She looked at her watch and jumped. "Shit, she's going to be here any minute!" Amanda said. "From the expression on your face, I will assume that I passed my audition with flying colors!" she said, smugly. I had spent the last twenty minutes having a heartfelt conversation with an impostor! She was flawless!
She ran over to the mirror and pulled a ring out of her pocket. Putting it on, she began to rub her face and re-apply her makeup. I watched her re-shape my wife's nose and bring out Amanda's cheekbones. I asked if she wore the ring often, and she explained that she rarely did. "I'd be talking to someone and my features would slowly change towards theirs. I'd become them in about an hour, gradually. I've only done it a few times, and never to somebody who was sober."
Her eyes changed color before me and she started to brush her hair out. Within a few minutes, blond Amanda stood in front of me. She took the ring off and put it back in her pocket. "You need to have the conversation that we just had, but with her this time. Trust me, I'm going to do this, and I've got every loose end covered." She kissed me exactly as Samantha did, leaving me wonder how long Amanda was working on Samantha during the last week. Amanda left me to await Samantha.
The real Samantha came home and stormed right past me. She went into the bedroom and closed the door. When I came in, she was sitting in front of the mirror, crying. I comforted her and told her that everything would be O.K. She blubbered that I didn't understand, so I said "Is it about Sam?"
She looked at me in awe. "Yes." She offered. "She tries to take over all the time. I went shopping after lunch and the next thing I knew I had bought this." She pointed at the shopping bags from stores I did not recognize. A latex thong. A push up bra and some awfully gawdy costume jewelry. A blond wig.
"Samantha, I think I know how you're feeling. You never got to indulge yourself, growing up in proper society. Sam is every repressed urge you've had since you were a child." Repeating Amanda's points, I explained how I was OK with Sam. She jumped into my arms, crying, and hugged me.
"Why don't you let her out now, honey?" I asked. Samantha turned to me with wide eyes and a big grin, and before she could say anything I saw in her eyes that Sam had arrived. She was trying to find words, but before she could say anything, I said, "why don't you take your time and get dressed. I'll be back in ten minutes."
"Thank You" were the last words out of Samantha's mouth that night. I asked Sam what she wanted to drink, and she said "hows about some rum, hun?" I went to the kitchen to get her drink.
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