Subj: Designing Shadows Part 10
Date: 1/16/01 8:05:03 AM Central Standard Time
From: N.E. Collins

Mary Jo stared on in morbid fascination as the torrid scene in parallel time continued to play on. The other Mary Jo and the man finally pulled apart and the other Mary Jo smiled and threw her head back in ectasy as she announced, "Oh, Trask, you are indeed a full service servant! You could draw my bath anytime, but only if you joined me in it!" She laughed wickedly and they were just about to move their little show to the bed when there was a sudden repeated rapping on the door. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! "Mary Jo? Mary Jo, I KNOW you're in there with that MAN! Well, I know you are in there with SOME man. Mary Jo, open this door at once!" Mary Jo in regular time recognized the voice coming from the other side of the door in parallel time. It was Suzanne Sugarbaker's to be sure, but it held a different quality than what she knew to be Suzanne's way. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she KNEW there was a difference.

The other Mary Jo sighed and went to the door and opened it letting Suzanne in. "Oh, it's you." She said to Trask in less than approving tone. "Well, they want you downstairs, Mr. Trask, as they are starting that unGODly seance as we speak!" Trask rolled his eyes and chuckled. "To think I have to attend to the needs of the dear departed when I have such lucious living ones at my fingertips." He dallied with the other Mary Jo just a moment before making his exit. "Duty calls, but I'll be back." As he left the room he gave Suzanne a swift smack on the rearend and laughed maniacally as he strode away. Suzanne was appalled. "Merciful Heavens, this house is just FULL of SINNERS!" She adoringly clutched the large crucifix she wore as she intoned, "Lord, deliver us from evil, I pray!" The other Mary Jo ignorned Suzanne's protestations and moved towards the mirror where she sat down and begin to make repairs to her mussed up hair.

Suzanne's eye wandered over the room and her gaze was attracted to the large color portrait of the mistress of the house, Angelique Collins. The portrait was the focal point of the entire room and Suzanne crinkled her nose in displeasure as if she smelled an unpleasant odor. "That woman has built herself a shrine to herself here. She is guilty of the SIN of VANITY! And right now, downstairs, they are indulging in a most heinous activity. Julia is such a fool to be involved, but you KNOW how she is SO DRAWN to the occult!" Suzanne fearfully continued to clutch her cross. "And Charlene is down there only so she can say later that it was all a hoax. She thinks she's so sensible, but I KNOW that what those people are doing is a SIN against GOD, and something BAD will happen. MARK MY WORDS!"

The other Mary Jo languidly asked Suzanne, "Why aren't you down there?"

Suzanne replied meekly. "They threw me out."

"That's getting to be the story of your life, isn't it hon?" The other Mary Jo remarked.

"Well, I don't care. I know what's right and what they are doing is WRONG! And we are SUPPOSED to be doing a JOB here. Why is it that we ALWAYS get involved in things that have NOTHING to do with decorating?"

The other Mary Jo was about to make some smart aleck comment when there came the sounds of terrified screaming from below!

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.