The Decimation of Mae (The Blue Butterfly) Read Online Free PDF Page B

minutes
as my attention was sucked in by all the glorious pieces in each of the huge
department store windows. Pretty cocktail dresses in pinks, blues and creams
dressed pretty mannequins in one, delicate glistening jewelled necklaces on an
assortment of shelves decorated another window but it was always the final
window that stole my breath and formed many of my dreams. The beautiful wedding
dress that hung from the model in the window was the most exquisite thing I’d ever
seen. It hugged the sculpture perfectly, the soft cream lace draping dreamily
as the tiny diamante butterflies embedded into the fine silk of the skirt twinkled
with the shop lights. The pretty sweetheart neckline was complimented with the
most beautiful blue diamond that hung from a platinum chain and rested
precisely at the base of her throat.
    The male mannequin was dressed in the finest suit,
expensive and stylish, as he rested on one knee before the lady, holding her
hand as he slipped a ring onto her finger.
    Rose petals and white blossom littered the floor around
their feet as various lights sparkled in the floor, giving the scene a
fairy-tale aspect.
     
    I ran my finger over the window, the wool of my gloves
scratching at the ice that had formed as I traced around the love heart that
had been painted onto the window. I sighed as I read the passage on the prop
board behind the happy couple, ‘Love is made from dreams, and dreams are
made of love’.
    That’s all mine would ever be, dreams. My hopes were just
dreams, my future just a dream made up from the nightmares of my past.
    I knew this scene before me would never belong to me;
that was why it seemed to embrace me as it simultaneously taunted me. It gave
me something to dream of when I had plenty of horrors to keep me awake at
night.
    No man would ever look at me the way this artificial man
looked at his love, the way his eyes idolised his bride, the way his dreams all
featured his pretty wife.
    I was too ugly to be idolised, inside and out. I had made
sure of both. I had made sure that no man would ever look at me and desire me.
    I had created a monster that would repel the Devil
himself.
     
~~~
     
    “Going to Bert’s?” Spud asked as I punched my card out
the next afternoon. I nodded without looking at him. “I’ll walk with ya. I need
to nip in Theo’s for a gift for Theresa.”
    I quirked an eyebrow and finally looked at him. “Spud,
its Christmas Eve. Are you telling me you haven’t bought your wife’s present
yet?”
    He shrugged. “Haven’t had the money ‘til today. I was hoping
on a bonus but…”
    “That hope shot you in the leg.” I laughed.
    Spud and I had worked together in the pizza factory for
around two years. He was fun but very childlike, which left me wondering many
times how his wife ever coped with him, yet we had hit it off from the start,
both of us with the same sense of humour and anger at life. “Mmm, you’d think
just one year Tony would push the boat out. I mean it’s Christmas and all.”
    I leaned into him as we pushed out of the factory doors;
the late afternoon air was heavy with the promise of more snow. “I’ll let you
into a secret about Tony’s wealth.” I told him quietly. “Tony is rich. Humungously
rich. And the reason for that is because he doesn’t give his petty workers a
Christmas bonus. Instead he spends that horde of cash on prostitutes, slaves
and golf clubs.”
    Spud nodded slowly. “Ahh, and here was me thinking he
just hated us.”
    I chuckled and nudged him with my elbow as we reached the
door to Bert’s café. “How can he hate us? We’re the pepperoni and cheese on his
pizza.”
    He smiled at me and slid his arm around my waist to give
me a brotherly hug, his lips quickly pecking the top of my head. “And it’s
about time you were the pepperoni and cheese to someone else’s pizza, Mae.”
    I rolled my eyes and huffed at him. “Uh-uh, big guy. You
know the rules. You do not discuss my love life in public,