The lazy haze of sleep still upon her, she drifted in and out, letting the sunlight warm her belly. The breeze brought with it a plethora of smells, including pine needles, summer flowers, and that unique aroma of a body of water. Life, for the moment, was good.
Feeling that her tummy ‘solar cells’ were fully recharged, she groaned and pulled herself up into a sitting position. Through half closed eyes, the room slowly filtered into recognizable shapes, her vanity, dresser, closet door, and so on. Lifting a limp wrist, she rubbed away the rest of the haze and opened her bright blue eyes to the new day.
Looking down over her bare body, she took stock, as she did every morning. Two arms, two legs, her head was still where it was intended to be, and her long blond hair was present, albeit a tad messy. Absent-mindedly, she counted ten fingers and ten toes, confirming all her digits were accounted for.
‘Every good little mink girl knows, she has ten fingers and ten toes, and a cute, little pink nose.’
Minerva could almost hear the faint voice of her father, reciting that little limerick when he would dry her off after a bath. In her minds eye, she could still see herself being enveloped in a huge fluffy white towel, his gentile hands rubbing her fur till all the water was gone, and making sure he tickled her little feet, resulting much laughter for the both of them.
She smiled softly to herself and pushed her rump off the bed, landing gracefully on her still very petite feet. “What to wear today...?”
Rummaging through her dresser and closet, she eventually, settled for a pair of pink cotton panties and a oversized t-shirt with the ‘Aqua-net’ logo on the back. For some reason, Minerva didn’t much feel like getting fully dressed today. ‘Even I can have my frumpy days I guess. Not like I have anything really important to do.’ Smoothing the front of the T a few times, she fussed with the hem before letting it fall back just above her knees.
She took a moment to re-brush her hair, stroking out the kinks and knots from the nights rest before ascending the stairs to her living room and kitchen. She pulled open the refrigerator door, and looped a delicate finger around the milk jug handle as she started to make her breakfast. Setting the milk and a pitcher of orange juice on the kitchen island, she retrieved a carton of eggs she had purchased the day before and reached out with her left foot to pushed the door shut.
Pulling dishes she would need down from the cupboard, she cracked three eggs and started to scramble them. Taking a few raisin muffins from the hand made oak bread box and warming them in the oven, she poured herself a glass of milk and juice, then set them on the table.
Checking on her eggs and shutting off the oven, she plugged in her popuri warmer, sprinkling in the dish some fresh chips from a bag. Soon, the mink’s simple kitchen was filled with the smell of warm cinnamon and melted butter.
Tossing her eggs on a plate and setting the pan in the sink, she glided back to the table. Minerva pulled out a chair, ran her hands over her rump to tuck the large shirt under her and sat down. ‘Candlelight breakfast for two? Oh how thoughtful dear!’
She poked a bit of egg with her fork and placed it in her mouth, chewing softly. While she ate, she couldn’t help but think of the previous days unpleasantness. Vanessa’s piercing gaze stuck in her mind particularly, including that nasty red folder. ‘That was so low, even for her. I should have known.....” She sighed, taking a bite of muffin.
“So I'll make you a promise Vass ol' girl. I don't know how or when, but I'll make you regret this.” The thought echoed in her mind and again Minerva sighed, only far more heavily this time. “That is, as soon as I can figure out just how I’m going to make good that threat.”
She had to admit to herself, through another bite of muffin, that her temper had gotten the better of her in that situation. Minerva had always known she had a quick temper, and even though it had cooled considerably as she matured, this was a prime example of her mouth running faster than her mind.
Promising to get even with Vanessa was something that she neither knew how to do, or now, had the motivation to accomplish. She was pretty much beaten and she knew it.
Finishing up her meal, Minerva rinsed her dishes, placed them in the dishwasher, and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. Fishing a small knife from the silverware drawer, she opened the large patio door and stepped outside.
Her wood patio was a small circular addition to her house, that gave her view of the pond and a safe place to sunbathe. The stairs that sloped down the far right side, connected to a concrete walk way that snaked around the pond and disappeared into the thicket of woods that surrounded it.
The girls had pooled their money about five years before and built the walkway to give them better access to the pond, and each other. It had taken months to finish, but in the end proved to be invaluable.
Slicing off a piece of apple, she sat down on the porch swing and began to rock back and forth, listing to the birds and watching the clouds slip through the sky.
As she listened, the faint sound of walking crept up from the background. The more she listened, it became two sets to feet, one in high heals, and the other in loafers.
“Hi-EEE!”
From the thicket, two female minks appeared, both waving vigorously in Minerva’s direction.
The first was Trudy, with her short cut red hair and casually pleasant demeanor that marked her as Minerva’s best friend. She wore a simple business suit, not unlike the one Minerva had worn the day before, and a pair of blue pumps. She carried her briefcase in one hand and a newspaper under her arm.
The other, only a tad shorter than Trudy was her other best friend, Dee Dee. The bubbly curly haired brunette was happily strolling along next to Trudy, wearing her nurse uniform and brown loafers. She was carrying what looked like her mail.
It was obvious that both girls were on their way to work, something Minerva desperately wished she was going to do.
“Hi girls, what’s new?” Minerva greeted her friends as they climbed the small set of stairs that led to the deck. Trudy sighed as she took a folding chair and plopped down in it, setting her briefcase and newspaper down. “Not much really. Dee Dee and I thought we would stop by and see how you were.” She cast a glance up and down over her blonde friend. “Something tells me it didn’t go well yesterday huh?”
Dee Dee also sat down, a large smile still covering her face, as she placed her mail in her lap. Minerva couldn’t help but notice and smiled a little too. Ignoring Trudy’s question for a moment she said, “He’s coming home early, huh?”
The little brunette exploded into giggles. “Is it that obvious? Hehehehe! Yes, he’s going to fly in tonight after I get off from work. I’m so excited! I just like, hate it when he travels! I miss him so much!” She suddenly blushed, a little embarrassed of her chatty outburst.
The other two minks giggled too. Trudy brushed a lock of hair from her eye and grinned. “That’s all she’s talked about all day. I hope I don’t get that sappy when I get married.”
Minerva cut another slice of apple and poked it through with her knife. “Awwww, now. I think it’s sweet!” she stuck the slice in her mouth and chewed before speaking again. “Besides, perhaps that’s the kind of attitude that keeps you single!”
“Ya think?!” Dee Dee piped up, setting them all to giggles again.
Whipping a tear from her eye, Minerva took another bite of her apple. “So like, what was it he ran off on you for this time?”
Dee Dee began sorting through her mail, ripping up the junk mail, and placing magazines in a neat pile next to her chair. “Oh, he got called on another promotional thing. He keeps promising that each one will be the last, but really, he can’t pass up on the money. So, as usual, I put up little fight and off he goes.”
Minerva couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be separated from your husband for any length of time. And for being often labeled the baby of their troop, Dee Dee had been doing an excellent job of keeping herself together during his absence.
Still very much interested in her interview, Trudy decided to prod Minerva again. “So, you going to tell us how the interview went, or are we going to have to drag it out of you?”
Minerva’s gaze sharpened a bit and she took a large bite straight out of the apple, letting the juice roll down the sides of her hand. “It didn’t go well, as you said....”
Trudy and Dee Dee exchanged curious looks, before turning back to their friend. “I could kinda tell. You didn’t come home till late last night and you don’t often keep your PJs on after ten. So what happened?”
She sighed softly, pulling her legs up on the porch swing, as she began to tell her friends about her horrific meeting with the head of Vanessa’s Fashions.
* * * * * * * * * * *
For the fourth time since she arrived, Sawyer cast a glance around the restaurant to see if Meggie had shown up yet. And like each time before, there was no sign of her friend.
‘This isn’t like her, she’s always so punctual.’ Sawyer poked at her salad with a fork, not particularly aiming to get any to eat.
She had gotten to the little Italian restaurant right at ten, like Meggie had asked, but almost an hour had passed and she was no where in sight. She had ordered some food anyway, just to pass the time while she waited.
Mario’s was a neat and clean Italian/American place that Sawyer ate at often. When she had worked for the Animal Agency, this had been her favorite lunch spot, and still frequented it whenever possible.
The restaurant was a rectangle shaped room, with red and white checkered tile floors, and several round ‘booths’ scattered about. A young man in a white smock greeted people by the door and let them to their seats. ‘Adam, I think that’s his name.’
There also were a few gaudy ‘Italian’ pictures scattered about the walls and some reassess lights, that in it’s own strange way, made the place very cozy and comfortable.
She had become good friends with the staff over the years, and due to her fame in movie and theater, they had erected a little shrine to her just inside the front door. It was nothing but a simple photo of her and the manager, and a little plaque that said “Sawyer Cat, Actress, Singer, and Friend of Mario’s Staff.” A nice gesture, she thought.
Tugging on the collar of her shirt, she checked it over again for any spaghetti splatters. Mentally, she chastised herself for wearing white when so much of her meal was swimming in red sauce.
Not that it was really any big deal, since it was one of Danny’s work shirts. She smiled slyly to herself.
Sawyer had never been too big on dresses. Danny’s shirt, with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows and a simple pair of tan pants had made a acceptable outfit for the day. She looked professional enough, yet still relaxed. Besides, a casual lunch with Meggie was nothing to get her Sunday best out over.
Suddenly the little chime above the door jingled, signaling someone entering, and Sawyer could hear the faint voice of her friend as she asked the waiter where her table was.
The young man that stood behind the pedestal smiled and motioned her toward her booth toward the back of the room.
Meggie, wearing a simple white blouse and mauve skirt, quickly jogged over, slipping down into the chair opposite of Sawyer and setting her purse on the floor by her feet. “Oh Sawyer I’m so sorry to make you wait! Some files were missing where I temped yesterday and I had to stop by there and help the new secretary find them, then traffic was bad on the freeway......”
Sawyer just raised a tiny hand to stop her friends apology. “It’s okay Meggie. Not a problem at all. I bummed the kids of Danny for the day, so I don’t really have anything to do. Besides, I only just got here fifteen minutes ago myself.” She was naturally lying, but it seemed to make the other feline feel better. “So what’s all the commotion about? You seemed pretty upset on the phone this morning. Anything wrong?”
At this Meggie started to fuss with her napkin. “Yes, you could kind of say that.”
The waiter came after a moment and took her order. He jotted on a little pad a small spaghetti, and Sawyer asked for the same, pretending to only have ordered for the first time.
After he was gone, Meggie took a deep breath and began to tell her friend all about her one day working for Vanessa’s Fashions. The enormous workload that had been dumped on her, the zombie like employees that lurched about the break room as if they had no free will, her domineering and almost evil boss, and most importantly, the female mink that she had meet, the phone call she overheard and the red file.
After she finished telling her tale, the waiter returned, setting the meals before the women, and leaving to check upon another table.
Meggie bowed her head a little and sighed. “So that’s pretty much it. I shouldn’t have shrugged her off like that. I feel awful about it.”
It took Sawyer a few moments to collect herself after absorbing so much information all at once. She noticed that her eyes had widened considerably and she had even allowed her mouth to fall open a bit.
Snapping back, she picked up her fork and started to eat. “Well, that sounds like quite a day Meg. But I guess, I’m not really sure why your telling me all this.”
Meggie also started to nibble at her food, feeling rather embarrassed about dumping all of her past day’s stress on Sawyer so quickly. “Well.... you know this Minerva woman don’t you?”
Sawyer slurped up a noodle, it flicking back and forth as it slid into her mouth. “Yes, she is a old family friend. Why?”
“I don’t know... I guess, I just don’t understand what that was all about. Why Vanessa showed me those pictures and why Minerva left so angry. I’m kind of lost as to what it was all about, and I was hoping you might know.”
Sighing softly, Sawyer placed down her fork and crossed her arms. “Well Meg, sadly I do sort of know what it was about. But it isn’t very pleasant, and I’m only sorry that you’ve gotten dragged into something that’s such old news. I guess, every so often, buried things have a way of getting dug back up to haunt people.”
“So those pictures really were her then?”
Sawyer chuckled dryly. “No dear, that’s the sick thing. I’ve known Minerva since she was a teenager, and I am a good friend of her mother too from way back. She would never have done anything like that.
“When I was making Cats Don’t Dance with Danny, she was working on her own short films on the adjacent studio. One day, while having lunch here of all places, I ran into her again. When I found out who she was, naturally we filled each other in on family things and eventually became very good friends.”
Meggie nodded, taking another bite of her meal. “Makes sense. She’s really a very nice person.”
“Hehehe, not when she was younger!” Sawyer smiled absentmindedly. “That girl was a pistol when I first met her. If you didn’t know her very well, she almost came off as total snot, when actually, she was a very kind inside. And could she ever handle the boys too. Had most of the male studio staff eating out of her hand.”
Meggie giggled. “Wish I could do that.”
Both girls laughed for a moment, and Sawyer could see that her friend was feeling better.
“Anyway, her shows hit the big time over night, and for a short while, she was quite a sensation.”
“What happened then? I’ve actually never even heard of her, short of what you’ve told me.”
“That’s where this little red file comes in Meg. You see, with fame, misfortune can also follow. And in Minerva’s case, it struck pretty fast.
“You saw her, the woman is a bombshell. And unfortunately, the requests for....... adult entertainment poured into the studio. Not once did she instigate any of it. In fact, one of the camera men got a bit frisky with her after a scene and she floored him. Broke his nose if I remember right.”
Meggie whistled softly and Sawyer just smiled.
“She has a lot of her father in her, and I have a feeling she is every bit a daddy’s girl now as she was then.”
“So,” Meggie swallowed a mouthful of her meal. “People were harassing the studio for dirty shows and pictures of her?”
“Exactly.” Sawyer seemed to look past the occupant of her booth for a moment. “They even did that to me for a while.”
“WHAT?!” Meggie almost choked on her bread roll and stared aghast at the older woman.
“Don’t look so surprised. There are a few mock up dirty photos of me floating around if you knew where to look. Funny thing is, Danny and I were already married and I was pregnant with Abby when they all started popping up. I still would love someone to explain to me how that works.” She passed a rye smile.
Meggie paled a bit and pushed her plate toward the center of the table. “I uh... whoa....oh my...”
Sawyer reached over and patted her friend’s hand. “Ahhh, big deal. It’s never really bothered me much, and besides, I’ve yet seen a one that even remotely looked like me.
“Anyway, with all this harassing mail pouring into the studio, they saw little choice but to let her go.
“Poor thing.” Sawyer shook her head. “I can still see the look on her face when they sent her the dismissal note. It broke her heart. And her sprit to some extent too.
“And if that wasn’t bad enough, the tabloids managed to get a hold of all these pictures and made her life even more miserable by publishing them. They floated around for a few years, and thankfully died out some. But, you never do really rid yourself of a stereotype like that, and I know it still must haunt her.
Meggie nodded again, frowning. “It must be horrible. But, why did Miss Vanessa have them?”
Sawyer itched her chin. “I have no idea. Probably to demoralize her in some way. You did say she was there for a job interview right? Who can say.”
Both girls fell quite, each thinking over what had been said.
Sawyer checked her watch after a moment and whistled. “Hey, we should probably get going. It’s already after one.” She stood and rifled through her pockets for a tip to leave the waiter.
Meggie also stood, and did the same. “Yes, we probably should go. Oh! Before I forget. You wouldn’t happen to have her phone number would you?”
Sawyer tossed a few dollars on the table and raised an eyebrow. “Yes. Why?”
“I guess, I want to call and apologize for what happened.” She added a few dollars to what Sawyer had put out and slung her purse onto her right shoulder.
“I see. Well, how about I give you a ring later and give it to you then? It’s in my personal phone book at home. Minerva keeps to herself a lot these days, so her number is unlisted.”
The other lady nodded and they started for the door.
“Besides,” Sawyer said to no one in particular. “I might give her a call myself.”
* * * * *
Trudy stuck a finger in her mouth a grimaced. “Ouch Nerva! You’ve got to be kidding us.”
“Wish I was.” Minerva said softly, tossing the core of the apple into a small plastic rubbish bin on the porch.
Dee Dee had stopped fooling with her mail and looked at her friend sadly. “Awww, Minerva, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She chuckled, flapping her hand at her. “What do I care what ol’ Ugly Augustine thinks or does?! I have more fashion sense in my pinky than she does her whole silicone injected body!”
All three girls irrupted into laughs, releasing all the tension they had just built up.
Minerva smiled, feeling much better after talking with her friends. She knew that it was that kind of support that they each offered the other, that kept them so close after all these years.
“I just wish I could get her back. Find something I could do to get even.” She said, sitting back on the swing again.
Trudy ran her hand through her hair and chewed her bottom lip a bit. “Well, I suppose we could come up with something.”
She snapped her fingers. “Perhaps we could all have a pow-wow over at my place after work tonight and try to think something up. Ice Cream’s on me.”
“Sounds good to me. How bout you D?” Minerva asked.
Dee Dee had started to flip through a magazine that had been in her lap, when suddenly she went pale.
“Like, what’s wrong D?” Trudy said, trying to look over the magazine at the other woman’s face.
“Minerva! I have it! I know how you can get back at her!!” Dee Dee folded the page of the magazine over and showed her the title of an article that was inside.
Minerva’s heart skipped a beat as she read the bold black letters.
It said: “HOW TO START YOUR OWN FASHION BUSINESS!”
End Of Chapter 3