Fiction byClaudette St.Onge © 2001-3, all rights reserved
A DANGEROUS AFTERNOON
and
THE SPECIAL FAVOR
A couple of days after the bridge party, Auntiie told Maryanne that they had to go visit someone on business. But she warned her to always stay close to her while they were there.
"Why, Auntiie?" she asked. "Do they have a bad dog there or something?"
"Let’s just say ‘something’ for now. We’re going to be seeing a man that has been advising me on how I should invest my money. He’s kind of an ugly man, Maryanne, but he’s very smart. But you stay close to me. We’ll take care of business and get out of there as quick as we can."
Actually, Maryanne had come to feel very safe when she was with Auntiie. She seemed able to handle any situation. Around two o’clock that afternoon Auntiie pulled her Continental up to the curb in front of an old brownstone house in the city.
"After you say ‘hello’, Maryanne, just sit next to me and things will be alright. Try not to stare at Mr. Old. He’s not very nice to look at anyway, and besides, it wouldn’t be polite."
"Yes, Auntiie," she replied. "He sure has a funny last name."
"It’s a very old name, Maryanne," explained Aunt Corinne.
They went up the stairs to the entrance of the brownstone and Corinne used the heavy door knocker. Soon the door was opened by a man that looked unlike any man Maryanne had ever seen.
"Ah! Come in. Come in," he said. He led the way to a very richly decorated room he used as his office.
"Good to see you, Corinne," he said. "And who’s the pretty little girl you have with you?"
"My niece," she replied. "She’s staying with me til her mother gets back from a business trip. Her name is Maryanne."
"It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Old," said Maryanne.
"Sit down and get comfortable, and we can get started," he said. Corinne and Maryanne sat down on a couch while Mr. Old sat down behind his desk.
Maryanne couldn’t help but look at Mr. Old’s face now and then. He was a big bear of a man wearing a dark suit with a gold chain draped across his vest. His hair was snow white, and his face was all blotchy red.
But it was his nose that fascinated her. It was huge and looked like it was swollen at the end. A dark blue vein ran down one side of it. And his eyes looked watery and seemed small because of how fat his cheeks were.
Corinne and Harry Old began to talk about her investments. They kept it up for quite a while. Occasionally Mr. Old would argue aginst some of her ideas, explaining that some of the companies probably wouldn’t be continuing a growth period much longer. But it wasn’t something Maryanne was interested in or understood, so she occupied herself by looking at the old decorations and knick-knacks in the room.
At one point, Maryanne whispered to Aunt Corinne that she had to go to the bathroom. Corinne told her that it was upstairs and to come right back. At the same time, Mr. Old picked up the phone and dialed a number.
"Yes, Aunt Corinne," she said, and started up the carpeted stair case.
"Here," said Harry Old, handing the phone to Corinne. "It’s Tom
Crawford on the other end. Explain what you want to do, and see if he agrees with my advice." Corinne took the phone and began talking while Mr. Old sat at his desk. But after a little while he got up and started up the stairs.
Maryanne was just leaving the bathroom when she saw Mr. Old reaching the top of the stairs. He came towards her with an attempt at a smile that only made him look worse because of his cigar stained teeth.
"My, you are a very pretty girl, dear," he said to her as he got closer. I have something interesting in a room up here. Would you like to see it?"
"Well, Aunt Corinne told me to come right back. But if it won’t take too long I guess it’s okay," she replied. Harry took her hand and they began to walk down the hallway to a door at the end.
His hand had just inserted a key in the lock when there was a big crash! Maryanne saw Aunt Corinne standing there with the handle of a large water pitcher in her hand. The rest of it had been smashed to pieces when she hit Mr. Old over the head with it. Needless to say, he had collapsed on the floor like a sack of potatoes. Maranne was speechless!
She watched as Corinne knelt beside Mr. Old and felt the side of his neck.
"He’ll be alright in a while," she said. Corinne took the key from Mr. Old’s fingers and unlocked the door. "You wait here, Maryanne. I’ll only be a minute." Soon she came back out of the room with a folded up photograph. "Come along, Mayanne. Let’s get out of here and go home. I was afraid something like this would happen. But I can always find another investment advisor."
"But, Aunt Corinne…why did you hit him?"
"I’ll explain it to you in the car, dear. Just be thankful I came upstairs in time."
"In time for what?" she asked.
"In the car, Maryanne, said Corinne. "We’ll talk about it there.
He’ll be alright in a little while. I doubt it’s the first time he’s been hit over the head."
As they drove home, Corinne explained that while Mr. Old was a very smart man, he wasn’t a nice man with children. Then she said they’d talk about it when they got home. She had spoken very slowly as if she was having trouble deciding what to say.
Once they were home and sitting together on the living room couch, Auntiie began to explain it better.
"Maryanne, it’s difficult to explain about Mr. Old because it deals with something you’re too young to know about now."
"You mean sex, Auntiie?" Corinne looked at her with some surprise.
"Yes, dear. But where did you ever learn anything about it?"
"Some of us at school were looking in the older kids’ biology books," she replied. "But what does it have to do with Mr. Old?"
"When people get into their teens, Maryanne, they begin to be attracted to the opposite sex…usually. But in Mr. Old’s case he’s attracted to children. Boys or girls, it makes no difference to him. The trouble is it’s a physical attraction. People want to do things with each other. Mr. Old is sick in the head. He’s not interested in women, or men either for that matter. But he likes doing things with children….naughty things.
"If he had got you inside that room, he would have locked the door and done things to you, and maybe made you do things to him. Thank God I got up there in time to stop him. He tried to keep me busy with a phone call, but as soon as he left the room I told Tom Crawford I’d call him tomorrow and hung up."
"How do you know that, Auntiie?" asked Maryanne.
"Well, there’s been a rumor about him for years, and I decided not to take any chances. Now we know the rumor is true."
"He said he was going to show me something interesting," said Maryanne.
"I can imagine," replied Corinne.
"Will he call the cops on you, Auntiie, for hitting him?"
"No, dear. All I’d have to say would be the word ‘pedophile’ or show them the photograph I took from his room and his reputation and business would be ruined, and he knows it. There are other men like him around, Maryanne. That’s why you never want to get into a stranger’s car or go anywhere with them, even if they seem like they’re trying to help you. You stay away from strangers unless I’m with you."
"Yes, Auntiie, I will," she said. It made her feel scared when she thought how close she came to going into the room with him. But Auntiie knew what to do and came to her rescue. She put her arms around Auntiie’s waist and hugged her.
"Don’t get upset, Maryanne," said Corinne. "It’s all over now."
She already had her arm around Maryanne’s shoulders, and now she gave her a kiss on the cheek.
As a boy, Timmy loved his mother. And now, as a girl, he was beginning to love Auntiie, too.
"How would you like to wait an hour and then go to a nice restaurant for dinner? It would help to take your mind off all this."
"That sounds nice, Auntiie," she said.
"And now I’ll tell you about the special favor Mrs. Pendergast would like you to do," said Corinne. Maryanne perked right up.
"What is it, Auntiie?" she asked excitedly.
"In two weeks her daughter is getting married, and Mrs. Pendergast would like you to be the flower girl. Do you think you’d like that? We’ll have to get you fitted for a gown and you’ll have to go to a rehearsal of the wedding to make sure everyone will know what they’re supposed to do."
"You mean I’ll be carrying flowers for the bride, Auntiie?"
"No, dear. You’ll probably have a little basket filled with rose petals, and you’ll walk ahead of the bride and sprinkle them on the floor.
It’s a very easy thing to do, Maryanne, and you’d look so nice in a pretty gown. And we’d get your hair fixed special for it, too. Would you like that?"
"Yes, Auntiie! It sounds wonderful."
"That will make Mrs. Pendergast very happy, sweetheart. She thinks you’re so pretty she has her heart set on you being the flower girl.
And after the church service, you’ll have your picture taken with the bride and groom and all the bridesmaids. It’ll be a wonderful memory for you. I’ll call her tomorrow and tell her you’ll do it. She’ll be delighted.
"Now let’s freshen up and get ready to go eat some place nice."
Later, on the way to the restaurant, Maryanne asked Aunt Corinne some more questions about being the flower girl. How would they pick out a gown? Where would they get it? What did the bridesmaids do?
Corinne smiled at her interest and answered each question for her, and soon Maryanne began to like the idea even more. It really sounded so nice. She felt like she was the one getting a special favor instead of Mrs. Pendergast.
The restaurant they went to was way out in the country. It was a large old colonial building, and had been a stagecoach stop in the old days.
When they went inside, Maryanne saw that the ceiling was quite low with a lot of exposed beams. As they made their way through several rooms there was a separate fireplace in each one. The hostess led them to a table near one of the fireplaces. They sat down and after a minute or two a waitress came and took their order. Aunt Corinne ordered a Chateau-briand for them. While they were waiting for their salads, Aunt Corinne asked Maryanne something.
"Do you like all the old things in here, Maryanne?"
"They’re kind of interesting, Aunt Corinne," she replied. "Like some of the things you have in your home."
"Yes, dear, but my antiques are all from the last century. These are from the century before that, the colonial period. See the big covered pan with the long handle near the fireplace? In colonial times they used to lift the cover of it and put hot coals from the fireplace in it and then shut it. Then they’d slide it over the bed sheets to warm up their beds before they got into them."
"Really, Aunt Corinne?!" asked Maryanne.
"Yes, dear. A lot of antiques were for things that aren’t done anymore. But I like my Victorian antiques from the last century. Before your mommy gets home we’ll go to a couple of antique dealers and maybe to an auction. Maybe we can get you something that you’ll like, and you can keep it to remember this nice time you stayed with me."
"I don’t think I’ll ever forget staying with you, Aunt Corinne."
Corinne smiled at her lovingly. She was so proud of Maryanne. Such a nice pretty girl, and so well-behaved. She was about as much a little lady as Corinne could ever have hoped for. And she knew that a special affection for each other had developed between them. But she wondered what would happen when her sister returned from her business trip. It would be such a waste for Maryanne to become Timmy again.
They had just walked in the door when they got home when the phone started ringing. Corinne nodded at her to answer it. "Go ahead, dear. Maybe it’s mommy."
"Hello? This is Maryanne," she said.
"Maryanne! This is mommy. How are you, dear? Is everything alright? I got your pictures in the mail today and you look so nice. I wish I could be there and hug my pretty girl. Are you having a nice time, sweetheart?"
"Oh, yes, mommy," she replied, "and Auntiie is so nice to me, too.
It’s been a wonderful time staying with her and making friends with other girls. And in two weeks I’m going to be the flower girl at a wedding, too."
They talked some more for a while, and then mommy told her she wanted to talk to Auntiie for a minute. Corinne got on the phone.
"I told you everything would work out fine," she said in a teasing voice to their sister. "How are you doing in the city?"
"Fine. I may even get back a day or two early. Oh, Corinne! You’ve made such a nice girl out of Timmy. Does he really enjoy it as much as he sounds?"
"A lot more than you realize," answered Corinne. "And I haven’t had to use the hairbrush on her bottom either."
They talked some more for a few minutes, and then Marie said she wanted to say ‘goodbye’ to Maryanne. Corinne held the phone out to Maryanne.
"Sweetheart, I’m so glad you like being a nice girl for Aunt Corinne. I can hardly wait 'til I get back and can hold you. But I have to go now. I’m sorry it took me so long to call you, but I’ve been very busy."
"I wish you were here, mommy. I miss you."
"Well, I might finish up here a day or two early and get home ahead of time," said Marie.
"Mommy! Maybe you could go to the wedding with us!"
"I’d love to, dear. We’ll see how things work out."
They made their ‘goodbyes’ and Maryanne hung up the phone. She looked up at Auntiie with a smile. "It’s just like you said, Auntiie. She’s very happy about me being a girl now."
"And so am I, sweetheart. So am I."