Marla

By Donna Doty

Marleen and Carla loved each other and they both were in love with the same man. A freak twist of phenomena had gifted them with an ability to move their minds, at will, out of their own bodies and into the body of the other. In one body they shared their reason for living; his name was Earl. He was Marleens husband and Carlas lover. Using one body they could function in the business world without anyone knowing the true nature of their relationship. For a while the multiple possession of one body was wonderful, but enslaved by their passion for Earl, they neglected their gift and one day found themselves trapped in a body with no way out. From free choice to imprisonment; from ecstasy to horror, I welcome my reader to share in their strange and fascinating tale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456731298

Donna Doty

I have heard it said that writers are born writers, they have no choice. For as long as I can remember I have been drawn to the world of make believe. I love to write fiction. It is like getting lost in a daydream with characters that are performing just for me. I am the director in this art of self entertainment. I was born in California and have lived here all my life. I love my life. It is full of wonderful grandkids, horses, cats, dogs, and friends.

Book preview

PART ONE

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

EPILOGE

Chapter One

September 1978

Earl Kane’s heart skipped crazily. At twenty-nine he thought he was a little young for a heart attack. He took a deep breath and asked softly: What do you mean?

Something has changed, Marleen said, running slender fingers through her straight black bangs, a habit of hers when thoughtful. Ever since I got back from New York you’ve been different.

In a crowded café in Los Angeles, California, Earl and Marleen Kane sat leisurely drinking coffee. Earl continued to look at his tall, slim wife. She had always been extremely perceptive. How did he think he could hide an affair? No, not an affair; what he and Carla had together was not just a liaison.

You know, if I didn’t know you so well, I’d think you had another woman while I was gone.

He grinned but not as to give himself away. He loved to tease her. He thought she was teasing him.

Marleen raised her eyebrows, and then squinted, pursing her lips. It was a playful, devilish little look that always made him laugh, and he did this time, too, though apprehensively. He felt she was probing in earnest now in spite of her playful teasing.

You know, last night you made love differently. You’ve learned some new tricks, she said.

Really now? He nodded, smiled slyly, and crossed his arms keeping up the game.

His mind raced over a number of thoughts. Could a woman know? Could a woman tell? It was possible. Right from the first, Carla had been uninhibited. He could do with her all the things Marleen objected to. Carla had made it known what turned her on and he had adjusted his style to please her. Some of that new enthusiasm may have carried over to Marleen when she arrived home. She had been in New York three weeks and he yearned for her. He loved sex with Marleen too. He could have been careless. What had he done with Marleen that was unusual? What was different? It had to be something Carla had taught him.

Well? Marleen laughed.

Did you like it? he asked.

You were an animal, she growled. It was wonderful, but who do I have to thank for my new man?

I read a book, Masters and Johnson. I’m glad you approve. We’ll have to try it again sometime.

He saw her smile widen with what he thought was relief. It was unusual, her questioning him in earnest. She had always placed total trust in him, as he in her. Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps it was just guilt and he was only imagining that he had picked up suspicious vibes. Guilt is invisible. It does not really grow on your face like whiskers, something his father brought him up to believe.

Anyway, it was over, he and Carla had agreed. It was such an unbelievable, crazy thing to have happened. A few drinks, dinner, a few more drinks, dancing, and there he was, holding her on the dance floor, when he suddenly realized how much he loved her. That night it went beyond the love one has for a friend. He loved her with the protective passion a married man reserves for the woman he marries. He did not just love her; he was in love with her. It had been the same for Carla. There had been no resistance. It seemed right. It seemed beautiful. Even now he could not feel the deep mournful wrong he knew he should be feeling.

Guess we’d better hit the streets, Marleen said, standing. It seemed in one motion she tucked in her white blouse, arranged her skirt and put on a matching brown blazer. I wish Carla had been home last night. She’s going to love the new spring styles. I can’t wait to show her the line I brought back with me.

Earl laid a dollar tip on the table and took the check to the register. Where was Carla? She was home when Marleen called yesterday saying she just stopped to gas up the van, was only an hour and a half from home, was starved but didn’t want to stop, wanted to drive straight through, and would he have dinner ready when she got there? He assured her he would.

He went out to pick up something from the deli around the corner, and when he got back Carla was gone. She had not left a note or mentioned earlier that she might be going out. Where would she stay all night; and why? They had agreed, she could continue to live there with him and Marleen. He could handle it. She said she could, too. They were going to forget what happened and try to put things back into normal perspective, the way it was before Marleen took the business trip to New York.

Do you have the keys to the shop? Marleen asked.

No, Carla’s got them, he said. He hoped she had opened and it was business as usual.

Carla opened the Frosty Fox Boutique promptly at nine, but groggy from a nearly sleepless night in a room at a Motel 6, accidentally set off the burglar alarm. She hurried to shut it off and called the security company to let them know it was a mistake. Then, customers were kept waiting at the counter while she made coffee in the storeroom.

Where was her mind this morning? Earl told her everything was going to be all right; her best friend would never know. It was a strange and illogical incident. It would never happen again. Why did it happen in the first place? Why did it last the whole three weeks? It should have been stopped the first night. Earl was a happily married man, not the sort to fool around. Well, it might be easy for him, but not for her. She had loved Earl for a long time. He was everything a man should be, kind and honest, gentle and patient, thoughtful and understanding.

Carla, divorced now, thought Earl was everything her own husband had not been. It would be different if Marleen was not her best friend. Carla did not want to forget one thing about her and Earl’s intimate moments together, but Marleen was her best friend. She owed Marleen everything. After her divorce, Marleen had taken her in, given her a job and eventually a fourth of the business. When she recovered from the trauma of the divorce and was on her feet again, Marleen would not let her move out but instead bought a larger residence so Carla would not have to be alone.

Carla had no family at all but those by way of Marleen. Marleen was like a true sister and gave her a family sense of belonging. How could she repay her by sleeping with her husband? How could she risk the friendship of the two people she loved most in the world?

Earl waited in his Lincoln while Marleen backed the van up to the rear entrance of the shop. The van was loaded with over six hundred items, the largest carried-home purchase she had ever made on a buying trip. Marleen did not wait to help Earl bring in the inventory. She was too anxious to see Carla.

Carla! Marleen squealed, and hugged her. Where were you last night? I missed you!

Carla put on a skeptical expression.

Oh, don’t be silly, Marleen said, touching her arm playfully and laughing. Where did you stay? Mom’s?

At an old girl friend’s, Carla lied. She came into the shop last week. I really hadn’t intended to stay all night, but we got talking about old times and before we knew it, it was almost three o’clock in the morning. I just sacked out on her sofa.

Anyone I know? Marleen asked. She and Carla had been best friends since high school.

No. No, her name is Polly, someone I met while Jake and I were married; a neighbor.

Oh. Well, we’ll have to have her come over to dinner one night next week. Marleen offered.

No, I don’t think she will come. She has a husband and four kids now. Last night her husband was out of town. She says she doesn’t get out of the house much because she doesn’t like to leave the kids with baby-sitters. So, what about New York?

Marleen was ready to go on to another subject. She was bubbling with excitement.

It was wonderful. Simply terrific.

Did we stay under budget?

No! Marleen laughed.

Did we make some sound buys?

Unbelievable. The van is loaded to the max. I’d picked up about two hundred warehouse garments, and then I hit on a manufacturer going out of business. You won’t believe the buys on one-of-kind items. I met buyers from all over the world. And wait until you see the order I placed with a Paris sales representative. Gowns, Carla. You’ll die when you see them! No blends, all natural fibers. They’ll arrive as early as next month, in any case long before the holidays. She stopped and took a breath.

I got a tremendous amount of last-season beach apparel. It will arrive by United Parcel Service in eight weeks down at the Orange County shop. You can go down with Earl, bring a few things up if you will. There’ll be some gowns, too. I want them up here.

Earl walked in, carrying the two hat boxes Marleen had asked him to bring in first.

I suppose you girls are going to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over these all morning. He grinned, setting the boxes on the counter. We’ll unload the van this afternoon, okay?

Marleen nodded.

Two customers came in. Earl tossed Marleen the keys to his Lincoln and blew her a kiss as he headed for the front door.

I got to run. Carla, I’m going to take your car, he said with his back to her.

He did not ask where her car was or for the keys. She always parked the little Opal at the curb in front of the barber shop next door and left the keys somewhere on the floorboard. Earl drove it to conserve gas on long trips.

Carla assisted the customers on the sales floor while Marleen went back into the stockroom and became occupied in the books at the little desk, jammed, along with four file cabinets, in between shelves of stock. When the shop was empty of customers, they met at the counter where Earl had deposited the boxes.

Bet you want to know what’s in these, Marleen grinned.

No, not really, Carla said, feigning disinterest.

Even if I brought them back just for you? Even if Jackie 0. has never had one quite like these? Even if-

Okay! Okay! Carla, laughing in delight, tore off the lid of the first box. Oh-h, Marleen. She drew in her breath, genuinely pleased. Carefully she lifted the hat from its carton, examining the contents closely as she slowly walked toward the dressing room mirror to try it on.

Marleen watched with pleasure. It took very little to make Carla happy. Carla had had so little in her lifetime. She remembered back to a Christmas eleven years past when a simple gift had brought a downpour of tears to Carla’s eyes.

Marleen’s family had just moved to Norwalk and it was Marleen’s sophomore year. It had been a difficult year; at her old school she was a cheerleader, popular and familiar in all the right social circles. From the first day at Excelsior High it was a lonely, bitter disappointment. No one spoke to her. By mid-November, when she arrived, everyone was well established in their little cliques. It seemed there was no place for her. Marleen was one of a lucky few, possessing flawless skin, with rosy-pink high cheekbones, straight white teeth, and a perfect figure, long and black hair with the shine of good health. Her eyes, a nearly transparent blue, had black lashes so long she was often asked if they were false.

At fourteen, she had believed looks were everything and could get you anywhere, but not at Excelsior High. A disturbing thing had happened over the past summer; she had grown nearly four inches. At five feet ten inches, she was much taller than most of the boys. At home it had not mattered; the boys had known her when she was not quite so tall and seemed almost unaware that she had shot up over their heads, but there, at the new school, she was referred to as the Amazon. The girls were jealous of her beauty; the boys may have teased her about her size but their eyes were always looking at her chest. The girls held it against her instead of the boy’s rudeness.

One day while sitting alone eating her sack lunch and daydreaming her usual dream - that her father’s job would be transferred back to Monrovia where she had lived all of her life - Carla came up and introduced herself. At first, Marleen had been unfriendly; Carla did not look like the sort of girl Marleen wanted to be seen with. Her clothes were soiled, worn and wrinkled. Atop her head was a mass of wild red curls, dirty and chopped. Her eyes, large oval green things, gave her an air of being either shy or stuck up. Marleen instantly thought of her as a short chubby version of Little Orphan Annie.

May I sit down? Carla asked.

I’d really rather be alone, Marleen had said, thinking she would never be able to make friends among the more desirous, popular girls if she was seen eating with someone as tacky as Carla. Carla could do nothing but downgrade the image she wished to project. As time went by and Marleen made no acceptable impressions on the group she wanted to be in, she began to settle for any companionship. Loneliness at school became unbearable. One day at lunch she saw Carla sitting alone and walked over and sat down beside her. Carla had no lunch and Marleen offered to share hers. Her mother always made far more than she could eat. In the days to follow, she discovered Carla never brought a lunch, and the first time Marleen went to Carla’s house after school she guessed why.

Carla lived in a filthy, rent-by-the-week bungalow with her only living relative, a father Marleen never met. He spent nearly all of his time at a bar, leaving Carla to get along the best she could.

My mother died when I was four, Carla said. I had an older brother but he was killed in a car wreck at sixteen, only a year after my mom died. There’s very little I can remember about them. My father mentioned once an uncle who died in prison. And every year until I was ten, I received a birthday card and a Christmas card with funny money in it from my grandfather in Ireland. I think he died then.

Everything Carla told Marleen was simple, matter-of-fact. Carla bore no self-pity. She showed no shame in her environment. It was simply her life and the only life she knew. No one had taught her how to clean or cook or make herself look good. Marleen immediately, in a fourteen-year-olds fashion, took it upon herself to make Carla her project. Carla, in her passive nature, took all instruction and proved an obedient student. To her Marleen was everything; and she followed her orders as though she were Marleen’s make-believe little rag doll.

On Christmas Eve, Marleen asked Carla to come over and felt very sorry for her because Carla’s father had not bothered to even get a tree. When Marleen’s mother was informed Carla was coming, she immediately put a gift under the tree for Carla. There was no time to buy anything, so she took one of Marleen’s many gifts and put Carla’s name on it. It was a pair of psychedelic silk pajamas with printing across the back reading: You Won’t Sleep Sour in Flower Power.

When Carla arrived, Marleen’s father took an immediate liking to her. She was so refreshingly innocent and open, not like some of Marleen’s old rude and rebellious friends. Her good manners were untaught and natural. She called him Mr. Richards, sir.

Marleen’s mother’s reaction was one of pity. She noticed the girl was clean but her clothes were too small and moth-eaten. Marleen’s little eight-year-old brother, Billy, put a frog down Carla’s back and when Carla only laughed and held it up for a closer inspection, he shrugged and walked off, indifferent.

She’s no fun, he told Marleen later. Most girls go off shrieking when I show them a frog.

Carla was shocked when she received her gift, then embarrassed that she had come empty handed. It never occurred to her to bring a gift.

Go ahead, Carla, open it, Marleen’s father said.

She did and sat a moment, looking at the pajamas.

I’m sure they’ll fit, Marleen’s mother said. Perhaps a little too long. I’ll hem them up for you, if you like.

Carla’s eyes did not leave the shiny multicolored sleepwear.

If you don’t like them, you can exchange them for something else. Marleen looked to her mother for assurance. Can’t she, Mom?

Then Carla started crying, and it was a heartbreaking cry because they all suddenly knew Carla liked the gift. It was the nicest gift she had ever gotten, perhaps the first. To them it was the best present they had ever given because they all learned something that night they had forgotten in their prosperity.

A customer came in, and Carla quickly returned the hat to the box.

It’s gorgeous, she whispered to Marleen.

Carla had a thing for hats. She had a collection from all over the world that covered one of her bedroom walls from floor to ceiling.

That one is new but the other one is from Spain and its not new. I bought it off a fashion coordinator at one of the fashion shows I attended. It’s an original she got when she was over there a few weeks ago.

Carla smiled, looked at the box, looked at the customer, back to the box, then the customer.

Stop it!

Marleen burst into laughter and went to wait on the customer while Carla walked to the stockroom with the remaining hat boxes. She couldn’t wait to try them on.

Chapter Two

On Friday Marleen announced over the breakfast table, I’m really not feeling well. I don’t think I’ll be going into the shop at all today.

Earl looked up in concern. You’ve been tired all week. That trip must have really worn you out.

I haven’t felt myself for weeks. I think I’ll make an appointment with Dr. Stromberg.

A broad smile crossed Earl’s lips. Marleen looked down at her plate, pretended not to notice but her mouth quivered in an effort to conceal her own grin.

This bothered Carla. What was so amusing about Marleen’s not feeling well? They had secrets they kept from her? They shared a silent communication. Why had she never noticed? Of course, it must have always been that way. She had no reason to notice before. Living with them as she did, she had always felt totally informed. They seemed to speak freely in her presence, but obviously there were conversations in her absence. She wondered how they talked in the privacy of their bedroom, imagined the closeness and affection they shared when she was not there to see.

She now realized she did not share in their total life as it once had appeared. They had a life apart from hers. Even her close daily cohabitation with them had not changed that, and that was as it should be. They were a married couple, partners in more than just business. She was only a friend. She had no right to expect a place in their home as an equal in their relationship. Still, she felt resentment. She wanted what they