Pearl in the Mist

'We didn't have the nerve,' Jacqueline confessed.

'Well it's this year, and we have the nerve now,' Gisselle said. She looked at me. 'We'll show them how girls from New Orleans party. Right, Ruby?'

'Don't start, Gisselle. Please.'

'Start what? Living? You'd like me to be an obedient little Greenwood girl and roll around quietly in my wheelchair with my mouth shut, my lap full of dried old tea bags, and my knees bound together, wouldn't you?'

'Gisselle, please . . .'

'Who's got a cigarette?' she demanded quickly. Kate's eyes widened. She shook her head. 'Samantha?'

'No, I don't smoke.'

'Don't smoke. Don't see boys. What do you girls do, read fan magazines and masturbate?'

It was as if thunder had shaken the dorm. I was so embarrassed by my sister's outburst I had to look down at the floor.

'All right,' Gisselle continued, 'don't worry. I'm here now. Things will be different. I promise. It just so happens,' she said with a smile, 'I smuggled in some cigarettes of my own.'

'Gisselle, you'll get everyone in trouble, and the first day too,' I protested.

'You're not chicken, are you?' she asked Jacqueline, Kate, and Samantha. 'Good,' she said when they didn't respond. 'Come into my room. You can help me organize my records and we'll share a cigarette. Maybe I'll get us something better soon,' she added, smiling. She spun her chair around and headed for our room. No one moved. 'Well?' she snapped.

Jacqueline started after her first, and then Kate and Samantha followed.

'Close the door,' Gisselle ordered when they were all in our room.

'I never thought twin sisters could be so different,' Abby remarked and then realized what she had said. 'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean . . .'

'That's all right. I never thought so either. Until I met her,' I said and bit my tongue. But it was too late.

'Met her?'

'It's a long story,' I said. 'I wasn't supposed to tell it to anyone here.'

'I understand,' Abby said. From the way she looked when she said it, I believed she did understand.

'But I don't mind telling it to you,' I added. She smiled.

'Why don't we go into my room,' she suggested. I looked back at the closed door behind which Gisselle was holding court with her new protegees. It was a scene I wanted no part of at the moment.

'Good idea,' I said. 'While we talk, I'll organize the things of Gisselle's you had to take. I'd better go through some of it too,' I said, throwing a glance back at our room. 'No telling what else she smuggled in here.'

A little over an hour later, Mrs. Penny came to our quad to see how we were all doing. If she had smelled any smoke coming from our room, she didn't reveal it. Frankly, I didn't see how she could miss it. The stench was on the girls' clothing and lingered in the air despite their opening our windows.

'I'm also here to formally pass on Mrs. Clairborne's invitation to Abby, Gisselle, and Ruby to attend tea at her home on Saturday at two,' she said. 'You can wear what you wish, but you should dress appropriately,' she added, winking. 'It's a formal tea.'

'Oh no! And I left my formal tea dress home,' Gisselle said.

'Pardon, dear?'

'Nothing,' Gisselle said, smiling. I saw how Samantha and Kate were smiling behind Mrs. Penny's back. Jacki was wearing her usual smirk, but it was clear that all three were still in awe of my sister.

'Good. Well then, dinner's in less than fifteen minutes,' Mrs. Penny sang out. 'New girls don't have chores until the second week,' she added and then sauntered off.

'What was that supposed to mean?' Gisselle inquired, wheeling herself into the center of the sitting room. 'What chores?'

'All of us help out in the dining room. The responsibilities are scheduled and posted on the bulletin board in the main lobby,' Jacqueline said. 'This week Vicki, Samantha, Chubs, and I have bus-girl duties. We have to clean off the tables and bring the dirty dishes and silverware into the kitchen after everyone's finished eating. The girls in B and C quad are waitresses, and the girls in D quad set the table.'

'What?' Gisselle spun her chair around to face me. 'You didn't tell me this.'

'I just found out myself, Gisselle. What's the big deal?'

'What's the big deal? I don't do maid's work.'

'I'm sure no one will expect you to do anything since . . .' Vicki started to say but stopped.

Gisselle glared at her. 'Since I'm crippled? Is that what you wanted to say?'

'I was going to say 'since you're in a wheelchair.' You can't be expected to carry dishes into the kitchen.'

'She can set a table,' I said and smiled at my sister, who, if looks were fire, would have burned me to a crisp.

'What I can do and what I will do are two different things. If these other dopes want to pay all this money to go to a private school and work as maids as well, then let them,' she said.