, I was sixteen and on top of the world. David Clementine and I would be married and have…" Amanda collapsed her shoulders. Her deep sobbing warranted a pause in the conversation.

Emily put a hand on Amanda's shoulder.

Amanda sighed in disgust. "I hate crying. I hate it with a passion because I no longer have tear ducts! It gives me a headache because my stupid brain keeps trying to make tears that will never fall."

She took a moment to breathe. She turned to Emily. "I heard all about David and his wife and their… and their baby on the way. I am… happy for them as much as I can be under the circumstances."

Emily whispered, "It's alright."

Amanda shook her head. "No, it won't ever be right… just different." She cleared her throat.

"David and I were going to get married but then, my father had the opportunity to open a jewelry store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I had to move with my family. David… forgot about me overtime, which, I suppose is his prerogative. We lived in an apartment above the jewelry store. A few weeks after we moved, a day before the store opened, a robber came by… and killed my father before my very eyes and then pointed the shotgun at my face. As you can imagine, I have spent the last three years seething in absolute rage.

I hated the robber. I hated my mother who now had to treat me like a baby all over again. I hated my younger sisters who were resentful that they had to put their life on hold because of me. I hated God who let this happen. A month ago, when my mother said we were moving back to Eagle Creek I hate the whole town! I hated Sarah when she came to visit me. I hated her and like everyone I hate I wished them dead!

But then, one day, Sarah brought me a record on massage and a special little cherub named Jake Watson."

Audrey cocked her head, intrigued by the pronouncement.

"Jake stood in front of me and allowed me to trace the muscles in his back. He is my learning tablet, my model; he is my canvass in flesh since I no longer have eyes to see what I am doing. After a few simple presses into his back, I changed from a hate filled, self-loathing beast into a woman of hope capable of redemption, independence and dignity. Sarah was the table. Jake was the clay. I was the sculptor. I changed not because of them but because I needed to change.

If Sarah deserts me; if Jake gets bored and leaves, I will be disappointed but only temporarily because my trust, my basis for an expectation of goodness will be in myself and the higher calling which forces me, the blind girl, to see beyond my own limitations. Its odd but I've learned more about God and mercy in the last couple of weeks by touching Jake's back than I did in Sunday School."

Audrey whispered, "Simon says that God always uses the simple things to confound the wise and the weak things to shame the strong. Touching a back… I'd say that's pretty simple."

Emily quipped, "And a scrawny thirteen-year-old boy, that's pretty weak if you ask me."

They shared a brief, muted laugh.

Amanda swished her mouth. "I'll let you in on a little secret. Remember when Jake asked, 'If you had one wish, what would it be?' Well, I told him the answer was too private."

Audrey whispered, "I can't imagine the pain you must feel."

Amanda shook her head. "No, that's not it. The wish that was far too private for me to reveal is… I wish…" her voice broke. "I wish that I was thirteen-years-old again so I could fall in love with Jake."

Emily was puzzled. "Really?"

Amanda was amazed at her own honesty. "I know it's crazy. He's six years younger than me, but, I can't help it. He has been so extraordinarily kind that I… I had no choice but to fall in love with Jake. I mean, I'd never pursue a romantic relationship. It wouldn't be proper, but… but that’s the way I feel because that's how much my life has changed."

Amanda slowly turned around and headed back to the parlor.

"Audrey," Emily sighed. "I'm so sorry I lied to you about leaving the party."

Audrey nodded. "And I'm sorry that I lacked a fuller understanding of my friend."

They hugged and began to return to the parlor.

They heard Sarah yelling from the master bedroom.

Audrey asked, "Are those two still going at it?"

Emily leaned her ear against the door. "Yup. They're still going at it!"

Beyond the door there was a heated battle.

Sarah stomped the floor. "You tramp! You dissolute, cheap, disgusting louse!"

"Wa, wa, wa, wa, what's your problem? I da, da, da, da, didn't force her to do anything!"

"Didn't you?"

"Ta, ta, ta, Tommy!" Jan yelled.

Sarah retorted, "What about ta, ta, ta, Tommy?"

Jan's face fell.

Both girls took a moment to breathe.

Sarah said, "I apologize for mocking you. What were you saying about Tommy?"

Jan grabbed her writing pad and pencil.

Sarah took a moment to breathe.

Jan wrote: "If Tommy was downstairs in the pool drinking...."

Sarah looked at her note: "I wouldn't! I have morals. I'm not a hedonist like you and Karen."

Jan growled in frustration while continuing to write.

"I am a Christian, Jan, and my sense of morality is part of my identity. There's absolutely no way I would compromise myself for a boy. A spiritual life may not mean anything to you," Jan handed Sarah the paper. "I, on the other hand, am committed to…." She froze.

Jan sarcastically inquired, "Wa, wa, wa, what was that you we're s, s, s, saying about religion?"

Sarah's teeth chattered. She tried to keep from crying.

Jan pouted. "Oh-oh. Little m, m, m, miss perfect isn't so righteous after-all."

Sarah bit her lip.

"Da, da, do you want to ah, ah, ah, answer my qua, qua, qua question?"

Sarah's voice broke, "I'm not like you."

Jan got in her face: "Ya, ya, you're darn right, you're not like me. I'm honest."

Jan turned around and opened the door. She started back down the hall.

Sarah grabbed her wrist. "We're not finished yet! I haven't given you my answer."

Jan nodded. "Ya, ya, you have."

Sarah was shaking.

Jan scoffed at her. "Face it: ah, ah, ah, all of you are hypocrites."

Sarah barked, "If you and Emily weren't such chums…." Sarah shoved Jan against the wall.

Lynn rushed into the hallway to separate the two combatants.

Audrey huffed, "This is ridiculous!" She ran after Lynn.

"Ridiculous, but not unexpected," Emily opined. "Once Sarah gets going in an argument nothing, absolutely nothing will stop her."

Amanda grabbed her records. "One thing will stop her."

Emily tilted her head. "What?"

In the hallway, Lynn and Audrey pleaded with the bickering girls to return to slumber party mode. Suddenly, a loud, male voice came from the parlor.

"The Helena Society for the Blind presents Romero the Pirate: A Tale of Forbidden Passions by Edith Browling.
Chapter One: The Nectar of Love
Contessa was the youngest in her family. Though raised in the historically rigid tutelage of the strictest of au pairs afforded by her wealthy Austrian parents, she yearned to escape Vienna and explore the fledgling English colonies in North America. As the days drew closer to her eighteenth birthday and the ensuing freedom it promised, the overwhelming flood of burning feminine desires in her libido welled ever higher to their breaching point. Soon she would embrace all dimensions of ecstasy or she would wither away like a hopeless leaf on…."

Jan, Audrey and Lynn's jaw dropped. Sarah brought up the rear as the four girls ran back into the parlor. As soon as they arrived Amanda picked up the needle. "Um… do you girls want to continue fighting or would you like to hear every steamy word of this illicit novel?"

Jan and Sarah hugged each other.

"B, b, b, b, b, best friends!"

Amanda giggled, "I thought so. Now grab a pillow and let's get this slumber party going."

Sarah, Lynn, Audrey, and Jan all found comfortable places around the phonograph; eagerly anticipating the mysterious, sensuous secrets of Romero the Pirate. Sarah turned to Jan. "This isn't over."

Jan gave her a smug look. She wrote: "For me it is over, Sarah. I'm fine, complete, confident in who I am. You are the one who has a conflict." Jan closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch.

Sarah collapsed her shoulders; burdened by self doubt and anguish.