Eye of the Storm (Hudson 3)

She shook her head.

"You were trying to get his attention, weren't you? How foolish. What a foolish little girl you can be. Well, well clean this up later.

"Now," she said. pausing, "what was I about to do before we were so rudely interrupted? What was it? Oh yes, get you cleaned up. Then, well dress you in a comfortable nighty and if I can reach Mrs. Bogart tomorrow,I'll have someone strong

enough to get you back downstairs where you belong.

"Doesn't that all sound wonderful? Don't bother to thank me. I know you're appreciative," she said and went into the bathroom to start filling the tub again.

"My mother has so many nice bath salts. I'll pick one out for you," she shouted back to me. "Mother was crazy about her baths. She wouldn't go a day without taking one. whereas I prefer showers.

"Megan, on the other hand, is more like my mother. She likes to soak and soak, especially in those special skin oils. She once took a bath in milk, you know, because she read that Cleopatra would do that. Can you imagine?"

She came out of the bathroom and stood there looking toward me with a grin on her face.

"Once. I snuck into the bathroom while she was having one of her wonderful so-called skin soaks. I tiptoed in and came up behind her and pushed her head under the water before she had a chance to resist. I held it there a few seconds and she came up sputtering and coughing and crying. She was so angry. I said it was just a joke. You like to laugh with your friends. Now you can tell them about it and laugh about it, I said. Tell them I thought you should soak your whole head. She was pretty angry at me and she didn't speak to me for days, but that didn't matter because we usually didn't have much to say to each other anyway.

"You wouldn't get angry if I pushed your head under for a joke, now would you?" she asked, followed by a cold, thin laugh.

I stared at her. I felt so helpless, as if my body had been poured out and was in a mold, forming but still loose-- unconnected, not yet installed with any energy.

"Now how do we get you out of that bed and into the tub?" she asked, tilting her head as she considered the problem. "How did Mrs. Bogart do it so well? I won't ask you how that fortune hunter of a therapist did it. I hope he never did and if he did, don't tell me.

"I guess I'm going to have to lift and drag you, is that it? I'm certainly not going downstairs to get that chair and carry it back up here. I'd still have to get you in and out of it anyway, which is extra work. You could cooperate and make it easier. Are you

going to cooperate?

"Of course you are," she said with a smile. "We're friends now that I've solved all the problems like our business arrangement, your annoying therapist, all of it. When Megan and Grant do come here to visit, they'll find the two of us chatting pleasantly in the living room and they'll be very impressed. At least. I know Grant will, If I know Megan, she'll try to make it seem like nothing at all.

"You've never really had a nice talk with her, have you? I know you haven't because there's so much about her and about me that you don't know, things you would know if she had ever bothered to really make you part of this family. She sent you down here to be a servant and then they sent you to England to be a servant. At least. I'm not making you a servant, am I? I'm making you a partner and I'm looking after you, protecting your interests.

"Why is it that everyone likes her so much? You still like her, don't you?" she asked in a accusatory tone. "After all she's done to you, you still care for her. Why? She fails at everything important and still people love her. He loves her. What's her magic?

"And don't tell me it's her good looks," she said quickly. "A pretty face is a dime a dozen, especially for a man like Grant who could have his pick of beauty contestants."

She looked back at the bathtub. "All right," she said. "It's time." She went in and shut off the water.

My heart began to pound as if it had a brain of its own. Don't let her put us in that tub it was chanting with every thump. "Don't, don't, don't," it thumped as she approached the bed.

"Let's get these clothes off," she said and began to undress me. I wasn't cooperative, but she pulled me roughly and turned my arms at will. In moments I was naked.

She stood back and gazed down at me.

"You know, despite all your trouble, you're still a very attractive young woman. Maybe some day you will find a suitable man.

"But don't depend on it," she instantly added. "There are so few suitable men out there today. No one knows how difficult it is for women with half a brain."

She sighed as if she carried the burden of all the intelligent women in the world on her narrow, frail shoulders.

"Let's get this done." she said. "I have to get back to work. There are deals, deals, deals to make and that requires much time and intelligent analysis, you know. You'd be surprised at how many scam artists are out there, just waiting to prey on women like us, women they think are weak.

"Won't they be surprised every time they try? They sure will," she said laughing. "They sure will."

She reached down for my wrists. I shook my head.

"Please," I said. "Leave me alone. Call the doctor. Get me to a hospital."

"After you're cleaned up, you'll feel better," she replied, but hesitated. "How does one move a crippled body like yours without doing any more damage?"