Finally, Maggie continued. "We’d been friends since she met Scottie LaMont. It was Scottie who introduced me to Earl Ray………..God, so very long ago………I knew him first just from around town………He and I were pretty good friends………..Then she came along, and latched onto him as soon as she saw him…………I met her through him……….She became my very best friend very quickly. We were inseparable and shared absolutely everything."
"You’re not friends anymore?"
Maggie looked incredulous. "Are you kidding me? Friends with that lying, back-stabbing, disgusting whore?"
Elyse sat back in her chair with her coffee. "My. What a torrent of hatred."
Maggie snarled. "And I can’t seem to get past this ugly stage. I was devastated at first……..like I wouldn’t ever feel normal again………But now I just despise her………It’s a deep, cold anger that won’t die."
"What, in a nutshell, did this Sahndra do to you?"
"In a nutshell? Forgive my language here, Elyse……..The slut screwed every other man in that wretched, tacky loserville of a town until they were all sick of her fat ass, and then……." Maggie looked out the window quickly. "Then…….she went after mine……that whore."
"Roger? She went after Roger, Maggie? Your best friend?"
"Yes, Roger." Maggie gritted her teeth with hatred. "I’d known all along she was attracted to him. Hell, she used to stand down at the shooting range and just watch him……..fodder for her sick fantasies………But after he showed an interest in me, she swore up and down to me that she could care less about him……….that Scottie was all she wanted……….Oh, this was before she seduced Earl Ray…………sorry sack of shit……….Sorry, Elyse. This all makes me very mad."
"Yes, I can see that…….She seduced Earl Ray? Was this after you left him for Roger?"
Maggie looked over at her, her eyes flashing. "Yeah. About three short weeks after that. Earl Ray stayed over at their house during that time ‘cause he was so angry at me, and Scottie was being his usual dickhead self to Sahndra………So she just took advantage of a nice firm body in her guest room, a body belonging to a sad man who’d just been dumped and was on the rebound."
"And that didn’t bother you?"
"Why should that bother me? I was the one who’d dumped him! I felt very bad about doing it, though, and if screwing my best friend was the thing that made him feel better, then I was all for it……..They became an item……….even got married."
"She divorced the LaMont guy?"
"He divorced her. She wanted kids, and he didn’t. He actually didn’t even want a wife, he told me later. He was extremely bored with her……..Scottie bored easily……….So I think he took the wanting kids thing as an out……….Plus she was sleeping around on him while he was outta town."
"With Earl Ray," Elyse confirmed.
"Oh, what tangled webs we weave, hmm? Did I say this was all like ‘Melrose Place’? I meant something on one of those premium cable channels."
Elyse cleared her throat. "Now back up a minute. This woman used to admire Roger from afar? Even while she was married?"
"Lots of women did that. I told you he was the prize cow. Even I did it from time to time. But I had to be discreet about it since he was my husband’s best buddy."
"I see. But Sahndra never slept with Roger?"
Maggie wrinkled up her face. "Hell no! You should hear Roger talk about her, especially after what she put me through………He never liked her from the start. He just tolerated her because she was my alleged friend…….She used to come over just to get in a battle of wits with him and piss him off………He hated it……….He hated her. He said she was ‘blue-collar dull.’"
"What made her try to seduce him……..there at the end?"
"Revenge, I think," Maggie said quietly. "I said some awful things to her."
"What could you have possibly said to make her try to get your husband into bed? You and Roger were already married by this time I presume."
"Yeah. We’d been married a few months by now. Get your pencil out so you can keep score, Elyse. It gets pretty complicated from here on out."
"Okay. I’m ready."
"Earl Ray and Sahndra had been married over a year, and she was trying very hard to get pregnant. Scottie hadn’t wanted any kids, but Earl Ray finally did. So she was doing her best to make that happen………..But something was going wrong. She couldn’t conceive. Month after month. And they couldn’t find out what the problem was………So she took comfort in…………food."
"She gained weight?" Elyse asked.
"She gained a ton of weight. She lost control of herself………..She was pretty upset about not being able to have a baby………..She really wanted one…….with Earl Ray."
"But Earl Ray still carried this torch for YOU, huh?" Elyse was trying to keep up.
"Oh, he wasn’t showing it much at this point. He still believed he was happy with HER. And besides, Roger and I were blissfully joined at the hip and all……….So he was still going along with his little charade with HER. He’s a good person, like I said. He was trying to do what was right."
"So go on. What brought on these awful things you said to her?"
"I found out that she had started cheating on Earl Ray…………Scottie let it slip one day………He was porking her again just for the sex, so he said…………I guess it was another escape from reality for her………I don’t know. She had some new friends too, other than me, people I wasn’t fond of……….See, I was spending most of my time at my restaurant and with my new husband……..So I saw less and less of her. I guess she was so desperate for friendship that she took up with these undesirables."
"What made them undesirables, Maggie?"
"They, well, really only ONE of them was jealous of me or something. We tried to be civil to each other in social settings, this new-bitch-in-town and me, but she just had this antagonistic streak for me that I still can’t explain………….It was like she wanted to be my loving fan club at first…………..and then irrationally turned on me and pit herself against me……..It was too weird…….She was crazy about Roger too……..So maybe she was jealous of me for that reason……….Or maybe it was because she’s a hideous troll that needs never to see the light of day."
"More hostility, Maggie. Do you want to give this woman a name?"
Maggie’s expression changed to raw scorn. "Other than ‘Rancid Whore,’ no. I don’t want to pollute our breathing space with her foul name."
"So what role does she play here?"
"She aided Sahndra in trying to seduce Roger away from me. Put it in her mind………..encouraged her or whatever. Scottie told me that too. He hated the bitch. Said she talked in psycho-babbling circles. And it was true……….Real pseudo-philosophical bullshit crap was about all that came out of her constantly………Roger only met her once and called her ‘another useless fruitcake.’"
"Why did she involve herself in this little saga so intently?"
"To get revenge on me, I guess. I told you she didn’t like me and had decided I was her enemy for God knows why. And after I said those hateful things to Sahndra, it was all this bitch’s idea to go after him, my prized possession………..She was insanely protectively of Sahndra for some odd reason, and this was a perfect way to destroy me AND to make Sahndra feel good again all in one fell swoop……….Get it?
"It was all the new friend’s idea? Her master plan?"
Maggie smirked. "Yep. But that’s not hard to believe when you understand how few original ideas Sahndra actually had of her own." She laughed quietly, like Roger. "Scottie used to say her abilities in the oral sex department were her greatest and only talent. He called her ‘Rooster.’ You know – any-cock’ll-do." She laughed again.
"Sounds like she wasn’t very well liked."
"Oh, she was at first. For those first few wonderful years. I have lots of fabulous and entertaining stories to tell of those times. We had so much fun – she and I were tops in town. It was almost like we made the town or something……..Then something horrible happened……..I pinpoint it now to the exact date when that TROLL BITCH moved into town – right about the same time Sahndra convinced Scottie to do her some more behind Earl Ray’s back."
"So it was a conglomeration of events and things that lead to this unsavory upheaval?" Elyse was doing well at keeping details straight.
"Yep. And one day, completely unexpectedly, I blew my top……..I’m an Aries, ya know…….And we’re notorious for our fiery, volatile tempers."
"Yes, I’ve heard," Elyse said.
"Well, I’m the poster child for the group. Mine’s the quintessential example. Just ask Roger." Maggie grinned, remembering Roger’s exhausted sighs when she got angry.
"What set you off?"
"Finding out about her fucking around on Earl Ray. He didn’t deserve it."
"But you did the same thing, Maggie."
Maggie sat back, stunned. She hesitated. "Yeah, you’re right. I did. And believe me, I caught hell for it – from her and from everyone else in town. I’m not saying it was right what I did. But I did it ‘cause I loved Roger with my entire being……….Sahndra The Scummy Whore did it just for a good lay, and I really didn’t want to see it happen to him again."
"Did you tell Earl Ray?"
"Not until a little while ago. He never knew it was going on while it was going on."
"But you confronted Sahndra with it?"
"Well, no……….I hadn’t planned it to happen like it did………She came in the restaurant one afternoon between lunch and dinner. I was sitting at the bar doing some calculating or something, and it was quiet."
"Wait." Elyse stopped her again. "You knew about her and Scottie?"
"Yes. And I knew about her new friends too, the ones I didn’t ‘cotton to,’ in Earl Ray’s words. I also had caught her in several significant lies lately too, but I told myself they didn’t matter……since she was probably still so upset about the baby situation and all."
"You still felt sympathy for her?"
"Oh, absolutely! Even though she’d lied to me and taken up with some not-completely-evolved people, ONE of whom was constantly doing catty little thingsjust to hurt me and brainwashing Sahndra into believing that she was kind and good and would, oh, NEVER do anything to deliberately cause pain to me,…………yes, I still cared very much for her, for Sahndra………..And that’s really not like me – to continue to care so much for someone who’s hurt me………There was just something about her I really loved, I guess."
"And now all that love you felt for her has become pain and sorrow? Is that the way you see it, Maggie?"
"No……." Maggie was thinking. "It was pain and sorrow at first………right before and right after Roger and I left Loserville………..I thought I might suffocate with the grief……….I didn’t think I’d ever be myself again……..But now it’s morphed into this raging anger I feel every time I let myself remember it all………..I pray to God that some day I’ll get past this stage too."
"What did you say to her that day in your restaurant, Maggie?"
Maggie smiled. "I had PMS that day……….Roger calls it ‘psychotic’ menstrual syndrome……..So I was already at a disadvantage as far as self-control was concerned………..And she saunters her overweight form in there and wastes my valuable time with lots of cold, distant, meaningless chitchat she was so good at until I finally asked her what exactly she wanted."
"What did she want?" Elyse asked. "She surely had a reason for pointedly coming to see you."
Snarling, Maggie continued. "Oh, she did. She wanted Roger, of course. The one thing that meant the most to me. I think she said something like, ‘Where’s that arrogant bastard you call your husband, Mags?’……And that was all I needed to kick the pretty cruelty machine into high gear."
"And you said?"
"I don’t remember exactly. The savage monster inside me took control, and I had to just sit back and watch the carnage………….It was fun, kind of……….but I was well aware that it was vicious too. I didn’t stop the monster, though…….I’m not sure I could have………..What was coming out of my mouth had been building in me for quite some time." Maggie stopped.
"Go on," Elyse prodded her. The stage was crucial.
"Well……..lemme see…….I said things such as, ‘Roger’s whereabouts is none of your business, you swelled-up-bitch-in-heat. Yeah, don’t look so surprised. Scottie ran his big mouth. But he ain’t exactly proud of it, and he probably won’t be blabbing to anybody else about how you came crawling up to his penthouse begging back into his bed……….He said he was ashamed of it, actually………that he patronized some ol’ piece of trash he’d used up long ago’…………You get the ugly picture, Elyse?"
The stark expression on Elyse’s face screeched that she did. "Must have been quite a little speech, Maggie."
"And about Earl Ray, I said, ‘So go ahead and screw up a good thing with that devoted husband you’ve got. You’re an ignorant fool, and I wish he’d never gotten involved with your sorry ass.’"
"Oh, my. How’d she react?"
"She laughed and said if Earl Ray was ‘devoted’ to anything that it was me. She went on to deny sleeping with Scottie, yet another lie……….I sometimes wondered there at the end if she realized she lied so damn much."
"But you believed Scottie?"
"Sure. Scottie was immoral to the tenth degree, but he wasn’t a liar. And while I was at it, I just let go and berated her about all the other small stuff that was bugging me – like the little lies, her excessive laziness, her lack of self-discipline, and those nasty worthless Dobermans she insisted on keeping in the house. Earl Ray, by the way, despised them, and I told her that too……….Just a lot of little irritations that I was absolutely sick of and had to get off my chest."
"And?" Elyse prodded again.
"Well, I got the predictable and insincere whimpering – worthy of an academy award. She cried and said she didn’t deserve to be treated ‘so unfairly’ by me, that she had ‘other friends’ who would be good to her."
"But you knew about her other friends already, right?"
"Yep. And I told her exactly what I thought of her slimy friends, how that ONE in particular was brainwashing her against me. I tried my best to show her the light, to warn her. But alas, I was too late. Sahndra had turned me off by then………said I’d hurt her irreparably and that she didn’t think we could still be friends and all that crap."
"What was your response to that? Did you think you’d hurt her that badly? Did you think you guys could still be friends?"
Maggie looked more disheartened than Elyse had seen yet. Maybe there were even tears in her eyes.
"Amazingly, yes…………Even after she accused me of being the one with the self-discipline problem and told me that I needed therapy for my drinking AND for my ‘controlling, overbearing’ personality…………..I still wanted to hold onto her as a friend………as the friend I remembered having before all this mess started………….I missed her desperately………….and I thought it might even work again if I could somehow get her away from the negative influence of this psycho-babbling new person on the scene. But, like I said, I was not in time for that."
"You okay, Maggie? We can stop if necessary."
She looked up sharply, her brow wrinkled. "Stop? Does it seem like I wanna stop?"
"You just seem drained…………overly emotional."
"Look, Elyse. If you wanna stop and go home to Benjamin, just say the word. I was telling you my little tale ‘cause you wanted to hear it."
Elyse sat up in alarm. "Oh, I do, Maggie! Don’t be upset! I was merely providing you an escape in case you wanted to stop and perhaps continue later……….It’s entirely up to you."
"It’s getting late," Maggie said somberly.
"What’s that Roger says? ‘Don’t worry ‘bout it. Not important.’ Benjamin knows I’m okay."
"All right then. Where was I?"
"Sahndra had suggested that you needed professional help."
Maggie sighed. "Oh, yeah………….Well, I’m sure her new friend had convinced her of that – a convenient, sneaky ploy. Their tight little bond was unbreakable by now, and I was the one out in the cold, the bad guy."
"So the next step was retribution for your harsh words, right?"
"You got it. Contrived retribution totally instigated by the TROLL BITCH to damage me, put me away so to speak, and to redeem Sahndra. That babbling cunt, sorry, Elyse, was so very manipulative, and no one saw it but me……….and Roger, of course. But he had purposely stayed out of it all until this next awful scene."
"The scene where you find out that Sahndra made a move on your husband?"
"The scene where I catch the slut in the act!"
"Oh, Maggie……..That must have devastated you."
She smiled. "Well, actually, it was rather exciting………only because of Roger’s reaction to the whole thing."
"This should be good," Elyse said, sipping on yet another coffee.
"Somehow, Sahndra had begged Roger into giving her one more ride on his Harley. She’d always gotten a big thrill from that, but he was more and more reluctant as she put on more and more weight………Well, anyway, to make a long story short, I caught her reaching around him and grabbing his crotch just as the ride ended that day – a few days after our little spat in the restaurant."
"She just crudely grabbed his crotch?" Obviously, Elyse wasn’t accustomed to such base behavior.
"Yeah. She was wasting no time……….going straight for the glory……….But she had no finesse, you see. She was pretty uncouth, coming from such an uncultured, uneducated background like she did."
"So did Roger hit her? He seems like the type."
Maggie jumped on the defensive again. "You got Roger all wrong, Elyse. He’s not as cold and heartless as you think."
"As he seems?"
Maggie sighed heavily. "Anyway, after she told him that she wanted to ride him next, he was totally surprised and jumped up off the bike and whirled around to face her. He gave her a deliciously vicious little speech that included the term ‘cellulite-enhanced,’ and he mentioned that he’d have to roll her in flour and go for the wet spots………if he was even remotely interested, which he wasn’t."
Elyse shook her head. "And he’s not cold and heartless?"
"Not to people he cares about. Are you finished critiquing Roger’s character?"
"Sorry, Maggie. Proceed."
"Well, that was about all. He had seen me watching in the background and then turned the floor over to me. I told her stunned lard ass to leave me and my husband alone for good, to never come back around us…………And I meant it. Roger was snickering the whole time off to the side."
"So did you see her anymore at all?"
"Once. I tried to apologize to her…………..to no avail. She didn’t wanna hear it. She was done with me………She didn’t need me anymore………She had her new precious buddy, her confidante and protector……….So we successfully avoided each other for the next few weeks……….She knew she was in the wrong…………her and her bitch of a friend who had orchestrated the whole little fiasco."
"You were sad about the turn of events?"
"Absolutely. It broke me………hurt me worse than anything has in many years……I thought I’d never be okay again ………….Then the guy from Roger’s past showed up, and we left town," Maggie said and breathed deeply, sounding tired.
"You said that Scottie told you that this new friend was responsible for the seduction attempt?"
"Yeah. He was sick to death of Sahndra and apparently not willing to keep her secrets anymore, things she’d confided in him. He said he would have warned me ‘bout it if he believed she’d really have the guts to do it."
"But she did have the guts, huh?"
Maggie sneered. "She had encouragement…………Her mind was being twisted by that evil psycho force. She really didn’t have a choice."
"Was Roger helpful towards you during this time?"
Looking at her with disbelief, Maggie said, "He was my saving grace, I told you. He was exceptionally supportive and loving. He went far out of his way to make me well again. I wouldn’t have made it without him. Seriously."
"And now? Have you heard from her?"
"Now? I still haven’t had any contact with her……………..don’t expect to ever again……….Earl Ray talked to her lawyer last month………said she’d squandered all the money Scottie gave her in their divorce, and now she’s bankrupt."
"What’s his opinion of her now – Earl Ray?"
"A lot like mine, only he’s more………benevolent………kinder, I guess. He’s not a mean person……….He even sent her some money……..other than the alimony."
Elyse smiled. "That’s very generous of him. Did he follow you out here to Portland? Is he really that ‘devoted’ to you?"
"After Roger and I suddenly left, Earl Ray finally dumped Sahndra and hit the road – just to get away from all his memories…………Serves her dumbass right too. She tried to snatch up everything………and now she’s got nothing………except her pathetic, ridiculous friend."
"He realized he didn’t love her? Was that it?"
"That’s what he says…………and he was living in Tucson when Roger tracked him down for me………when I was so blue," Maggie said softly.
"So he came to see you and stayed around."
"You’re getting better and better at this, Elyse. Yes, he hung around……..I had that car accident, you see, and Roger decided it would benefit everyone concerned if Earl Ray ‘signed on for the gig,’ as he put it."
"Roger’s always in control of things it seems. You don’t mind that, Maggie?"
"It’s turned out well enough for me so far……….I got no complaints. He’s good to me………and good for me."
"Are you a mean person, Maggie?"
She refocused her eyes on Elyse’s face, a bit surprised. "Am I what?"
"You said a minute ago that Earl Ray isn’t a mean person. What about you?"
Maggie thought about this for a moment. Then she answered. "Why don’t you tell me, Dr. Portman? I’ve been sitting here yapping out my sad story for over an hour. How ‘bout you do some talking now and give me your take on the whole thing?"
Elyse laughed, a little off-guard. "That’s not necessary. I was just listening."
"Sure, it’s necessary! C’mon, Elyse………….Talk to me as a friend………and be brutally honest. Okay?"
"That’s what you really want?" Elyse tried to judge her face.
"Absolutely! Now that I’ve gone and actually spilled it all to a shrink, I’d like to know what the shrink has to say about it."
"Okay, Maggie………if you say so."
"Lay it on me, Elyse."
She trailed off, and Elyse could see something else in her eyes, something heavy. So she waited patiently.
On to Part III
