Figuratively Speaking

Chapter 3: Sammie

Sammie sat in her usual seat at church pleased with herself. Her blonde hair was styled into an elegant bun, and her light blue knee lengethed dress complimented her blue eyes perfectly. William looked positively handsome while everyone had called her children absolutely 'darling'. The icing on the cake, of course, was her big sister Ellie.

Ellie had shown up to church wearing that 'lovely floral dress' with her hair down and straight. Evertime Sammie caught glimpse of the dress she had to resist the urge to grin. The print was hideous, and the cut was all wrong for Ellie's slightly curvy shape. It made her look even bigger.

Not that Ellie was fat, but she was shorter than Iris and a bit wider than Sammie which made her insecure. Ellie could be very beautiful, but she had no idea what she was doing when it comes to clothes. That's why it was so easy for Sammie to trick her into wearing ugly things. Sammie did not want Ellie looking prettier than her. It was bad enough Iris was.

When the sermon ended, everyone, naturally, stood around and started talking.

"I hear Mr. and Mrs. Smith are still on vacation."

"The Turner's son, who's only ten years old, ran away from home! And he took his two gold fish with him!"

"You know the local private school? I heard their headmaster was murdered! Some are saying the chemistry teacher pushed him off of the tower!"

"I really don't understand fashion these days. Just yesturday, I saw people who had tattooed silver in their eyes. What's wrong with the world today?"

"Do you know the pig farmers way out in the boondocks? Well just the other day, their dog Beau attacked their little boy Ethan."

"Has anyone seen Mrs. Fowl lately? With her husband missing, I'm worried about her and her son. They shouldn't be in that big mansion all alone."

"Nice to see you again, Missy. Did you enjoy California? How's your brother the rocket scientist?"

"When does Percy come home from summer camp? We've missed him in Sunday School."

"Is it true? Is Iris Wesson really getting married to Ben?"

That last bit of news caught Sammies attention. 'Iris married? if it's true, I'm going to kill her. She should've told me! Did she not realize how it would look,strangers knowing before family?' After that, Sammie had to get out of there. She smiled, told some story about needing to go feed the kids and ushered her family out of the church.

Mom, Dad, and Ellie were confused. They didn't hear about Iris getting married because that's not what was said. "Is Ivy Weston-Riley getting married again?" was the actually question.

Sammie spent the rest of the day trying to get a hold of Iris. After having no luck with her cell or home phone, Sammie called Iris' work. Iris' secretary, a man, answered almost immediately. 

"I'm sorry ma'am, but Mrs. Wesson is in a meeting. Shall I give her a message?"

"No, thank you. I'll just try to get a hold of her later."

Irritated, Sammie sat by the phone trying to decide how to handle this until she talked to Iris. 'If anyone asks, I'll say Ben is a good man and I can't wait to let him into the family. Yes, that's a good plan for now, but how will I get the full story out of Iris? If she hasn't told Mom and Dad, there is no way she'll tell me. But who would she tell?' The answer hit Sammie immediately. 'Iris won't tell me, but I bet she'd tell Ellie. Hell, Ellie has probably already met Ben. And getting the infromation out of Ellie will be much easier.' Happier now that her problem had a solution, Sammie got up to fix her family supper, deciding to call Ellie before bed.