The New Neighbor

Chapter 20

Into Temptation Again

The kitchen floor creaked under Betty LaBianco's considerable weight as she searched for the jar of Skippy peanut butter. Ed had probably hidden it. That was the kind of stupid thing he'd been doing lately. Normally, she would ask him about it, but they weren't speaking to each other. Ed seemed to have other things on his mind, but that was just fine with Betty. She had other things on her mind.

Things like Lorelle Dupree. Betty hadn't been the same since Lorelle had first breathed in her ear, first touched her like Ed never had, never could.

Ed. What an idiot. It had taken her long enough to realize it, but better late than never. She'd been married to that buffoon for nearly thirty years and it had taken a neighbor to make her realize that those years had been wasted.

Sometimes – yes, she could admit it to herself – sometimes she just wanted to kill him.

The television was on in the living room and Ed was sprawled in front of it on the sofa, grumbling about the amplified voice that echoed through the chilly afternoon outside.

Betty squatted in front of the counter and opened one of the lower cupboards. No luck.

A draft was coming in from beneath the back door and she felt it on her bare feet, thinking vaguely that something needed to be done about it as she opened another cupboard.

Her back was to the door, so she didn't see the mist curling in beneath it, didn't see it rise and begin to take shape.

No Skippy. Damn. She closed the cupboard, stood and turned.

"Hello, Betty," Lorelle whispered.

Betty slapped a hand over her enormous breasts and leaned back against the counter. "Good Lord, you scared me. You… you're… " Lorelle was naked. Betty looked around, confused. "How'd you get in here… like that?”

Lorelle ignored the question, stepped forward and placed a hand on Betty's round cheek. "Do you hear that voice outside?”

Betty nodded.

"That's the voice of a man who wants to hurt me. He's saying things about me that aren't true. Awful things. And he's saying them over a loudspeaker."

Betty's eyes were wide and her mouth curled into a small O as she stared dreamily at Lorelle. "Why?" she asked after a long time.

"Because he's jealous."

She slid her hand down Betty's flabby neck…

"He's jealous of what we have, what I can give you."

… down her chest to one enormous, liquidy breast, which she caressed and cupped, rubbing her thumb over the nipple.

"He wants what we have. He'd snatch it up in a second. But he thinks it's wrong. He thinks it's bad. But we know better, don't we Betty?"

Betty nodded, her eyelids drooping heavily as Lorelle moved her hand down Betty's side, over rolls of fat and around to her back, where her fingers massaged firmly, then gently, firmly, gently.

"He's someone you know, Betty. You have to resist him if you want to see me anymore. You have to show everyone how wrong he is. You have to make him go, Betty. Him and the reporters. All of them. Do you understand, Betty? You have to make them go."

Betty nodded as Lorelle's face came closer and closer and their lips finally touched. Lorelle's tongue slipped in and out of Betty's mouth and she sucked on Betty’s lips.

The kiss was too much. Betty felt her strength giving out, felt her knees bending beneath her, then she lost consciousness as -

– Lorelle eased Betty to the floor in her arms effortlessly, then turned and went into the living room where she stepped in front of the television, smiled and said, "Hello, Ed.”

The mist eased through the neighborhood, shifting direction now and then. A single swirl moved over the surface of the mist like a small and lazy tornado. It went from the LaBianco house to Sheri MacNeil's, where it disappeared for a little while…

… then across the lawn to the Weylands’ houses…

… and later, to the Parkers…

… from house to house…

… to house…