Sofie stopped her dusting and regarded Iris at her needlepoint for awhile. Justin could be heard shuffling about upstairs, and then he grew silent. Sofie wanted to ask Iris so many things, if she wore a bra (she would never let Sofie do or see her laundry, amazingly, stealthily), if she wore garters with her socks, if she'd ever let a man touch her…there. Female things, woman things, things that Sofie never got to discuss with her mother, never wanted to. "I didn't know you used to be a maid." Sofie finally ventured.
"What?" Iris looked up from her lap suddenly.
"I'm sorry." Sofie apologized before repeating herself, "I just said I never knew you were a maid"
"Oh yes dear." Iris put down her needlepoint, "A long time ago"
"So you and Justin," Sofie moved closer to Iris taking a seat as Iris made room for her on the sofa, "you've always been together"
"Yes, yes we have." Iris said, smiling at the girl next to her, patting her leg.
"You two must be really close." Sofie said, wanting to ask so much more about what she'd seen between the two of them. She'd never seen a love so close before, never seen two people so in sync with each other, except for maybe Rita Sue and Stumpy. But even they, she had to admit, had their down times. With Justin and Iris it seemed even the down times were up, they seemed to smart each other with an uncanny ability.
"Well, we have seen each other through everything." Iris sighed.
Sofie felt a new confidence brewing within her, "Why didn't you ever get married Ms. Crowe"
"Oh Sofie," Iris smiled at the girl before looking off into the distance, "I suppose the right person just never came along"
"Justin didn't like any of your boyfriends huh?" Sofie offered.
Iris looked at her bewildered and sad for a moment, "I never really had boyfriends I don't think, dear." Iris said.
Sofie saw a sudden flash of Jack Tiernan lingering over Iris's face as he pressed her against a wall, sliding a single finger down her cheek. "What about that detective"
"Jack," Iris lifted her eyebrows, "oh please, Sofie"
"What?" Sofie countered. "I think he's kind of cute"
"You would Sofie. But I'm an old woman now." Iris laughed to herself.
"He likes you, I can tell." Sofie said smiling, digging a finger into Iris's ribs.
"Really Sofie, don't start that, the rumors will be flying." Iris joked. "Justin doesn't like him." Sofie smiled wickedly.
"Well, my brother is an excellent judge of character." Iris conceded. Suddenly Sofie was overtaken with the image of her mother bent over a table and Justin as a young man on top of her. Sofie felt sick to her stomach, but the vision didn't stop as she stared at Iris's hand resting on her leg. "Are you alright, sweetheart?" Iris asked looking into Sofie's eyes.
"Yes," Sofie huffed, trying to avoid Iris's gaze, "I'm fine." Sofie tried to fight against the image of Iris but she saw Iris's face clearly, watching what was happening to her mother. Another wave of nausea overcame Sofie, she felt like she was going to dry heave and she fought it hard, grabbing onto Iris's thigh. She could hear her mother screaming across the years, that much she was ready for. But a new sonic intrusion was overtaking her, the sound of Justin's voice calling out to his sister. Sofie looked at Iris again, searching her face for some sort of disproof, but instead all she found was the familiar set of features only aged finely with time, and Sofie knew it was true, knew that Iris had seen the whole thing. She shut her eyes to try and squeeze the screaming out of her mind, to sweep away the last echoes of her mother's begging as Justin forced himself on her in her own apartment. "Are you sure dear?" Iris asked again pressing a hand to Sofie's forehead, "You look absolutely piqued"
"Yes," Sofie said removing Iris's hand from her forehead, "I'm just. I should go to bed." Sofie stammered out. Iris's hands now felt clammy and cold to her, and she didn't want them anywhere near her skin. Sofie got up shakily and nodded her head at Iris without looking at her, instead staring at the patterns in the carpet. "Good night"
"Good night Sofie." Iris cooed after her, "You should get some rest. You really don't look well. Why don't you go ahead and sleep in a bit tomorrow morning"
"Yes," Sofie said pausing near the hallway but not turning around, "thank you. Maybe I will"
Sofie sat on her bed in her room, listening to the chirring crickets outside of her window. After awhile she heard the sounds of Iris making her way upstairs and the sound her bedroom door closing. She waited to hear the sound of the lock clicking over in the jamb, but it never came. Sofie felt a rage burning inside of her as she pictured Iris sinking into her covers, drifting off into dreams, smiling stupidly. She nodded her head to herself and caught her reflection in the mirror. She stared at herself for a long moment. She heard a sound like grating sand and realized a tiny fissure had formed at the corner of the glass. Sofie wondered if she'd willed it to happen in that moment, or if she was only now noticing a crack that had been there all along.
Justin was swimming in a dark current, he could feel something gently sweeping over his face, he struggled to open his eyes, he waded through the float of dark fabric, he was underwater. He pushed through skirts of black in black water, a stream of light funneled into the darkness. He pushed at the skirts more and suddenly the image of his mother's face appeared before him, pale and dead. Her eyes looked through him, at something beyond. Justin woke up with a start.
He looked around the room in the dark until the familiar shapes of his furniture became clear to him in the moonlight. His throat was dry and he wanted Iris, wanted her to hold him in some way, to remember with him the horror of that night they died, the night they were the only ones reborn on that riverbank. Pride be damned, Justin got up and headed for Iris's door. Yet when he got there he wasn't sure whether to knock or not, normally he would just walk in, but things between them had become different, had become strained. He began to turn the knob but realized he didn't quite know what to say to her when he got in or if she would tell him to go away. Pride began to win over again and Justin walked downstairs to get a glass of water instead.
As Justin stood at the sink looking out onto the yard he thought he could see someone standing by the large tree that loomed near the driveway. Justin strained to get a better look and realized he was looking at himself years ago. He was fidgeting with the cuffs of his jacket as he leaned against the trunk of the tree, waiting in the cold for his sister to arrive. He saw two figures approaching, one was bundled up and leaning against the other, it was his sister and the boy that escorted her that night. He watched as they conversed for a moment and then Iris stumbled into his arms. The boy disappeared into the fields. He watched as him and Iris moved closer to the house, Iris leaning into him and laughing. Justin moved out of the way to watch them longer without being seen, not wanting to interrupt this vision, memory, whatever it was. But regardless of his care the figures of him and Iris huddled together began to grow transparent as they neared the veranda before disappearing.
Justin felt something tugging inside of himself like tears, he had wanted so desperately for the memory to last a little longer, and then he remember what had happened that night, what had been said that could never be taken back. Justin filled his glass with water again, determined that would be enough reason to enter Iris's room. They used to do the same thing when they were children, if one got up to get water in the middle of the night they would refill the glass and leave it on the other's bedside table, in case they woke up thirsty too. The stairs creaked under Justin's feet and he found himself growing nervous. He didn't want Iris to know that he needed her now, especially not after his declarations that he was not a child and did not need her in that way anymore. He flinched only now at the implications that such a statement might have for his sister, suddenly realizing the possible source of her anger. But he could never be sure with Iris and her temper, so he would never allow himself to be fully convinced that he really understood anything about her, other than that conflict was unavoidable and that to some degree she liked to be frightened.
He opened Iris's door slowly afraid for a moment at what he might see. More memories of tangled bodies maybe, something wholly unpleasant, but as the door opened wider he found only Iris sleeping with her back to the door, and the stridulations of crickets outside the window. He walked toward her bed slowly not wanting to wake her, but wanting her to wake up. Iris stirred as if instinctively she recognized his presence when he came near her, but she didn't roll over or show any other outward signs of being roused from sleep. Justin set the glass down next to her on her nightstand and sat down on the corner of her bed.
"What is it Justin?" Iris sleep grated voice asked him.
"Nothing, I just brought you some water." Justin whispered taken aback, yet not, somewhere he knew she would wake up for him.
"What's wrong." She said rolling onto her back but still not opening her eyes. She reached out her hand patting along the bed until she found where his was firmly planted on the mattress. She ran her hand over his.
"Nothing, go back to sleep." He whispered leaning down to kiss her forehead. He let his hand travel over her body and rest over her heart.
Iris pressed his hand into her heart, "Yes Justin, its still beating." She said dreamily before rolling over onto her side, into him, clasping his hand in hers as she curled about his arm and drifted back off into sleep. Justin hovered there for several moments, wanting to lie down next to her, but not. Finally he decided to go back to bed. He extracted his hand from the folds of Iris's nightgown and headed back into his own bed. Nestling down into the chill of it and recalling again the chill of that night as he waited for Iris to be delivered into his arms. How it had felt to lay with her in his bed nestling into the rough grain of the pea coat she'd borrowed from the boy she was with. She smelled like wine and cigarettes, but her hair smelled of the most exquisite perfume. He'd never smelled it on her again after that night. She explained through half closed lids and slurred speech that she'd been playing in Mrs. Dahlia's closet, and Justin had kissed her, allowing his tongue to actually move into her mouth. She tasted like chocolate truffles. Justin rolled onto his side and curled into himself, trying to shut out all of the bad parts of the memory and still somehow recall the good. But it wasn't working. He fell back into a fitful sleep.
Sofie was reading the morning paper in the living room, half listening to the sounds of Iris and the security detail as they moved about the porch. Iris hated them and Sofie found a new satisfaction moving over her as she sensed the frustration in the loud sounds of chairs scraping against wood as Iris rearranged the furniture on the porch after they'd left. Justin was long gone down in the camps, making his rounds and saving souls. She wanted to go out onto the porch and tell Iris then and there everything that she knew and slap her a few times for allowing such a thing to happen to her mother. Sofie couldn't fathom how, as a woman, she could allow such a thing to happen. Did she have no pride? Did she feel no allegiance to anything beyond herself and her brother? No Sofie decided, Iris was indeed a cold bitch. Sofie wanted to make her suffer. The feeling of anger burned inside of her fiercely and it was uncomfortable, she wanted to do something to alleviate it. She spotted the needlepoint Iris had been working on the night before, the needle stuck into the muslin cloth in the middle of a thickly stitched green leaf. Sofie grabbed it up quickly and took the needle out, pushing it into the thatched thread of the snaking vine and trying to pull up the snug arrangement of threads. She managed to loosen only a few strands of the green fiber and gave up.
"Good morning Mark." Sofie heard Iris greeting the postman, and quickly tucked the whole framed arrangement of needlepoint and fabric under the sofa cushion beneath her.
"Good morning Ms. Crowe." The plump man said back. Sofie could picture his smiling, blushing face through the walls. He was one of those men, the kind with a natural creamy blush to his cheeks, like a fresh faced maiden, though Sofie was sure his reddened features were the result of the flask of whiskey that occasionally peeked out of the back of his belt.
"What do you have for us today?" Iris said sweetly. It was a sweetness that made Sofie's chest tighten. She pulled out the needlepoint again and pulled at the fabric trying to perhaps break the thin plywood of the frame, but succeeded only in pulling the fabric off center slightly. Sofie finally gave up and pushed in on the sides of the circular frame until she heard the wood crack. She tucked it under the sofa again. Sofie got up and moved closer to the door.
"Just the usual Ms. Crowe, and then," the man's voice trailed off and Sofie leaned against the door trying to peek through the screen door, straining to hear what was coming next.
"This Ms. Crowe, I was instructed was for your eyes only." The man whispered before handing Iris an envelope.
"Oh, I see." Iris said sounding a little puzzled.
"It didn't come with the regular mail. I'm not normally supposed to do this sort of thing, but the man seemed very desperate." The postman continued.
"Oh." Iris said, now seeming to understand. "Well thank you very much Mark. This will just be between us." She whispered.
"Alright then Ms. Crowe, I'll see you tomorrow." The man said in a regular tone of voice.
"Of course Mark, you have a good day now." Iris called out. Sofie quickly headed back to the livingroom, plopping down the sofa cushion that concealed the evidence of her earlier destructive impulse. She pulled the paper back into her lap and tried to look interested in the latest sports score. A rush of butterflies swarmed in her stomach as she heard the screen door smack against the door frame and the clicking of Iris's heeled shoes as she made her way down the hall, but Iris didn't pause in the living room, instead rushing up the stairs. Sofie heard the click of Iris's door and then the second click of her lock turning. Sofie listened for the next half hour as Iris opened and closed her armoire and shuffled about her room. Sofie tried to look casual as she heard Iris descending the stairs. She popped her head into the living room again briefly. "Sofie"
Sofie looked up and tried to appear not to care one way or another that Iris was there, "Yes." She said lifting her eyebrows slightly.
"I'm going to town to have lunch with Coreen Templeton, I'll be back for dinner." Iris said. Sofie decided that Jack was right, Iris was a terrible liar.
"Alright Miss." Sofie said nonchalantly, secretly brimming inside with excitement at the prospect of rifling through Iris's things the minute she left.
"Please Sofie, we've been through this, call me Iris." Iris said before disappearing back into the hall.
"Iris." Sofie said to herself under her breath as she listened to Iris disappear out the door. She heard the bustle of men deciding who would escort Iris to her car and then the quiet as one of them won out the honor. Sofie jumped off of the sofa and headed upstairs. She entered Iris's room quietly at first, as though she might wake some spirit Iris left behind to safeguard her possessions. She went to the window and saw the cloud of dust obscuring the car as Iris drove away. Sofie quickly scanned the room and spotted an envelope on Iris's vanity. Sofie went to it and paused, debating whether or not to disturb it. Very slippery of you Iris, you should know better than leave something for the maid to find, Sofie caught herself thinking. She was about to pull the slip of paper out of the envelope when she heard one of the men greeting Justin at the door. She quickly grabbed the envelope and tucked it into the pocket of her apron and made her way downstairs. She made it into the hallway and saw Justin paused at the door holding it open as he talked to one of the security guards. Sofie quickly placed the envelope on top of the stack of letters that sat on the small table near the front door next to the coat rack.
Justin turned around and let the screen door shut. "Good morning Sofie." He said smiling. Sofie was glad he was in good spirits, she was going to kill two birds with one stone.
"Morning Justin." She smiled sweetly.
"Well, you seem in a good mood, this morning. What a delight." Justin continued, the side of his eyes twitching as he smiled, his usual subtle flirtation.
"It's a beautiful day." Sofie continued eyeing the stack of envelopes on the desk.
Justin seemed to take her cue and walked toward the envelopes. "The mail already came today"
"Yes. It sure did." Sofie said frightened and excited at the same time, hoping that what ever Iris had received this morning was something incriminating.
"Well then. I suppose I should start with my day." He said gathering up the envelopes and walking toward his study. "These should keep me busy until lunch." Sofie noted with a little joy that he was toying with the edge of the opened envelope with his finger.
"Oh, by the way," Sofie started, "Iris won't be joining us for lunch today. She said something about needing to go to town or something"
"Hmmn." Justin said, wrinkling his brow a bit, but not revealing much more to Sofie, and with that he closed the distance to his study and closed the door.
It was a few moments later when Justin peeked his head out of the door of his study and yelled to Sofie, "Where was it my sister said she was going"
Sofie walked into the hallway, wanting to get a good look at his face. He looked remarkably upset yet put together, it was a specialty of Justin's Sofie had noticed. Like the morning he thrown his Bible across the room and she'd caught him in a fluster.
"Something about meeting someone for lunch in town." Sofie smiled innocently. "Something like that, she was kind of in a hurry, she didn't really say. Only that she'd be back for dinner"
"Thank you Sofie." Justin said beginning to slip back into his study.
"Is something wrong Justin?" Sofie pushed, loving the look of horror and anger moving quietly under his curiosity.
"No, no, not at all dear." Justin smiled before ducking back into his study. Justin quickly leaned his head back out, "You know dear, I think I'll take my lunch alone today, out on the veranda"
"Oh, alright." Sofie smiled back at him before disappearing down the hall.
Sofie watched as Justin sat on the veranda all afternoon waiting for his sister, his face set into an aggressive scowl when he thought no one was looking. His stoic features reminded Sofie of something like a gargoyle, and it made her smile to herself as she went about dusting and straightening things throughout a house Iris kept too immaculate to really require a maid in the first place. As the sun began to set there was still no trace of Iris. Justin appeared in the kitchen as Sofie began dinner.
"Sofie, I'd like to have dinner alone with my sister tonight." He said seeming nervous.
"That's alright, " she looked up at him, " I can take dinner in my room"
"Actually, I need to discuss…" he stopped himself and walked closer to Sofie, so he was standing right next to her. She could smell the Vitalis in his hair and she had to look up at him to see into his eyes. She thought he might make a move to kiss her when he grabbed her hand, but instead she felt him put a wad of paper into it. She looked down and realized that there were several dollar bills there. "Why don't you go to town tonight, take a room, and buy your self a new dress. You need a new dress, don't you?" He looked at her with genuine questioning.
Sofie wanted to resist, she wanted to see whatever was going to happen between brother and sister. She realized she was much more like Coreen Templeton than she thought. "Oh Justin, that's very generous, but really I couldn't." She tried to hand the money back to Justin, but he lifted up his arms in refusal.
"Nonsense, Sofie." His features became more rigid. "Now, go and buy yourself a dress and a nice dinner. Take a night in the nice hotel, not the motel." He was much more sinister now. "Really"
"Okay." She said giving in and hating it. She didn't want to miss this, but apparently she wasn't going to have a choice. "What ever you say Justin," Sofie smiled, "thank you." Sofie took the money and shoved it in her apron pocket. She turned and went back to the task of making dinner. She heard Justin retreat from the kitchen.
Sofie wanted to see the suffering, she wanted to hear the screams she was sure were going to be coming tonight. Sofie wanted Iris to pay in spades for what she had allowed to take place so many years ago. It wasn't fair that she should get to live out her days happy and pampered in this house when her mother had been forced to suffer. Forced to have Justin pressed against her in her own house, left with a child to take care of. It was Justin and Iris who had ruined her mother, taken her mother away from her. Made her crazy. It was the two of them that abandoned her to take care of a mad woman that could never love her. She wanted Iris to experience what it was like to be rejected by the one you love, to lose a family, to feel what it was like to have someone else take away everything that you had. Sofie couldn't make sense of her motivations even to herself, only that she felt justified in everything she was doing. The one thing she was sure of was that Iris and Justin deserved to suffer no matter how many immigrants they shook hands with or how much soup they ladled into tin cups. They were liars of the worst caliber and Sofie wanted to expose them for what they were. Sofie imagined Iris on her knees, broken before her having lost everything, having been exposed to her brother, having been destroyed, having lost everything. Sofie imagined Iris pleading, begging, asking her why, and Sofie imagined herself standing over Iris and spitting on her, before telling her smugly, "Because you knew, and you did nothing, so now, you get nothing." Sofie laughed maniacally to herself as she replayed her little passion play in her mind. Imagining how sweet the victory would feel. How good it would feel to see Iris on her knees, the one in rags, depending on her.
Sofie held the receiver to her ear, "Hello Mrs. Templeton, this is Sofie, I was looking for Ms. Crowe, she said you two were having lunch today"
"Oh really dear. Well uh, yes, yes we were." Sofie was surprised that Coreen was lying for Iris, she hadn't struck her as being that close with her employer.
"I was trying to figure out what time she thought she'd be home for dinner may I speak with her"
"Oh you know dear, she's indisposed at the moment, but uh, I'll tell her to hurry on home." Coreen was stilted. Sofie realized she wasn't much better of a liar that Iris.
"Thanks Mrs. Templeton. Goodbye." Sofie hung up the phone smiling to herself. Covering for Iris or no, she figured she'd planted all the seeds she needed to in Coreen to have the rumor mill churning by the next service. Townies, Sofie thought, the easiest marks to make.