A Gentle Mars

Chapter Eight

Sapphire finds out Maggie isn't nothing more than a fraud a lying cheating scandalous mischief

"What!"

"I could've told you that, sugar."

"We're on the grift. Me and Stanley. "Mr. Spencer" is not a Hollywood talent scout."

"He's not?"

"We're business partners. Have been for years. Stanley didn't think I was so convincing. Offered to make me his partner for ten cents on the dollar. That was big money for me back then."

"So your parents, they just let you go off with this man?"

"I didn't have parents. Not really. I had to fend for myself, and... well, Stanley fed me, kept me out of the rain. And he never laid a finger on me."

"So you all are criminals? What could you possibly want with a bunch of freaks like us?"

"We're fleecing your customers. When the lights go down, we pick their pockets."

"Oh, you all came down here to Jupiter, Florida, to pick a bunch of pockets? I wasn't born on a farm, but I do know bullshit when I smell it, and I gotta say... that is some bullshit."

"Go to hell, Triple tits."

"Come to think of it... been a lot of trouble around here since you two showed up. Lot of freaks been dying. Ma Petite and Ethel, now Salty." Sapphire spoke

"I killed 'em all. Every last one of them. Is that what you want to hear?" Sapphire grabs her by the hair yanking Maggie to face her and Desiree

"You listen to me, little girl, and you listen good. Now, you can tell me anything you want, but don't let me and Sapphire find out that you and your weasel friend had anything to do with hurting our kind, or I will k!ll you dead. Now, are we clear?" Desiree threatened her

"And she won't do it alone." Spoke Sapphire soflty but angrily when she leaves

"If she had anything to do with Jimmy I'll burn her down." Desiree smiled at the Mars child nodding. The next day Sapphire help Desiree she smiled

"Okay, beef chuck. Arm, shoulder or blade. Salt. Pepper. Flour. Onions. Ah... horseradish. Carrots and potatoes. Thank you. I mean, it's just a goddamn pot roast, right? How hard can it be?" Sapphire giggled

"Say it isn't so. Huh. Toughest woman I know and now you want to be Betty Crocker?"

"Damn straight. If I'm gonna be a homemaker, I can't let my babies starve. My mother taught all my sisters how to cook, but she never taught me."

"Maybe she saw your potential elsewhere"

"Girl... don't butter me up. Hmm? We haven't forgotten what you told us. And we haven't decided what were gonna do about it yet. But believe you us..."

"I want to do the right thing for once. That's why I'm here. We can't talk here. Just follow me." Desiree takes Sapphire with them

"I want to help Jimmy."

"Good. Get him a lawyer."

"I need you to trust me."

"Trust you? Ha! That's a laugh."

"Everyone in this entire camp will be dead soon unless you two listen to me. I know how to help everyone. Jimmy and the freaks, all at once. I just have to connect the dots. Place blame where it's due. Put the real villain away forever."

"I don't like riddles! Never have."

"Listen! I know you want to ride off into the sunset with your Prince Charming and your pot roasts, but I need you to help me first. There's something I need you two to see." The three arrived at a place called

"The American Morbidity Museum? Why we got to travel all this way for skeletons and such?"

"Because I need a witness to this in case something happens to me when Stanley's called out."

"All this here is because of him?"

"And another recent acquisition of which we're very proud a male died from natural causes."

"Sweet Jesus!"

"And as you can see, the skull is a classic representation of microcephaly."

"He got paid $3,000 for Ma Petite's body.
That's why he had her killed."

"Wha...?"

"We removed the brain of the specimen and found the weight of the organ to be 33% lighter than that of a normal adult male. Shall we?" They look over and see Salty

"And this is our newest exhibit. It's just arrived today. It is a perfect example of a rare congenital defect known as ectrodactyly." Sapphire walks over

"No..." Sapphire faints seeing her lover hands in a glass case.