Malice Masterpieces

by K'Anne Meinel

  Kathy nodded as she grimaced, she was trying to walk and her stiff knee wasn’t helping things.

  “Here, let me help you,” Alice said as she saw her try to grasp the blanket across her legs. She put Kathy’s arm across her shoulder and let her hobble against her in her underwear as she helped her to the bathroom.

  She let her sit there and do her business as she went to the closet she had found the first camera. Opening it she retrieved the suitcases she had seen stored there and put one in each bedroom as well as a couple of duffels in Kit’s room.

  “Okay, I’m done,” Kathy called as the toilet flushed and water began to flow in the sink.

  Alice opened the door and watched as Kathy tottered on one leg to dry her hands. She grinned at the sight and helped her hobble back to the bedroom. “Sit down for a minute while I check your dressing,” she ordered.

  Kathy watched Alice’s bent head as she examined the bandage carefully before gently pulling it back. Some blood kept it plastered against her knee and she couldn’t help but wince at the pain that caused. It didn’t look pretty; it was swollen and discolored from the bruising but not painfully colored red as it would if it was infected.

  “I’m going to wash this out again,” Alice warned her as she left it to the air and went to the bathroom to get the peroxide and first aid kit.

  Kathy looked at the stitching and the way Alice took care of it, it was almost as if she had some nursing training or something. The stitching was even and kept the wound together without pursing it or causing a ridge, it should heal evenly or so it looked to Kathy.

  “How you doing?” Alice asked as she knelt at her feet and put a towel under her knee. Pulling on both sides she said, “Hold this up to catch the flow when I pour.”

  Before Kathy could ask what she was going to do she poured the peroxide directly on the wound, it fizzled up and into the wound causing Kathy to jump. The excess poured down her leg on either side but was caught by the towel.

  “Does that hurt?” Alice asked in a tight little voice as she looked up at Kathy with concern in her strange eyes.

  Kathy shook her head and then smiled. “It’s just cold.”

  Alice grinned as she blotted at the wound to clean it up, pulling pieces of the bandage and dried blood away. She soon had it clean and put a fresh clean bandage over it all.

  “There we go, now I want you to decide what you want to take with you, keep in mind that you might not get anything back, so all your important papers and things like heirlooms or something you may want to pack.”

  “What do you mean we might not get anything back?” Kathy asked alarmed.

  Alice closed the first aid kit and pulled the towel out. “You have to assume that he will be in here tearing the place apart after you leave, so anything you want to take with you, make sure you do. We don’t know what he will do and he doesn’t know who I am but you can be sure he is trying to run my plates by now and might find out. I just bought a new SUV so the dealer advertising is on it for now. You will be safer with me and I know a few tricks to put him off.”

  Kathy wasn’t appeased, she hadn’t thought they wouldn’t be coming back here and she looked bleakly at the suitcase. It wouldn’t be enough, it wouldn’t be nearly enough.

  Alice helped her. They had boxes and the suitcases stacked by the back door by noon. Alice helped her into Kit’s room to pack that up as much as possible as well. Then Alice began to pull down pictures and stack them in boxes, since they had just moved here a month ago the boxes were still in the storage room and she packed up everything they weren’t taking with them. Alice pointed out the few boxes and suitcases they were taking with them would fit in her SUV.

  “I feel like I somehow failed, that I’m running away again,” Kathy said dejected after the bedclothes had been pulled and were in the washer and then the dryer.

  “You didn’t fail, trust me, a retreat is necessary in a battle,” Alice told her as she sat with her on the couch and they carefully wrapped things in newspaper and into boxes. “Hey, I have an idea if you’ll let me?”

  Kathy had ‘let her’ do a lot she could at least listen and she nodded.

  “How about I make a call and get all this put in storage?” she indicated the boxes they had filled already and the furniture around them.

  “Would they do it that fast?” Kathy asked surprised.

  Alice nodded at Kathy’s naiveté but she waited until Kathy nodded with the go ahead before pulling out her cell and Googled the nearest storage place that had moving as part of the deal. She had them there with a truck within an hour. They carried out the furniture first and then the boxes and had them all loaded within another two hours.

  The phone went off a couple of times but after the first message which said, “I don’t know who your friend is Kathy but she won’t keep me away from you!” Alice turned down the volume. Next she unplugged it and the computer and had the men pack it away in the van with the rest of Kathy’s things. They were kind enough to pack the few boxes and suitcases in the back of her SUV for her as well. She slipped them each a $10 bill and said, “Lunch is on us boys,” and they smiled in gratitude. She figured while they were around no one would try anything with Kathy or her. She moved her SUV out of the driveway so they could get at Kathy’s garage and the few boxes she had stored there as well as her car. By the time it was time to go pick up Kit the house was quite empty. Alice helped Kathy hobble down her front steps and into the SUV as the moving van left and one of the moving guys drove her car to their storage facility. Alice locked up the house and they headed to pick up Kit at school.

  “Mom,” she said excitedly as she got in the back seat of the Pathfinder and saw her mom propped up in the front seat.

  “How was your day sweetie?” Kathy asked her.

  “Great!” Kit said as she closed the back door with a clunk. “I got to eat hot lunch!” she said exuberantly.

  Kathy looked at Alice with a grin of thanks; in all that had gone on she had forgotten to pack her daughter a lunch!

  “Seat belt,” Alice said and grinned back at the little girl who grinned at her just as hard and pulled on the shoulder belt and clicked it.

  “Where are we going?” she asked as she saw the familiar boxes and suitcases.

  “How would you like to take a trip?” Kathy asked her.

  “A trip? Where? I’ve never been on a trip before,” she responded excitedly.

  The two adults exchanged a smile as Alice expertly maneuvered out of the school crush. She glanced around looking for the mustard colored car that had followed them from Kathy’s but didn’t see it.

  “Alice offered and we are going down to visit her for a while,” Kathy told her and Kit got even more excited.

  She asked endless questions and the answers only gave her more questions. Kathy learned more in the next half hour than she could have thought of on her own as Alice pulled onto the interstate and headed south.

  Finally though she was getting tired out, something about the dark had tired her out. Alice was still driving and once through the snow she asked Kathy quietly, “Would you like to get something to eat before we stop?”

  “Yes, that would be good,” Kathy responded just as quietly.

  Alice pulled into a family style restaurant in what apparently had been a Denny’s at one time but was now FAMILY in bright bold letters across the old Denny’s sign. Kathy woke up a groggy Kit who became excited that they were going to eat out again. Alice lent her shoulder to Kathy who tried to put more weight on her knee as she helped her into the restaurant. Kit proudly held the doors. Alice pushed the button on her keychain to lock up and arm the alarm on her SUV.

  “Table for three?” a woman asked as she eyed them not sure if Kathy was drunk or hurt at first.

  “Yes please,” Alice answered for them.

  The woman showed them to a table and after making sure Kathy was comfortable she took Kit to the bathroom to wash her hands and so that she could look around. When she re
turned to the table she asked, “Do you need to go?” indicating the bathroom.

  “After dinner if you don’t mind?” Kathy smiled her thanks.

  Alice took the seat at the far side of the table so that her back was to a wall and she could see who entered the restaurant as she opened her menu. “What’s everyone going to have?” she asked brightly.

  Dinner went well and they all felt better for having stopped even if it was a little late for supper. Alice got them back on the road and pulled into a well-lit motel near Mt. Shasta. She locked the doors after her after whispering to Kathy, “Beep if anything comes up okay?”

  Kathy looked at her startled but nodded.

  Alice got them the last room available, a handicapped room because she knew that certain motel chains kept it for the handicapped. It had a full sized bed and a twin bed for the ‘helper’ of someone who may be traveling with someone in a wheelchair. She knew they didn’t rent these out very often, keeping them ‘just in case’ and despite the fact that it was ski season and the hotels were all full she got a room on the ground floor. She helped Kathy into the room, she was hobbling a little bit better and then got the suitcases into the room before locking up the SUV.

  She helped Kathy into the bathroom and showed her the shower where she could sit on a seat and wash. She put towels nearby and a change of clothing for her and left her to her own devices as Kathy seemed a little put out at all the help.

  Kit she kept entertained as they decided what pajamas she was going to wear after her shower. She kept her from jumping on the beds but only barely as she was tempted to jump on them as well, anyone who had known Alice would have been surprised to see her teasing and cavorting with the little girl so enthusiastically as they tickled and laughed.

  Kathy hobbled out of the shower after she was done and was surprised to see a flushed and sweaty daughter waiting for her there.

  “Mom did you know Alice knows how to whistle like a boy?” she asked earnestly.

  Kathy started to laugh, she had heard the noise and wondered what they were up to but as the television was on she had thought it was on that. She didn’t have the arm rails that the bathroom had anymore and Alice rushed to lend her a shoulder, she too was flushed and a little sweaty from roughhousing.

  “How was your shower?” Alice asked as she helped her to the bed.

  “Heavenly, I think we might have to put another pad on,” she indicated her knee.

  Alice nodded as Kathy sat on the edge of the bed. She pulled her pajama bottoms up above her knee, easier to do with their wide loose legs and Alice pulled the wet bandage off quickly causing Kathy to wince slightly. “Let’s let it air for a while…can Kit shower by herself?” she asked.

  “Oh can I mom can I?” Kit asked excitedly.

  Kathy laughed. “You’ll have to get it going but she can wash herself and turn it off but only if she promises not to touch the hot handle!” she cautioned.

  Kit promised and was soon down to her underwear and in the shower in flash, relishing the hand shower and playing with it on herself in no time. Alice let her play as she picked up the little girls clothes and put them over a chair.

  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all you’ve done for us,” Kathy told her earnestly as she lay back in the bed with her leg up.

  “Here let’s put a pillow under it,” Alice offered when she saw her lying there. She took the extra pillow that was on her single bed and propped up Kathy’s leg. “Maybe we should let it air out all night?” she asked.

  Kathy looked at it and agreed, it looked good, and it looked healthy despite the bruising and considering everything. She listened at the sounds of her daughter taking a shower and suggested, “You better look in on her, I don’t know with her armed with a hand shower what you’re going to find…”

  Alice grinned in anticipation as she knocked on the bathroom door and stuck her head in. The kid was sitting on the handicapped chair swinging her legs and using the shower on her hair which was dripping from suds. She narrowed her eyes and realized she had found the hotel sample and used it all up. She laughed and said, “Hey get that out of your hair and get cleaned up!”

  Kit started in surprise, she hadn’t heard Alice come in and she nodded guiltily. She hadn’t been yelled at exactly but she had never washed her own hair before. Mom had always been in the bathroom with her and done it for her. She came out with a towel wrapped around her little body and her hair still dripping.

  “Did you get all the suds out?” Alice asked amused.

  “I think so,” she said and Alice checked for her.

  “You did a good job,” she told her and Kit preened with pride. Alice handed her a hand towel and said, “Now dry that mop you call hair,” teasing her with a smile.

  Kit enthusiastically began to dry her hair and her mother watched with amusement. She had never seen Kit attach herself so to another person so quickly. Alice was quite a woman though. Alice gathered her things to take her own shower, being careful where she stepped in the water saturated bathroom. Kit had had too good a time in there. By the time Alice came out of the bathroom, Kit was sound asleep on the bed next to Kathy on the inside of the full sized bed.

  “She was tired,” Kathy said quietly as they gazed at the sleeping child.

  “We wore her out with the drive?” Alice asked concerned.

  “That and the excitement of going somewhere, I’d forgotten how important that is to a child.”

  They sat and chatted, Kathy referring to some of the things Kit had gotten out of her in that first part of the drive, the fact that Alice had a condominium on the water and a boat as well as a Porsche and lived alone.

  “You’re sure that we won’t take up too much space? You have the room?” Kathy asked worriedly.

  Alice smiled and nodded. “Yes, I have a second bedroom and it’s got a queen sized bed, you’ll be fine, quit worrying,” she told her friend.

  Kathy couldn’t seem to stop though. “Do you think he’s following us?”

  Alice didn’t hesitate, “I’m sure he is, don’t worry though, we are in California now and I know a few people, he won’t be bothering you again.”

  “My computer though is packed away, how will I work?” she fretted.

  “Kathy,” and when she didn’t answer right away she leaned over the four feet that separated the beds and grabbed her hands, “Kathy, will you stop, it’s going to be okay, I’ve got it under control and he isn’t going to touch you or Kit again, I won’t allow it, trust me!” she said earnestly.

  Kathy felt odd, at the touch of Alice’s hands on her own she felt almost an electrical current pass between them. She heard what Alice was saying and looked up into her oddly glowing yellow eyes and felt an attraction that surprised her. She leaned towards Alice as though to kiss her.

  Alice pulled back in alarm. “No Kathy, what you’re feeling is gratitude.”

  Kathy pulled back too, not releasing Alice’s hands and shook her head. “No, that’s not what I’m feeling and I think you know it. Yes, I am grateful, you’ve saved us, but no, that’s not why I want to kiss you,” she whisperedly told her in earnest.

  Alice looked at her for a moment then leaned back down as Kathy tugged once again on her hands. Gently she kissed her hesitantly on the lips. Kathy let go of her hands so she could cup Alice’s face and kiss her harder, relishing the clean smell of her from the shower. She explored Alice’s lips and lightly licked at them. Alice groaned slightly and returned the kisses, kiss for kiss, her own tongue entwining with Kathy’s as they played at an age old dance. Slowly Alice put a halt to it as she pulled back and just looked at Kathy in surprise. She pulled back further and asked, “I’m flattered, but is it me or Connie you were attracted to?”

  Kathy shook her head. “I was friends with Connie but hid any attractions I felt for women from all of them. You were fun to be around but I never thought I had a chance and certainly would never have acted on it.”

  Quietly Alice asked her, “Hav
e you ever been with a woman?”

  Again Kathy shook her head. “I’ve thought about it, more so since I phoned you, but all this…” she meant everything that had happened in the past few days. “It’s not gratitude, I swear it isn’t, it’s more Alice, I swear it is.”

  Alice nodded, she believed her but they would have to tread very lightly, very lightly indeed. “Why don’t we take it slow and see where it goes, okay?”

  Kathy nodded; at least she hadn’t rejected her out right. She settled a little on the bed and winced at the pain in her knee.

  “Let me get you some ibuprofen,” Alice offered.

  Alice took it slow as she drove down the interstate past Mt. Shasta and toward Sacramento. If someone was following them they would have been visible on the flat broad plains of Central California before they got to the foothills and up over them into the cities that comprised Los Angeles. Alice told them stories of living at the beach as she drove them expertly through the congestion and into Marina Del Rey. As they pulled into her garage she backed in so that they could empty out the back of the SUV at their leisure. Kathy noticed the decidedly expensive Porsche in the other half of the garage and admired it and then wondered what she had gotten herself into. It hadn’t gone unnoticed the neighborhood they had driven into or its opulence.

  Alice helped the tired travelers into her sunken living room and brought in their luggage piece by piece. “Who’s hungry?” she asked as she lugged their suitcases up to the spare bedroom and her own up to her loft.

  “I am,” Kit squealed as she turned from where she had been looking out at the marina that could be seen beyond the windows.

  Alice expertly called the local delivery service and ordered dinner, there was no way she was going to cook, her kitchen was impeccably kept up and she wasn’t about to dirty it. She also called the front gate to warn them of the impending delivery so they could let the driver in.

  “Do you even cook?” Kathy asked with a grin.

  Alice shook her head. “Not if I can help it,” she answered truthfully.