Tommie Lyn

Adventures Unlimited

My eyes narrowed as I watched Melinda sashay away, clinging to the arm of my now-ex-boyfriend. She smiled at Barry, her eyelashes fluttering like the wings of a bat on a nightly search for prey. This wasn't the first time she'd stolen something from me. When we were kids, she took toys, snacks, even lied to get me in trouble.

As usual, I'd been tongue-tied when they broke the news. Barry stood in red-faced silence, unaware that he was merely a pawn in the war between Melinda and me. A war whose origins were lost to my memory.

Barry escorted Melinda to his car, appearing relieved to escape an embarrassing confrontation. He cranked the engine and they drove away.

Well, who needs him. If he'd rather have her, with her blond hair and size-six figure instead of a girl with intelligence and . . . I glanced down at my size-fourteen skirt. Oh, who am I kidding.

I wiped a drop of self-pity from my cheek and opened my car door. But as I climbed in, a piece of white flotsam on the sea of asphalt caught my eye. Melinda surely must have seen it, too.

Oh, great! Not only does she take my boyfriend, she leaves trash for me to clean up.

I wanted to leave it, but my compulsive neatness took over. I gritted my teeth and picked it up.

Hmm. A crumpled envelope. Sealed. I smoothed it and looked it over. No marks. No name, nothing showing who it belonged to. I peeled back the flap, and my mouth dropped open.

Greenbacks. Lots of them. Why, there must be at least . . . I counted: a hundred, two, three . . . no . . . a thousand dollars!

I wrestled with a desire to keep the money but decided to turn it in. The policeman at the desk assured me that if no one claimed the envelope, it would belong to me. I checked daily at the police station to see if anyone had come forward. No one had. At last, the money was mine.

The extra thousand dollars in my bank account assuaged my heartbreak over Barry . . . a little. I had an offer of another job across town, and I took it. I didn't want to be around him or Melinda any longer. I resigned my position and then learned the starting date at my new job had been delayed two weeks.

Two weeks.

What could I do during that time? The first day, I watched television. When the inane sitcom broke for commercials, I sat through them, too unconcerned to even change the channel. Until . . .

"Come for a week at Adventures Unlimited Beauty Spa," the thin, beautiful woman commanded, "and your life will become an adventure." The camera zoomed in to frame her perfect, earnest face. "You deserve it."

Yeah, I do deserve it. Well, I don't know about deserving it, but I want it. I need it.

And with the newly claimed money, plus a little from my savings, I could just about afford it.

After an adventurous two weeks of facials . . . "You have nice skin, but, tut! you have to take better care of it, sweetie!" . . . hairstyling . . . "My dear, you simply must highlight that mousy hair!" . . . eating skimpy salads and exercising . . . "You see, dahling? You do have a waist-line. It's just been hiding under that roll of fat." . . . I emerged from Adventures Unlimited feeling like a new woman.

I appraised myself in the full-length mirror on my closet door. Wow! Was this me? And I frowned at the dowdy clothes that now hung loose on my reduced frame. I made a decision.

* * *

The clerk bagged my purchases and maxed my credit card while I stared at my image in the trifold mirror. I couldn't stop looking at myself. I was gorgeous in my slinky new dress. Red. Bold. No more beige for me.

Weeks ago, my friend Randa had invited me to a party. I'd dreaded it, but now, I wanted to go, wanted to show off my new look.

I entered Randa's apartment and saw Barry talking with friends. He glanced at me. And did a double-take when he realized the red bombshell was me. He was alone.

"Where's Melinda?" I asked Randa.

"Didn't you hear? She's in jail. Stole about a thousand dollars from petty cash. Swore she lost it, but hey, everyone knows she'd steal the quack from a duck if she thought she could get away with it."