Trifecta (37 page)

S
abrina had no idea her apartment was under surveillance
and that government agents would be tailing her in the future as she waited for
Mark and Eve to return.  Morris, her cat, was meowing like she had abandoned him
to starvation.  Sabrina warmed some milk as he continued crying plaintively. 

The big orange cat hunched over the bowl, spattering milk
with abandon.  It never failed to make her smile and wonder at the coordination;
drinking, purring and kneading.  He meticulously washed his face.  Sabrina loved
taking care of Morris, but longed for a baby to care for.

Sabrina wondered what Mark would do if she got pregnant. 
To do so when she was not sure of her financial future, or of Mark's intentions,
was a little frightening.  He might become quite agitated.  But Sabrina wanted a
family.

The thought of a baby of her own brought back painful memories
of the numerous foster homes that Sabrina had been shuttled to.  There had always
been some reason why they couldn't keep her.  The Chadholms had been the nicest,
with their home in Westwood and their three children to play with.  Then Mr.  Chadholm
had a heart attack and there were financial cutbacks.  Sabrina was the first.  She
had only been six when they sent her back to the orphanage.  After that she had
hardened her heart. 

There had been other foster families, but when Sabrina
reached her teens, tall at five feet eleven inches, and skinny at just over one
hundred pounds, no one wanted her.  Adoptive parents and foster families wanted
small, cuddly children.  Sabrina actually scared the people who came to the orphanage
and browsed through like it was a department store, appearing like a grim starvation
victim who would be blown away on the next puff of a breeze with her naturally anorexic
body type.  The nicest thing she had overheard from the browsers was that the children
should be fed more.

Then, at fifteen, still living in the orphanage in the
smoggy San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, she was discovered by a photographer,
Tracy Rieber, while shopping at the Glendale Galleria Mall.  At first he scared
her.  He was old, at least twenty-five, and almost as skinny as Sabrina.  She had
heard tales of slimy men with ghastly ulterior motives who used the Model-Ploy,
so Sabrina was very suspicious.  Bea, a friend from the orphanage, had taken Tracy's
card and insisted Sabrina call him.

That night Sabrina had taken off all of her cloths in the
communal bathroom at the orphanage and looked in the mirror.  She saw what were
the beginnings of breasts.  Actual breasts! She was ecstatic, having believed that
she would never become a real female.  That harbinger of womanhood, her period,
had never arrived, and everyone she knew had their periods before the age of fifteen. 
Sabrina had thought of herself as an androgynous being; certainly not man, but neither
a women.  Now she was growing breasts! She turned in front of the mirror, examining
herself from every angle.  They actually pointed out a little, she could see it
from the side view.

The photography studio had been a little shed in Tracy
Rieber's backyard in the suburbs of Burbank.  The studio itself was extremely untidy,
but Tracy had professional backdrops, brilliant lights and a platform for Sabrina
to pose on.  He kept telling her to look natural and to move.  Sabrina felt extremely
awkward, but he seemed pleased and snapped hundreds of photographs.  He used a fan
to blow her hair back, gave her hats and jackets, told her to stick her bottom out,
to lean forward and pout.  She was a natural.  He went on and on about her perfect
cheekbones, her tiny straight nose and wonderful white teeth.  Sabrina had always
liked her face, but he made her feel beautiful.  He was her first lover.

Sabrina learned not to stoop to hide her unusual height
and found she could earn money with what she had believed to be her nemesis; the
skinny body that had kept her out of warm foster homes, or that highest of achievements,
a family of her own. 

Sabrina became an overnight success as an underage model,
earning really 'Big Bucks,' and Tracy had been a kind lover, waiting until Sabrina
was sixteen before starting the physical relationship.  Sabrina, starved for affection
from anyone, thought he was the most wonderful man in the world, until she caught
him in the arms of another young protegee.  She did not have enough confidence to
be outraged.  Besides, she wanted affection more than sex, and she received that
in abundance from Tracy, who thought she was fabulous because she brought him 'Big
Bucks' too, and a growing reputation as an outstanding photographer.

Sabrina had the potential to become one of the top models
in the country, but by the time she had finished college she decided she did not
want that life, with the uncertainty she would feel as she grew older; new faces
usurping her status.  She did continue modeling though, and with her degree in business
set out to find a job.

Sabrina was aghast at the menial work and low pay she was
offered after the ease she had found making substantial money at modeling.  Sabrina
felt that the only thing she could really care about was something of her own. 
Her own business. 

Sabrina loved fashion design and had learned a lot about
it during her modeling career.  At the age of twenty-five, she opened her own fashion
boutique on trendy Melrose Avenue, where orange haired rock groupies and sophisticated
yuppies came to buy her designs.  Sabrina adored it.  But the store's lease rent
was formidably high in that fashionable area and Sabrina almost starved the first
year.  She got so thin she actually scared herself when she bothered to look in
a mirror.  Trying to predict each month if she would make much of a profit, she
was always stymied.  Some months were fantastic and others were disappointing, but
she never wanted to give it up.

Sabrina also designed beautiful nightwear and even undergarments. 
That became profitable when men started coming to find beautiful lingerie for their
wives and girlfriends.  That was how she had met Mark.

Mark said he was buying a special present for his mother. 
Sabrina had not believed him for an instant, and he knew it, but they went through
the charade of picking out the perfect silk nightgown for his mother, who must have
a wonderful figure, Sabrina suggested, when he picked out a petite size five.

Sabrina had been disappointed when Mark left.  She wondered
why she had been so attracted.  He must like very small women, she thought unhappily. 
Then he was coming in and buying something almost every week.  Sometimes two and
three times a week.  And he started buying larger sizes.  Probably a tall buxom
type, she thought, disappointed at the supposed infidelities to the tiny person
he had dated before.  The amounts he bought were staggering.  Sabrina thought he
must have a harem by the time the third month of the buying spree had concluded. 

When Mark asked her out, finally, she declined for two
reasons.  One was that he was a wonderful customer and she did not want to lose
him.  He always followed her advice, and she had good taste and a flair for decorating
women.  The other reason was that she had come to the conclusion that he must, indeed,
have a great multitude of girlfriends.  She was afraid to waste her fragile emotions
and suffer the inevitable pain.

Mark finally persuaded her because she was curious about
his actual technique.  A bona fide Don Juan.  She couldn't resist checking out a
real Romeo. 

Mark took her to Ma Mason for dinner and to Westwood to
see a movie.  Then Mark took her back to his apartment.  Sabrina thought, Here it
comes, he will now execute an elaborate seduction.  Instead, Mark presented her
with an enormous box and walked her out of his apartment.  He told her to take it
home, he had picked it out especially for her, but she couldn't open it until she
reached her own apartment.  He called a taxi, which she considered quite odd. 

Sabrina was a little disappointed at the lack of seduction. 
She was not only attracted to him, she liked him a lot.

From his buying history in her store, she thought Mark
must be famous with his girlfriends for gifts.  As she carried the enormous box
that her arms could not even reach around, she wondered if it was a giant stuffed
panda bear.  Fitting gift for someone he hadn't even kissed.  It wasn't very heavy
for such a big box.  It didn't shake. 

Inside her apartment, she put the box in the middle of
the floor, got the scissors and cut through all of the strings and scotch tape. 
She finally had it opened and pulled out lots of wrapping tissue.  She then began
pulling out all of the items Mark had bought in her store.  Sabrina was flabbergasted. 
How did he know her size in underwear, she wondered, and began to laugh. 

Pinned to each item were little notes.  'You could wear
this when we have dinner at...' 'This piece of jewelry would go perfectly with the
blue scarf and blouse...' 'When we go dancing, this is what you can wear...' 'I
can imagine you in this!!!'

Sabrina drove back to his apartment and knocked on the
door.

He was waiting for her with champagne.  Then he started
the seduction.  The rest was history.  Now, no other man would do for her.  She
wanted Mark and she wanted his baby more than anything in the world.

Tapping on the door brought Sabrina out of her reverie
of the explosive first night with Mark.  She looked at Mark and Eve expectantly
when they came in.  They both looked grim.  No, Eve had a composed, vacant expression
on her face, and she was not blinking. 

Sabrina led them into the kitchen.  "What happened?"

"We can talk about it later.  You're safe now.  For
a few days,"  Mark said.

Sabrina didn't understand his attitude. 

"Eve,"  Mark said, in her direction, not really
looking at her, "Sabrina and I like to go out for drives at night.  We need
to be alone and talk.  Would you mind if we left for a few minutes?"

"No, Mark.  I do not mind.  But I was wondering, Sabrina,
could I have some more of your excellent Aunt Jemima's Buttery Syrup? I'm very hungry."

Eve made the syrup sound like some fine, expensive, imported
wine.  Sabrina went to the refrigerator and handed the syrup to Eve.  As Eve drank
out of the pour spout, Mark watched Eve with what looked like a worried expression. 
Mark wanted to talk to her alone, which meant that he had something to tell her
that he didn't want to say in front of Eve. 

"We'll stop off at the store and get you some more
syrup, Eve,"  Sabrina said.

"I need six to ten thousand calories a day.  That
would help."

"Are you sure all that sugar is good for you? Nutritionally?" 

"Ferd gave me glucose and milk as a diet, but he said
that soon I would need more variety.  I love pizza, too."

Sabrina smiled at Eve.  She thought Eve was funny and cute
and interesting.  She got some jars of vitamins from the cupboard and picked out
several. 

Sabrina watched as Eve chewed each one and swallowed with
the aid of syrup.  Her eyes squinted, but her face stayed vacant.

"Most people swallow them because they don't taste
good." 

"I did not particularly like the flavor.  In the future
I will swallow them with syrup." 

"You can read or watch television, Eve,"  Sabrina
said, reluctant to leave her alone.

Sabrina thought that Mark was in an awful hurry as he rushed
her out the door and they went down in the elevator.

"What happened?"  Sabrina asked, intensely curious.

"Shh.  I think she still might be able to hear us." 
Mark was whispering.

"That's impossible."

"No, it isn't."  He frowned and put a finger
over his lips.

Sabrina silently got into Mark's car and they drove down
Wilshire Boulevard toward Santa Monica.  Mark explained in detail what had occurred
at Ferd's Tanning Salon.  When they got to the Santa Monica pier Sabrina was not
at all surprised, although she had been too immersed in Mark's recital to notice
where they were going.  She and Mark always went to the beach when they wanted to
talk.  In the summer she would swim.  Mark would advise about the pollution conditions. 
She loved the ocean and never listened.

Mark parked and they started walking along the wooden boardwalk. 
It was almost deserted and the waves, lit by a full moon, came onto the shore like
long, rolling, phosphorescent lights, tangling on the beach.  They walked to the
very end of the pier, their shoes making a hollow echoing sound on the wooden boards. 
Two tiny, ancient, Oriental men were fishing patiently, lines in the water far below. 

As they started walking back, Mark was frowning.  Sabrina
loved the way his thick eyebrows all bunched up when he was serious.  "I know
you think Eve is interesting and fascinating and everything, but I believe she's
very dangerous.  And vicious.  She's not human, she has no feelings, and she scares
the hell out of me.  She has unbelievable strength and she's very, very heavy. 
She has to be reinforced with something other than just skin and bones.  And I have
an awful feeling that she's more than cloned to you.  She may be imprinted."

"Like a duck?"  Sabrina asked, smiling.

"I don't know.  But you don't just break someone's
legs! You're a stranger to her, almost, which is why I wonder why she would do such
a thing.  I'd hate to see her really angry."

"She doesn't have emotions.  Couldn't get angry."

"Suppose she saw us making love.  She would think
I was hurting you and would probably kill me."

Sabrina laughed.  "I'm sure she knows how we procreate."

"I'm serious.  She could snap my neck, maybe yours
too, very easily."

"Ferd told her not to hurt anyone unless she was threatened."

"You were in danger and she really hurt two men. 
Badly.  How far would she go?"

"I don't know.  But it was a carefully thought out
act.  She wanted the men disabled enough so they couldn't come after me.  They won't
be able to get around very fast on crutches."