Wishes Read Free Page A

Terel moved about the room quickly, looking at her invitations, then rummaging inside the big mahogany wardrobe. She sighed and looked disgusted as she pulled out one dress after another and flung them on the bed.
    “That’s just like me,” Berni said, smiling. “I always had lots of invitations, and I was always worried about what I was going to wear. Not that I needed to worry, of course. I could have worn rags and been the belle of the ball.”
    “Yes,” Pauline said softly, “Terel is like you.”
    “I could do something with her,” Berni said. “A few cosmetics, soften her hair. She doesn’t need much. She isn’t as pretty as I was at her age, but she’ll do. She has a lot of potential.” She looked at Pauline. “So when do I start?”
    “Ah,” Pauline said, “here comes Nellie.”
    Berni looked back at the scene. The door opened, and in came another woman, older than Terel and about twice her size.
    “Gross,” Berni said, looking at Nellie. She had a slim woman’s horror of obesity, and Berni’s fear of fat was amplified by the fact that she’d spent most of her life starving herself in order to remain slim. Deep down she feared that if she made the least slip she’d be Nellie’s size. “Two hundred pounds if she’s anounce.”
    “One hundred and sixty-two, actually,” Pauline answered. “She’s Terel’s older sister, Nellie. She’s twenty-eight, unmarried, and she takes care of Terel and their father. Their mother died when Terel was four and Nellie was twelve. After his wife died Charles Grayson had Nellie quit school and take care of the house and Terel. Nellie has been Terel’s mother, so to speak, for most of Terel’s life.”
    “I see,” Berni said. “A wicked sister and mother combined. Poor Terel. No wonder she needs a fairy godmother to help her.” She looked at Pauline. “Do I get a magic wand for this job?”
    “If you would like. We can supply you with any magic you want, but you must supply the wisdom.”
    “That’ll be easy. I’ll see that Terel gets whatever she deserves, and I won’t let that fat sister of hers keep her from getting the most out of life. Did you know that I have a fat older sister? She was so jealous of me, always trying to horn in on my life.” Berni could feel the remembered anger rising in her. “My sister hated everything about me. She was so jealous that she would have done anything to make me miserable. I fixed her, though.”
    “What did you do?” Pauline asked softly.
    “My first husband was her fiancé,” Berni answered, smiling. “He really was the most boring man, but he had a little money, so I made him pay attention to me.”
    “You seduced him, didn’t you?”
    “More or less. But he needed seducing. My sister was—is—such a bore, and…” She looked at Pauline sharply. “Don’t look at me like that. That man had more fun with me in the five years we were married than he would have had in a lifetime with my fat, dull, stupid sister. Besides, she turned out okay. She married and had a couple of fat kids. They were all quite happy in their middle-class way.”
    “I’m sure everyone was very happy. You most of all.”
    Berni wasn’t sure she liked the woman’s tone, but before she could reply Pauline said, “Shall we watch?”
    Berni looked back at the scene before them, at the two women in the bedroom, and settled back to watch. She had to figure out how to help the slim, pretty Terel.
Chandler, Colorado
1896
    Nellie moved about the room, picking up Terel’s clothes and hanging them back in the wardrobe. She also picked up the hats Terel had discarded and carefully put them back into the boxes.
    “I cannot decide,” Terel said petulantly. “Why do we have to live in this forsaken town anyway? Why couldn’t we live in Denver or St. Louis or New York?”
    “Father’s business is here,” Nellie said softly, straightening a feather on a hat. The hats weren’t theirs but were on loan from the milliner. She