Introduction: If you haven't read Parts 1-3 of "The Converse Chronicles", then you might be a little lost, but this story can stand on its own, with a little imagination on your part.
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New Characters:
Deanna Converse - Paul Converse's 50 year old wife and Angela's mother. Deanna was a cocktail waitress and part-time model before getting pregnant with Angela. A troublesome pregnancy and the depression of Angela's father leaving before she was even born led to a very bad physical breakdown (described harshly by Angela in Chapter 2). She is away "visiting family" at the start of this story, but as we soon learn here, other reasons for the trip and its unplanned extension have taken place...
(For the record, the tale of the family tragedy detailed below isn't actually exaggerated by much at all... proof that life truly is stranger than fiction!)
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Chapter 4: The Return of the Queen
(concurrent to, and the day after, Chapter 3)
"I know I've been gone a long time, but I was sure you and Angela could handle it together. You two have always been so close and I'm so happy you chose to be the man that her biological father wouldn't be."
Deanna held the phone in her flawlessly manicured hands, standing naked in front of the full-length mirror in her old bedroom at her parents' house. *HER* house, she had to remind herself, after the bizarre occurrences of the past three months.
What was supposed to be a fun-filled family gathering for her mother's 75th birthday party and her parent's 55th anniversary turned into a spectacle of mayhem and wonder.
Amidst the revelry, a chaotic scene broke out, instigated by Deanna's drunken brother-in-law, Scott, lecherously suggesting to Deanna a threesome with his wife, Deanna's sister. Tensions escalated, words were exchanged, misunderstandings grew into open accusations... with the flow of alcohol and the naturally unstable state of the family already intertwined, it was only a matter of time before the powder keg was lit.
The party ended violently... tragically. Scott, in a drunken rage at being denied, tried to argue for what he wanted in the only way he knew how, with his fists. Swinging wildly at his wife and sister-in-law in the kitchen, the women fled out to the spacious backyard where the party remained in full swing, so to speak. Dean, the girls' father, rose from his chair and confronted his belligerent and bellicose son-in-law. As their confrontation grew, Scott let fly with his fists once more, and proceeded to tackle the elderly Dean to the ground. He pummeled the old man over and over again, fatally as it turned out. Dean's only living son, Michael, came flying into the fray and tackled the much larger Scott off of his unmoving father. The men wrestled and traded blows, rolling across the yard until they reached the natural rock grotto pool. Both men's heads were dashed on the sharp rocks, and between their furious attacks, and the water quickly turning red where they went under, neither rose again from the watery depths.
While the chaos of the physical battle erupted all around, Deanna's mother, Sandra, suffered a massive, fatal heart attack. Finally, Shari, Scott's wife and Deanna's sister, came out from behind the shed she had hid behind and... after taking in all that was before her, had the last bonds of her sanity slip away as her family self-destructed around her. The police and paramedics found her, much later, sitting in the closet of the master bedroom having a serious conversation with a pair of leather pumps and a camisole.
Deanna, having been away from this group of idiots for a happily extended period, stood by and observed. Once she had extricated herself from Scott's disgusting grasp, she stood apart from the melee, saddened somewhat, but strangely unmoved otherwise. It was as if she somehow knew that the family she had been born into would one day collapse in on itself in spectacular fashion.
What she didn't know, however, was just how much money was involved in this little fiasco. Scott, of course, had left everything in his will to his wife, Deanna's sister. Her parents, likewise, had left most of everything to the older sister. Her brother Michael, who was single, had left his things to Deanna, as they had always been closer to each other than to Shari. What that meant was, Deanna was one drooling invalid away from a great deal of money, hence why this trip had taken so much longer to finish.