Carnie stood with the towel over her mouth and nose, looking down into the large opening in her bedroom floor. Well, it wasn’t her bedroom. It was a guest bedroom in the home of her sister’s fiancé. Maybe even he didn’t know about this secret underground place.
She just had to see what was down there. So, she pulled the towel away from her face a little, took a sniff, and decided she could bear the musty odor. Then she took off her robe and threw on some shorts, a shirt, and tennis shoes for her journey into the unknown.
There appeared to be a light switch near the bottom of the stairs. Hopefully the lights down there would work. Just as she was about to take the first step down, her cell phone rang and startled her. She went to the dresser and picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sis. Are you going to the Longview Mall with me?”
“Uh, no, I don’t think so.”
“Ah, come on, Carnie—Elmo loaned me a credit card, and it doesn’t even have a limit. We can go crazy. How can you resist that?”
“It’s just that my stomach’s feeling a little queasy.”
“I’m sorry. You need some Pepto-Bismol?”
“No. I’ll be okay. I just need to lie down for a while.”
“Okay. Hope you feel better. I’ll buy you something.”
“Thanks. Have fun. But take it easy. If you come home with a couple of mink coats, he may have second thoughts about marrying you.”
“Yeah, yeah. See you later.”
Carnie put the phone in her pocket and began to walk down the stairs, half expecting a spider or a snake to attack her. She could cut the beating heart right out of a man’s chest without flinching. But crawling critters gave her the creeps.
When she reached the switch, she flipped it, and lights came on. At the foot of the stairs was a wall. She made a U-turn and walked back past the staircase through a long hallway, and then to the left through a doorway.
“You’re kidding me,” she said to herself.
It was a laboratory, complete with Bunsen burners, test tubes, etc. There was a blackboard with some formulas written on it, and a few journals. Carnie picked one up, and thumbed through it, but couldn’t make sense of the scientific jargon. She hadn’t been in a room like this since high school chemistry, which she had flunked.
Across the room was a closed door. One of those large doors like they use on exterior walls. She twisted the knob, and pushed the door open with her foot. It was just a bathroom. A very large bathroom. She flipped on the light and stuck her head in the door. But when she looked to the right, she saw a woman looking back at her. She gasped and yanked her head out of the room.
“Hello?”
No answer.
Somebody was living down there, doing who knows what—underneath her as she slept. She should have brought her gun down with her, she thought.
She peeked in—and felt silly when she realized she had been scared by her own reflection. There was a full-length mirror on the wall. It was huge—she figured about six or seven feet tall and three feet wide.
So, why did the good doctor have a secret laboratory in his house? She couldn’t wait to show it to Carsie. It was just weird.
She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed.
“You’re not gonna believe what I found under the basement.”
“Dead bodies?”
“What? No. It’s another basement. There’s a lower basement under the regular basement. Weird huh?”
“What’s down there?”
“Some kind of science lab and a big bathroom with a huge mirror.”
“Is Carsie with you?”
“No, she’s gone to the mall. There was a secret passageway underneath my bed. I had to work like crazy to get it open.”
“That’s strange. But don’t get distracted. It’s just a few more days until the wedding.”
“Yes, Ma’am. And our plan is working out perfectly. Nothing can stop us now.”
*
Dr. Mobley’s office hours were 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. At least that’s what it said on the door. But there was usually a frantic parent or two, calling about their Johnny or Susie and a high fever, and could the doctor please work them in today. And, of course, Elmo would never turn them away. On a typical day, he got home at around 7:00 PM.
So, Carsie had been surprised when he had called her to set up an early dinner. They had agreed to meet at Johnny Caces Seafood & Steakhouse in Longview at 6:00 PM.
“How did you get away so early?”
“Dr. Edwards took my last couple of appointments.”
“Oh, yeah—your new partner.”
Once the waiter had taken their order, Carsie said, “Why couldn’t I invite Carnie? She loves this place.”
“Because we need to talk about something important—just the two of us.”
“Okay.” She was concerned about the tone of Elmo’s voice. This could only be bad news, she thought.
“Did you notice that Mallie Mae and Macy were gone today?”
“Well, I didn’t notice. But Carnie saw them getting into a limo this morning.”
“I sent them to Dallas. Mother needed to see a specialist.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I think she has Alzheimer’s. We’ll know after we get the test results.”
“So, what does that mean—that she’s losing her memory? At least it’s not cancer. It’s not so horrible if you just forget a name occasionally. Or forget where you put your keys. After all, she is getting old.”
“No. It’s much worse than that. Yesterday she was trying to brush her teeth with a hairbrush. She couldn’t even think of the word ‘teeth.’”
“Oh. That’s not good.”
“Yeah. And that’s just the beginning. Eventually, you forget how to get into bed, how to put on your clothes, how to go to the bathroom. Then you can’t walk or even speak. Eventually, your entire body quits functioning and you die.”
“I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“And Alzheimer’s victims only live an average of eight to ten years after the symptoms first appear. I suspect that she and Macy have been keeping it from me for quite a while.”
“Well, can’t you give her some medicine, or chemotherapy or something?”
“There’s no cure for Alzheimer’s.”
“So, there’s not anything you can do for her?”
“There are treatments to slow down the process. And some of those seem to work fairly well. But only for a little while. Anyway, I should get her test results tomorrow. And if they come back positive, I want to postpone the wedding.”
Carsie’s heart sank.
“I’m sorry, Sweetie.”
“Okay. If her tests are positive, I’ll take care of notifying everybody on the guest list and canceling everything. But do you mind if Carnie stays with us for a while? I’m really enjoying having my sister around.”
Elmo wanted Carnie to move out as soon as possible. There was something about her he just didn’t like. But how could he refuse Carsie’s request when she was being so understanding about postponing the wedding?
“That’ll be fine.”
*
Mallie Mae and Macy were riding in the rented limo, on their way home from Dallas.
“What do you say, driver?” yelled Macy. “Wanna pull over and have sex with me?”
“Don’t worry—he can’t hear us,” said Mallie Mae.
“Just making sure.”
“Well, what would you have done if he started pulling over?”
Macy turned red. “What did you think about the doctor?”
“He was rather tall and handsome.”
“Medically speaking,” said Macy.
“He was quite good. Very thorough. He ran every test in the book, including the writing tests for memory and math skills.”
“How’d you do? How hard was the math?”
“Easy stuff. But I did poorly.”
Macy smiled. “I hope you didn’t overdo it?”
“No, my dear, I under-did it. But I answered correctly on some of the problems.”
“You are so bad, Mallie Mae.”
“Well, I needed to be convincing.”
“Yeah, but one of these days Elmo’s going to find out. And then he’s going to disown you and fire me.”
“Honey, he’s already disowned me. But he won’t fire you.”
“Yes, he will.”
“Then I’ll rehire you.”
“Well, I just feel bad about tricking him.”
“Look. You don’t want him to marry that woman, do you?
“Well, no.”
“I don’t know what it is, but there’s something awful about her. I have a sense about these things.”
“But you’ve never liked any of the women Elmo’s dated. What kind of a woman would you approve of?”
“One who’s not going to break his heart and run off with all his money. I’ll know her when I see her.”
Macy knew that Mallie Mae loved her like a daughter. She had told her so—many times. But could she love her as a daughter-in-law? It probably didn’t matter. She and Elmo were very close—but only as friends.
Was there really any chance they would ever make the leap from friends to lovers? She had clung to that hope for so many years. So, why give up now? Monica and Chandler had made the leap. And Rachel and Ross. And so many of her other friends on TV.
So, why not Macy and Elmo?