Copyright 2003
Dear Kim,
This is how it happened.
On Friday night, February 12,1999, at a keg party broken up early by the police, Lori Anne and her three friends were drinking. Getting away by the skin of her teeth, Lori Anne drove two blocks with her headlights off, then spent the next ten minutes hunkered down with the others in her car. She was so lucky not to be caught. On the way home, she stopped at the local Blockbuster and picked up two movies, intending to finish their "girl's night out," with popcorn and beer. It didn't quite happen that way.
I was living at the house then, following a nasty breakup six months before, and the even nastier loss of my job. My sister Anne and her husband Bill--Lori Anne's mom and dad--were vacationing in Las Vegas, gambling and having wild sex. At least, I hoped the sex was wild. After three kids and twenty-two years of motherhood, it was something Anne deserved.
Eighteen years old, Lori Anne was Anne's youngest daughter. Five feet six inches tall, weighing about one hundred and twenty pounds, she was large-breasted and a little bit hippy. (Think of Thora Birch). She had jet black hair, very large, brown eyes, and a round face. Her hair was cut short, parted down the middle, and hung loose at her jaw. She had always been bigger than me, by then wearing a size 36D brassiere to my 32B. I pained me just to see her. The way it had pained me to look at her mom. I was the smallest girl in the family.
Keri Donaldson now, Keri was the south pole to Lori Anne's north. A few weeks younger than Lori Anne, Keri was thin as a razor (but still bigger than me), blonde with blue eyes, and had features that jumped off her face. Thin-lipped with a prominent jaw, she was just this side of breathtaking. She wore jeans that threatened to fall off her hips, tops that showed off her navel, and her waist was a waist-watcher's dream.
"Aunt May?" Lori Anne asked, coming into the kitchen.
It was 10:25, and I was making a glass of ice tea. I had grounded the four girls, taking away Lori Anne's keys. Lori Anne was too young to drink, much less to be drinking and driving. All had taken their grounding with girlish delight.
"What?" I asked.
"Sendra's mom's on the phone and wants Sendra home now. Can you talk to her?"
Sendra and Kelli (their last names I never knew), were both seventeen. Sendra was from Brazil and incredibly pretty. Kelli was just sweet.
I laughed. "Me? What am I gonna tell her?"
Lori Anne said: "That you're here. That someone my parent's age is watching the house. She think's were home alone."
"Your parent's age!" I exclaimed. "Thanks a lot, El!"
Lori Anne giggled. "You know what I mean."
At twenty-three, I felt a lot closer in age to my errant niece, than I did to her mother. "All right," I said. "Give it to me."
Lori Anne took the telephone out from under her arm.
"Hello?"
"Hello," Sendra's mother answered. "Who is this?"
"I'm Lori's aunt. May I help you?"
There was a momentary silence, while Sendra's mother digested my voice. "You sound like a teenager," she said.
I laughed. "I used to be one. Until four years ago."
Hissing loudly, Lori Anne protested: "Aunt May! Come on!"
"I'm sorry," I said to Sendra's mom. "My name is May Clary. I really am Lori's aunt." I explained to her the situation, and she seemed appeased. But then she said: "Well, just the same, I think it's time Sendra came home."
Great! I thought. And I get to take her. I gave Lori Anne a very mean look.
"Okay," I said. "We'll leave right now."
As I gave her back the phone, Lori Anne looked both frustrated and abashed. "I can drive!" she protested. "Give me back my keys."
"Not on your life," I said. "But you owe me big time, El. Now go get your friend."
Going upstairs, I changed back into my jeans and sweater, but said to hell with the bra. I felt too petulant for that. Downstairs again, I discovered Kelli ready as well.
"You too?" I asked.
Kelli shrugged.
"My mom called her mom," Sendra sighed. "Sorry."
"Great. I don't guess she volunteered to come and get you?"
Kelli shook her head.
I left Lori Anne and Keri looking morose, and drove the girls home. Sendra lived less than a mile away but Kelli lived clear across town. It's only because she's an engaging young angel, that I didn't become furious. I got back to the house at twelve.
"I'm going to bed," I said, taking off my coat. "You better be quiet."
"We will," Lori Anne promised. Her eyes were significantly glazed.
"And please, El, don't get drunk again, tonight. Not again."
Lori Anne grinned. "Why not join us?" she said, bringing a beer out from behind her back. "You're only twenty-three."
"That's right." I said, snatching the beer from her hand. "And I have to work tomorrow. Now leave me the hell alone."
I threw my coat over her head, and told her to put it away. She laughed as I emptied half the beer on the staircase.
"Tart!"
"I am not a tart!"
"A tease, then!"
"Aunt May!"
"Keep it down!" I warned. "Or else!"
"Or else what?" she mocked.
Pointing at her, I wagged my finger, then said, "Fuck it," and finished off the beer. "I want another one."
Lori giggled delightedly and I pointed at her once again. "You are pissing me off, girl! Big time."
Continuing to giggle, she said: "I repeat, what are you going to do about it?"
Spinning around, I charged her. Before she could back-peddle away, I laid a good slap on Lori Anne's behind.
She exploded in laughter, then grabbed me, and we wrestled ourselves to the floor. Then Keri jumped in and we kicked and squealed and tore at each other's clothes and made a real mess of each other's hair. In the end, I somehow pinned them both to the floor.
"This goes to show you!" I panted. "What working out can do!"
Very hard, and very deliberately, I slapped them both on the rear.
"Ow!"
"Aunt May!"
Then we all three died from the giggles.
Sometime later--it must have been after two--I said: "You both go to bed. You're drunk."
"Look who's talking," Lori Anne laughed.
We were in the living room, slouched side by side on the couch, totally trashed. The Heineken's had disappeared around one o'clock, and since then we'd been drinking wine. My head went round and round and round.
"I'm dizzy," I said.