It's been longer than I thought since I updated, so I'm posting two new chapters at once.
Niteowl: Phoebe will eventually administer a self-thwacking. She certainly does deserve it for the Wade fiasco, if nothing else.
Phoebe lay low for the next few weeks, and gradually Brooke relaxed her guard. Eventually she seemed to conclude that Aunt Phoebe's odd behavior had been the result of depression and the problem wouldn't recur. Of course, she was dead wrong.
One morning, after Brooke had left for work and Jamie was at school, Phoebe prepared to strike again. Her destination? The Pine Cone Motel. More specifically, the room of the amnesiac Maria Santos Grey at the Pine Cone Motel.
Arriving outside the motel, Phoebe wasted no time in finding the room in question. She drove up to it and tapped upon the door.
Several seconds, Maria opened up, wearing a tight-fitting blouse that unnecessarily accentuated her cleavage. She looked at Phoebe with a blank expression. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
"We've run into each other a time or two over the years, Maria."
Immediately, Maria went about a major transformation. Her eyes narrowed. Her nostrils flared. (Her breasts, however, remained flotation devices.) When she spoke, her words emerged in a low, measured voice that sounded like that of a woman at the end of her rope. "In that case, I'm sure you've heard about my amnesia, and you know I prefer to go by the name Maureen Gorman nowadays."
"I see," Phoebe responded. "How do your children feel about that?"
"I have no children," Maureen/Maria declared. Then her forehead wrinkled and she backtracked. "I mean, those darling little lambs are wise beyond their years and understand how I can look exactly like their mother yet not feel like her. I mean, they'll get over it and I do still love them and spend tons of time with them despite the fact that I've told them I am not their mother and may never remember being her. I mean..." She trailed off, looking confused.
"Really. Well, keeping all that in mind..." Phoebe glanced up--way up--at Maureen/Maria, who towered over her, and came to a decision. She placed her hands on the arms of her wheelchair and pushed herself into a standing position.
"Careful." Maureen/Maria reached out to steady Phoebe.
Now on a level playing field, Phoebe readied herself and then whacked Maureen/Maria a good one. THWACK! "That was for Maria." And THWACK! "That was for Maureen. I hope it shakes some sense into at least one of you." She hesitated, then added two more for good measure. THWACK! THWACK! "On behalf of Sam and Maddie."
This time, Maureen/Maria swayed and Phoebe steadied her, then lowered herself back into the wheelchair. "Goodbye, Maria," she called a second before the door slammed in her face.