The small group of tourists made their way into the old mansion's enormous living room, following behind the guide who was showing them around. The guide's voice droned on and on about the late movie star who had once owned this home, but the huge painting that hung over the fireplace's mantlepiece much more eloquently told the story of who Gloria Dunham had been.
Slender and buxom with platinum blonde hair, the woman in the portrait was astoundingly beautiful. She had become a famous movie star back in the Fifties, but by following in the footsteps of such women as Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, she had quickly been typecast as a stupid sexpot. She had come to Hollywood expecting to become a serious actress though and had apparently never been able to reconcile herself with the fact that all anyone wanted to do was stare at her big breasts. She had made a fortune playing the ditzy blonde in countless films, but her unhappiness had led her to drink far too much and this had led to her early death.
Gazing up at the beautifully done portrait of the actress, Darlene Chase was overcome with sympathy for the tragic woman. There was just something about this now long dead woman that had struck a profound chord within her and she found herself getting lost in the big blue eyes that stared out from the painting.
Whoever the artist was who had created that masterpiece, he or she had done an especially good job on those eyes, Darlene mused as she continued to stare fixedly up at the painting. Those eyes seemed so incredibly lifelike . . .
Standing beside her was her husband Joe, who was regarding the picture with a much more critical air. Like all of those movie makers of old, all he was focused on at the moment were those big, firm tits and he thought to himself that the portrait would have been absolutely perfect if only she had posed in the nude for it.
Glancing sideways at his wife, he frowned when he saw the look of spellbound fascination on Darlene's face as she looked up at that giant painting of a dead actress.
Slipping an arm around her middle, he put a grin on his face as he teased in a low voice to avoid disturbing the rest of the tour group, "Be careful, dear. If her husband catches you staring at her like that, he's going to think you have designs on her and get jealous."
Darlene didn't respond to his touch or even look at him, answering in a curiously detached sounding voice. "She never married. As a matter of fact, she hardly ever went out with men at all even though she was hotly pursued by most of male Hollywood. That's why there were a lot of rumors swirling around that she was a lesbian."
The tour guide was leading the group through a large double door to the next room, so Joe turned his wife and led her away from the painting to follow the rest of the group. Darlene didn't resist as he pulled her away, but stumbled once or twice as she kept looking back over her shoulder, hardly able to take her eyes off the woman in the painting.
It was only after the last of the tourists had departed and the living room was quiet and empty once again that something absolutely impossible happened:
In that massive old painting hung high over the fireplace, Gloria Dunham's head slowly turned as if to look after the now departed crowd of people. Just as astonishing though was the fact that the woman's full lips curved up into an absolutely wicked smile.
Joe and Darlene Chase next found themselves in a comfortable parlor, where the tour guide was showing everyone a display cabinet in which resided the small number of awards the actress had won during her career.
Darlene didn't pay much attention to the lecture though. The reason the late movie star had won so few was because they just didn't give awards to women who were only on the screen in the first place to draw in more paying male viewers. She had to wonder just how far Gloria Dunham could have gone if all of those movie producers had seen her as anything more than eye candy. Would that display case be overflowing with trophies and awards?
Letting her eyes wander around the room idly as she once more tuned out the tour guide's voice, Darlene started as she spotted something unexpected.
Standing at the back of the room, apparently entirely unnoticed by the rest of the tour group or the guide, was a strikingly attractive and buxom woman with platinum blonde hair, wearing a rather old fashioned dress. The woman seemed to be curious about Darlene as well as her big blue eyes were focused on her and her alone. Just as soon as their eyes met, the strange woman gave her a wide, friendly smile.
This woman looked uncannily like the very actress who once owned this home and Darlene simply couldn't understand why more of her fellow tourists weren't paying attention to the Gloria Dunham lookalike in their midst.
Now that she had been noticed, the woman started to move forward, drifting easily through the crowd packed into the parlor that day. Darlene was very surprised when everyone else in the room still paid no attention at all to the woman who was now weaving her way through the mass of people.
Glancing quickly at the man who was standing right beside her, she was even more surprised to see that her husband also didn't seem to have noticed the woman who was now closing in on them. Darlene didn't doubt her husband's fidelity, but she was well aware that Joe was a breast man and couldn't imagine a set like those escaping his attention.
It seemed so strange to her that nobody else was reacting to this woman who was dressed up like a dead actress, Darlene finally gave in and chose to draw her husband's attention to her to see what he thought. Giving him a nudge, Darlene nodded towards the approaching woman and spoke in a soft voice.
"Look at that, Joe. What do you think about that?"
Her husband looked in the direction she had indicated, but to her amazement it was very obvious that he did not see what she was trying to show him. "Uh, yeah, honey," he murmured, giving his wife a little squeeze. "That's very interesting."
Darlene just stared at him blankly for a long moment. How could he possibly not see that woman?! How was it that nobody at all in that room but her seemed to be able to see that woman?! It just didn't seem possible.
Turning back to where she had last seen the woman, Darlene let out a little gasp when she saw that the mysterious woman had seemingly vanished into thin air.