Welcome to The Dettes

Follow the adventures of Claudette and Paulette - the twins.
Love and Kisses, Paulette and Claudette

Monday, January 9, 2012

An Invitation

     Paulette!  Where are you?  I had lost my twin in the swarm of people.  I put my half-empty beer on a wee clearing on the counter and spoke into Thomas' ear.


"Where is Paulette?  This place is freaking me out."


He turned his face so I could hear him and responded, "I told you this was a bad idea."


"Well, whatever.  I have to find my sister.  I don't need your scolding me, Dad.  C'mon, we need to find her."  I reached for his arm to drag him along.


He stood his ground.  "Maybe we should split up for a few minutes.  Meet back here in exactly ten minutes, and every five minutes after that."


"Yeah, okay."  I turned on my heel and pushed my way through the crowd.  Strung-out hippies and derelicts blocked my every path, and I found myself pushing people aside, and hearing, "Hey!" in my wake.  I didn't care.  I had to find Paulette.


I squeezed myself into a hallway jammed with undesirables taking tokes.  "Have you seen a tall blonde who looks like me?"  I called.  No one answered, but one guy turned his head to look towards me.  "Have you seen my sister?  She's tall, blonde and beautiful," I implored.


"Hey, foxy lady," he responded, "You are some stone fox.  Come 'ere."  He stretched out his bony hand to encircle my waist.  I flinched, but held my ground.  "Hey, baby, we could have some fun.  Don't freak out."  He gazed at me through half-mast eyelids.


"Knock it off.  Look, I need to find my sister."  I knocked his hand back and put my nose close to his, even though he smelled like Fritos and limburger cheese.  "She looks like me and I believe her to be in danger.  Help me out.  Now."


The guy put his hands up in surrender.  "Whoa, you are bummin' my mellow.  I haven't seen her.  Back off."


I pushed my way down the hallway and went into the room where the orgy was taking place.  I disregarded the couple in full copulation and headed for a naked girl who looked no older than I in my current guise.  She rose to meet me and called out, "Hey you, tall chick - lose the threads, man."  She grabbed at my dress.


"Oh Jesus, get the hell away from me.  I'm looking for my sister.  Have you seen a girl (I had to remind myself to say, "girl") who looks like me?"  I softened my tone.  "Look, I am sorry to barge in on your, um, scene.  But I am really worried about her.  She's tall, looks sort of like me, but really pretty."  


The girl covered her breasts and looked up at me.  "Yeah, I did, actually.  I saw her walk by and peer in the room.  I was hoping she wouldn't come in because I think my old man would really go for her type.  But she just walked away."


"Which direction?"  The girl pointed towards the garden.


"Thanks,"  I hollered as I pushed my way through the throngs.


I arrived in the garden only a minute or so later, but it felt like a year since I had left the orgy room.  Where is she?  I was starting to panic, getting more aggressive in pushing people aside.  The masses weren't happy.  "Hey!"  "Fuckin' uptight bitch!"  "What the hell?"


And then I saw her.  She was talking with a young woman wearing a turban whose very long wavy hair `a la Botticelli's Venus snaked down her shoulders and back.  Her face turned to me, and I saw that she had big doe eyes, and a vacant expression.  But she was a sexy beast, I could tell.  The kind of woman that without seemingly putting forth any effort snags men.  I had to get Paulette away from her.  "Paulette!  Paulette!"


Paulette saw me and scurried over to where I stood.  "We have to leave, Claudette.  Right now.  This place is bad news."


"I know, I know.  I was so worried about you."


"There's nothing to worry about.  But let's grab Thomas, and beat feet."


"No, leave him.  He is meant to stay here."


"You already know then?"


"Yes,"  I said resignedly.  "I know.  I don't like it, but as you said earlier, we can't screw with the butterflies."


We were passing through the front door when we heard our names called.  We turned to see Thomas standing alone in the middle of the living room.  "Where are you going?  You're leaving without saying goodbye?"  He approached us and we all walked out to the porch.


Paulette took a breath and explained, "Thomas, my sister and I have to go, but you have to stay."  She paused and Thomas' eyebrows shot up, as he was about to speak.  Paulette raised her palm. "Thomas, listen to me.  You have to stay.  This is your destiny.  This evening will help you on your path, but our staying is neither beneficial to you or us.  You must stay."


"What?  What do you mean?"  Thomas was getting annoyed.  Typical, I thought, but then I stopped myself.  We were at a critical juncture.  It was important I kept my mouth shut.


Paulette continued, "There are forces at work here that none of us understand.  You'll just have to trust me.  There was a reason we had to go to this party - well, there was a reason you had to go to the party.  So go look for Sam.  Take your time.  See what transpires.  But we must go.  We have to leave immediately."  And with that, Paulette grabbed my hand and we ran down the stairs.


"Where to?" I cried.


"We aren't far from a diner on Haight.  Let's go there."  We ran nearly the whole way, panting as we entered the restaurant and slung ourselves into the booth.


"First, are you okay?  I mean, no one slipped you drugs, or anything? Right?" I asked my sister.


"No, no, I'm fine.  And what about you?"


"I'm hanging in there."  My sister and I were holding hands across the table and leaning in close to one another.  Right at that moment, a waitress approached.  She had white billowy hair, pink translucent eyeglasses and wore a bow tie as part of her uniform.


"What can I get you?"


We were both taken aback by her appearance and stuttered our responses. "Uh, uh, we'll have coffee."


She tentatively walked away.  I rubbed my eyes for several seconds and dropped my hands.  "Now what?  Was that another bunny?  Are we going be a part of Arthur's Round Table?  Is this diner going to turn into a rocket ship?"  I find sarcasm to be the cheapest form of humor and expression, but I was practicing it regardless.


Paulette laughed.  And then I laughed and we found ourselves doubled over in our seats, wiping our eyes and then laughing all over again.  We both took a deep breath at the same time and were silent for a moment.


"So you saw Thomas' old girlfriend, Becky?  The girl in the turban?" Paulette placed her hands on mine.


I sighed again.  "Yeah, I am just so jangled.  This sort of thing shouldn't bother me in the least.  I mean it was years and years ago - 1969, for Christ's sake!  But I'm human I guess.  I wanted to claw out her thyroidal eyes and shove them down her spindly throat.  But even in a different dimension, one must hold oneself to certain standards."  I sniffed.


Paulette stared at me for three seconds and then laughed heartily.  "Oh God, I wish you could have tackled that limp dish rag.  And I wish I could have been there to see it!  That would have been great. But you are right.  The butterflies!  We can't go messing with the order of things.  I'm glad you took my lesson to heart."  She looked to the side; I could tell Paulette was ruminating.  She then continued, "Look, I don't know what's going on here.  Are we in some time warp?  Are we on an expedition?  Is this experience a metaphor for some, some... thing?"  She looked up at me.  "Thoughts?"


"Aw, geez.  I wish I knew.  I know I'm getting weary.  And in fact, I'm getting pretty tired of looking like this."  I waved my hands across my mini muslin Mexican frock.  


 The waitress brought our coffee and asked, "Anything else?  Maybe another piece of wood for the pile?"


"Huh?"  Our puzzlement over the strange question was interrupted by a sparrow fluttering in through the awning window above our booth.  The little bird landed on our table, looked completely at ease, and carried a large envelope in his mouth. Paulette and Claudette was imprinted on the front of what appeared to be an invitation.  Paulette grabbed the envelope and ripped it open, as I ran around the table to look over her shoulder.  The invitation showed only the following:  


November 1, 2013.