Chapter 12

A few hours had passed since the conclusion of Lindsay's pool party. The guests spent the remainder of the afternoon playing classic pool games such as Marco Polo and Chicken; as the sun went down, they gathered at the picnic table for a few rounds of cards, under the soft glow of decorative tiki torches Chuck had placed around the backyard. It was now 11:00 p.m., and most of the denizens of the Rethink Avenue cul-de-sac had retired to their sleeping quarters, dreaming of the exciting trip they were set to embark on the following morning.

The Kanker sisters, being natural night owls, had not yet retired to bed. The three girls had showered, donned their pajamas, and gathered in May and Marie's bed room to complete the process of packing their suitcases. May was currently kneeling on the floor, dressed in her typical modern sleepwear; an old white t-shirt, grey lounge pants, and the same large, fuzzy pink bedroom slippers she had worn since she was ten years old. She had tied her blonde hair up into a tight bun for sleeping. Her moderately sized black suitcase sat open on the floor next to her, alongside several piles of shirts, pants, hair products, sports accessories and other items.

Lee, wearing her typical loose fitting black shirt, red flannel pajama bottoms, and grey bedroom slippers, had taken a standing position near Marie's bed. She had tied her red curls up as well, and had placed her suitcase atop Marie's soft, blue bedsheets. One by one, the red head folded her socks, shirts, and jeans in a meticulous and tight manner (a style she had adopted as a little girl by observing her grandfather's military folding techniques) and placed them into her suitcase in an organized fashion, displaying a serious expression as she did so.

Marie on the other hand had completed her packing earlier in the evening. The black haired girl had just exited the shower, and had donned her typical bedroom attire; a lime green short sleeved shirt adorned with a golden symbol of Venus, as well as a pair of old white shorts. She had removed her ponytails for showering, allowing her armpit length black hair to hang loose; a fact made apparent by her attempts to tame it's wild texture at her vanity mirror.

As her sisters worked on their tasks at hand, May took hold of the large, disorganized pile of junk she had placed on the floor. In one fluid motion, she used both her hands to lift the pile off of the floor and proceeded to drop it into the suitcase with no regard to organization. The happy-go-lucky blonde then closed the lid to the suitcase, which of course would not zipper due to being overfilled.

"Perfect", said May as she rose off of the floor, staring down at her work with a smile, "My suitcase is all packed and ready to go!"

May turned toward Marie, who was standing at the vanity mirror with her back towards her younger sisters. May took notice of Marie's ongoing battle with her hair which, despite her best efforts to style it in long, hanging loose waves, continued to flare outward in a large volume of unassimilated, spikes.

As Marie continuously combed her waves in a frustrated manner, May approached the vanity. She took a standing position adjacent to Marie, gazing at her sister through the glass mirror.

"Geez Marie, what did your hair ever do to you?" said May, "If you keep combing rough like that, it's eventually gonna fall out!"

May giggled as Marie groaned under her breath.

"It's really annoying," said Marie, "I love the fact that I can have long hair now without being afraid to hide my eye, but it's just so hard to maintain. If I let it hang loose, it poofs out and makes me look like a damn porcupine. If I tie it up in a single ponytail, it sticks up straight behind because of the volume. The only style I can pull off is your two stupid ponytails. I'm about ready to cut it short again, all's I needed was some hairspray and it styled perfectly."

"Hey, don't knock the ponytails!" said May, "You're just mad that I rock them better than you ever could."

"Dream on!" said Marie as she shoved May away from the mirror, "You don't even comb that scraggly excuse for hair half the time!"

"Oh yeah?" asked May as she retrieved a lint remover from the dresser. She proceeded to rub the plastic back end on her pants in a vigorous manner, causing it to build up a static charge, "Let's see how you like this!"

At that moment, May quickly raised the lint remover to back of Marie's head, and proceeded to wave it around as if it were an airport security metal detecting wand. This action caused Marie's hair to instantly frizz, proofing outward and upward in a cartoonish manner as a jolt of electricity passed through her body.

"Hey Ms. Frizzle, where's your Magic School Bus?" asked May in sarcastic and witty manner.

Obviously, Marie did not appear to be amused in the slightest. She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a few moments, after which she turned towards May grinding her teeth as her face turned red.

"I'm GONNA KILL YOU!" yelled Marie as she lunged towards May. Naturally, May began dashing around the room, giggling as Marie gave chase attempting to tackle her.

Lee ignored the girls antics for a few moments, continuing to focus on packing her belongings. However, it did not take long for Lee to reach her boiling point, at which point she decided to step in and stop the playful fighting.

"ENOUGH, BOTH OF YAS!" yelled Lee as she suddenly whipped around to face her sisters, who had jumped on top of May's bed and initiated a pillow fight. Both girls stared in Lee's direction, displaying expressions of sadness as if they were children being scolded by a parent.

In an instant, Lee returned to her task of packing her suitcase; however, in lieu of gently placing the articles into the box, she violently slammed the soft clothes into their place, displaying an expression of annoyance as she did so.

"Geez, what's with the pissy attitude?" asked Marie, "Got your period or something?"

Lee sighed, staring towards the ceiling as she placed the final item. She closed the suitcase, sealing it's zipper shut, and turned toward her younger sisters.

"I'm thinking about Mom," said Lee, "Youse two notice anything weird lately?"

"How could we not notice?" asked Marie as she stepped down from the bed, "She's been acting funny ever since the drive home from the mall last night."

"Yeah," said May, "She went nuts when I showed her this picture, and left the house for about an hour in Daddy's truck while you were at Lindsay's."

"What?" asked Lee as she retrieved her glasses from her pocket, "Let me see that."

May passed the picture to Lee, who promptly held it out in front of her for examination. The red head gazed upon the photograph with an expression of curiosity, biting her bottom lip as she did so.

"Damn it," whispered Lee to herself in an inaudible manner.

"Not only that," said Marie, "But what's up with the sudden obsession with going on this trip? Mom hates traveling, and there's no way she'd want to go unless she had a very good reason."

Lee paused, lowering the picture to her side as she pondered her thoughts. After few seconds, she turned back towards her sisters, making eye contact with them as she continued.

"New York," said Lee in a soft manner, "She needs to get to New York..."

"New York?" asked Marie and May simultaneously.

"Yeah," said Lee as she reached into her pocket, and removed a small post-it note, "I was worried...I know it's not right to do, but I went into her room, snooped around, and found this address written on the back of some kind of weird post card from some kind of rave club."

The girls reached outward, taking hold of the small post-it-note while staring at it with an expression of curiosity.

"Well that's weird" said Marie, "Who the hell do we know in the Bronx?"

"I have no idea," said Lee, "But I know Mom like a book, and I can tell she's really distressed over whatever this is."

Lee placed the note back into her pocket.

"I say we do a little bit of investigating," said Lee, "We'll track down this address tomorrow night night before the show, find out what's going on, and hopefully be able to help mom make peace with whatever it is."

"But Lee," said May, "What could all this possibly mean?"

"I have no idea May," said Lee, "I have no idea..."

As the girls pondered their thoughts, all was quiet in the master bedroom; the room which Tabby and Rod used as their sleeping quarters. The two adults had changed in to their pajamas around a half hour ago, said their good nights, and took their places under the comfortable bed sheets. However, while Rod managed to quickly doze off, sleep did not come as easy to Tabby. The redheaded woman had activated a small desk light, located on the night stand adjacent to the bed, and had propped her back up against the wooden headboard.

In her hands, Tabby held the small slip of paper given to her during her visit to the city the previous night. The woman's eyes scanned the paper, repeatedly reading the address thanks been written in black ink. After a few moments, she slowly turned the paper upside-down, revealing the reverse.

The reverse appeared to be a graphic of sorts; a silhouette of what appeared to be a cocktail glass, garnished with an olive, and tilted slightly to the left. The glass was hot pink in color, and was of a design that seemed to convey that it had been quickly drawn with an ink pen. The hot pink color contrasted greatly with the jet black background, which encompassed the remainder of the slip.

Meanwhile, back in the city, the dilapidated house that Tabby had visited the previous night was in peril. The large wooden front door was no longer seated on its frame; rather it had appeared to have been smashed inward, as if someone had forced entry into the structure. In addition, the two first story windows had been shattered, the glass now taking the form of several shards scattered on the structures front sidewalk.

Within the structure, in the vicinity of the second floor front bedroom, the sound of a screaming male voice rang out for a short time, but was quickly silenced. This was soon followed by a thud as the man known as "Face" fell to the ground unconscious; his head coming to rest near the toe of a designer high heeled boot.

Elsewhere, the bedrooms, dining room, kitchen, and basement had been completely ransacked. Old dressers, cabinets, and beds had been thrown and ripped from their foundations, as a group of around thirty woman stormed the property, appearing to be searching for any treasures they could get their hands on. The women were quite a diverse bunch, displaying various hair colors, styles, and skin colors; however, they were all united in the fact that they all wore the same outfit: black high-heeled boots, tight blue jeans, and most notably, pink knee length fur coats. Each coat was accented with silver fur trim, in addition to a small silver graphic of sorts sewed into the area of the left chest: the same cocktail glass graphic displayed on the back of the card given to Tabby.

Downstairs, two of the women emerged from the dining room in a slow manner, walking side by side as they cradled the slump body of another female between them. The woman was in fact the "mystery woman" that had provided Tabby the address the night before; she appeared slightly dazed, as if she were under the influence of a hallucinogenic substance and unaware of her surroundings.

After taking a few steps, the two women threw Tabby's informant onto the floor face first. As they did so, one of the women uttered a few words to another individual, currently standing in the vicinity of the front door.

"We found your little witness, Noble Madam," said the woman.

"Perfect," said a sultry, feminine voice, containing traces of a strong Polish accent, "Now is the time to be having fun."

As the smooth voice began to giggle, the "witness" managed to gain enough strength to lift herself off of the ground. As she rose to her hands and knees, she lifted her head, her eyes widening with terror as she laid eyes upon the source of the voice.

Standing near the front door was a woman of petite frame. Her brown hair was styled into a pixie cut of sorts; complete with long flowing bangs and sides extending to to the bottom of her ears. She wore a dark grey sweater, accented by a pair of blue designer gloves meant to act as a fashion statement. Her bottom ensemble consisted of a pair of tight blue jeans, and black high heeled boots similar to those worn by her comrades. She cradled a wine glass in her right hand, slowly swirling the red fluid as she giggled in the direction of her captive. In her left hand, she held a long, slender cigarette holder between her index and middle finger, itself containing a smoldering cigarette.

The woman was not alone, rather, she was flanked by two distinct individuals. To her right, stood a women of very large stature. She was around 6 feet tall, heavyset, and displayed prominent, somewhat masculine broad shoulders. She wore a larger copy of the same pink coat worn by the remainder of the assailants, complete with similar blue jeans and boots. Her blonde hair was tied into a tight bun, accenting her somewhat Chubby cheeks. She smiled sarcastically, giggling as she stared in the direction of the witness while keeping her arms folded.

On the opposite side of the "Noble Madam", another woman had taken her place. This particular woman appeared to be in her mid thirties, and was of an Asian background. Like her companion, she was of above average height compared to most women; however this particular woman presented a slim frame. Her straight, jet black hair was tied into a long braid, hanging over her right shoulder, and providing a contrast to her pink coat. Although it displayed the same shade of pink, this particular woman's coat was of a different style than her comrades. In lieu of a mink coat, she donned what appeared to be a traditional Chinese long coat, (complete with a matching obi tied around her waist), reflecting pride in her Chinese heritage. Her right hand cradled a tall staff, the head of which was adorned with a silver Chinese dragon, while she kept her left hand tucked behind her back. The woman's face was very beautiful, her large brown eyes glistening under the dim lights of the house as she stared in the direction of the witness with a slight smile.

The witness continued to stare at her tormentors with an expression of distress, as the foreign woman continued to giggle in a somewhat sinister manner.