Jennifer was sitting on a chair in Richard's den. She was dressed in the black rubber maid's outfit again, complete with corset, gloves, stockings, and locking six inch heels. Her crotch was still dripping from the attention that Richard's tongue had been giving it.

Richard was sitting at his desk, watching her as she dialed the phone number that she knew all too well. After four rings, Jennifer was starting to become concerned.

"Hello?" came a faint voice.

"Laura, is that you?"

"Yea," she said, almost a sigh.

"You don't sound well," said Jennifer.

"She... Mom... I'm sorry!" her sister said.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" asked Jennifer.

"Oh, god! I didn't want to, but I didn't know what else to do!"

"What are you talking about?" She heard Laura stop for a moment to blow her nose.

"Mom was driving around this morning, and she saw me on my way back from the dress fitting," she said. "I didn't mention it to her, she just thought I was at work."

"God! Did she rake you over the coals?" Jennifer said, with vivid memories coming to mind.

"She was more or less sober, so she was being her controll everything, know everything, threaten to take away the car, cold hearted bitch self!

"I didn't know what to say!" she said. "Maybe she saw where I came from. I don't know. I'm sorry!" she said again.

"What exactly did you tell her?" asked Jennifer.

"I told her that I was getting a dress," she said. "That wasn't good enough for her. It's like she knew something was up. She just wouldn't stop... damn her!"

"What did you tell her?" Jennifer asked again.

"I told her that I had seen you," she said. "That you were getting married. I'm sorry!"

Jennifer could not blame her sister. In her darkest memories, she remembered their mother. Somehow, the woman knew exactly what buttons to push with both of them. She knew what to threaten, what failures of them to bring up and throw in their faces, what buttons to push. She could never remember actually winning an argument with the woman, or ever seeing her be nice to either of her daughters without an ulterior motive. With Jennifer, it was 'The Look That Could Kill' that would make her crumble. With Laura, her mother ranted and raved and screamed until Laura would give in, in tears.

"She knows when, too!" said Laura. "There's no way that I'll be able to make it there. Mother will stop me. She threatened to take my car away! It's in her name, after all. And even if I did, you know that she'd follow me!"

"I know," Jennifer said with as large of a sigh as her corset would allow.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

She saw that Richard was looking at her intently, with a questioning look on his face. "Let me talk this over with Richard," she said. "I'll try to call back in a bit," she said.

"OK," said Laura. "You're not mad at me?"

"No, Laura, I'm not. I've lost track of the number of times that she's done that sort of thing to me. I hoped... well, call you back in a bit."

"Bye," Laura said simply.

Jennifer hung up the phone. "What's going on?" Richard asked.

Jennifer explained that Laura had spilled the beans to their mother. "It's not Laura's fault," she said. "Our mother, the paranoid witch, can just *do* that to us. I can't even exactly explain how."

"Parents and offspring know each other in ways no one else can understand," said Richard. "I understand, at least partially."

"What can we do?" asked Jennifer. "I really want Laura there.

Richard thought about that. "Why don't you want your mother there?" he asked.

"Are you thinking of caving in and inviting her?!" Jennifer said, eyes wide.

"Don't jump to conclusion yet," said Richard. "Why?"

Jennifer tried to calm down before answering. "Everything she's touched in my life seems like it was ruined. My piano lessons, my first boyfriend, the choir I sang in... damn it! It's like she enjoys ruining my life! This is the first thing that's happened to me that has been *good!* If my mother's there, she'll criticize everything, she'll make a scene, she'll make a stink, she'll make me look bad in front of everyone... that's just the way she is! That woman is poison in a human form! I'm sure that she'll do her best to find out more from Laura, like where we live. By tomorrow, I bet she'll be thinking of ways to crash in and ruin everything!"

"I just have a thought," Richard said. "We might be able to get rid of her by inviting her," he said.

"I don't understand at all," she said. "I don't want her to be a part of my life anymore! I don't want her anywhere near me! I also wish that Laura could move out of the house," she concluded. "Without me there, my sister is getting all the attention now."

"Let me give you my ideas, and maybe you can give me a few as well. We could invite your mother. However, there is a strict, and I mean *strict* dresscode, especially for the female guests. Your mother would not be excluded from this."

Jennifer tried to imagine it. "I still don't see how that helps," she said.

"Is there anything that your mother particularly dislikes?" he asked.

"Being humiliated," Jennifer said immediately. "That's why she tries to humiliate me and my sister. I think that's what she fears the most. I know this because I saw her at a restauraunt and she made a complete fool of herself over this waiter. Afterwards... oh, it was bad at home! She always likes to be in control, as well. She always has to have the last word. Somehow, I don't think that dressing her up is going to do it, though. She's never minded showing her body off. That's never embarassed her, that I know of."

"Hmmm..." he said, chewing on his lip. "I'm still thinking. But about your sister..." he said, "you know, lately you really haven't been having much time to get things done around the house. And that's only going to get worse after we're married."

Only going to get worse... that means I'll be doing less housework... probably doing more with Richard... I like the sound of that, concluded Jennifer. "What's your point?" she asked.

"Perhaps your sister could work here for a while," he said. "Be the maid, and help out around here," he said. "That could really free up your time around here," he said.

"That would get her out of the house," she said. "But... I don't like to share," she said, looking at him. "Especially with my sister."

Richard looked a bit surprised, then recovered. "I was not suggesting anything of the sort," he said. "If you don't like the idea..."

"As long as you know I don't like the idea of sharing, it will be fine," said Jennifer. "I think that just about anything would be better than life at home right now."

"There should be no problem with that," said Richard. "No problem at all. But as for your mother, how about something like this..."