Wendy Chapter 7 According to Mrs. P
I went to the flower shop that Saturday morning on the pretense of paying the bill for the floral arrangements that had been delivered to my home a few days before. But that was not my main purpose in dropping by the shop. I had waited until Saturday morning to settle the bill because I knew Cotton would be there and I wanted to speak with him, to see if he had blabbed about our....my..’indiscretion.’
He stood off to one side, pretending to be occupied with some boxes that had just arrived, while I complained to Marcie about being overcharged because of a mismatched basket that they had brought to my home the previous Tuesday. She apologized for the mistake and made some good points about the odd basket not really having detracted from the overall exhibition but she was no match for me. The underlying fact was that one word from me to the right people would destroy any hope she had of getting other decorating work from my ‘friends’ or me. In the end, I won and she deducted a small percentage from my bill.
Satisfied, I steered Cotton out the door for a private talk.
I’m Lydia Patton, the reining queen of bitches. This is my narration as to what happened between Cotton and myself. As to the moniker, my neighbors would describe me as the queen of bitches because I portray the roll to perfection. Even my sorority sisters view me in the same light although they endure my quirky demands and irritable moods because they must. I have the money and reputation to influence what they say and control what they do.
The reason I am well suited to the roll is that the Patton women who preceeded had handed it down and it was expected that I follow in their footsteps. At first I did not take to being bitchy and demanding. Having grown up a pleasant person in a loving family I was devastated when I first witnessed the actions of my mother in law. She was a master at giving orders in her aristocratic tone and dominating all who came in contact with her.
I just could not be like that. When she and Mister Patton were killed suddenly in an automobile accident I grieved for them and felt sorry for my father in law who had the misfortune of being married to the women with the unquestioned title of the queen of bitches.
But when Bradley wanted a divorce I changed. His brother had insisted that he go to Oregon to help run the family lumber business and when I refused to join him there we settled on him visiting the children and myself one weekend per month. This arrangement lasted about two years, then the visits became less frequent until Bradley confessed that he had met someone else and he wanted a divorce. While I knew that I was partially to blame by not going with my husband, I was bitter about being betrayed and abandoned.
Once I found out that Bradley’s new love interest was pregnant and was pressing him to marry her I turned this knowledge to my advantage and held out for the best settlement possible. In addition to being awarded the old Victorian house that had been home to the Patton family since it was built in 1890, there was the generous child support, savings for college and a lump sum payment that made me the richest bitch in town. To my satisfaction, the settlement put a crimp in the way the brothers did business for the next five years. I was to keep the children eleven months of the year while my only concession to Bradley was for him to have them in Oregon one month each summer.
Hurt, confused and celibate I began to play the part of the fiercest overbearing bitch the town had ever known. I put the reputation my mother in law and the Patton women before her to shame. By the age of 33, I had taken on a hard demeanor that made my best friends cringe and my children beg for me to lighten up. At the age of 35 when I met young Cotton Fabric, the art of bitchery was second nature to me. I could verbally rip the head off of the meanest man in town while projecting sexy sweetness that would curl his hair. No women fucked with me either. Cotton changed me, for a time.
When the children came home with pictures of their father’s new family I took delight in noticing that Bradley’s forehead had grown and his young wife’s thighs carried a flabby overlay, extending from her abundant butt. They looked happy with their baby boy between them.
I had always been proud of my athletic body. I secretly resumed the exercises that had always kept my thighs, though muscular, firm and slim. I had been a gymnast in high school and college and had always taken pride in my body. Seeing the pictures of my husband’s new family made me determined to not let my body go like the little red head who had stolen my husband when I wasn’t paying enough attention to him. I became more bitchier just thinking about their happy life together. Did he think of my tight butt and shapely legs when he was fucking Miss Thick Thighs?
That Saturday morning at the flower shop my children had stayed in the car while I went in. They wanted to know who the boy was that I had been talking to when I came back to the car. And they wanted to know why I had stood outside in the heavy mist for so long, getting my hair wet. I couldn’t tell them that the boy was Cotton Fabric and my reason for talking to him was to assure myself that he had not bragged to his friends or his mousy little boss about having screwed me on the freezer the previous Tuesday night. Nor could I tell the children of my other concern; it was not only that I feared others would find out about my indecorous action, which if known would ruin my standing in the community; what if I were pregnant? I explained that he worked at the flower shop and I was just thanking him for the job he had done to help make my gathering a success.
“You remember the yellow long stemmed roses, don’t you?” I asked, reminding them of the flowers that were still in vases all around our house. Each of them had taken a rose to school to give to their teacher. My explanation seemed to satisfy them.
My actions had been stupid and I regretted what I had done. Nevertheless, there was a tingle between my legs from just thinking about what had taken place. Somehow, talking with him while the fine mist bounced off of our cheeks, gave me a warm feeling about the intimate secret we shared. His honesty as he mouthed, “No,” when I asked if he had told anyone about our, ‘encounter,’ persuaded me that he was being truthful. Seeing him again reminded me of how I had let it happen or, ‘how I had made it happen?’ would be more accurate.
I had gotten the children off to bed early that night and then made a call to Marcie, the flower shop owner. I demanded that she have the display that held three dozen long stemmed yellow roses removed from my house that night. It was my nature to make such a demand; one of those things I did because I could. It was for the same reason that I had insisted, earlier in the day when the other floral arrangements had been removed, for the display to be left for my children to see when they came home from school, because I wanted them to see the yellow roses and ribbon that adorned the one-of-a-kind giant display. Also, I insisted on the display being picked up later because I could.
Marcie was hesitant about sending someone. She held out as long as she could, pointing out that it was a school night, but I won out as I usually do. She would send Cotton, the young man I had seen that morning when they had made the delivery.