“She goes through this every couple of years. It lasts for a few days, then eventually, she comes down and everything goes back to normal.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“You’ll see. She’ll be fine in a few days.”
• • •
Constance wasn’t fine in a few days. With each passing day she became more and more fearful, until she refused to even go outside. Damita would call in for her but that would only last but so long. Eventually the job was going to get fed up and fire Constance. She knew how much Constance liked her job and she didn’t want her to get fired. Damita decided to take another approach and at the very least consider the possibility that Constance was right and Jack had in fact returned. She decided she would talk to Constance in an effort to understand what she was seeing that no one else seemed to see.
Damita looked at Constance with concern. “Constance, why do you think he’s back?”
“I come in and things have been changed and moved around. I went to work one day and there was a note on my computer that read what do you think you’re doing? I asked everyone in the office and no one had left the note.”
“Constance, you know how catty those girls in the office are. They probably did it as sport. You got that promotion they all wanted. They want to unnerve you. Don’t let them do it.”
“Why now? It’s been almost a year since I got that promotion. Why would they be doing this now? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Do jealous, twisted people ever really make sense?”
“Thanks, Damita. I feel better already.”
“While we try to solve this mystery, what do you say if we leave this apartment? It’s not healthy for you to be cooped up in here all alone.”
“I’m fine, Damita. Don’t worry about me.”
“I have to worry. You’re my best friend. Not only that, you’re the sister of my boyfriend. I kind of like the sound of that.”
“You’re probably sick of bowling, but Lester really wanted to take the two of us out dancing. He’ll be so disappointed if you don’t go.”
“He’ll get over it,” Constance said.
“Yeah, I’m sure he will, but then I’ll have to listen to him whine about it all night. Come on, Constance. Please?”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go. But, please tell your boyfriend to dress less like a bullfighter and more like a regular person.”
“Was that hilarious or what? People were looking at him like he was the entertainment.”
“Not him, they were looking at us; him with those twirls and the dipping. I swear sometimes I think my brother was dropped on his head when he was little.”
Damita smiled in recognition of what she had. “There’s nothing wrong with Lester. He thinks outside the box; that’s all. He’s teaching me how to do that. I like the idea of expanding my horizons and seeing things another way. I was locked inside of a box for so long it’s good to finally feel like I have the opportunity to be free.”
“I remember what that felt like. That was the way I felt when I first came here. It was so nice not to have someone call me a bitch every five minutes or check my underwear to make sure I hadn’t been having sex with someone. When you live a life like that long enough you forget what it’s like to be normal.”
“So true,” Damita agreed.
“I’ll go get dressed,” Constance said.
“Yeah, let’s go out and be normal.”
“That’s going to be kind of difficult with my brother along.”
“I’ve figured your brother out. He’s not as crazy or different as he makes himself out to be. He’s a loving man. Both my life and yours have been so crazy, Lester just wants to maintain a little levity. You can’t fault him for that. To reveal this would mean he has a soft side and he wouldn’t be able to maintain his image as a sexist pig, so don’t tell him I know his secret. It would devastate him.”
“I’ll be sure to keep it to myself.”
Damita and Constance got dressed and put on makeup and waited for Lester to arrive. He was on time and very tastefully dressed.
“Wow,” he said when he arrived.
“You don’t look too shabby yourself, there,” Damita said.
“I am going to have the two most gorgeous women in the place on my arm. I dare any of those losers to come near my girls.”
“Listen to you. Behave yourself, brother dear. Besides, it takes a special kind of man to come and ask me to dance.”
“What does that mean?” Damita asked.
“I’m pretty tall for a woman and a lot of men are intimated by my height.”