Bubbles's Sister

Bubbles was a pole dancer on the block. As part of her act the club would set up a bubble machine and turn it on during her stints on the pole. Her own bubbles were much bigger than the ones the machine blew out and just as artificial. They were never going to float away though. No matter what she did on the pole Bubbles’s bubbles never moved.

All this made good theatre and Bubbles was doing ok. She was also my housemate and my landlord, as where we lived was only one of her properties. If you’re smart and have the constitution for it, there’s good money in her game.

Yesterday I finished work early and when I came home the place was a mess. Everything swept off shelves and cupboards ransacked. Stuff in piles on the floor. The TV screen was smashed and weirdly, the fridge door propped open in what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to spoil our milk. I swept off my headphones and then realised that whoever was doing the wrecking was still there and had moved on to my room. I grabbed a heavy frypan and a knife from the kitchen floor.

I went and stood in my bedroom doorway watching someone rifle around in my underwear drawer. From the back they looked familiar.

“HEY!” I yelled and raised my sword and shield for action.

Shocked, they jumped and spun around.

“WTF?” I blurted.

It was Bubbles but also it wasn’t. She was a dead ringer for Bubbles except than in her plain white T shirt I could see she didn’t have Bubbles’s bubbles, not even close.

“Hi, I’m Meredith, Bubbles twin sister.” She looked down at my blue striped boxer shorts which she had bunched in her hand. She dropped them on the pile of my clothes and stretched out the hand which I ignored.

“Yeah, but what are you doing in my underwear drawer? And why are you wrecking the fucking apartment.”

“Shit, you’re not supposed to be home for another hour. I’m wrecking the apartment because I fucking hate my sister and she’s got everything and I have nothing, so I’m making her unhappy too. We’re twins you know, and the boob job money was mine. I was going to be Bubbles. She bloody stole it, stole my dream from me.”

“Yeah, but this is my stuff.”

“Well I’ve been watching you, to know when to break in and you’re kind of cute. So I’m helping you out. You know, from Bubble’s insurance payout, get some new furniture. Your stuff is really shitty.”

Meredith paused, waiting.

“So, you going to tell, maybe stab me with your knife?”

I didn’t think about it, it just came out, “Nah it’s ok. Go for it.”

“Is this stuff valuable?”

She was pointing at my old footy trophies that were occupying prime real estate on top of the drawers.  I shook my head and then watched her throw them on the floor.

Photo by Kind and Curious on Unsplash