“You’re such a darling. It’s like Marlene never left. My nephew and little girl are all rolled into one (giggle).” She took me on her lap and gave me a big hug.

TWINS by Marie
Part 5 - Marlene
by Marie C.

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“Kirk, wake up! Come oon!”

I groaned and peeped out from under the covers. It was bright like daylight but it wasn’t the sun or overhead electric light. Marlene was standing by my bed in one of her fussy dresses, hair all curly, hands on hips and grinning like an elf. Behind her a strange silver brilliance like moonlight seemed to come from everywhere. When I understood who was there I jerked upright in total surprise.

“Marlene when did you get back where’ve you been your mom’s worried sick I think she’s going bonkers.” It came out as one sentence.

“I’ve been here all the time. You just couldn’t see me.” She pursed her lips implying I was just as dumb as ever and always would be.

I looked mystified.

“I don’t know what happened. I remember walking to Leticia’s as far as the old school. Then I was here. Mom and Uncle Zack acted like they couldn’t see me or hear me even though they were looking all over. It was scary and I cried a lot. When mom’s asleep I think she can hear me a little.”

Her face brightened. “It’s really, really neat you can. It took ages to wake you up. I‘ve been yelling every night.” She twisted her mouth again with that “how stupid can you be” expression and yanked at my covers.

“Come on, I want to see mom with you along.” I reached down for my slippers, but she grabbed my hand and had me into the hall before I could find them. Whatever happened hadn’t changed her a bit.

“Won’t your mom wake up?” I whispered in Marlene’s ear as we stood by Linda’s bed looking down.

“I don’t think so. Mom, MOM!” Marlene was literally shouting. Linda turned on her side but didn’t wake up. Marlene stroked her hair and pulled the cover over her mother’s shoulders. There were tears in Marlene’s eyes.

I gave it a try. “Aunt Linda, Marlene’s here.” This time I was right over her ear with Marlene watching. Still no response.

“She can’t hear you either. I don’t think anybody can hear you right now except me. I bet even if you touch her she won’t feel it.”

I put my hand on Linda’s arm. No response, not even a twitch.

Marlene went on “ Sometimes I bump into people and they jump like there’s an electric shock, but they still don’t see me. Right now I think you’re like me.” She took me by the hand again. “Let’s go to my room. I want to try something.”

I got a funny feeling and twisted away from her grasp. I pushed my door open and there I was sound asleep. Talk about weird! I thought about waking myself up, and then backed away like it was something I shouldn’t do. On the other hand talking to Marlene like this was normal? Like what’s happenin’ dude?

I followed Marlene down the hall to her room where she climbed up on a small table and snatched a key from the top of the door frame. Her room was just like I remembered, all white and fluffy, but a whole lot more neat because Linda cleaned it so much. As we stood in front of the big mirror Marlene and I were now the same height and more like twins than I wanted us to be! I made a face.

“Stand still.” she ordered. I felt her as she moved sideways into me just like those scary TV shows. There was this crackly feeling like electricity and a buzzing that gradually went away. The Marlene/Kirk figure walked around, sat at the vanity, opened drawers, picked up dolls and danced around the room gleefully “I can do things again (shriek, shriek!).”

There I was twirling around inside. I couldn’t figure what she was about but I didn’t like being a puppet.

Stepping out of me she barked “Off with your jammies!” and she stripped right in front of me. I took mine off too and well, so what’s so wrong about that?

As soon as we were buck naked she moved back inside of me again with that funny noise. The new image in the mirror was hers alone except for my added parts which faded after a minute. She now stood there alone with nothing left of me to see. Hey!

“Let’s play dress up,” she calmly declared (Not asked. She never asks.). Down came that awful fluffy birthday dress from the third chapter and out flew a pair of instep strap heels. “I know you like this one, twin! Don’t tell me you don’t.” It was true, I felt hypnotized again just like three years ago. She/I twisted and posed in the mirror like a model. The hem brushed our stockings with that special rustling sound and we stifled a giggle.

Sensing my attraction to the fabric she deliberately slid her/my hands up and down the nylons under the skirt and outside on the dress moving the cloth smoothly back and forth. Arching her back she stretched her arms and lifted her hair with both hands. She was bursting with a kind of energy I had never known even when mom and dad were still around. I felt really good too, better than I had for weeks - and she knew I did.

Plunking down on the vanity she started toying with her/our hair and complaining “Your hair’s too short so let it grow, and jeez, wash it!” The orders were coming from inside my head this time, almost like I was saying them myself. Things were getting confused.

At some point I wanted to get free of Marlene but couldn’t! The part of me that didn’t like playing dress up had reemerged with a vengeance and I was freaking out. But whenever I tried to step aside nothing happened.

“Let me out.” I started weeping somewhere inside the combined apparition or parallel universe, whatever it was. “I dowanna do girls’ things anymore. After your dumb party I didn’t dress up again. Why now?”

With my outburst Marlene sat down at her vanity and began making herself up with a casual aplomb. Her Voice, thoughts or whatever became very smooth and gentle. “Can’t you help me even a teensy bit, Kirk? I’ve been sooo lonely and haven’t had fun for a long time. Now that we’re together I get to do all sorts of things again - and I don’t feel scared anymore because you’re here. Please, pleeeze. We’re not doing anything bad. Besides, I know you’re having fun too.” Pity and logic, a powerful combination. Beaten again.

That taken care of she reached into her closet where on a shelf she located the party snapshots. Looking through her eyes I saw myself again as Darlene, smiling prettily to the mothers and children at the party. “I’ll have mom put these up tomorrow. You’ll have to take my place in the sewing room and help her because I can’t do it anymore.”

She/I crawled under the bed covers in her flimsy nightie where we squeezed her teddy bear and doll in both arms. “Your mommy’s back,” she said to the doll, “Maybe two mommies (giggle).” She held a bottle to its mouth and said “Good night, Twin.”

“Kirk , it’s nearly nine.” Linda was tapping on my door. Spooky dream! I woke up in my bed wearing my scruffy pajamas. I saw my junk lying around and wanted to sleep for a week. According to the bathroom mirror there was no makeup on my face, just the sleepiness that comes off with hot water and soap. My hair was its usual rat’s nest.

Once I got dressed I took a quick walk around the upstairs and there was no Marlene. Her room was closed just like we never went in last night. I even climbed up and found the key over the door - covered with weeks of dust. I thought about sneaking inside her room to see if it was messed up like we left it but decided not to. Sticking my tongue out at the door I went downstairs to breakfast.

After I finished my bowl of Total Linda airily asked me to come up to the sewing room. There I saw those framed birthday party portraits neatly spaced around the wall, the ones Marlene pulled out of the closet last night. Marlene looked nice I thought, but it took me a minute to realize that one of those photos was me in that dress and hairdo, me holding a bouquet of lilies and me with my smiling head tilted to one side. And no matter which way I turned in the room, there was always one of us staring down at me. Yeesh.

“I can hardly tell you apart.” Linda prattled as she hung one last frame. “You looked so sweet as a girl. You danced with Bert at the party. Do you remember? ” She was certainly cheerful this morning, more than usual, but it looked like she was talking to someone in outer space.

Red-faced with the memory of my dance with Bert I patiently asked “What kind of help do you need, Aunt Linda?”

With a coy smile she said “Well, I have boxes of lingerie that need sorting. A few skirts need ironing.”

I could see where this was going. “José’s coming today. Remember? I promised to help paint.”

“Not today. I need you here.” Her voice shifted from almost childlike to more than uncommonly firm, both completely out of character for my aunt. Unfolding the ironing board she talked to me about how to adjust the iron for use on synthetics and cottons. “We’ll start on the easy pieces. Marlene likes doing this, so you will too.” Earth to Aunt Linda, are you there?

I frowned muttering under my breath “I’m not Marlene and you’re mental again.” I remembered what Mattie said, Aunt Linda needs me, so I didn’t say anything else.

Linda brought out a floral pinafore apron - with ruffles. “This will keep you from dirtying the new things (giggle).” She lowered it over my shoulders and began wrapping a scarf on my head turban style. “Your hair’s a mess,”she remarked in passing.

“Do I have to wear all this?” I griped as I lifted my arms. Linda smiled and continued wrapping me until I looked like a small, skinny white Aunt Jemima. I got no answer except that goofy smile.

Ironing was harder than I expected. I even dropped the darn thing on the floor barely missing my foot. And it made an awful racket when it landed. Fumbling to get it off the floor I managed to burn my fingers and scorch the carpet.

Linda looked exasperated. “Well, keep at it. You’ll learn.” I hope not, I grumbled.

In an hour or so the skirts were on hangers. Most of them looked o.k., I guess. I hadn’t scorched any. I started to untie the apron, but Linda pointed to several boxes of women’s briefs.

“Sort them by size, not style or color,” she said. I saw plain nylon panties, lacy bikinis and thongs for all ages. Things from forbidden territory! Alarm, alarm. A big sigh. “I don’t know anything about this stuff,” and let my hands drop.

“Just look for the size numbers. Hold them up to the light and you’ll see little tags with numbers sewn into the side seams (giggle).”

Some were soft and lacy and my mind began to wander. What would it be like if I put them on? I shook my head. No, no. I finished putting them away feeling more than a bit dreamy.

By lunch I was done and more or less used to shuffling women’s underwear around the table. I put my best face on the situation and figured I’d learned something even if I was never going to use it. And I would get over my disaster with the iron.

I kept thinking about last night’s session with Marlene which had me totally wound up. Did the two of us getting together last night make Linda act differently today? I wondered.

After lunch Linda took me back upstairs clearly no longer in a depressed mood. “Your hair needs a wash and a trim. I do Marlene’s all the time.” So I was marched to the bathroom while Linda brought out a tube of shampoo. After toweling me dry she evened the bottom with scissors and lightly plucked my eyebrows. “Marlene likes curved eyebrows. But you probably don’t so I’ll just do a bit.” I remembered Betty Boop eyebrows from the party and prayed.

In the mirror my neck-length hair had been neatly parted in the middle and now flowed loosely around my neck and chin. With red bow-style barrettes on either side Linda charmingly framed my face into a girl’s oval which emphasized the slightly shaped eyebrows. In the mirror Marlene’s turned up nose and freckles stared back.

“Learn to brush your hair every night,” Linda advised. “It’ll look nice when it gets long.”

Back in my room she took my old underwear out of the drawer and held it up for inspection. Some of it was admittedly tattered but most of it was just slightly worn. “By the way here are some of the underpants you sorted. Your old ones are a bit tired and have to be thrown away. Nobody will notice if you wear lingerie under your jeans and it’ll save us a little money. They’ll be here in your drawer.”

Clearly something was slipping away.

The next week I continued with my sewing room apprenticeship. Linda had given me Marlene’s cotton scoop necks with cap sleeves to replace my “worn out” T-shirts. They weren’t that different from my old ones, I told myself, and I even wore the underpants. Linda was right, nobody could see them, so what’s to worry about. I smiled when I thought about how smooth they felt but telling myself they were just fancy cloth.

As the days passed the more time I spent in the sewing room the more cheerful Linda became, and the more positive attention I got. It was nice being close to my aunt although I couldn’t help thinking how strange things had become.

One night Linda had me take a dinner tray out to Bill in back. His bottle was half empty and maybe his eyes were failing because he said, “Ah, Marlene you’re back. Heard about you being gone.”

“No,” I said “I’m her cousin.”

“Can’t tell the difference. You’re just as pretty as she is,” and stuffed a dollar in my jeans. “She always wears cute little dresses. Girls in dresses are real girls. Don’t you forget it,” he said taking another nip from the Southern Comfort by his chair. “Next time you wear something nice and I’ll give you a five.” I didn’t argue with him but I wasn’t going to come back in no dress.

Back inside the house I saw Linda in the parlor talking to Sandy. They must have just finished because Sandy waved and dashed out the door before I could get there.

“Kirk, Sandy needs another room for an office and she’s willing to pay a lot.” Linda paused, then timidly asked “Would you mind terribly moving out of your room? You can have Marlene’s. We really need the money. ”

I thought about the ruffles, clothes and toys. “What about Marlene’s things?” I asked.

Linda smiled sweetly. “Well, for awhile I’d like to leave them there. She’ll be back soon.”

“Why not?” I said, and rolled my eyes. I almost told her Marlene is back, though I didn’t know how Linda would take it if I said anything. So we spent an hour packing my things into boxes which we left unopened and stacked in a corner of Marlene’s room.

“Until we unpack your boxes you can go ahead with wearing her things. I’m sure she won’t mind (giggle). She always thought of you as her twin. I’ll leave a few items out just in case.” She picked out jeans, colorful sweaters and ankle socks. From the closet floor she tossed out sandals and polka dot tennis shoes. Déjá  vu all over again, as they say.

“Oh, here’s a cute little sun dress. It’s starting to get warm, so you might feel cooler in that if we get a really hot day. Her nightie is on the back of the door and slippers are under the bed.”

Was I turning into Alice in Wonderland complete with pinafore? The evidence was mounting.

I stripped off my jeans, scoop-necked top and lacy underpants and pulled Marlene’s nightie over my head. It did feel cooler than my pajama suit. Linda kissed me saying “Good night precious.” Susie and Growl nestled with me under the covers.

What was going to come of all this? Would I have anything to say about it? Very little it seemed.

The next morning I looked up from bed. A girl’s world, I thought. Trailing soft fabric across the room I pulled out a pair of Marlene’s hip hugger panties. The sun dress was still there. What would it be like? This one was sleeveless and pink with ruffles at the shoulders and hem. I held it up to the mirror and turned back and forth with serious intent. I realized what I was doing and placed it down again. Then I picked out a white short-sleeved shirt except the buttons were backward. When I looked in the mirror I saw the collar was round and the sleeves kind of puffy. I shrugged and stepped into my old jeans. Marlene’s sandals were tight but o.k. I lightly brushed my hair and Marlene looked at me from the mirror. Did she just wink?

“Excuse me, Kirk , I forgot some of your things.” Linda burst into the room with another box that she dumped in the corner. “Oh, don’t you look sweet! Sometimes I need a model for the girls’ wear I make and you could be one. You don’t have to say anything now.” She was babbling away with her new and surprising energy and I felt glad for her because she seemed better although a bit nutty.

“You know, you look so much like Marlene I almost called you by her name (giggle). Your hair’s getting so long now. Let me brush it again. On second thought let’s go to the bathroom again.”

Humming as she rewashed my hair she parted it down the middle again. Near the front she held the hair between her fingers and commenced to snip straight across. Reaching into a drawer she clipped rollers around the bottom and sprayed them with something unknowable. After a half hour under the dryer she brushed it out, trimmed a few spots and tied it into curly angel wings with green ribbons. More eyebrows fell and I didn’t wince this time.

In the mirror my auburn hair glowed, my bangs were wispy and curled and my brows were noticeably shaped and lightly penciled. At a distance no one would have mistaken me for anyone except Marlene.

“Aunt Linda, why do I have to have bangs? And these stupid wings?” I jerked at the bouncing appendages.

She slapped my hand away saying “Oh, I just wanted to try them. Marlene never wanted any. Besides lots of boys wear bangs.” Not many I ever saw, I muttered.

“Sit still, now.” She found a tube of lipstick and with one finger rubbed a little on my lips. A mascara brush darkened my lashes.

“You’re such a darling. It’s like Marlene never left. My nephew and little girl are all rolled into one (giggle).” She took me on her lap and gave me a big hug.

Later I had to take a load of dirty clothes downstairs to the washer which meant going through the kitchen. I heard Mattie in there cleaning up and almost turned around but she spotted me.

“Marlene, you back?” She crossed herself, looked harder and recognized Kirk in a girl’s blouse, jeans, bangs, angel wings and ribbons. “Boy, you look jus’ lak’ you cousin. Fo’ minnit I thought you was a haint.”

I hadn’t seen Mattie for weeks and wasn’t ready for her to see me like this. I tried to get by without saying anything but she wouldn’t have it. She set my load on the table, grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me into a chair.

Lamely I explained. “My Aunt says my old clothes are worn out and I have to wear Marlene’s things until we get new ones.” I kept looking at the floor, but she lifted my chin with both hands and saw the lipstick.

“You an’ auntie bein’ changed by this house. An’ you is turnin’ into yo’ pretty cousin. Jes’ you be careful, hear. You talk to me any time.” She gave me a hug and crossed herself.

While she was putting away the dishes Mattie remembered something like this happening to one of her boy cousins a long time ago. Anyway that’s what granma told her and her little sister one night while they were getting ready for bed. Mattie never knew what to make of granma half the time. Now here it was again.

As she wiped the sink she thought she heard children playing again. They seemed closer this time. With the fingers of both hands she formed a warding off sign. Turning slowly she held her hands up to the four points of the compass one by one, then took her coat and purse and left.

After lunch I watched Sandy and a young guy move boxes of computer parts from his car to my old room. I didn’t say anything because I hadn’t mixed with anybody except my aunt and the few people who lived in or worked at the building. Mostly nobody came by except for Linda’s customers. The few who did see me wondered who I was. “Don’t you remember Marlene’s cousin?” Linda would reply. Then they remembered me as the “twin girl” from the party.

Sandy smiled sweetly as she breezed by with armloads of wires and gadgets. As I watched they quickly assembled a suite of work furniture and plugged together a large PC and printer. Apparently finished she grabbed the fellow by one hand and pulled him into her bedroom where they stayed for the rest of the day.

At dinner Linda reminded me to take out Bill’s tray again.

“Aw, Marlene, you didn’t wear a dress, but here’s a dollar anyhow.” He shoved the bill in my jeans pocket. “I’ll give you another if you sit on my lap. You used to do it all the time.” I looked doubtful and he lifted me up under my arms and it felt funny with him pulling me close.

“It’s not often an old geezer gets a pretty thing on his lap. I used to have lots of girls on my lap at the office. In night clubs we put dollar bills down their panties.” His hand landed on my jeans-covered knee.

“I have to go, Bill. Where’s my dollar?” I demanded with a big smile. If Marlene could be bossy I could too. Where did that come from?

I told Linda about it and she laughed. “He does that to Marlene all the time. He’s harmless, I think.” I didn’t tell her about the night club girls. We watched TV until bedtime.

Upstairs Linda said “Your pajamas are still packed away in those boxes, so just wear Marlene’s nightie again. And you’ll have to do better about your room, young lady. Oops, sorry, Kirk, that’s what I used to say to Marlene (giggle).”

After she brushed my hair I obediently shuffled down the hall to brush my teeth as the see-through nylon floated behind. Looking in the mirror I saw Marlene’s little nose, freckles, bangs and thin eyebrows. Traces of red remained on my lips no matter how hard I tried to rub it off.

I wasn’t taking her place!

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To Be Continued...