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picking up once again right where Part Two left off
Mary felt good about her talk with Valentine. It was surely a relief to get it off her chest but by
the time she was back home she wasn't so sure 'bout his reaction. He didn't ask her to marry him.
Cinderella, Cinderella
All I hear is Cinderella, from the moment I get up
till shades of night are falling
There isn't any letup, I hear them calling, calling
Go up and do the attic and go down and do the cellar,
you can do them both together
"Cinderella"
How lovely it would be
if I could live in my fantasy
But in the middle of my dreaming
they're screaming at me
Cinderella
Penny had waddled in to the Lands' kitchen, not because she was hungry. She needed a new look.
Dixie's first real customer!
And she was messing up already.
Penny told her to stick to the hair.
She knew she could get that right.
Every time she'd find a minute
That's the time that they begin it.
Cinderelly, Cinderelly
Cinderella!!!
"Mary. Mary? Are you in a daze again today, girl? I was telling you when you finish up I'm gon' need you to go out to Mr. Mann's for me today. My arthur's* actin' up."
This is perfect, exactly what she was talking about.
She's been Dixie'd and she LOVES it!
Penny is so in love with her new layered haircut, the way it frames her face and makes her look so soft.
So...pretty. She only hopes Rhett thinks so as well since he agreed to meet her at their spot.
Rhett had finally come around so she didn't have to flaunt it like that. At first he thought the baby talk was nothing more than some kinda girly
game-playing. You know, to get him to pay more attention to her when she wanted but then his Pop saw her around lookin' all...bulbous and what not.
Bulbous is Rhett's word of the day. Sandy's like super-smart, he heard her say it.
"I don't know what you want from me? Didn't you get the money I sent?"
"I'm under a lot of pressure here, Penny. Your nagging don't make it any easier for me. I had to get a job. A job! And you know what my Pop's like."
"Not really, I've never—"
"But I owned up. Don't need him to tell me how to do right by what's mine. And I don't need you on my case either, you
understand? When it gets here I'll up the payments. But hell, I ain't made of money like your friend Junior Mann.
I can't afford to keep you and the baby lookin' good so you're gonna hafta keep your priorities straight."
Penny didn't know what to say to him after that. When he starts talking to her that way there's nothing
to say, so she walked away. He'll be nice again later. He didn't even say anything about her hair!
When Rhett got back to work he was thinking about how different it was being around a mature woman.
They hadn't gotten off to the best start but once that was squashed, it was squashed. She didn't keep at him or nag at him or hover when he was doing his work. She minded her own.
She was easy to please. Some nice flowers and done was done. She didn't hold no grudges. He also couldn't help but notice she'd brought in a pot and planted the flowers. For the office.
He was smug, he was immature, and he wasn't terribly bright. But he was attentive. Exactly when attention
was what she needed most. And just that fast the meaning of 'business as usual' changed around this office.
~~~
Cinderelly, Cinderelly
Night and day it's Cinderelly
Make the fire, fix the breakfast
Wash the dishes, do the mopping
And the sweeping and the dusting
They always keep her hopping
She goes around in circles
Till she's very, very dizzy
Still they holler
Keep a-busy Cinderelly!
"Yeah. Keep a-busy."
Mama's errand still needed doing so Mary got a move-on.
The kids begged to tag along on her walk and Junior Mann was outside hanging on the gate, waiting for them. But she couldn't be late?
Junior's just bored out of his mind and somehow he knew it'd be Mary coming their way today. So he waited.
River took off playing, this place is so huge there's so much room to run around, but Delta was a good girl, she waited for permission.
Junior's a little embarrassed by how much he was looking forward to seeing Mary. She's his best friend,
kinda, but it's not like, um, she's not, she's not somebody like Candy Hart or anything. Not, you know, sexy.
It's more that he can relate to Mary.
She's trapped, just like him. Trapped in the box that their parents put them in.
It's not fair.
Having a friend your own age who understands what it's like helps.
Dude, if you believe your life is anything like hers you're a damned fool. But carry on with your presumptuous projections.
The only other person he could kinda talk to was his mother. But she didn't understand what he meant about wanting to be his own Mann.
Daytona still wanted her pie that Beulah promised her so she sent Hamilton to get it during a lull. He is, after all, her campaign manager. Canvas that support!
And he honestly didn't mind. The Lands lived on the same road where Mama had set up shop for Municipal Clearings so while he was nearby
maybe he'd swing by and see how his Sandy was doing. His baby was a workin' woman now! Bringing home that bacon and frying it up in the pan...
Ooh, bacon...
Beulah wrapped up the pie already for him but she and her daughter both sure could cook. What should he bring home for dinner tonight, he wondered.
Mary was so dead tired but she couldn't let on and cookin' was one of the things she really enjoyed.
Hamilton had never really noticed Mary before but she's...all...grown up. There was something else,
though. He couldn't put his finger on it but it did distract him from his bacon/chicken/steak trilemma.
One lazy afternoon Hamilton noticed Sandy wasn't feeling well. It must've been something she ate. Maybe he shouldn't have opted for the steak.
Sandy knew her husband, while not the most observant man, was far from stupid. People underestimated him because he was compliant and unfailingly loyal. To his mother.
It didn't matter. Even an idiot wouldn't accept an effect without a cause. If her stomach troubles were what she knew they must
be she had to act quickly. She suggested that since it was the weekend they take some time for themselves, have a...date.
What the hell kinda date was this?
Not that she was listening but Daytona had overheard Hamilton and Sandy make plans to spend time together
and, of course, her son had then told her. In case Virginia had her own plans and didn't feel like looking after her brother.
This was how a date progressed.
Exhaustion wasn't going to get in the way of Daytona's fun.
She couldn't tell if she was still jittery from that last shot of espresso or if it was all Valentine.
Valentine didn't stay the night, he had too much on his mind.
So had a certain desperate housewife behind him, who was back in the kitchen scarfing down her mother-in-law's pie.
Rather to face her wrath than to perpetrate this fraud on her husband. But she had no choice. No choice.
All the signs were there. Erupting from her, prompting her to tell Hamilton the truth before he accused her.
But she couldn't do it. She couldn't lose him. She had to preserve their family at any cost.
So they hopped into bed and she feigned enthusiastic for the first time as his wife.
~~~
Mary's Nightmare
~~~
Mary couldn't go back to bed in the room she shared with her sisters.
Her nightmare haunted her even through the breaking of the dawn.
And no one called for "Cinderella".
*arthur=arthritis
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