Sisters Love. Part 2

It was a long, hot summer that year. Marcia went to church every Sunday morning, and Karin stayed at home with their father. When it was sunny – and it often was – Karin went up to her sunbed on the roof.

When Marcia went up to the roof garden, she always sat under the umbrella. But Karin put on lots of suntan oil and sat in the sun in her bikini.

‘The hot sun’s not good for your body,’ Marcia said.

Karin laughed. ‘Howard likes my body.’

‘No he doesn’t!’ Marcia said angrily.

‘Oh, he does!’ Karin said. ‘He’s very shy with women, but he always looks at my body very carefully. He does it all the time. Perhaps he wants me to take off—‘

‘Stop it, Karin!’ Marcia said. ‘Don’t say those things!’

Karin laughed. ‘What’s the matter, big sister? Are you afraid I’m going to take him from you?’

Marcia did not answer.

The next Sunday, Howard phoned Marcia early in the morning.
‘I – I don’t feel very well,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to church today.’

‘My love, I’m sorry,’ Marcia said. ‘Can I phone you when I get home?’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said.

‘I can’t phone before one o’clock,’ Marcia said. ‘I’m going to be late back because there’s a meeting after church. Something about Africa, I think.’

‘Oh, yes, I remember,’ Howard said.

But Marcia was wrong. There was no meeting after church that morning. It was the next Sunday. So she left church at the usual time and arrived home at a quarter to twelve.

First she went in to see her father, but he was asleep. Then she phoned Howard, but there was no answer.

‘Perhaps he’s sleeping,’ she thought. And his mother doesn’t want to answer the phone.’

She went to her room and put on a long summer skirt. Then she went up to the roof garden.

She put her hand on the door to the roof… and stopped. The door was half open and she could hear voices. There was someone with Karin.

A man. Howard. Howard?

Marcia listened.

‘I feel bad about this,’ Howard said. ‘We must tell Marcia soon, Karin.’

‘No!’ Karin said quickly. She gave a little laugh. ‘It’s our secret, Howard. Only for a little longer. All right?’

‘I – I don’t like…’ he began.

‘But you do love me, Howard,’ Karin said. ‘Not Marcia? Say you love me. Please!’

Marcia suddenly felt cold.

‘You… you know I do,’ Howard answered. ‘But—‘

Karin kissed him. ‘It’s our little secret. Oh, is your car outside, my love? We don’t want Marcia to see it.’

‘I didn’t bring my car,’ Howard said. ‘I walked here.’

‘Good,’ Karin said. ‘But it’s getting late. You must go, before she comes home.’

They kissed again.

‘See you tomorrow. Usual time, usual place,’ said Karin. ‘Now, go!’

Marcia moved quickly and quietly away from the roof door, and ran to her bedroom. She did not want Howard or Karin to see her.

She heard their voices. Then the front door of the apartment opened and closed. Howard was gone.

Marcia sat on her bed for an hour. ‘Why, why, why?’ she thought. ‘Why does she do it? I stay at home with an old man all the time. I can’t go out to work, I can’t make new friends, I can’t meet new people. I go shopping once a week and I go to church once a week. That’s all. And then I met Howard. When he said “I love you”, I was so happy. And now…?’

Karin had everything. Good looks, a job, friends. She was young, she could have any man. So why Howard? Why, why, why?

‘It’s not because she wants him,’ Marcia thought. ‘It’s because I love him. It’s because she doesn’t want me to be happy.’

But you do love me, Howard. Not Marcia?

You know I do.

Was it true? Did Howard love Karin and not her? No! He saw only the beautiful, suntanned body. He didn’t know her.

‘She’s not going to have him…’ Maria thought..

Every evening that week, Howard drove Karin home after work. And every evening they got later and later.

The next Sunday, Marcia didn’t go to church.

‘I’ve got a bad head,’ she told Karin. ‘I just phoned Howard and told him, and he’s coming here after church as usual. I’m going back to sleep for an hour or two.’ And she went into her bedroom and shut the door.

Later in the morning, when Karin was with their father, Marcia went up to the roof garden. Karin’s bottle of suntan oil was on the table, and Marcia smiled.

When Karin came up to the roof, Marcia was in her chair under umbrella with a book in her hand.

‘Oh, is your head better?’ Karin asked.

‘Yes, thanks,’ Marcia said.

Karin wore her bikini, a new yellow one. She opened her bottle of suntan oil.

‘Oh, there’s not much here,’ she said. ‘I must get some more.’ She began to put some oil on her legs.

Twenty minutes later, Howard stopped his car in the street below. Up on the roof, Karin and Marcia heard the usual three little toots on his car horn.

‘He’s here,’ Karin said excitedly. ‘Your man’s here, big sister!’ And laughed.

Yes, Marcia thought. My man, not yours, Karin.

Karin jumped up from her sunbed. She ran to the wall at the edge of the roof to looked down and wave to Howard. She had no shoes on, and at the wall her feet suddenly slipped away from under her.

‘Aaagh!’ she cried.

She fell forward, and put out her hands to grab the wall. But the top of the wall was slippery too. Her hands could not hold it, and slipped away, off the wall, over the edge. And her body went on too, over the edge of the wall, and down…

Down… down… down…

Before she hit the ground, she knew.

Slippery… suntan oil… Marcia…