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And introducing...

Darla

Leon Errol

http:fictionalfantasies.webs.com




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


Gabriel gasped as Salomi reached out to him and said,”I love you. Don’t go”

He ran to her and hugged her close to him as he cried tears of joy and she cried as well. He then kissed her and pulled away as he stroked her face,”My God. This is the best gift that you have given to me Lomi”he said,”You spoke. To me. Your speaking”he said

Salomi half smiled but then she sighed and then said again,”Don’t go”

Gabriel sighed,”Believe me I don’t want to go now. Believe me, every night I just wanted to stay with you but…I have to. For us”he said. Not going was out of the question, he was 2 weeks behind in pay from the club and buying Salomi the expensive gifts were going to cost him in the long run. He had to make up for it.”Come with me?”he asked her,”Its been so long since you have been back and working there too. You can wait for me in my dressing room and once I'm done we can come straight here. How does that sound?”he asked her

Salomi nodded,”That’s…fine”she said slowly. She went for a long time without speaking and it felt like she had to learn all over again. She was surprised that Gabriel was so happy. She dressed in one of the new dresses that Dorothy bought for her and she did her hair and makeup and then they walked toward Maisy’s. Once they got there, Gabriel’s dressing room was filled with everyone who missed her. Salomi spoke little but when she did everyone was surprised, happy and impressed. It was all a shock that they were all fawning over her. She didn’t know what to expect, she thought everyone would be upset that she put them through so much trouble, that she was so stupid to trip and fall off that train, to take a long trip like that at all. But no one mentioned it but they were probably thinking it. But all in all, she was very happy, she missed being at the club and helping out Dorothy and Ruth. The new performers that Dorothy had just hired were great and the club was making even more money.

“Oh huney, I'm so glad you are here”Dorothy said as she hugged Salomi close to her. Gabriel ran up to her with tears in her eyes and she feared and expected the worst but she spoke to him. She was speaking to everyone. The old Lomi was back! “I love you so much. Don’t you ever forget that”

“I love you too”Salomi said softly and Dorothy almost started crying.

“I have to get back”Dorothy said,”I’ll see you in the morning?”she asked her. Salomi nodded and like everyone else, Dorothy went back to work with a huge smile on her face and like she was walking on air. She went straight to a table and sat down.

“Wow, what's gotten into you?”Jules asked her. It was his first time at the club and he was enjoying every minute of it.

“Salomi spoke. She's speaking. It happened when I was on my way to see you. Gabriel was just about to leave when she said that she loved him and didn’t want him to leave her. So he brought her here. She's in his dressing room now. She said she loved me”she said as tears welled in her eyes

“Of course she does. Does that surprise you?”Jules said half teasing her, but he knew how much those three words meant her, especially when it came to Salomi saying them

“Well for a second there, I thought that there may be a chance that she would never say those words again. Say anything again”

“Well now that nightmare is over”he said as he hugged her, he wanted to kiss her but couldn’t. “Order me your finest champagne, we are gonna make a toast.”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Thanks everyone, but now we gotta get going”Gabriel said to everyone that was still in the dressing room. He was done with his two performances and he noticed that all the excitement made Salomi tired and maybe even a little scared. Maybe because she hasn’t had much interaction with anyone in the past 2 months. Everyone obeyed his wishes and they all said their goodbyes to them and left them alone. He helped Salomi with her coat and he asked her,”Are you alright?”

“Yes, I'm fine”Salomi said,”Just…overwhelmed that’s all”

Gabriel nodded,”I know. But everyone is very happy to see you. Everyone has been worried about you”

“Really?”

“Of course…why wouldn’t they be?”he asked her

Salomi just shook her head and then said,”Never mind”and reached her hand out to him,”Lets go home”

Gabriel smiled as he took her hand. Those words struck home as well. He has wanted her to say that for so long. “Yeah…lets go home”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Within days, Salomi was back to normal. The apartment was much livelier once she became her old self again. She wasn’t as dependent on Gabriel and was soon working at Maisy’s and roaming the city during the day like she used to. She decided to get a Christmas gift for herself, she wanted a new style but didn’t know quite what she was looking for. She went to a boutique called Axelle’s, which was a store where she and Dorothy frequented as well as other rich and famous women. She looked through the racks and saw that either she already had what she liked or it was something that she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing. She sighed.

“Nice shoes”she heard someone comment and Salomi looked up to see a girl with short bobbed hair.

“Thanks”she said to her and then smiled, she had on the same ones,”You too”

“Why thank you”she said with a smile,”I love them. They’re the cat's pajamas wouldn’t you say?”

Salomi looked at her like she was speaking another language,”What?”

“They’re the cat's pajamas. Fantastic.”she explained

“Oh yes. Fantastic. The cat's pajamas. Of course. They are really comfortable. Got them for Christmas”

The girl smiled.”Mine were a Christmas gift too….of sorts. I stole mine”she said and then laughed out loud. Salomi just stared at her and then laughed a little. “So what are you looking for?”

“I honestly don’t know. I have most of these dresses already and some are just…”

“Baloney?”the girl added

“I was going to say awful…wait..”she laughed,”What does baloney mean?”

“Nonsense. Stupid.”the girl said with a laugh and then stared at her with wide eyes,”Where have you been?”

Salomi wanted to say secluded in a hospital after she was stupid enough to kill her own baby, but that wouldn’t be a good first impression. “I've been busy. I never get to go out”

“That’s too bad”she said as she picked up a red dress,”What about this?”

“It's…the cat's pajamas”Salomi said with a smile,”I also have the same one”

The girl smiled,”Well it seems that I found myself a twin sister”she said to her,”We have the same shoes and now we are going to have the same dress”she said as she took it off the rack. She walked toward a woman who worked there and she actually bought the dress. “You getting anything?”

Salomi shook her head,”I guess not”she said as she walked out with her,”I just have this feeling that I need to change something about myself. A new style, a new look”

“Oh!”the girl said excitedly,”I know exactly what you mean! I had that exact feeling last week and that’s when I did this!”she said as she pointed to her hair. “My hair was almost all the way down to my bottom and then boom! I cut it all off. Its so Jake right now, all the girls are doing it. Like that actress, Clara Bow”she said to her as they walked down the street,then she gasped,”You should do it! Get a bob!”

“A bob?”Salomi asked,”You mean…cut my hair?”

“Why not? It will look great on you I can see it now and if you don’t like it, it will always grow back. Show off that gorgeous neck of yours, easy access for the fellas”she said with a wink. She stopped her and then pointed across the street,”In fact that’s where I got it done”she said as she pointed to a salon. “You gonna do it or not?”

Salomi looked at the store and saw two girls leave with bob cuts but they were blond. Very blond in fact. Almost white but it looked good. “Ok let's do it”

The two girls ran across the street and the girl introduced her to someone,”Hello Marie. Got you a new customer. She wants a bob”

Marie nodded,”Great choice. Everyone is doing it. You ready?”she asked her as she nodded her head to her empty chair. Salomi nodded. Soon Marie got to work on her hair and Salomi winced when she could hear the scissors slicing away at her long dark hair.

“She ain't gonna cut your head off sweetheart”the girl said to her as she laughed

Soon Marie was done and she turned Salomi around to face the mirror. Salomi gasped as she looked at herself. She looked totally different! This was exactly what she wanted, she didn’t even look like herself.

“Oh! That is so Jake! Marie, you are a genius!”the girl said to her as she hugged Marie

“Yes thank you”Salomi said to her. She paid Marie and then they left the salon.

“Didn’t I tell you? Wasn’t I right?”the girl asked her,”You look like the cat's pajamas….”then she stopped

“What?”

“I just realized that I convinced a girl to get her first bob… and I don’t even know her name! How rude of me! I'm Darla”she said

Salomi laughed, she just realized as well,”I'm Salomi. Nice to finally meet you Darla”

“Hmmm…interesting name…Salomi…beautiful”Darla said,”So…what do you want to do now?”

“I'm starved, lets eat”Salomi said. Darla smiled and put her arm through hers and they went to the closest restaurant.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“She's probably out shopping. You know how she is”Gabriel said to Dorothy. They were leaving for Maisy’s in 10 minutes and Salomi had been out all day. She didn’t even call. It was cold out too. Where was she? Dorothy was getting worried.

Gabriel sighed. He was sick of worrying about Salomi. She was her old self again and she was fine now, he didn’t need to worry about her anymore. “If she isn’t back by the time we leave, she’ll be there. She's never late”

Just then the door seemed to burst open and with it came two very giggly girls with short hair, red lips and red cheeks from the cold. Dorothy gasped, she didn’t recognize her at first.”Salomi? What did you do to your hair?”

“I cut it!”Salomi said excitedly,”I wanted something new you know? I wanted to look different, have a new style then I met Darla and she has the same shoes and now the same dress as I do. Shes like my twin! Anyway, she advises me to get a bob. It’s the bees knees!”she said excitedly,”You like?”

Dorothy half smiled,”It looks kind of boyish don’t you think?”

“Yes but that’s the beauty of it”Darla commented excitedly,”I'm Darla”she said as she hugged Dorothy tightly,”I am such a big fan of yours too. I love you! You are so….Jake!”she said and she and Salomi laughed

Gabriel gave Salomi a kiss,”I like it. You look beautiful”

“Oh so this is your big cheese huh?”Darla asked Salomi and she nodded,”You are cute. Darla”

“Nice to meet you Darla. Gabriel”he said

“I know I'm running late and I'm sorry but I told Darla about Maisy’s and she just had to come. I'm bringing her along”Salomi said,”We’re gonna get dressed”she said as she held the bedroom door open for Darla and she went in.

“We should be twins tonight!”Darla said as she went into the bathroom

“Well…just don’t be late”Dorothy said. This was a big surprise to her, only last week was she not saying a word and now it was just as Jules predicted. She was talking way too much and speaking in a language she didn’t understand. Must be that Clara Bow phenomenon.

“I wont Dorothy, don’t worry”Salomi said to her. She looked at Gabriel. “Do you mind waiting for us?”

“No I don’t mind”he said

“Good. Thank you”she said as she kissed him quickly

“Oh…and what does ‘big cheese’ mean?”he asked her

Salomi laughed,”It means you’re an important person silly”she said and then closed the door behind her. They heard Darla say something and then Salomi laughed out loud.

Gabriel looked at Dorothy.”This is good Dorothy. Salomi needs a girlfriend her age. She and Ruth butt heads a lot, she needs a friend to make her laugh. Hey anything that keeps her happy these days is good for her”

Dorothy nodded.”Yes it is. Well I'm going to get going. Don’t let those two make you run behind”

“They won't”Gabriel said. Dorothy nodded and then left. Gabriel sat on the couch and waited and turned on their new radio as he waited for them.

Minutes later, Salomi poked her head out between the frame and the door. He noticed that she had a lot of makeup on and more ruby red lipstick.”Ready?”she asked

Gabriel smiled,”You look beautiful. Yes I am”

Salomi opened the door wider and said,”Ta da!” She and Darla were both wearing the same red dress, the same shoes, they both had their black bobs cut and styled to perfection and they both had the ruby red lipstick and little black feathers in their hair.

Gabriel laughed,”You do look like twins!”he said,”You both look beautiful”

“Why thank you Cheese”Darla said to him and Salomi laughed.”You are going to look quite handsome next to us”she said as they got their coats on. She slipped an arm through Gabriel's and Salomi did the same. He smiled, he had the ‘twins’ on each arm. “Let's scat”she said to them

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Salomi and Darla were the talk of the club. A lot of people didn’t even recognize Salomi with her new ‘bob’ and kept asking who the ‘cute twins’ were. Darla had a great time, she loved all the acts and cheered loudly whenever Gabriel performed. Darla was pretty wild but very fun and Salomi loved her already. Someone else was watching Gabriel as well and they were very impressed.

“Did you want to go backstage?”Salomi asked Darla

“Of course!”Darla said as she jumped up. Salomi introduced her to all the performers and then she knocked on Gabriel’s door.”You were great! How did you learn to do that?”Darla asked him as she walked in.

“Thank you”Gabriel said and then kissed Salomi,”I used to be in a circus troupe”

“Oh yes, Salomi did tell me about that”Darla said as she took something out of her purse. It was a long stick of some sort and she put a cigarette in it and lit it. “Smoke?”she asked them

“Sure”Salomi said as she walked over and tried it. She inhaled and then coughed.

“Careful!”Darla said with a laugh,”You can't inhale on the first try, you gotta get used to it”she said. Then there was a knock at the door. Gabriel opened it and it was Ruth with some guy.

“He wanted to see you”Ruth said.

Gabriel nodded,”Gabriel Brewster”he said as he held out his hand and introduced himself

“Nice work up there Gabriel. I'm Leon Errol. I wanted to speak to you about your act. See, I used to own a vaudeville troupe back in Australia, my home country. I like your work. Can we speak privately?”he asked him

“Sure”Gabriel said.”Ladies? I'm going to need my-“

“Oh take all the time you need”Salomi said with a smile. She had a feeling that something good could come out of this. “Come on Darla”

“Oh Mr. Errol? This is my fiancé, Salomi and her friend, Darla”Gabriel said introducing them.

“Your fiancé is very lovely”Leon said as he kissed Salomi’s hand,”But her friend is lovelier”he said as he kissed Darla’s hand. Salomi smiled widely at Darla. Darla blushed and giggled and the two girls left.

“Seems Mr. Errol is very taken by you”Salomi said to her

*___________________________*









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