Chapter 26

Nearly a year later, mid-august, Sophie rang the doorbell of a small light blue house on the northern edge of Columbia, Missouri. She knocked as well when the wait seemed long. A taxi cab idled at the curb. Finally the screen door opened and then the outside door. A beatific grin greeted her.

"Sophie!" yelled Melissa and embraced her. "It's so good to see you," she said quieter into the lean mulatto's ear. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Sarah," Sophie said and began to cry.

"Come in."

"The taxi..."

"I'll get it and I'll get your bags. Go have a seat."

"But..."

"Sit, Sophie."

A wry grin somehow bypassed Sophie's sorrow. "Yes Angel." While she sat on an old stuffed sofa, Melissa gestured to the cab driver to wait a second, dashed to her purse on the phone table on the other side of the small living room and dashed with it outside.

Carrying the medium sized suitcase and the well stuffed shoulder bag into the house, Melissa asked Sophie, "How long were you planning on staying?"

"I'm not sure," said Sophie.

"I'll put the bag in the study. It's our guest room."

"Okay," sniffled Sophie.

"Can I get you anything? Soda? Juice? Coffee? I don't have ... Yes I do! Zelda's gift from our last visit! Let me find it. It will be perfect."

A couple minutes later Melissa brought out a bottle of Armagnac and a couple of snifters. She poured liquid gold into them from the nearly full bottle and ordered Sophie to drink. "I'll brew some coffee. Decaf?"

"Uhm, regular if you don't mind."

"Not a problem. I'll brew some up. It's just a little late in the day."

"You don't have to bother."

"Yes I do," Melissa smiled and dashed away.

A couple minutes later, Melissa returned and sat on an overstuffed chair, matching the sofa only in its age. Smiling at Sophie sipping the Armagnac, she took a sip as well. "Nice, isn't it?"

"Yes. Where's Sarah?"

"Not here."

"Oh."

"So how did you find me?"

"Private detective."

"Cool."

"I would have called but..."

"Yeah, Sarah's a little paranoid. We use disposable cell phones these days," Melissa shrugged and giggled. "Toss away phones and PIs. It's like a detective story or something."

"How is she? You don't look worried."

"She's great." They stopped talking for a couple minutes, just sipping and staring at each other. Melissa hopped to her feet. "Coffee's ready." Returning from the kitchen, she placed the mugs beside the snifters on the coffee table sitting in front of them. "Des Moines," she said.

"Des Moines?" asked Sophie.

"You take it black, right? I need lots of milk and sugar." She sipped the coffee. "I had to glance at her schedule. She's in Des Moines tonight through Sunday. It's not that far really. Do you want to go?"

"What's she doing in Des Moines?"

"Working."

"What does she do?"

"It's a surprise. I'll probably leave from there in the morning. I have to work tomorrow night."

"What do you do?"

"I work at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital assisting the nurses. You know, bed pans and such."

"That doesn't sound pleasant."

"It's great actually. I love cheering patients up. They even showed me how to do sponge baths. A couple nurses struggle getting that intimate with the very sick and the maimed, but..."

"You like cheering them up."

"I do. We should go soon. Do you want to shower and change? We can have dinner on the way. You're probably starving and I was about to throw something into the microwave."

"How far is it?"

"I'm not sure. I'll look it up while you're showering. I need to Google it anyway."

"Why Columbia, Missouri?"

"It's my start in training in alternative medicine. Believe it or not this little city is a hotbed for Homeopathy."

Sophie nodded and smiled. "That's great, Melissa."

"I think so," Melissa smiled.

"How's Elliot?" asked Melissa near the beginning of their journey, driving her white Honda Civic. When she asked, Sophie had been contemplating her life, how she never travelled in anything so small and mundane. Instead she had been driven in limousines or luxury vehicles. She found it amazingly comfortable even with her long legs; its homeliness quite refreshing.

"He's fine I guess. He misses you."

"What about Susan?"

"She isn't you, my angel. She got demanding and jealous of his interest in men so he gave her the boot."

"They had too much in common I think."

"That could be. Her being an offbeat designer and struggling and him being the designer for the masses and rich as a king couldn't have helped."

"I don't know why he doesn't bring Zelda to New York and marry that crazy bitch. Did they ever track down Sorry?"

"No. He probably wandered off aimlessly to another Skid Row somewhere."

"Too bad. I would have loved to meet him."

"Me too. But yeah, he's going to see her in Paris and..."

"Propose?"

"He's definitely considering it. But he's worried he's missing a bargaining chip or two."

"What do you mean?" asked Melissa.

"She misses you. And she misses Sarah."

"Mostly Sarah."

"Yeah. Why do all these women fall in love with her, me included?"

"And why not me? Sarah's an ocean. I'm just a small lake or a pond even. It's my curse. I'm just too damned happy all the time."

"We love you, Melissa."

"I know, but it's the depth of love. People love my cheeriness, my joie de vivre. But none get much beyond that. Only Sarah. Sarah's the only person in my life ever to explore beyond the smile. Luckily, she's still fond of what she's found."

"What about Elliot?"

"He's too confident to bother being in love. It's not that he only loves himself, though to an extent that's true except maybe Zelda who manages to blow his mind from time to time and like some sort of psychotropic drug gives him a whole new perspective on himself and his relationships. I can see him and Zelda growing close just from their endless fascination for each other. But with me ... No. Even though Zelda saw it in the cards that first time..." The two chuckled. " ... we're not meant for each other in any sustaining way."

"He misses you terribly," Sophie pointed out.

"He's lonely, at least at home and in bed. It's where he finally had a companion he could confide in and be intimate with. I made him feel comfortable and welcome and not alone. Cheered him up I guess too. I'm sure he misses that."

"But a lot of marriages..."

"Sophie! Don't be silly. I'm eighteen. I'm not getting married, not for years at least and probably never unless of course Sarah proposes. I'm not fixing myself to one man and letting him command my choices. Elliot would be the first to find that silly. No, there's only one person that made me resist moving here, and she ended up joining me! How incredible it was seeing her at my apartment even though she looked like hell." Melissa glanced at Sophie with unusual sourness. "She bought that house for me, Sophie. I love that little house."

"It's sweet, Melissa. It's perfect for you."

"I know!"

"It's not my fault, Melissa," Sophie said quietly. "Not entirely."

"No. I'd say Carrie deserves a good chunk of blame. And Elliot."

"Why Elliot?"

"It's like everyone wanted a piece of Sarah, to use her. Carrie kept piling up the shows and the photo shoots and Elliot kept needing her to draw his newest concepts. There were weeks when she worked constantly: the tutors, the dance classes, the modeling, the drawing, travelling either to a gig or with Elliot. She's a powerhouse, Sophie, so she managed to keep from falling apart. But it added up. And spring ... driving her relentlessly in Europe without a break and then home to New York and to Florida and west and back and forth! In Europe she had one fucking day with Vic and Nils! And only Vic and little Tina kept her sane just being there backstage for her. But in America..." Melissa sobbed. "When I told her about moving here, she was so strong for me. I don't know how she could have been. But she's so lovely, Sophie, so fucking caring. Nobody except me and Vic and Tina cared for her."

"Melissa!"

"No. You have her mother and Jimmy. She's your worker fucking ant. We talked about what it would mean to run away, to break the contract. But we decided she should stay and try to make it through it while I came here. But ... You never listened to her, Sophie. You could have defended her against Carrie and the agency. But those dollar signs kept flipping away in your eyes while you played with your property because you needed your young lesbian plaything from time to time. But all that time, how many times did she tell you how much she hates being around her colleagues? You think it's silly and juvenile. Maybe it is. But it's just the way she is. She hates people who live in front of mirrors, who think their attractiveness makes them superior. It drives her fucking crazy! And for two weeks, all she did was bounce around from one fucking catwalk to another and she was utterly fucking alone! The asshole you or Carrie assigned to her ended up being a conniving bitch using Sarah to meet the more well known models and get gigs with them! And to do so, the bitch joined in on their catty, backstabbing crap. Calling her a whiny little lesbian behind her back! For two fucking weeks! She didn't break her contract! She fucking saved her fucking life!"

"Why didn't she tell me?" Sophie asked, trembling at Melissa's unprecedented anger and intensity.

Melissa shrugged. "Probably a couple reasons. She already felt like she was asking a lot getting escorts and didn't want to come off further as a whiner. And/or she was afraid you wouldn't listen."

"Why am I here, Melissa?" Sophie asked tremulously. "Why did you let me in your house? Why are we driving miles and miles to be with Sarah?"

"Because, beautiful Sophie, despite everything, we love you. Sarah loves you. You will always occupy a piece of her heart. She probably won't like it that I'm taking you to her. She'll get over it quickly because like me you know what an incredibly caring and giving and compassionate being she is because you experienced it and returned it in kind. The few she has touched are always front and center in her heart. It's like umbilical chords that remain attached forever. You asked why women fall in love with her. It's because she touches you deeply, grasps your heart, massages it, lets it give off its stultifying poisons allowing it to reopen or open further than it ever has. And when she performs her curative miracles, she becomes one with you. That never ends. That attachment never goes away. She still feels you just like she feels my mother and Vic and Zelda and a few others you never met. I give people my joy and let them go to hopefully make some good of it. She gives you her caring soul and is as transformed by the experience as you are. She's the most sensitive person I ever met. Even more than Zelda. She needs you, Sophie just as much or more than you need her."