"I'm absolutely famished," she announced to us, her hands on her hips. "I skipped breakfast waiting for you guys. At least you can walk faster," she added.
Jade was truly the most elegant looking teenage girl I knew. She had long, lush brown hair with a reddish tint that flowed gently down to her shoulders. Her eyes were green and almond shaped. Her high cheekbones gave her face an impressive angular line that swept gracefully into her jaw and perfectly shaped lips. Her nose was a little small, but also just slightly turned up and she was always stylishly dressed and perfectly made-up.
"It's not our fault you live out in the
boondocks," Star quipped.
"Boondocks! This is probably the most desirable gated community in Los Angeles, maybe even the whole West Coast!" Jade bragged.
Star looked around as if deciding whether or not she wanted to move in.
"Um. No graffiti at least," she said, and Jade laughed. "C'mon, c'mon. Everything is set up for us in the back. Did you bring bathing suits?" Jade asked.
"No one told me to," Star said.
"I didn't think of it," Misty said, shaking her head. I was ashamed to say I didn't even own one.
"That's all right. I'll find something for each of you. Worse comes to worse," she added with a coy smile, "we'll skinny-dip."
"What?" I cried.
"Just kidding," she said, and took my hand. "Cat, stop worrying," she ordered. "We're going to have a good time for a change. You have to leave your sadness and troubles outside the door."
"She doesn't know how to stop worrying," Star said.
"Well, let that be the first commandment of the OWP's: no worries?'
"Right," Misty said. "Isn't this great?" she added. "We're together, forever."
She threaded her arm through mine and squealed with delight.
"Right," Star muttered, taking my other arm, "misery loves company"
They were all around me. I looked again at the beautiful mansion How could anyone be miserable here, especially me? I wondered, as I entered with my best friends in all the world, my only friends in all the world. We had each had our private storms and now, all our bright and hopeful smiles made one united, special rainbow.
2 Together Again
The entryway in Jade's house was almost as big as my living room. The floor glittered with richlooking golden brown tiles. On my right was a wallsize oval mirror that caught the three of us gaping ahead at the widest, most dramatic staircase I had ever seen in real life. The steps were carpeted in red velvet
"I feel like I just stepped into Gone With the Wind," Misty declared.
On the wall to the left of the stairway was an enormous oil painting of a watery meadow with some sort of mill in the background, all under a windy sky.
"That's the biggest picture I ever saw," Star said, impressed.
"It's a Jonathan Sandler. He's an American artist who worked in the late nineteenth century, imitating the Dutch landscape painters. My father got it as part of a package deal he made with some wealthy builder in Virginia. There are lots of paintings in this house," she continued.
Her matter-of-fact tone made it sound more like she was bored with it than boasting. "Some my mother bought and some my father acquired so there's a mixture of styles. They never agreed on much of anything, why should they agree on paintings?" she offered.
Misty nodded knowingly. Her parents weren't much different from Jade's in that regard.
All of the rooms in the house were large and opulent. Besides the works of art on the walls, there were vases and clocks, crystals and small statues almost everywhere. I didn't see much empty space, which made me think it was as big and as full as a museum.
We three continued to gawk as Jade led us through the house to the den, a long room with paneled walls, a built-in big-screen television and a wall of bookshelves that nearly reached the ceiling. She walked us through French doors that opened onto a large, tiled patio. To the right on the patio were long narrow tables arranged with the buffet spread over them. A maid and the butler waited to serve us.
It looked like enough food for a wedding. One table was covered with dishes of salads, framed with breads and rolls; another table had platters of meats, shrimp, and even small lobster tails. There were soft drinks, lemonade, and juices on a third table, and after that were the desserts: small cakes, cookies, two pies, and bowls of mixed fruit.
"Who all is coming?" Star asked, breathless with awe.
"Coming? No one's corning. My mother's on a business trip and my father is in Nashville talking to investors who want to build a music theater."
"You mean that this is all for us?" Star followed.
"I wasn't sure what everyone liked, so I asked them to prepare a variety."
"Variety? Some supermarkets don't have this much variety. What happens to all the food we don't eat?" Star pursued.
"I don't know," Jade said, starting to get annoyed. "The servants do things with leftovers. That's why they're here. Let's get some food and sit."
"I'm glad I didn't eat much for breakfast," Misty cried, and started for the tables. The maid handed her a dish immediately and the butler waited to hear what she wanted. He then served her.
I didn't know what to choose first. I tried taking a little of everything, but the butler put too big a portion of every- thing I chose on my plate.
Jade took the least of any of us. We sat around a large table under an umbrella. The butler and the maid then brought us whatever we wanted to drink. They stood back by the tables and watched, waiting to see if anyone wanted anything else.
"Do you always eat like this?" Star asked. "With servants and all?" --
"No. Most of the time, I have a fruit shake or just some yogurt, but this is a special occasion."
"I'll say. I didn't know how special an occasion it was," Star said, and we all laughed, even me.
As we sat, ate, and talked, I gazed at the beautiful grounds. The grass looked more like carpet. All the bushes and flowers were arranged and trimmed to perfection. It was as if one of those famous artists whose paintings hung on the walls inside had planned the landscaping. The pool was kidney shaped with a whirlpool at the far end, over which the blue green water flowed back into the pool itself. There were heavy cushioned pink lounge chairs around the patio and a small cabana to the right with an outside shower.
"It really is beautiful here," I suddenly blurted. The others stopped talking and looked at each other and laughed. "You sound like you just woke up," Star said.
"I don't know if I'm awake or dreaming."
"You want to make her head fatter than it already is?" Star warned, nodding at Jade.
"Don't worry about it, Star. If I stray, you'll be there to knock me back."
"That's the truth," Star said. Misty laughed and we were all silent for a long moment.
"I can't help it. It still feels like we're all back at Doctor Marlowe's," Misty said. "I keep expecting one of us to start talking about her family problems."
"Well, let's make another rule right now. ... no references to that stuff unless we all decide it's okay, okay?"
"What will we talk about?" Misty asked
"There are lots of other things going on besides our miserable family lives," Jade insisted. "For starters, anyone seeing anyone?"
She gazed around the table.
"I'm not. Not yet," Star added cryptically.
"What's that supposed to mean, 'not yet'?" Jade followed, her perfectly trimmed eyebrows dipping toward each other.
"Well, I was over at Lily Porter's house the other day and I saw a picture of her cousin Larry. He's in the army and he sent her this picture of himself all dressed up in his uniform, standing by a tank. He's over in Germany, but he's coming back soon."
"So?" Jade said.
"So, I thought he was fine, and she told me as far as she knows, he's not involved with anyone back here. She's going to introduce me as soon as he's home. She said she'll have a party or something."
"Right, a
nd he'll just topple over the moment he sets eyes on you," Jade said.
Star's eyes grew small for a moment and then she smiled.
"Well, maybe I'll borrow one of your expensive outfits and dazzle him like you dazzle every man that sees you." Jade laughed.
"Sure. Choose anything you want. I have magic clothes, guaranteed to win you the man you love."
"What about you? Someone set your heart on fire these days?" Star challenged.
Misty and I were like observers at a verbal tennis match. Our heads turned from one to the other.
"No. My mother took me to an afternoon party over at the Nelson's two days ago just so I could meet their son Sanford, who just got home from his European studies in Paris. He's deli-and very intelligent, but he's got the personality of a nose wart. Talk about being conceited. The only reason that boy looks into a girl's eyes is to see his own reflection."
We all laughed. How I wished I had some stories, some experiences to relate, but all I could do was listen and be envious.
"Are we really going to form a club?" Misty asked when we all grew quiet.
"Club sounds juvenile," Jade said. "Let's just call it something else."
"What?" Star asked.
"I don't know. Someone come up with something. I can't think of everything."
"Amazed to hear you admit it," Star muttered.
We were all quiet, thinking
"Why don't we just call ourselves sisters," I suggested. They turned to me.
"I don't mean real sisters, but..."
"I like it," Jade said. "The OWP's, Sisters of Misfortune." She glanced at Star.
"Now what?" Misty asked. "Can I get some Tshirts made up for us?"
"How would you explain it to your mother and father?" Star asked.
"I don't know. Neither of them ever ask me what my T-shirts mean. They pretend not to see them on me. This one won't be any different."
"T-shirts won't be enough to make us sisters," Jade said.
Suddenly she looked different, darker, deeper in thought. "There's something I never told Doctor Marlowe."
"What's that?" Star said.
Jade turned to her right and looked up at the house.
"I have my own private world. It's an attic room with just a small window. I go there when I want to feel like -,"
"What?" Misty asked.
"Away from all this," she said with a sweep of her hands "We'll go up there and perform the ceremony," she added.
"Ceremony? What ceremony?" Misty asked, her eyes wide.
"The ritual that will make us all feel closer, more like sisters." When she gazed at Star, I felt that the two of them might have discussed it beforehand. Star's lips relaxed into a small smile.
"Ritual?" Misty said, her face full of worry.
"You're not afraid, are you?" Jade teased.
"No, no. Of course not. What about you, Cat?" she asked me quickly.
"I don't think even Jade, even Jade and Star together," I added, "could come up with anything that would frighten me more than my own memories," I said.
Everyone grew serious and nodded.
"That's why we need this," Jade said. "It's why I invited you all here. It's why sisters is not really an exaggeration. We're more than friends. We're family."
She gazed out at the beautiful grounds.
"We might be the only real family we have!'
"Then let's get to it," Star said.
"Can't we have dessert first?" Misty cried, eyeing the pies and cookies.
Everyone laughed, but it was different, it was a laugh full of nervousness, thin and as fragile as we all were. Maybe that's-what really makes us sisters, I thought.
After we had finished eating, we reentered the house, all of us speaking more softly, keeping our voices as low as we would if we had just entered a church. Jade led us back to the grand staircase, explaining how she had first discovered the attic room when she was only seven and how she just naturally began bringing her most cherished possessions into it. When her father discovered what she was doing, he thought it was amusing. He had the room fixed up for her, cleaned and wallpapered, and then he found some special furniture.
Suddenly she stopped at the base of the staircase and gave us all an ominous look.
"Let's make another rule right now and let's live by it.
Let's promise each other not to lie to each other and not to avoid saying or doing anything that might be unpleasant if we feel deep in our hearts it is the best thing for our sister. Either we're going to be different from everyone else out there, or we're not. We're either really going to be honest with each other and really become family or not," she emphasized. "Well?" She looked directly into Star's face.
"Fine with me," Star said. "I never lied to you about what's wrong with you yet."
"It goes both ways."
"It should," Star countered.
"Cat?"
I nodded although I felt I would be the biggest target for everyone else's critical arrows.
"Misty?"
"It's okay with me. I don't mind what anyone says about me," she added.
"There! That's a lie," Jade accused, her forefinger in her face. "Well?"
"Okay, it's a lie. What I meant is I won't mind what anyone here says about me. I mean, I'll mind, but I'll take it. Is that all right?"
"It's better," Jade conceded, "but it's not quite enough honesty yet. Anyway," she continued, turning away from Misty, who released a breath and shook her head at me. "My father found all these toy-like things and made me my own dollhouse up here. Sometimes, I felt like a doll in it myself. There are even small lamps and tables, small bookcases, and of course, little dishes, glasses, and cups.
"But I have other things in there, things that have had some special meaning for me and they're not all small things. I keep the room under lock and key. The maid doesn't even get in there to clean, which my mother hates. I take care of that room by myself."
"Wow," Star said, exaggerating her surprise as we con- tinned down the upstairs hallway, "you actually clean one room yourself?"
"Okay," Jade admitted, "I'm a spoiled brat." She smiled. "But I won't deny that I've enjoyed it."
"Don't you just hate all this truth?" Star asked Misty and me.
With some hesitation, we both laughed.
As we passed Jade's mother's bedroom, we gazed through the double doors and saw an enormous bed with a headboard made out of what looked like pearls. It rose halfway to the ceiling. It was a fourposter bed, too. I could see there was a whole other room, a living room, just off to the right, with a television set. I asked about it, but Jade wasn't going to stop to show us anything at the moment.
At the end of the hallway there was a narrow stairway that took us up to the attic, Jade's dollhouse to the right and a storage area to the left. She took a key from her pocket, unlocked the padlock, and then she opened the door and stepped back for all of us to enter.
We all paused inside the doorway. It was as if we had fallen down a well into Oz or some other make-believe world. The one small window was draped in a candy red-and-white curtain. The floor was covered with a thick, cream tinted rug that also had some red streaking through it. As she had described, the room was furnished with small milk white chairs and tables, a sofa, and short pole lamps. There was even a small television set in a miniature cabinet. There were little pictures of clowns and horses, scenic views, and some cartoon characters on the white and candy apple red wallpaper. I, especially, felt like Gulliver in Lilliput, a giant among tiny people. I was afraid to move, afraid I might step on something or shatter something with a clumsy gesture.
"We don't have to sit on furniture," Jade said, as she saw us lingering in the doorway. "We can sit on the floor. That's what I usually do when I'm up here."
She closed the door behind her and went to the small area where there was a dining room table all set with toy dishes and silverware. Behind it was a miniature kitchen with cabinets, a sink, and a stove. None of us, not even M
isty, could fit on those tiny kitchen table chairs, I thought. A beautiful doll with long flowing golden hair was seated at the head of the table. On the other chairs were characters from various children's stories. I recognized Pinocchio of course, and Dorothy from Oz, as well as Pocahontas.
Jade opened one of the small cabinet doors, reached in, and then turned back to us with a long, black candle in her hand. I saw her look to Star who nodded. Then Jade pulled down the shade over the small window to darken the room. She set a candle holder down on the floor and squatted beside it, inviting us to do the same. We gathered in a small circle and Jade set the candle in the holder.
"I don't mean to be so dramatic about all this, but I've been thinking about us and I've done some research on different rituals designed to bind people the way I think we all want to be bound."
"What do you mean by bound?" Misty asked.
Jade looked very thoughtful for a moment. It was very quiet. All I could hear was the tiny ticking of a small clock on a shelf behind me.
"We've all got to feel we're part of something much greater than ourselves. If you put a teaspoon of water into a bottle of wine, the water would lose its identity. It would take on the smell and the taste of the wine. We've got to dissolve ourselves like that into each other."
"How do we do that?" Misty asked. Without realizing she was doing it, she was whispering.
Instead of answering right away, Jade lit the candle.
"We have to pledge ourselves to each other, to the sisterhood, and swear to put the interests of all of us above our own personal interests."
Misty still looked troubled and confused.
"Don't you want to do that?" Jade asked her.
Misty looked at me and then nodded.
"Sure. That's why we're here, I guess."
"We've all been brought together because people who were or are supposed to be responsible for us were more interested in their own happiness. That's why we have to be unselfish when it comes to each other," Jade said.
The candle burned brightly, the light flickering on all our faces, making our eyes look like they all had tiny candles in them as well.