Priscilla Chapter Three

Aubrey & Priscilla go to the store. (First draft)

Aubrey steered the old Miller truck into the grocery market parking lot and brought the vehicle to a slow stop, carefully parking it.

“Okay, we’re here.” she sighed as she turned down the radio which was blasting Sunday morning gospel tunes. “Are milk and eggs the only thing that you need from the store or…?”

Priscilla reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a folded piece of paper, held between two slender fingers.

“I made a quick list.” She responded as the parchment unfurled in her hands. “I only added a couple more things on there, but it shouldn’t take long at all I don’t think. I’ll wait here in the truck.”

Aubrey nodded, taking the list from her.

“Alright, I’ll try to be quick.” Aubrey unlocked the door and stepped down from the beat up truck.

She stretched briefly—that hour drive taking a mild toll on her body—and headed across the lot to the market. The glass doors of the drab grocery shoppe struggled to squeak open as she walked in. The young farm aid scanned the piece of paper gifted to her by Mrs. Miller and read the short list:

Milk
Eggs
Flour
Molasses


“Okay, that’s not bad…” Aubrey muttered as she stuffed the paper back into the large pocket of her overalls.

She waved hello to the lone cashier at the front of the store and grabbed a small blue shopping basket to carry the items in. The store was fairly small, consisting of no more than ten aisles. It didn’t take Aubrey long to find everything Priscilla requested. A gallon of milk, a carton of twelve eggs, a two pound bag of flour, and a small bottle of syrupy molasses. Aubrey presented the items to the elderly cashier, got them checked out, and walked out the squeaking doors—only to see that the rain had finally started in the short time she was on her grocery quest for Mrs. Miller.

“…Ugh…” she groaned as braced herself for the relentless precipitation.

With a hand halfheartedly covering her head, Aubrey rushed to the parked vehicle and struggled to unlock the car door with the key. Priscilla reached over the seats, helping her unlatch the door, and Aubrey quickly hopped in.

“Thanks.” she sighed, putting the groceries in the little space between them.

“Don’t mention it.” Priscilla replied, casually swiping a dark curl away from her face.

Only when Aubrey looked back up—doing a double take— did she noticed something glaringly out of place.

“…I didn’t know that you smoked.” Aubrey pointed out.

Priscilla looked shocked, indicating that this was something she was never supposed to see. The stick of smoldering tobacco was planted comfortably between the matrons ample lips, the smoke playfully dancing in the stuffy air of the old gray Ford. Aubrey got the idea that this was a taboo habit of hers that was meant to be kept unknown to members of the Miller family, despite the fact that Aubrey—and Kevin—was a smoker too. Perhaps he forbid her from partaking in it? Regardless, this excited Aubrey in ways she wasn’t sure of why herself.

“I…I’m trying to quit.” Priscilla replied, in a sheepish manner.

“Well, do you mind if I have a light?” Aubrey asked, pulling a cigarette out of the pack. “I left my lighter at the house so…”

“Uhm…sure.”

Priscilla reached into modest bust-cut of her dress and pulled out a lighter from the crevice of her plush bosom. With a trembling hand, Aubrey took the item from her. It was so…warm. And slightly damp. She paused just before she could bring it up to her face—fighting everything within her from get a noseful of that intoxicating milky smell that she has quickly grown to love. Aubrey lit her cigarette quickly and handed the lucky lighter back to Priscilla. She put it back where it came from quietly as Aubrey started up the truck once again, taking off from the parking lot and onto the back-roads. About fifteen minutes into the drive, the Farmer’s wife suddenly broke the silence.

“If…if you wouldn’t mind…” she started meekly, as she fidgeted with the wedding band on her ring finger. “Could you keep this a secret from Kevin…?”

Aubrey took a second to process what the matriarch was asking of her.

“…What? The smoking?” she asked after a significant pause.

“Yeah.” Priscilla answered, nodding. “He doesn’t know that I still smoke—and he doesn’t really like it when I do it—so I would appreciate it if you didn’t let it slip that I still need my fix every once in a while.”

Aubrey side eyed the older woman before refocusing her attention on the road. Devote Christian housewife but keeping secrets from your husband…? Has a suffocating marriage forced a formerly carefree Nymphoid into a life of docile and mild mannered monotony? She lightly scratched at her eyebrow as Priscilla casually took another drag from her shrinking cigarette. Oh, well. That doesn’t really have anything to do with me. As far as Aubrey was concerned, Priscilla could do whatever she wanted. Kevin’s feelings already dangerously irrelevant to her.

“Sure.” Aubrey answered, earnestly. “You don’t have to worry about me telling him a thing.”

“Aren’t you just the sweetest little thing?” the housewife doted as Aubrey’s body suddenly ran red hot. “Trust me, it makes all of our lives easier this way. Oh, and also.” Priscilla suddenly pointed to the gas meter on the dashboard with a long manicured nail. “You might want to fill her up before we get too close to the house. There’s a gas canister in the trunk that you can use. Don’t need Kevin throwing a fit about the gas being low while I’m working in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” Aubrey said, as she pulled off the side of the road.

The tires on the right hand side now making contact with the verdant vegetation underneath. She had half a mind to ask Priscilla why a Woman like her even married Kevin in the first place, but decided against asking such a loaded question at this time. With her only being here a few days so far, Aubrey wanted to be on her absolute best behavior; to be as inoffensive as possible. No matter how badly she wanted to ravage the sweet body of her cousins demure mother-wife by becoming her secret swain and tell the Blob himself to go cry about it.
She hopped out of the truck and grabbed for the apple red canister of gas as she reached over the tall ledge of the trunk. Aubrey cranked the gas tank open and began to carefully fill it up, absentmindedly eyeballing her wooded surroundings. Suddenly, she heard a sound emit from around the front of the truck. A sound she could only assume was a quiet stray moan. Aubrey looked all around her and about to see if there was anyone, perhaps a couple of young lovers, nearby fooling around in the grass. There was not a soul in sight. Nothing but the sloping grassy land curving into the pavement. Decorated with adolescent treelings and dense bushes that made up the thicket at the top of the hill and the vast forest beyond. Except for Priscilla waiting in the front seat, of course. Ka-chunk! Once the tank was full, Aubrey put the can back to where it was and climbed back into the drivers seat.

“Ready?” Aubrey asked, the turned key met with a healthy roar from the engine.

Priscilla simply smiled and nodded her head, her breathing a slightly labored. Her dewy complexion looking even more radiant than before. Aubrey didn’t think the weather was that warm, but she decided not to dwell on it for too long. Taking off, back to the Miller Farms they went.

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Later that night, after the the brunch was made and devoured; after Aubrey had already retired for the night, miscellaneous sounds awoke her out of her light slumber. The sounds of camera flashes breaking through the eerie silence. A woman’s voice, reminiscent of sweet Priscilla, spoke from some distance in the dark. Unable to tell if this was a dream or not, Aubrey laid unmoving in her bed. Paranoid of what she might find if she was able to gather up the courage to go check it out on her own. Eventually, calming down once the mysterious sounds trailed off into the night, that same opaque darkness lulled her back to sleep.