~*Chapter 2*~
Avon Calling
Suburbia was a place of placid, predictable, "perfect" pastels. Bright pastel house after bright pastel house, each a more ostentatious color than the last. Men and women wearing pastel clothing contentedly went about their lives. There were men mowing the lawn and fixing the roof, while women watered the grass and tended to the flowerbeds.
A woman with auburn hair wearing a pastel pink skirt-suit, complete with a small pink hat and large-lensed, pink-rimmed glasses, walked down the zigzagging cement path leading to a mint green house, pink heels clicking on the path, blue sales suitcase in hand. Her name was Peg Boggs, an Avon representative.
Upon reaching the green door, she rang the doorbell, listening to the simple chime. The door was opened by a portly woman wearing a yellow flowered shirt with all her hair up in pink rollers.
"Avon calling," Peg smiled cheerily and lifted the blue sales case for the other women to see.
"Weren't you just here?" the other woman, Helen, asked, in a gruff, scornful voice.
"No, not since last season," Peg replied energetically. Launching into the pre-written sales pitch, she continued, "Today, I've come to show you our exquisite new line of softer colors in shadows," she used a hand to gesture in a mannequin-like way to her eyes, "blushes," she gestured to her cheeks, "and lipsticks," she gestured to her mouth. She went on, "Everything you need to accent and highlight your changing look." The last statement was accompanied by a small series of well-rehearsed hand gestures, as well.
"My changing look," Helen scoffed, "That's good." She let out a chuckling laugh.
"Well, it goes without saying," Peg continued, after giving one polite laugh, "That I also have a complete selection of your old favorites. Those tried-and-true products we've all come to depend on, year in and year out."
"Come on, Peg," Helen said, beginning to get annoyed with the sales pitch, "I never buy anything from you. You know that."
"I know," Peg replied, her smile slipping.
"Bye," Helen said, already turning away.
"Bye, Helen," Peg said as the door shut in her face.
Across the street, in a house as pink as Peg's outfit, a house belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Monroe, a red truck with PLUMBING printed in yellow letters on its side was parked in the driveway. Inside, a plumber was busy fixing the dishwasher, a rather easy job.
"You know, you didn't have to call me, ma'am," the young, good-looking repairman said, looking up at Mrs. Monroe, or Joyce, as she preferred to be called, "You could have taken care of this by yourself."
"I could?" Joyce said, laughing a little and taking the cigarette from her mouth, "I don't think so." Joyce liked to think of herself as pretty and attractive, and she might well have been, but most people were too distracted to notice if she was by her outfits and hair. The former was currently a pastel yellow sweater over a hot pink tank top with powder blue pants and yellow high heels. The latter was bright red and rather poufy.
"Yeah, you see, it's easy," the repairman said, laughing a little, as well. He pointed inside the dishwasher at the area he was fixing, "Your food trap's clogged. That's all."
"Oh?" Joyce said, in an over-exaggerated clueless voice, stepping around the counter she was leaning on and standing right next to the repairman's left side, a hand stretched around and resting on the edge of the counter behind him.
"You see this bulb here?" the repairman said, his hands showing and doing what he said, "You just unscrew this-"
"Mm-hmm," Joyce said, pretending to be deeply engrossed.
"Okay," the repairman continued, "And… out she pops."
"You know, on TV they say repairmen are a lonely bunch of people," Joyce said, attempting to be casual and eventually change the subject to what she wanted it to be, "Housewives get lonely, too. Although you may not realize it, since they haven't made a commercial on the subject."
"And then you just put this back in here, nice and easy," the repairman said, feeling a little awkward and wanting to just get the job done and leave, "Be careful not to force it, because it fits in there by itself. And then you just screw this back on." All this time, Joyce had been leaning closer and closer to the repairman, under the pretense of getting a closer look at the dishwasher.
This was all interrupted by the ring of the doorbell. "Oh, now who could that be?" Joyce asked of no one in particular, annoyed. She went to the window and glanced out. Looking at the repairman, she said, "Will you excuse me for a moment?" She started walking away, and then turned back and smiled, "Now, don't go anywhere. I'll be right back. This is fascinating. I wouldn't want to miss a moment of it."
The repairman smiled and nodded politely, but seemed relieved once Joyce left to go answer the door.
Joyce opened the door onto an entirely too cheerful Peg. "Good morning, Joyce," Peg grinned, "Avon calling."
"Why, Peg. Have you gone blind?" Joyce said, in a breathy, fake-concerned voice, "Can't you see there's a vehicle in my driveway?" She drummed her nails against the door jamb, the bright pink talons tak-tak-tak-ing against the wood.
"Oh… yes," Peg nodded, looking at the PLUMBER truck, and then turning back to Joyce.
"I'm surprised you don't realize that means I'm busy," Joyce said, as though Peg were an idiot. She stepped back out of the door frame and slammed the door in Peg's shocked face.
"Now we should decide on lipsticks." Peg was sitting delicately on the edge of the bed of a teenage girl. The blonde-haired girl was loudly chewing gum and layering bright-colored polish on her toenails. Peg felt ever-so-slightly out of place, selling to a teenager, but was doing her best to remain the unshakable saleswoman.
"Okay, dear, what one did you like best?" Peg said, looking from a pad of paper in her lap to the makeup case temporarily set up on the girl's bed, "There was the Winsome Wahini, which looked charming on you, or the Bahimini Bliss."
"I like 'em both," the girl replied distractedly, still applying color to her toenails.
"Well, great," Peg said happily. Finally, her first sale that morning. She set about writing up the sales ticket.
"You don't actually think I have any money, do you?" the girl said, as though she couldn't believe the Avon-lady was even trying to sell her make-up.
Peg just looked at the girl, disappointment and disbelief evident on her face, not sure how to respond.
Peg walked down the street, looking for a house where she might, just possibly, sell some cosmetics. The sound of organ music emanated from one house. Looking in the window, Peg saw Esmeralda Emerson(?), the local Christian enthusiast. Peg decided it was best not to even attempt selling to Esmeralda, and walked to her bright yellow car.
"Ding dong, the Avon lady," a few little girls sang jeeringly, laughing as they pedaled by on their bikes.
Peg sighed and put her sales suitcase in the passenger side, then climbed in the driver's seat, muttering, "It's just not my day."
She checked a few addresses off a list in her pad of paper that she had hoped would buy a few cosmetics. None of them had. She snapped the notebook shut and fidgeted about, placing her hands first on the steering wheel, then crossing them over her chest, sighing again.
Peg stared out the window, hoping an idea would come to her. As hardly anyone bought make-up from her, she hardly made any money. She wished someone would just buy something. Even if it was only one Bahimini Bliss lipstick, it would help tremendously.
She noticed the side-view mirror was crooked, and reached out a hand to put it back in place. Once it was, it reflected the mansion.
The mansion was a stark contrast to the rest of the neighborhood. A huge, dark, gothic-style castle, it was positioned high on a small mountain. The mountain was covered in weeds and overgrown bushes, hardly anyone ever went near it.
Looking at it, Peg decided she might as well try it, assuming anyone even lived there. She started her car and drove down the road toward the mountain.
The cul-de-sac at the end of the street was completely barren, save for the ancient gate opening onto the mansion drive. Once section seemed to have fallen down and lay flat on the ground, Peg had no choice but to drive over it in order to access the path.
The steep, twisting drive ended in front of a carved stone entrance, decorated with many statues of wildlife, which evidently led to the mansion grounds.
Stepping through that gate, Peg came upon a breath-taking sight. Contrary to the overgrown condition of the rest of the mountain, the mansion grounds were beautifully manicured. The grass and flowers were lovely, but the truly beautiful part was the topiary. Incredibly realistic sculptures were trimmed out of every shrub and hedge the grounds had to offer.
"Oh, my goodness," Peg breathed out, looking around. There was some sort of sea monster, a squirrel, a crane, a pterodactyl, a moose, and even more. In a large flower pot, in what seemed to be a place of honor in the center of the grounds, was a hand. "Oh, it's so beautiful," Peg whispered, again in a voice that was barely audible, spinning slowly around to look at everything.
Though the architecture was lovely, the mansion itself, compared to the gardens, was decidedly decrepit. It was a bit crumbly and most of the windows were broken, but it didn't seem to be in danger of falling down any time in the near future. Through one of the windows, Peg was almost certain she saw someone move.
"Hello?" she called out, looking up at the window, a hand against her forehand to shade her eyes from the sun. When there came no response, she trotted up the few steps to the large front door of the mansion. She took hold of the metal knocker, which was larger than her entire head, and knocked three times.
Waiting for someone to answer, Peg fluffed her hair a little and glanced about the gardens again. Seemingly without reason, a few birds that had been perched in one of the bushes flew off. Peg watched them fly away, and then turned back to the door.
"Hello?" Peg called again, reaching out a hand and trying to move the huge door handle. The grounds were so meticulously taken care of- she knew someone must be living there. Surprisingly, the door opened without too much effort, she hadn't even had to turn the handle.
Inside, the mansion was spacious and empty, a great stone expanse with hardly any furnishings at all.
"Hello?" Peg called out yet again, stepping inside, "Avon calling." She left the door slightly ajar and walked further into the room. It was easily as large as a school gymnasium.
Peg hoisted the strap of her sales suitcase onto her shoulder, so it would be easier to carry, as she looked around at all the cobwebs and machinery that did take up residence in the room. Wicked looking metal contraptions, that she couldn't even imagine the function of, were arranged on one side of the room, each coated in dust and cobwebs. In fact, the entire place was caked in dust and spider webs, as though no one had touched anything for years.
"Oh, my," she breathed out, almost backing into an evil-looking, weathered statue that stood to one side of a curving stair case.
A sudden noise made Peg whirl around. It was a familiar sound, but quite unexpected. The sound of snipping scissors.
"Hello?" Peg tried again for a response, beginning to climb the grand stone staircase, "Hello? Hello. I'm Peg Boggs. I'm your local Avon representative. Hello?"
Despite the fact that there was no reply, Peg kept climbing.
A/N: The next chapter, Peg Meets Edward, will be coming soon. Until then, please review and tell me what you think! :) Have I done a good job of conveying the movie from pictures into words? I need to know! Thank you for your time, and I hope you will be back to read future chapters. :o)