Mimi's Demons

Chapter 28: The Murder Demon

Serena discovered a new perk to having a rich boss, besides the obvious.

Having grown up poorer than dirt, Christmas presents and Santa were a foreign concept to her. If she had been into watching TV she could have vicariously lived the American idea of Christmas morning through that, but she wasn't. It was hard for her to sit and stare at something when there was work to do (reading didn't count, your eyes moved and she'd been taught reading was 'good' for you and a form of work...among other things).

Thus, when the Barbie packages came in, she happily left Mimi with Omen while she set everything up for the big reveal.

There was a Barbie mansion, several cars, furniture, clothes galore, beach equipment, a swimming pool, etc. Just about everything one could think of for Barbies she'd found and submitted a report to her boss as to why this would be his money wisely spent.

That had been fun enough. But then she'd called in Mimi and watched her blue eyes pop and her little hands fly to her cheeks.

Ah, so this is what Christmas morning must feel like, she'd thought.

"Wha—how—why?" Mimi garbled.

"To continue our adventures," she'd said, and knowing the too-practical part of Mimi was about to vomit up excuses to send all of the toys back, she'd added, "The boss deemed it important to the improvement of your mental health, since you seemed able to figure out how to play with Barbies. We can always send them back if you find other toys you can play with."

And just in case the little homeless girl inside Mimi wriggled out of those excuses, Serena held up the most gorgeous Barbie dress known to man, sprinkled with minuscule jewels and swathes of taffeta.

"My Marmalade's going to make all the competition cry in this," she said, making sure to tilt up her chin just right to give that haughty look.

It hit the eleven-year-old like water in hot oil. Her eyes blazed, her mouth thinned, and her eyebrows lowered.

"Dresses aren't everything. Character is."

"I doubt character can do anything to a name like 'Buttitches.'"

"Then I'll change it! Where's my lawyer!"

And thus began an epic into law, fashion disasters, and charity projects that reached the stars, literally, with sending hobos to space. Buttitches Barbie was renamed Rose, small lawyers fee included, Marmalade had to escape in a Porsche cackling like the evil villain she was, and the tiny silverware in the Barbie Dream Mansion went 'mysteriously' missing, all watched on by an audience of dolls who had yet to be assigned a roll.

Dinnertime caught them both by surprise. Serena never stopped to be amazed by how reluctant she was to put down her doll and leave the story. Usually, she'd use every spare moment not cleaning to read, but since Mimi had become her duty those spare hours were spent on the floor making up the stories themselves. It was missing the more...spicier elements Serena secretly loved, since there was a child present, but the fulfillment sunk deep into her breast and left her feeling warm and whole. It made her wonder where her own childhood had gone wrong and if something critical had been missing from her life. If she had settled down and had kids herself, would this be what her days would be like? Teaching and being taught how to live?

She paused at that thought. Playing to live. How curious.

And yet it was true. Throughout their play Mimi would stop to ask questions, from silly to deeply philosophical, which Serena would endeavor to answer, marveling at how much Mimi soaked up knowledge like a sponge. In return, Serena would sometimes ask questions about the little girl and learned all that she knew her boss desperately wished to know. She'd pass on this knowledge in her reports, but only on the strict assumption that these were to stay with Duke. She didn't want to betray her little charge's confidence to anyone else, and only because she saw more evidence every day of the Duke's adoration for his new daughter.