Chapter 33
Around the same time that the Ed's were taking their break at tree farm, Marie and May were finishing up yet another night working as sales associates at the Green Clover. Just as the Eds had drastically improved their work ethic over the course of the week, May and Marie had fine-tuned their customer service skills. Marie had mastered the use of the cash register, and had become quite proficient at making change. While she was quite hesitant to take the cashier job, due to her low confidence in her ability to do so, she had found enjoyment in the fast paced nature of the work, as well as the ability to make small talk with the customers.
May, while suffering from the same clumsy personality traits as her oafish boyfriend, managed to find her niche as the main sales floor representative. She had substantially improved her ability to the wrap customers presents. In addition, May had overcome one of her more limiting, but not often displayed personality traits; shyness. May had always been the most introverted and timid of the three Kanker sisters, and typically only exuded confidence when she had her much more sociable older sisters to back her up. However, the few days spent dealing with customers on the sales floor by herself had allowed her to come out of her shell and become more comfortable in conversation with unfamiliar people. The experience payed off, as throughout the holiday season, the Green Clover allowed customers to provide feedback via an anonymous internet survey regarding their service for a chance to win free products; within the last few days, the store had been receiving nothing but positive feedback regarding the "friendly, blonde, pigtailed girl with braces."
The large, ornate, Christmas themed clock mounted above the sales counter indicated the time as 5:00 p.m. As usual, the store was experiencing a lull as many families in the area and the neighboring suburb were currently enjoying dinner. The black and blonde haired Kanker sisters were currently using the quiet time to inventory items stored behind the counter. As May passed items to Marie for placement into a cardboard box, she decided to engage her sister in conversation with a smile.
"This is going a lot better than I thought," said May in her characteristic adenoidal voice, "We're having so much fun, and in a few days I'll get to order my Ed his Christmas present. I'm so excited!"
"You and me both!" said Marie, "I've been running the numbers at home, and it looks like I'm going to be able to afford my dream boats new hair. I just know it will change his life for the better, and I can't wait to see his reaction!"
"He's gonna love it!" said May, "He might even cry out of happiness cause it's such a touching gift. It's like in the movies!"
Marie sighed dreamily.
"I can't wait," said Marie, "What a miracle it was that Edith offered us these jobs. There's no way we'd be able to satisfy our men without it."
Marie glanced towards her sister with an amorous grin.
"Well, at least not with our hands." said Marie
Marie laughed as May punched Marie in the arm playfully. The two girls shared a giggle after which May continued the conversation.
"I wonder if Lee ever decided what she's gonna get Eddy for Christmas?" asked May.
"I don't know," said Marie, "I asked her multiple times. She's told me she's got it covered, and I should stop nagging her and focus on perfecting my piano performance of the pas de Deux for tomorrow night."
"Sounds normal," said May, "But I wouldn't worry, we should trust her! Lee's always done the right thing for us and herself, and you see how much she changed since she started dating Eddy. She really likes him, I doubt that even the stuff that happened between her and Lindsay will affect her getting him a Christmas present."
"I'm not so sure," said Marie in a concerned manner.
"What do you mean?" asked May.
Marie sighed.
"May, can you keep a secret," said Marie.
"Sure," said May, "I guess."
"I'm serious May!" said Marie, "I might have caused more trouble than there already is."
May remained silent, merely shaking her head up and down in agreement of keeping Marie's secret.
"I told Double Dee about Lee and Lindsay's past at dinner last night." said Marie.
May's face suddenly transformed to an extremely alarmed expression.
"What!" yelled May, "But Marie you...!"
Marie placed her hand over May's mouth, silencing her obnoxious younger sister while simultaneously placing her index finger to her mouth in a gesture indicating for her to be quiet. She released her hand from the distressed Mays mouth, allowing her to speak, albeit in a more quiet manner.
"But Marie," said May, "How could you? We promised Lee after it happened that this was something we'd never speak about again! It's one of the secrets that's never supposed to leave the Kanker family, and if Lee find out she's gonna be really mad!"
"I know lug head!" said Marie, "That's why she ain't gonna find out, and you're not going to tell her."
"Well no shit!" said May, "But can I ask why you told him?"
"Look," said Marie, "Remember how I kept saying how I hoped Lee dragging Eddy into this pissing contest wasn't going to put a strain on their relationship."
"Yeah," said May.
"Double Dee shares the same concerns," said Marie, "And over the past few days, he's said Eddy's been becoming increasingly frustrated with Lee's apparent selfishness and demanding personality."
Marie paused, as she closed one of the cardboard boxes used for storage, using packaging tape to seal it.
"Lee isn't doing any of this on purpose," said Marie, "She has a lot of trouble expressing any emotions other than anger, and love and affection from a person besides us, Mommy and Daddy is something completely alien to her. I think it's actually overwhelming, and involving Eddy in her fight with Lindsay is her way of ensuring herself that somebody still loves her and will do anything for her, while also doing everything she can to spend time around her former best friend."
"She trusts him," said May, "He's the only man Lee trusts besides Daddy, and ever since she told us about Dennis earlier this year it makes sense why she hated men so much."
"That's exactly what I told Double Dee," said Marie, "He told me that Eddy's got this whole plan where he is trying to drive Lindsay away from Lee using Rolf's strange ways. He's been helping Rolf write fake letters, making disgusting gifts for her, and convincing Rolf that Lindsay loves embracing cultures so that he keeps pursuing her."
"Oh my God," said May, "If Lee finds out..."
"I know," said Marie, "That's why I told Double Dee. First of all, you know my dreamboat, he's super smart and can read people and situations very well. He already knew something more was going on, watching Lee and Lindsay's fight, and Lee's reaction to Eds pinky swear. He was very persistent, and told me that Eddy's frustration is reaching a boiling point. I decided to tell him, hoping that he could use the information in his own way to calm Eddy down without telling him the entire story."
Marie paused.
"It's Lee's business," said Marie, "She will tell Eddy when she feels ready, and I have no doubts that she eventually will. Hopefully it is sooner than later, cause if Lee finds out Eddy is going behind her back to attempt to drive Lindsay away, she'll interpret it as Eddy not wanting to spend time with her and her trust for him will be shattered. Lee's already been hurt by a best friend who she loved, and we saw how that effected her. If she lost her boyfriends trust, I have no idea how she'd react."
"Yeah," said May, "It could be another one of those days."
"I don't want to talk about it," said Marie, "It makes me so nervous just thinking about that..."
The two girls resumed packing the supplies in silence for a few seconds, after which Marie decided to continue.
"I'm also a little worried about my Oven Mitt," said Marie, "I have a feeling he is going to try to get in between Lee and Lindsay to stop the feud. He strives to make people happy, and hates conflict; and I know he always tries to do the right thing. He's mentioned multiple times how upsetting it is that a friendship with such potential had to go to waste, and I can see the sadness in his eyes that he's powerless to help to bring the neighborhood into harmony."
"Maybe he can Marie!" said May with a smile, "Double Dee opened up to you and allowed you to show him who you really are, which eventually helped us to be accepted by the cul-de-sac, and me to eventually become Big Ed's girlfriend. He might be able to sort things out between those two."
"I'm torn May," said Marie, "On one hand, I told Double Dee not to try because Lindsay is too far gone. She isn't the girl she was back when she used to play with Lee all the time. She's been completely twisted by that overbearing mother of hers, and I guarantee you it's continuing to this day. It's reached the point where she is nothing more than a puppet, living someone else's dreams to be the most popular and prettiest girl in town, at the expense of having true friends."
Marie closed another box, and turned towards May.
"On the other hand," said Marie, "I already know that Lee feeding into Lindsay's bullshit is her way of keeping her best friend in her life. Think about it May, if that was anybody else egging Lee on as much as Lindsay does, they would have already got a knock-out punch to the face. It's a long shot, but the same could be true for Lindsay. I've seen Lindsay deal with people she hates with ignorance. She hates Nazz for not giving into her every whim on the cheer squad, and ever since Nazz quit the cheer team, she hasn't even said two words to her. So if she really hates Lee, she would just ignore her and not even give her any of her time."
"So?" asked May.
"So, what I'm saying is Double Dee might be right in the fact that, somewhere inside Lindsay, is that little girl that used to love running the lemonade stand, playing on the see-saw, and spending every waking moment she could with our big sister." said Marie.
"I dunno Marie," said May, "You really think the fight could stop, and things could go back to the way they used to be?"
"In a perfect world yes," said Marie, "But as much as I know that her mother had a lot to do with her breaking off her friendship with Lee, I blame Lindsay herself for not being stronger. Even though her mom said all kinds of bad things about us, that didn't mean Lindsay had to go ahead and pick on us out of her own accord. To be honest May, I don't know if I could ever forgive her for all of the bad things she's done to us, especially the way she disowned Lee as her friend without any explanation."
Marie paused, at which point she grabbed May's hand in hers.
"But as Uncle Jack used to say," said Marie, "Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie."
May stared into her sisters eyes for a few moments, after which she nodded and returned to her task at hand. A few seconds passed, at which point May grabbed a box of holiday chocolates of off the table and held them out to Marie.
"Chocolates?" asked May with a smile, "My treat, we can split the box!"
"Don't mind if I do!" said Marie in an exuberant manner.
