Wendy looks at Maria like the woman is a goddess; it’s thanks to the symmetry of Maria’s face and the mole that draws attention to her full lips, her breasts that aren’t huge but perfect and perky, and that hair. The entire time that Maria is talking about what brought her to the state of GA where Wendy works as a receptionist at the Institute for Brain Function, Wendy is memorized and does her best to hide her admiration when she knows that Maria is looking.
It’s a problem for Wendy, her obsession with looks and appearance, and it has gotten her in trouble before; like at her last job before she started at the IBF when she fell in love with her boss and it led to Wendy feeling that she had wasted years of her life with someone who would never appreciate her. But Wendy couldn’t help herself, her old boss was beautiful like Maria, and even though it brought up many bad memories to think of Maria as the woman she had worked for, she couldn’t help but follow Maria anywhere she wanted to go.
They are out to lunch, Maria had shown up at the IBF looking for a doctor that Wendy had never heard of, until she overheard some doctors talking and she learned that the mysterious doctor had a top secret position at the IBF. Wendy contemplated the implications of Maria showing up randomly at a facility that very few people walked into without an office in the building or an appointment to see one of the employees, and Maria seemed to know something that Wendy, who had worked at the IBF for about five years, was never made aware of. It could mean that the woman was some sort of spy sent to assassinate the mysterious doctor, but Wendy can’t imagine the angel she is sharing lunch with killing someone. Based on past experience, though, Wendy should be very careful. She’s not known for picking winners.
Like that old boss, who was an important woman and had been perceptive enough to see past Wendy’s nervous behavior in the interview to know that the young woman was an extremely professional and competent secretary who had a solid education as a medical assistant. The doctor could tell that Wendy was eager for professional work experience as she stumbled over her words and lost her train of thought when she answered questions. Wendy twirled her straight black hair around between two fingers as she sat nervously, and she had to consciously stop her slender legs from bouncing (she wrapped both her hands around her knees which stopped the bouncing but then the papers she had with her spilled onto the floor). The doctor had a big enough ego that she reveled in Wendy’s obvious admiration and respect, and what she soon learned was also tinged with lust. Wendy had a thing for really strong and authoritative women and the doctor she worked for was beautiful, but most people the doctor encountered had little time to contemplate her looks because of her very strong personality. Like, a few weeks after Wendy was hired, when a couple came to see if the doctor could help them conceive a baby. Wendy had the kindest words about her boss as she prepped the wife, who was nervous and held her husband’s hand tightly, and she was able to put the woman at ease that she was in very good hands. But all of that assurance disappeared when the doctor came to talk to them. The doctor wasn’t great at small talk and she was very frank in her assessment of the couple’s chances. “You’ve been to other specialists, they’re not geniuses, but neither am I, so I won’t waste your time or money.” The doctor thought she was doing them a favor; she could run tests and given false hope with talk of experimental treatments, but she wasn’t the type. And when the couple left somewhat upset, the doctor looked to Wendy confused. “I know for a fact that others would have pretended to have an answer and just took advantage of them, but I’m the bad guy?”
This is what Wendy came to love about that doctor, she seemed oblivious to the importance of kind words and smiles, and she came to depend on Wendy for those things. It gave Wendy an immense feeling of importance and she felt integral to the small practice of the doctor. “They could have appreciated it more,” Wendy explained, “if it seemed like you wanted to help them. It almost seemed like you were relieved not to have to work with them.”
And Wendy learned something intimate about the doctor that day. “After all these years giving other people babies, I think I want one of my own, but it’s not easy for a lesbian, especially an unmarried lesbian that works crazy hours.”
And that set the ball rolling on a relationship that defined Wendy’s life for years, a relationship that she sometimes looked back on fondly, but mostly she regretted ever caring as much as she did.
Wendy worked with the doctor for six months before they kissed for the first time (Wendy found the doctor on the floor of her office after an upsetting call with her parents, and Wendy helped her to her feet, and looked loving into her eyes before the kiss that swept Wendy off of her feet). And after a year, the doctor asked Wendy to move in with her (Wendy did live primarily with the doctor, though she refused to give up her apartment because even though the two were happy, Wendy had a feeling that soon all the time they spent together could destroy their relationship; after all, the things Wendy had liked about the doctor had become troubling, like her difficulty being gentle which became an aversion to sentimentality and romanticism, things that Wendy cherished and believed she could help to cultivate in the doctor). And before the end of their second year together, Wendy was afraid that she would have to find a new job because she was certain she had made a mistake getting so close to the doctor and that an end was imminent.
It happened one day when Wendy was to meet the doctor at a party/fundraiser for a local animal shelter. The doctor did not like animals, but Wendy had convinced her that it would be good press in the local community and the doctor reluctantly agreed to take part. The doctor was a tall woman (as tall as Maria) and though she was not particularly thin, she had nice curves and was solidly built. She filled out formal wear nicely and Wendy still has the picture of the two of them from the night at the fundraiser tucked away in her closet. Wendy had helped to coordinate the event and the doctor got more and more upset over the course of the night when Wendy had to tend to organizational things at the party. Eventually the doctor got drunk and Wendy had to keep an eye on her.
“These people care more about dogs than orphans!” The doctor screamed and Wendy grabbed her hand; the two walked towards a door, across the big dining room where many impressive business owners in the community were gathered. Some whispered, at least one guy agreed with the doctor.
“It’s not like they’re choosing dogs or orphans,” Wendy said, trying her best to walk the doctor out of the party quietly and into the night where she hoped the cool would calm her. “You can care about multiple things.”
“I only care about you,” the doctor responded with a big smile when they were outside. “There’s no one I care about more, not even my mama.” The doctor had short blond hair that a gentle wind pushed into her face. Wendy moved it away and kissed her.
“You should do better to show it then, if that’s true.”
The doctor scrunched up her face in confusion. “I give you everything,” she said almost like a whisper.
Wendy nodded, the doctor had given her a lot, but they only kissed in public when the doctor was drunk, and even though Wendy had introduced the doctor to her family, Wendy had never met the doctor’s. She said those things to see how the drunk doctor would react.
“Wen, its for the best. My family don’t like black people, it’s bad enough I’m a lesbian.” The doctor took her hands off of Wendy’s waist and lit a cigarette. Wendy was floored by the doctor’s nonchalant tone; in the years of their relationship Wendy had no idea that her race was a problem and she assumed that people who looked at the two of them queerly were reacting to two women together.
Maria isn’t like that though, Wendy thought, she’d know how to talk about sensitive things and not let them go undiscussed for years and years before making drunken confessions. Maria could never cause any trouble.
But Wendy should listen more carefully to Maria who is telling her about Dr. Thomas Eakran, the man who might help her find the aliens she’d met in her youth (she doesn’t say that stuff about the aliens to Wendy, but even if she had Wendy wouldn’t have paid it much attention). And both Maria and Wendy should be on alert for the black car that pulls up just outside the restaurant where they are having lunch, and the man that gets out of the car with dark shades and a black suit, with the gun bulge at his waist.
PRL Serials 