I had this gorgeous fox on my arms. She was a fine thing of beauty. I guess I loved her because she looked a lot like Marilyn Monroe. The bleach blonde hair accompanied the luscious red lips and pearl-white summer dress gathered together in a superb stupendous symphony. She raised people’s pants far and wide. No man could sit straight in her glimmering presence. Allison walked down the street flaunting her faculties and every man she crossed paths with suddenly went cross-legged. What a perfect girl she is, eh? There was only one small problem; she didn’t put out…ever. How unfortunate for me, right?
I remember one date we went on as if it were yesterday. I remember her eyes shimmering in the autumn moonlight. I remember the water all around us, flowing to and fro carelessly. I put her on my boat and rowed her to the miniature island in the heart of the lake. We picnicked with fancy imported European cheeses, Italian salami, English crackers and French wine. I remember looking into those captivating hazel eyes of hers. Those eyes could sink ships and end wars. They really could.
After indulging in the fine red wine I inched closer to her. My journey to her luscious lips was abruptly cut short thanks to her delicately smooth hand. She placed her palm on my lips and said, “No, love, I cannot.”
“Darling, I am awfully confused.”
“I cannot, Thomas.”
“Darling, what is the matter?”
“I’m not ready to kiss you just yet?”
“Is it something I did?”
“No, love, everything was just fine.”
“So what was it, dearest?”
“I’m afraid I am not ready, is all.”
“Oh Allison, you cannot expect me to believe such words without reason.”
“You should believe me, dear.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“Because you love me so.”
There was a silence.
“You love me don’t you, dear,” she asked.
“Of course I love you, Allison.”
“Oh I knew you love me. You wouldn’t leave me simply for a silly kiss, would you?”
“I’d never, my dear. I’d never do such thing.”
I am a lying son of a bitch.
“I am too happy to hear that.”
“And you should smile, shouldn’t you?”
Her beautiful smile appeared in the autumn breeze.
“Rightfully so,” she begun. “My last boyfriend left me for such a reason.”
“It appears to me you aren’t too good at choosing men.”
“I picked you, didn’t I?”
“My point exactly.”
“Oh Thomas, don’t joke in such ways.”
“So what is the reason you have for concealing your lips?”
“It happened when I was younger; much younger.”
“What happened?”
“I was about twelve at the time. A boy approached me.”
“What did he do to you?”
Her eyes ventured off from my eyes to the ground.
“He was much older than I was. Hardly nineteen, I believe.”
“What did he do to you, Allison?”
Her eyes returned to mine.
“He forced himself onto me. It was the last day of camp. He was a counselor.”
“I am so sorry I asked, Allison.”
“Luckily my brother Fredrick came to pick me up early. He was holding a wooden bat in his right hand. Blood splattered all over my yellow dress. It was an awful mess, darling. An awful mess it was.”
She began to cry. I proceeded to consoling her with a hug, placing her head against my shoulders.
“After Fredrick was done with him I couldn’t recognize who the man was. He had no face. He had no nose. He had nothing. His face was turned inside out. I couldn’t trust a man after that day, I really couldn’t.”
“Oh Allison, I am very sorry to hear it. How on earth did you get over such a feat?”
“It was through the beauty of therapy, darling.”
I could openly say that I hate the very idea of therapy. Entrusting sacred information and ideas to a complete stranger was always an absolute atrocity to me. Nevertheless I remembered I had proceeded to consoling her.
“You are truly something spectacular, Allison. I will give you time, honey.”
“Thank you for understanding, Thomas. You are truly wonderful.”
“I will never let someone hurt you ever again.”
That night stuck with me forever. Such beauty can’t be forgotten. Even ones with Alzheimer’s could say they will always remember beauty. Patience with amnesia could remember rosy red lips, hill-top curves, plump, perky breasts and blindingly beautiful blonde hair. I gave her time. After all I didn’t mind, I was in love.
For the last ten years I have built an empire in the business of selling shoes. My older brother and I have been raking in money since we went global five years ago. We now have stores all across the United States as well as in Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, Milan, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. ROYAL SHOES finally progressed from a small chain of stores to a million dollar corporation. I am truly ecstatic about such progress. After all, it seemed a bit over night to say the least. We have thoroughly studied the human foot, successfully creating the most comfortable of footwear for ever occasion. Without my brother, Stephen’s marketing expertise and my knowledge of business and money-management we would still be but two boys from the streets of New York still trying to find a breakthrough.
I rolled into the parking lot early Monday morning. Everyone knows how much I hate Monday mornings. When you walk in you are greeted with the world’s problems and you are expected to have all of its answers. It is as if the world had ended and restarted sometime during Sunday and with earth’s rebirth we were gifted a shit load of problems. The worst part of Monday mornings were the morning meetings. The meetings were generally around two to three hours long. It was quite awful really.
I walk in to be greeted by my secretary, Vanessa Pressley. A cute little thing she is. She always goes out of the way to under dress to work. Aside from her risqué work outfits she’s a pretty bad secretary. She can never remember a damn thing but I promised her father I’d give her a job. See, her father was my college professor and he and I have become quite the good friends in the last several years.
“Good morning, Mr. Baker.”
“Good morning, Vanessa,” I say unenthused.
“Sir, I sent your girlfriend freshly cut roses, I sent your mother a birthday card with money inside, and here is your vanilla latte with five sugars.”
She smiled as if I should be impressed. But I wasn’t impressed in the slightest.
“For a girl whose father is a professor you sure are dumb, honey.”
She gasps.
“Mr. Baker, what did I do?”
“My girlfriend is allergic to roses, and no one gets their mother a card and money. When I told you to get her something special I wasn’t thinking of a car with money. That is not special at all. And I hate Vanilla Lattes. Don’t even get me started about the damn sugar. Do I look like a little kid to you? What on earth do I need five sugars for? It’s already coffee, dammit.”
Tears welled up in her pretty little eyes. Tear drops cascaded from her long black eyelashes and down her profusely pampered face. Completely embarrassed she ran off to the nearest bathroom where she probably will spend the rest of the morning until she works the courage up to come and apologize. At this point everyone in the lobby knows I have arrived. What an entrance that was, eh?
A hand was placed on my shoulder. Someone is behind me.
“You mustn’t be so ruthless with your secretary, Thomas.”
By the voice, I could tell it was my brother, Stephen.
“What do you want, Stephen?”
He turned me around so that we met eye to eye.
“I am simply saying you cannot go throw a fit every time she makes a mistake.”
I turned around and proceeded to walk toward the elevator.
“I see what your saying, Stephen. I’ll fire her then.”
“That’s not what I am saying, little brother. Don’t be so rash.”
“I can tell by your excessive begging that you happen to be banging my secretary.”
He shrugs, and then laughs.
“What can I say, little man? She’s something else, isn’t she?”
“I wouldn’t know, Stephen.”
“You mean, you haven’t ever thought about it?”
“Not one moment. I only have eyes for Allison. You know that.”
“A word of advice, little Thomas, be awfully careful of women who don’t put out before too long. Those are the women that tend to be the sneaky ones.”
We both laughed heartily.
“I say, Stephen, you have quite the imagination.”
“I must agree with that.”
“Well, Allison isn’t like that. She loves me too much, you know.”
“Don’t we all know?”
Just then I noticed he was fully clothed, briefcase and all.
“Did you just pull in as well?”
“No, no, I am just leaving actually.”
“Why is that?”
“I have some business to take care of on my own.”
“What type of business may I ask?”
“Ex-wife business is what I was referring to.”
“Ah, the worst type of business.”
“Indeed it is. I must agree.”
“How is Carol doing?”
“She’s still bitching about the child support, as usual.”
“Why is that? You have plenty of money.”
“That is exactly the problem. She keeps asking for increases.”
I sigh, “Who doesn’t love a gold digging bitch?”
“Who knows?”
“Well, I bid you farewell, Stephen.”
“Alrighty. Have fun in the morning meetings, big guy.”
He chuckles.
“Do me a favor,” he begins. “Don’t fire Vanessa, ok? Give her sometime to adjust. When I make my return I expect her to be here.”
He turns finally and leaves me to be carried away in the elevator. I am hoisted thirty floors up in the air to reach the floor where my office is along with the conference room. When I enter the conference room I saw that the entire board of directors was already waiting for me in their respective seats. I took my seat at the head of the oval-shaped table and opened my notebook computer. I figured I would at least organize my finances and buy mother a new gift since Vanessa clearly is highly inadequate to handling anything.
I generally try not to pay much attention to the board of directors. The only time I really say anything to them is when they need my approval for something. The board meeting usually consists of pitched ideas and arguments about what the kids think is stylish of ‘lame’ as they put it. Finally that my computer has booted up successfully I proceed to log onto a jeweler’s web-site. I buy my mother the most expensive piece of jewelry they have to make up for Vanessa’s stupidity. Along with the diamond studded necklace I accompany it with a note of explanation about Vanessa’s stupidity. While I am filling out the shipping information I think about my brother, Stephen. How on earth could he think it was remotely moralistic to commit such an act of fraternization? I am bewildered at the fact he has been keeping Vanessa up all night. Maybe he is to blame for her lack of efforts. I chuckle to myself at the thought, yet no one hears me. They are too busy arguing. Sometimes I feel that I could do just about anything and they would have not the slightest clue. I could strip completely nude and dance the electric slide and no one would ever see. I could pull out my fully licensed pistol and play Russian-roulette with myself and when I blew my brains out none of them would bat an eyelash. They would all continue on thinking about what color the shoe should be.
An alert pops up on my computer screen. It was a phrase I hadn’t seen since my poor days and humble beginnings. The phrase said, “Insufficient Funds.” How on earth could I have insufficient funds, I thought. This is impossible. Opening a new tab in my web browser, I proceeded to access my bank account information. I widen my eyes in astonishment as to what I had seen. “Shit,” I yell. But no one hears. No one ever hears. On the screen it shows that my bank account has been completely wiped out. All traces of money are gone, completely. I view my online receipt to see what expenses they are referring to. On the receipt it only displays Two Jet Blue First Class Tickets to Athens, Greece. Under that it says that the rest of my funds were withdrawn last night at half past eleven. The only person who has access to my finances is…Allison.
I arise from my chair and leave all of my things behind. I rush out of the room in a fitting rage yet no one notices me go. As I leave the building I see Vanessa holding a cup of coffee.
“Pumpkin Spice Latte, just like you like it, sir.”
“No, no, no, I have no time for this.”
I side step the black haired vixen and make my way to my car. I speed down the streets as fast as I possibly could in wintry weather. The streets are covered in snow. The sidewalks are plagued with ice. At the corner of my street I saw a black Mercedes parked. It seemed rather out of place. Actually it was the same car that my brother drives.
When I arrived at my house I parked on the sidewalk. My house was actually a mansion and I loved its mysterious look. It was light colored as the snow and was hard to spot in the winter. I have had so many memories in this house with my beautiful Allison. Not every man can say they have a woman that is the spitting image of Marilyn Monroe. When I slowly made my way through the driveway I saw her car was out of the garage. It was fully packed with suitcases. Could this have to do with the tickets that were purchased on receipt? I went for the door and surprisingly it was open. Allison never leaves it open. I don’t see signs of anyone around so I rush to my bedroom. In the hallway by my bedroom I could see articles of clothing scattered about. My heart pounded out of my chest. My adrenaline rushed as my walk quickly became a sprint. Finally I opened my doors to a trifling sight. I saw Allison and Stephen completely naked. Stephen was lying on his back while Allison was riding him like a pony. This was truly disgusting to me. I almost threw up. They were so focused they had not the slightest clue I was there. Allison was rocking her hips back and forth screaming Stephen’s name. What on earth happened? She was so pure. She was so afraid. She was the epitome of innocence. Confusion rapidly turned into anger. Hatred harbored itself deeply in my core. It festered about and used me as its vessel. I was completely out of control. I removed my pistol from my back pocket.
“Get the fuck up, right now!”
Completely startled they both fell off the bed.
Allison was first to speak, “Darling, your home early.”
“Don’t darling me, you whore.”
“Tom, put the gun down,” Stephen pleas.
“I will do no such thing.”
“Darling, please, let’s talk about this.”
“Let’s not,” I quickly replied.
“Tom, please, put the gun down. We can talk about this, like civilized human beings.”
“Civilized human beings?”
I proceeded to laugh hysterically. I was the only one who caught the joke.
“We can’t talk anymore,” I continued. “See, once we lose everything we have, we’ve got nothing to live for. Humans live behind their prized possessions and valuables. We also live behind love and treat it as a sacred religion. When men lose everything we are but reduced to our uncivilized roots. Every moral and ever form of reasoning falls out the window alongside happiness. I am but a de-evolutionized form of the Thomas you have grown to know. There will be no speaking here.”
“Thomas, please don’t,” Stephen continued.
“Darling, I needed something new. I am sorry. I needed something new so I was going to leave you.”
“You were going to leave me?”
I laughed again, this time longer.
“Your damn right about one thing, you are leaving. But not to where you think.”
They both simultaneously clutched the yellow silk linens closer to their naked bodies.
They had no reply.
“Get up, you two.” They hesitated to leave the ground. “Get up, I say!”
They both stand and look at one another.
“Walk through this door. Walk down the stair and out the back door. Don’t make any subtle movements.”
On the way out of the house I could see the roses Vanessa sent Allison. They were lying in the trash can. I picked them out without Allison noticing. They continued to do as I asked and I followed behind them. I open the backdoor and lead them into the snowy backyard where there are acres upon acres of snow. When Allison’s bare foot touched the cold snow she cringed in hesitation.
“Keep moving.”
We walked for a while until I felt we had gone far enough. They both stood in front of me not knowing what to expect. I slapped the barrel of the gun against my head several times. I felt crazy.
“I loved you, Allison. Why’d you make me do this?”
“I didn’t make you do anything, darling. Please, let me come home to you.”
“Let’s just drop this,” Stephen says.
They both hold the yellow silk out as if it would miraculously protect them.
I lifted my pistol swiftly. I pointed it in their direction. I proceeded to load the gun. I pulled the trigger and a bullet was released from the chrome barrel. I hit my brother in between the eyes; a kill shot. He dropped to the snowy floor. There Allison stood in yellow, covered in blood once again. I laughed at the irony. Her body was trembling fiercely. Tears emerged in great numbers. She shook in the cold weather. Even when she hit rock bottom, Allison looked beautiful doing it. My Allison, my Marilyn Monroe shakes and moans frantically. Her bleach blonde hair still looks marvelous even when it’s covered in blood. Her crimson lips showed beautifully in the arctic backdrop. Those dastardly lips that I so often praised had become my undoing in the very end.
Allison mumbled, “Fre—Fre---Fred---Fr---Freddy.”
I raised my pistol toward her direction next. I cocked the gun back once again.
“Fredrick is not coming for you this time, Allison.”
I pulled the trigger. The bullet exited out of the barrel of the gun hitting her in between the eyes; a kill shot. I walk closer to their lifeless bodies and close their eyes respectfully. She was the most beautiful corpse I had ever seen. Even with blood streaming from her face you couldn’t help but love the girl. How classy she was, my Marilyn. I go on to covering their bodies in the yellow cloth. I walk, with bloody footsteps, back toward my house. Snow begins to fall from the heavens above. I glance at the bouquet of roses in my hand. The wind picks up. It dismantles each and every pedal off the stems. The wind cuts again and each pedal dances around my body. The wind cuts one last time sending the pedals in several different directions. It’s funny how something that is so beautiful takes forever to grow yet in seconds it is destroyed before your very eyes. The snow comes down harder. I go back home to await the arrival of the police.
