Vivienne

Walking her painting to the box, Denise double checked that her mark was on the bottom left of the canvas and let the art fall into place.  She hadn’t yet removed her hand when Tatum came up and patted her shoulder. 

“You get like this with every piece you turn in.  You’ll have it back Monday, you know how fast he grades things.”  Tatum soothed.

Turning to face Tatum, Denise did her best to smile at her friend. “Let’s get you over to the diner and then I will come back and check on you in a few minutes.”  Denise looped her arm through Tatum’s. “I didn’t say it before, but my dad asked me to pick up a few things before I came home.  So, yeah..”  Denise trailed off after looking at the empty sofa.

Snapping her fingers, Tatum watched Denise come back to the present. “Wow, I thought I lost you there for a minute.”  She led the two out of the studio and into the hallway. Waiting until most of the other girls had cleared out and were beyond the back doors, Tatum looked around then whispered, “I saw you wave.  I wanted her to wave back.”  She put her hand over her chest, “Just don’t be too obvious now.  You’ve looked like a scared kitten for a few days now.”

Snapping a defiant look at her friend, Denise curled one of her eyebrows and glared at her friend. “I look scared?”  Denise huffed and shook her head, “You got your signal wrong, Tatum.”  Denise walked fast enough to nearly drag Tatum from the school, “I am not scared of much, you know that.  You’ve run to me when you see a dreaded mouse.”  Holding up one of her black tainted fingers, Denise proceeded to chastise her friend a little more. “Okay, you caught me.  I am not doing chores…”  Denise paused enough for Tatum to interject.

“You’re meeting her!”  Tatum nearly screamed and clamped her hand over mouth, “Sorry.”

Denise closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead softly, “Close.  I would rather not discuss this.  I don’t want you to get into any trouble should things go badly.”  Denise once again started walking to her car.  “You.  Diner.”  She unlocked and opened the car door for Tatum and went to the driver’s side and sat down.  “I will do my thing…” Denise winked, “...Then I will come check on you and Henry.  You, my friend, will be in the clear.”

“You have a deal.”  Tatum smiled and held out her hand. “Besides I get to see Henry.”

While Denise drove the few blocks to the diner, a question popped into her head. “Hey, Tatum.”

“Yeah?”

Gripping the steering wheel tighter than usual, Denise finally asked the question. “Why aren’t you upset about me being..um…funny.”

“Oh, that kind of funny?” Tatum confirmed.

“Yes, that kind.  Not comical.”  Denise shook her head and stopped in front of the diner. 

Placing her hand on Denise’s shoulder, Tatum took a breath. “Look, I don’t care who you are.  Yeah, I am worried about what others say about me, but that is only because one bad thing and I might not be able to show up in a store with my children.”

Denise nodded in understanding.

“Let me finish.”  Tatum watched quietly until Denise looked at her without nodding. “I don’t think feeling that way is a sickness to be treated.”  She shrugged, “Is it normal?  I don’t know, I don’t care.  You are still my friend that I have known for years.”

Reaching over to give Tatum a quick hug, Dense let out a small sigh of relief. “You are one of a kind.”

Winking as she opened the door, Tatum laughed. “I know.  See you in a little while..and take your time.”  Tatum spun on her heels making her skirt twirl fast and ran inside the cafe.

Driving off, Denise went around the block and eventually ended up doubling back to the art school.  Unlike when she’d left before, most of the lights were out and cast the building in a quiet darkness where only crickets chirping could be heard.  Denise rolled her car slowly beyond the parking lot and to the service road that connected the building in a circle.  Counting the rooms, Denise stopped in front of the fourth set of windows and put the car in park. “Alright.  Now then.”  She shut off the car and opened the trunk before looking at the window rubbing her chin. “I don’t think I have anything that I can use to pry the locks back..”  Denise walked closer to the window and smacked her lips. “Humm…I could just break the window.”  She shook off that idea quickly, “Sharp points could catch me and I am still in a dress.” Concentrating on how the window locks were semi-curved and made of steel, she moved her fingers counter-clockwise visualizing how the device would open. “I just need to get them too..”

Without any warning the twin locks squeaked and twisted the direction she’d envisioned moments before. 

“What the?”  Denise stepped back, while scratching her hand mindlessly. “I don’t know how, but I’ll take it.”  She gloated and walked up to the window and tried to push it up. “Damn.  I knew it was too good to be true.”

Pulsing in her palm made Denise look down and she saw that the soft green had become bright and steady. “Whatever you are…”  She traced the soft lines that looked like upside down grass, “...You have my attention, what else can I do now?” Denise talked directly to her hand like it was a walkie-talkie. 

Feeling a bit silly, Denise dropped her hand away from her face and crossed her arms. “I need that window open.”  Replaying things slowly in her head, Denise pictured the window being open.  When the window shuttered and scraped its way slowly open she looked at her hand just after the window reached its apex.  A single flare from her hand, then the light went back to normal. “I have to be dreaming.”  Denise declared and looked at the open window.

Thinking she heard someone, Denise ran to the corner of the building and peeked around.  “Just my imagination.”  She hurried back to the open window and using the hood of the car, managed to climb into Professor Baker’s office. “Now then.”  

She made her way over to the box that held the paintings for the last week. “So it sets us all back a week.  She’s mine.”  Thankful that the professor hadn’t pulled the box off the platform trolley, Denise pushed the heavy box to the window.  

Key’s clanking caught Denise’s attention and she ran over to the side of the door with the hinges in the effort to hide.  Once the lock clicked, Denise knew she was about to be caught.  Scanning her surroundings, Denise spotted a fire extinguisher on the floor.

Professor Baker opened the door and flicked on the light to the room, before spotting the trolley by the open window. “What on earth?”  He queried and closed the door, before heading to the phone on his desk.  He picked up the handset from the phone cradle and glanced outside to see the powder blue Bel-Aire. “Miss Crow?” He asked and turned around as the lights went out.

“She doesn’t belong to any of you.  Your kind can only see her as an object to be desired.”  Denise said while swinging the metal canister hard and hitting her professor in the face with enough force to knock the older man to the floor bleeding from his nose and mouth. “I am protecting my Marion from you leeches.”  Denise swung her makeshift bat again, hitting Professor Baker squarely on the head. “What did you do to force her to undress?  Mhmm?”

-Whack!-