To Whom Beauty Holds “A woman who values herself by the temporary beauty she possess, holds—in her hand, the weapon that would eventually, one day, and without notice, kill her.” Marilyn was once a great beauty. For nearly eighty years, Marilyn had the entire world at her beckon call – men, women, agents – whomever she wanted and whatever she wanted them to do was done all with the wink of her beautifully sculpted green eye. Marilyn was now well past her prime. Her golden years were all done and she felt that there was no reason to go on living without the beautiful face that once looked back at her in the mirror. The smile that once graced her face was such a smile that it could have been seen and admired from space. Men traveled from all over the world just to get a glimpse of Marilyn. One evening – as it was rumored -- Marilyn and a few of her friends from Los Angeles traveled from the United States to the South of France to meet and have their way with men. Marilyn, in particular, was the fox. She was the hound that all the men drooled over. During that trip to France, Marilyn was rumored to have had an affair with a prince. Though she never revealed the name of said prince – or if in fact that the rumor was true at all—Marilyn was the talk of the town that entire summer of 1944. One evening, just days after her seventy-ninth birthday, Marilyn went into the master bathroom of her palatial estate to take a bath. The staff – as usual – delivered Marilyn’s bathroom accessories including a bottle of red wine, four sage scented candles, a basket of clean white towels and the latest edition of Vogue magazine. As Marilyn sat in the tub reading the latest accomplishments of Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore, she began to cry. Tears flowed down her face like never before. Marilyn was in the pits of her depression which lasted for over twenty years. Secretly, after her divorce from her former husband, Mitch Greenland, Marilyn fell into a deep depression. Mitch was her entire life, her entire reason for living and the rock that stabilized her. Once her looks began to fade, however, so did superficial Mitch. On this particular evening Marilyn was in rare form. The drop of a hat could set her off and her mood swings could be either verbally abusive or physically harmful. Three nights prior, Marilyn went into a rage after a night of drinking in her library and reading about the new jet that her ex-husband bought for his new, thirty - five year old wife Tina. In a fit of anger drunkenness and depression, Marilyn threw three four hundred page books at one of her staffers who did not bring in the evening paper along with her dinner. Marilyn began to think about her life while soaking in the tub. She thought about the awards she had won, the crowns she owned and the life she once knew. Of everything that Marilyn once knew in her former life, the one thing she missed was the face that once served her well. Taking a sip of her wine, Marilyn stood up out of the tub and walked over to the mirror. She recited the old rhyme: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the prettiest of them all?” Marilyn began to hallucinate. Suddenly she saw in the mirror the face of her youth. It was there beneath the wrinkles and running mascara. The youth was there beneath the false eyelashes and the cataracts. The youth was there under the botched eye lift and the liver spots. The youth was there under the crooked nose and the thinning lips. Ecstatic at her findings, Marilyn screamed into the intercom for every member of her staff to meet her in the bathroom. They rushed in one by one. “Ma’am,” said Clara, “What’s wrong Mum,” asked Sally, “Yes sweetie,” exclaimed Terry and “What’s wrong dearest Mum,” begged Pat. The four looked on in horror as Marilyn stared them in the eyes one by one and told them without a shadow of a doubt that her beauty had returned. “Do you see me?” Said a rejuvenated Marilyn with the glow in her eyes of a child that has just been to Disney. “See what Ma’am.” Clara responded. “Me, I am beautiful. I am young; I am the fairest of them all.” The staffers didn’t know what to say but to avoid another outburst, they just looked and agreed. The vanity of Marilyn Greenland had finally overcome her. She was once the highest paid supermodel in the entire United States and now she was nothing more than a hallucinogenic old woman who had problems releasing the past. Marilyn ordered that her staffers leave the bathroom and then she dried off slowly. Wanting to savor the moment, Marilyn knew deep inside that she was in fact hallucinating. Though she knew that it was all in her head, Marilyn had trouble leaving the mirror and facing once again the reality that had become her life. Before drying completely, Marilyn hoped back into the tub and submerged herself in the water. No, it wasn’t suicide – Marilyn just always wanted to scuba dive and since she was living out all her fantasies in the comfort of her bathroom, it appeared that she was trying to fantasize about diving. At the moment of her submerging, Clara reentered the room and saw her boss under water and immediately pulled her up. “Ma’am, Mum! Are you alright?!” Clara screamed. “Yes, Clara, I was just trying to relive my fantasy of scuba diving now that all my dreams seemed to be coming true. Clara left the bathroom even more worried that her boss has completely lost her mind. With the life of Marilyn at stake, Clara walked into one of the many spare bedrooms and made an emergency phone call to the local mental ward in hopes of getting a couple of men in white suits to finally evaluate her boss. Though Clara knew of the backlash she could received from the call, she didn’t care. All she wanted was the help that her boss needed and she was willing to take the chance. The entire phone conversation was made in the other room because Marilyn had all the other extensions connected to her bedroom and bathroom lines and Clara didn’t want to risk being caught. The entire phone conversation lasted three and a half minutes. The head of the psychological department knew of Marilyn and her past. He told of told Clara of old media reports that Marilyn had had a meltdown and was on the brink of a colossal disaster. The man on the other end of the phone was Dr. Howard Monroe. He had a PHD in clinical psychology and a masters degree in social behavior. Before Clara ended the conversation, she was instructed to keep a close eye on her boss but that would not be as easy as it was said. It was eleven past the hour and Marilyn still hadn’t come out of her room. The staff waited patiently outside of her door for a little over a half hour before making another call to Dr. Monroe. He explained that the men were on their way to the house. Due to a traffic jam caused by an outdoor concert, they were held up on the Reno Expressway. All the staff could do was wait and worry as their mentally deteriorating boss remained locked in the master bathroom. There were several imagines that ran through their collective heads as to what was going on in the eerily room. Inside, Marilyn was applying make-up to her face. The temporary delusion that she was young again hadn’t yet worn off. Marilyn was enthusiastic at her looks. She began to dance to the music that played in her head. The soothing tunes of one of her old idols of the past – Janet Dawn – was sending her into a trance of euphoric abandon that no one dare not disturb. Finally, the authorities had arrived. Marilyn sensed that something was wrong but ignored the womanly intuition that told her something was awry. The four men dressed in white were let in by the butler and then barged their way into the master bedroom quite uncalled for since the door, however closed, was not locked. When Marilyn heard the bang, she knew that there was an intrusion and began to wrap her robe around her. Taking one last glimpse of herself in the mirror before she had to leave, Marilyn gave herself a huge kiss, leaving a huge stain of newly applied red lipstick. “Ms. Greenland, this is Fred Marks from the Christian Faithful Mental Facility and I must request that you leave the bathroom now or we will be forced to open the door forcefully.” “Marilyn replied angelically. “There will be no need for the sir, I am willing to open the door and reveal the beauty that I am to you and the rest of the world.” Those words made Clara and the rest of the staff burst into tears because that was a sure fire sign that she had lost her mind and was going to be committed to the mental hospital. Fred and the rest of his staff began to strategize their method of taking her in. She was going to be allowed one bag of clothing and a book but nothing further. The clicking of the locks was heard and everyone’s eyes were fixated on the door. When Marilyn opened, she was prepared to be taken away into the waiting arms of the men who had been summoned to her home. “OK, I’m ready. Take me to the loony bin.” Marilyn proclaimed. “Ma’am, your, your face.—How, why, what did you do to it?” asked a puzzled Clara. “Oh, I just applied a little make up.” Marilyn shot back. But the makeup was not what Clara was referring too. Marilyn seemed to have taken fifty years off her face. Looking at them was not a seventy nine year old woman but a twenty nine year old girl. The wrinkles were no more and replaced with the olive colored skin that she once enjoyed as a child. The cataract eyes were replaced with the beautiful green that she had once admired. Her lips were full; her teeth were real, strong and whiter than the clouds in the sky and her nose was straight. The liver spots were gone and she had natural long and luxurious eyebrows. Her hair was the golden locks that she once sported some fifty years ago. Not thinning, not grey. Everyone was astounded by the new Marilyn, everyone that is but Marilyn herself. When she questioned everyone, she was handed a mirror and said that her face seemed to have gone through a fountain of youth. Marilyn knew that she was hallucinating but she had no idea that it was contagious. The face that she had once knew was back but she still thought that it was nothing more than a mirage and she refused to believe that she had once again reclaimed her looks. Marilyn was in disbelief but she had wanted desperately to be taken to the hospital before she had harmed herself. Her request was refused and she was left alone in her room to further enjoy her beauty. Her peaceful enjoyment, however, didn’t last very long because by the next morning there was a slew of media outlets settled at the gates of her massive estate wanting a glimpse of the former beauty queen. They refused to leave without as much as a picture. Marilyn woke up to the morning news that had told the story to millions across the world. One newsperson reported: “Here is an interesting story. A once aging actress and beauty queen Marilyn Greenland has seemed to found the true fountain of youth as the wrinkled face she once had, was replaced by the golden beauty that she remembered from fifty years before. Headlines made it across the Atlantic to Europe. Marilyn took one last look at her face in the mirror and finally believed that she had really returned to her youth. She walked to her gates through flashes of white light and without speaking to the press; she smiled for photo opportunities and walked away. The entire incident took no more than ninety seconds and it was over. The camera men and women rushed to their trucks back to their studios to be the first to air the pictures of the new Marilyn Greenland. Before heading back to the house, Marilyn felt that her face had been paralyzed. She could blink or smile any more. Frightened, she ran into the house and straight to Clara. Swinging her arms about violently, Clara looked at the face that had been restored and with a look of shock and sadness; she told her boss that her beauty had gone. Marilyn was expected to drop to her knees and cry but she didn’t. She headed back upstairs and crawled in her bed. Moments later there was a shot. Clara and the rest of the staff rushed upstairs to the master suite to find their boss had apparently shot herself in the head. She left a short note that requested a closed casket funeral. She was gone. At the funeral, everyone who spoke was upset at the loss of their friend. But one particular speaker raised eyebrows. He stood up and walked over to the casket and said that he wanted to say a few words about his friend. When he stood before the grieving crowd of over three hundred, he said boldly that Marilyn hadn’t committed suicide, but that she was murdered, by him. There was no evidence of a break in, the man explained, because he had a sexual encounter with her the night before her death. He told the congregation that he had been invited to her home to see what she had turned into. When he saw her, he couldn’t resist, the man said, and they made love for hours. After his confession, he revealed himself as Mitch Greenland, the millionaire real estate tycoon. He said that after seeing her the day of her death when she was back to her “old withered self,” he couldn’t resist but to put her out of her misery and escape through the secret room that even the staff knew nothing of. At the moment his story finished, several men and security officers were making their way to Mitch to formerly arrest him for the murder of his ex wife. He said that he would surrender but before he could, Mitch went into his pocket and pulled out his pistol and shot himself in the head. His body fell onto the casket of his dead former wife. When security finally made their way to his body, they saw that a note had been clutched in his hand. The note read: “When a woman loses her looks, she loses everything. When a man kills a woman, he loses everything. What’s left to live for after all that?” The End
Copyright © 2004 Skyler Drevan |