When Minnie lost her hair, and I shaved my head in support, it was August, we were fifteen, and the carnival was in town. Minnie was too nauseated for the rides, which was a relief to me, but she still wanted to go to the fun house. We bought a caramel apple and a bag of cotton candy that neither of us ate, as well as a couple of brightly colored bandanas to tie over our smooth heads so we wouldn’t “scare” the carnies—we thought we were so funny—and made our way into the ramshackle house of mirrors. It creaked as we walked through, and for the first time I felt the uneasy prickle of a hundred distorted images staring back at me and Minnie, as if we were surrounded by the very worst of ourselves, our fears, our faults, our ugliest features, in living incarnations.
“This is a depressing place,” Minnie said softly.
“Yeah. It is.” I said. I tried to poke fun at one of my reflections to scare away the gloom, but my humor fell flat, and we moved on quickly. Toward the final hallway, we found an attraction that hadn’t been there in previous years. Or maybe in other years we were more innocent and less observant, more eager to run to the next delight. Whatever the reason, as we neared the exit we were caught between two giant mirrors that faced each other, reflecting the image between them back and forth ad infinitum.
We had dressed alike as we often did, or as often as cheap clothing and Goodwill bags would allow. We had on pale colored shorts and plain pink T’s, our heads covered with the fluorescent green bandanas we’d purchased, and flip flops on our feet. I was browner and a little heavier than Minnie—the chemo made her more susceptible to sunburn and killed her appetite, but other than that, we were still identical.
Minnie and I stared at the rows of twins that had no end, one behind another in smaller and smaller replicas of the original. Bonnie and Minnie forever . . . and ever and ever. I reached for Minnie’s hand, and all our reflections joined hands as well, making the hair rise on my neck. Maybe it should have been comforting, the thought of the two of us going on forever, but it wasn’t.
“There are twins, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, right? But what do you call that?” Minnie said, her eyes glued to the mirror in front of us.
“Scary as hell,” I answered.
“Yeah. It is. It’s freaky. Let’s go.” Minnie let go of my hand and stepped out of the frame. She was closer to the exit, and she turned and hurried out into the sunlight that beat down beyond the flaps that covered the makeshift door. And I was alone between the mirrors. All by myself, into eternity. I spun, trying to find an angle that made the phenomenon disappear. Instead, all the Bonnies spun with me, looking for a way out.
The echoing mirror image was no longer scary. It was terrifying.
Chapter Twenty-Four
WE ARE LIVE at the red carpet at the Academy Awards, and we’ve seen everyone who is anyone make their way into the Kodak Theater for tonight’s big awards show. The dresses have been breathtaking, the stars stunning, but the big news tonight was the shocking attendance of country singer, Bonnie Rae Shelby, and her new husband, Infinity James Clyde.
About twenty minutes ago we received word that Bonnie Rae Shelby had just arrived at the theater. Some of our viewers might not be aware that Bonnie Rae was nominated for the Best Original Song category for “Machine,” the title track from last summer’s blockbuster movie of the same name. We all knew she had been nominated, but in light of recent events, no one expected her to be here.
The news started spreading through the assembled press, and the cameras were all trained on her, as she and Infinity Clyde, the ex-convict rumored at one time to have actually kidnapped Bonnie Rae Shelby, made their way to the entrance of the theater.
The whole nation has been riveted on this story. The young singer apparently walked off the stage at a concert just over a week ago, and her inner circle started putting out the story that she had disappeared. Her manager even claimed there had been a ransom demand. Then tonight, to see her walking the red carpet, glowing like a new bride, looking absolutely stunning and quite changed with a new hair color and style, was jaw dropping, to say the least. She and Clyde made a striking pair, and most people can see from the images captured tonight, America’s sweetheart is all grown up
When asked where she’s been and if she was aware of the national attention she’d been garnering, Bonnie Rae simply laughed, shook her head like it was all ridiculous, and then proceeded to smile and wave to the crowd all the while holding tightly to her new husband’s hand. As for Infinity Clyde, the man whom so many wanted to hate, he stayed by her side, a hand at her back, and didn’t answer any questions, as the two of them traversed the famed carpet.
The questions being directed at attendees before the surprising arrival of Bonnie Rae Shelby had all been about which designer an actress was wearing, or trivial questions about nerves or excitement over a nomination. When Bonnie and her infamous Clyde walked the carpet, those questions changed dramatically. We had fashion reporters and entertainment correspondents shouting questions about abduction and shot-gun weddings.
Regardless of the questions being asked, the only question that Bonnie answered was a question about her dress, an elegant white sheath that complemented her skin and figure beautifully. She informed the reporter that the dress she was wearing was her wedding dress. This drew quite a reaction from all those who heard her response, and more questions were raised, at which point Bonnie introduced Infinity Clyde as “her husband, Finn.”
The folks here tonight saw entertainment history in the making. The two newlyweds seemed very intent on one another, and though it is customary for attendees to pose for some pictures separately, the two did not do so, declining requests for such shots as they made their way through the throng. As a result, every shot taken has them with their arms around each other or holding hands, and it is quite apparent that the rumors of kidnapping are fiction. You can bet when word spread to news affiliates about the appearance of this wanted couple at the Academy Awards, law enforcement must have been scratching their heads, along with Bonnie Rae’s own management team, who has continuously floated rumors of ransom requests and tried to squash reports of crime sprees. The couple we saw tonight told a very different story.