“I can’t believe you gave it to her,” Stanley fussed over the phone. “It’ll ruin her, Ma!”

“It won’t. Yes, it will change her and she might struggle a bit,” Alayne replied, “but it will strengthen her.”

“How do you know for sure?”

“I just hold on… I hold on to what I believe is right.”

Alayne sipped a cup of tea as she sat in her rocking chair by the window. Her mind drifted to memory lane as “O Lovey Be Mine” by High Society Seven began playing on her record player.

“You gals certainly don’t look old enough to be sitting here,” said a bartender with a rusty voice.

Alayne, Mildred, and Jean all rolled their eyes.

“Well, you sir, don’t look smart enough to notice the difference between a woman and a girl,” Alayne replied as she poked out her chest. “We are women who deserve the pleasure of drinking martinis.”

Jean and Mildred snickered lightly.

“Not going to happen, sweetheart,” the bartender hissed.

“Oh, excuse me for not using my manner. We would like three dirty martinis, please,” she said as she tapped the four-leaf clover pendant twice.

The bartender blankly nodded and started fixing three martinis. Alayne smirked proudly once he handed them the glasses.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

The three of them headed to the dancefloor. Jean paused and frowned when she saw Charles dancing with Margaret.

“Seriously… He would be here…”

“Aw…Come on,” Mildred replied as she pulled her. “He ain’t worth it.”

“Yeah,” Alayne started dancing like a drunken bird, flapping her long arms while doing the Charleston.

She tapped her necklace twice and whispered: “Please turn her frown around by making Charles more foolish than a clown.”

She watched as Charles swung his arm fast, tipping over a server’s tray of drinks and ripping off Margaret’s beaded dress as he tripped. Laughter burst from the crowd, including Jean. Milred gave Alayne a dirty look.

“What?”

“The necklace has not only changed your life. It changed you…” Milred answered. “Hold on to who you really are.”

Featured image by Pixabay