I Know What You Did

“My roses!”,

Annie screamed, dropped her purse and stepped into the kitchen, her eyes going immediately to the floor in front of her, focusing on the neat-as-a-pin rows of roses shaped into a Mandala wreath of varied and vibrant colors. Annie had spent the last ten years nurturing, clipping, fertilizing and lovingly caring into perfection her backyard rose garden. Her American Beauties ranging in color from a deep pink to crimson were woven into the pattern with her Old Garden varieties in hues of coral and orange. Their fragrance filled the kitchen with florist shop aromas. The mandala pattern of clipped roses (no stems or leaves- just bobbins of blooms)was beautiful to behold. Annie could not help but admire the rays of varied roses branching out from the center spoke which contained a perfect circle of her rarest roses, the Juliets. She sank to the floor, tears of defeat filling her eyes, as she gazed upon the creamy pastel of her most prized roses. In addition to the center piece of the wreath itself, the entire kitchen floor was strewn with a romantic confetti carpet of rose petals. She looked down as a tear fell to the floor. Next to the beautiful blasphemy of her butchered roses were her sister Ellie’s garden shears. As Annie’s eyes narrowed to slits more tears were squeezed out. She swiped the back of her hand across her cheeks- rage replacing her feelings of sad devastation.

“You bitch!”, she whispered.

To the god of vengeance she worshipped, a plot for retribution was already forming in her mind.

Her greatest rival in life was her sister, Ellie. Everything and anything she ever attempted in life was to be mimicked by her younger sibling. The saying goes that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but not for the Mason sisters. Whatever one of them did the other had to do better and do damage while getting to be one-up over their rival. To have a better job, husband, house and friends was their goal in life. Beware the green-eyed monster in the path of envy- it led to Annie and Ellie Mason’s doorstep.

Realizing that Ellie had managed to expel her from tomorrow's Fremont Annual Rose Garden competition via a rosa rubinigosa slaughter, Annie knew she had to act quickly to prevent her sister from winning tomorrow's event. For the past two years Annie’s Juliet roses had secured her the prize of a $1,500 gift card to Lowes garden center in Freemont, New Jersey. Ellie will only put up with being second fiddle to her sister for only so long and then would come the sabotage and betrayal she used to become the good, the better, the best at whatever they were in a competition for.

It all began when they were little girls and little sister Ellie looked up to and worshiped her big sis, Annie. Whatever Annie did , Ellie wanted to do as well. Annie had no time for her little sister, always resenting her usurping the perfect only child world Annie lived in before Ellie’s birth. Annie found her annoying and a bother, paying little mind to her sister’s adoring looks of longing to be her playmate. If Annie had friends over for a play date she would take them to her room, close the door and leave little Ellie outside knocking and pleading to be allowed entrance. By being ignored and excluded Ellie’s pleas turned to pounding, kicking and screaming. Kicking the door down was a vain attempt for a three year old but in her heart, Ellie imagined doing it. Parental interference did not help the situation. In spite of being forced to include her sister in play, it only caused Annie to feel her full anger and criticism and to pour it out on Ellie.

“You’re doing that wrong”, she would taunt and criticize.

“You can’t play this game- you’ll have to watch.”

“Don’t bother us while we’re talking”

“Go play over there”

And so she would retreat into a world of solitary play, but was happy to be near her sister in spite of the disinterest she was shown. As Ellie’s hurt and feelings of rejection grew, the need for her sister’s approval persisted. Trying to be included in Annie’s world turned into a competition of epic proportions. “Playing fair or nice” was never an aspect of their relationship. Annie had always felt like the winner of their competitions until her little sister grew up to match her skills and abilities. Whether it was sports, school grades, shared interests or even boyfriends, sisterly love had long been put aside for “may the best sister win” tactics.

Annie’s plan of retribution started to form as she tearfully began picking up the butchered roses from the floor and placed them tenderly in a garbage bag. When the kitchen was back in order and the roses were dumped into the composter, Annie went into the bathroom to fix her face. The personal appearance of each sister was another aspect of their rivalry and looking perfect was a must. Annie stared at herself in the mirror and smiled at her perfectly made-up face. A quick trip to Lowes was next on her vengeful agenda and then she just needed to wait for dark to se venger for her destroyed rose garden.

As the sky darkened Annie began packing up the equipment she needed for her dirty deed. Into the back of her Range Rover she packed a duffel bag with night-vision glasses, a Go-pro camera and headband with light, a dozen cans of spray paint and of course, the infamous garden shears her sister had left behind as a confessional calling card.

Annie and Ellie would never confront each other about their pranks. Their game of malice and revenge had gone on for far too long to fling accusations or demand justice. Each tit-for-tat payback progressed with Machiavellian precision. The revenge game had become just another aspect of the siblings’ rivalry. To who could get the best of the other was a never-ending battle of wits.

Annie’s destroyed roses were the payback for her neglecting to invite Ellie to her garden party with all of the members of the Garden Club. Ellie had found out she had been slighted and left out by her sister, yet again when her neighbor, Sheila, had been at Lowes the other day. Ellie was buying some fertilizer for her rose bushes to boost their blooms for the upcoming competition.

“We missed you at the garden party yesterday”, Sheila happened to mention, “Annie said you were out of town and couldn’t make it.”

Ella’s eyes and brilliant smile revealed nothing as she replied. “Oh yes, I was visiting an old friend in the city.”

“See you at the next one”, Sheila chirped happily as they parted.

“I’ll be there!”Ellie assured her.

Everyone in Annie and Ellie’s lives knew the sisters as friends, confidantes and good neighbors. No one knew that a fierce rivalry existed between the Mason sisters. The perpetual competition to one-up each other had set ground rules of deceit and plotting that only a false front could create. Only the sisters knew of their secret battle, a struggle to the death of one or the other that had been raging ever since they were kids.

At Ellie’s wedding ceremony no one could explain the itching and scratching of the bride and groom as they stood to take their vows and then celebrate their nuptials. It was Annie’s added gift to plant fleas in the new bed that was a wedding gift from their parents. Annie was jealous that her little sister had married first-before her, and made her pay for it. Ellie finally figured out the flea infested mattress was her sister’s doing, but never mentioned it to anyone-her husband included. Instead, she planned, plotted and then enjoyed a plate of cold payback when the opportunity presented itself. It took two years of waiting as Annie also had to wait and wonder when she least expected it- to expect it! Annie’s suspicions that the termite infestation, which required tenting the house to the tune of a $2,000 price tag, was the work of her sister. There was no way to prove it but she found it impossible to believe that a house built three years prior could already be full of the wood gnawing critters. Her conviction of who the culprit was proved correct when her sister called to commiserate with her over the dire situation.

“I just can’t imagine how a newly constructed home, like yours, could have acquired that horrible termite infestation!”, she purred into her sister’s ear.

“Isn’t it a funny coincidence that we both have had problems with household pests?!” Ellie added, “Did you know that fleas are parasitic pests and termites are invertebrate pests?”

Around midnight, Annie, dressed in ninja black, got into her car and drove the three blocks to her sister's neighborhood. She drove past Ellie’s house and turned onto the next street and parked. Slinging the rucksack of supplies over her shoulder she walked to her destination. The gate was never locked, the dog was in the house for the night and her plan was going like clockwork. With the stealth and cunning of one sister sneaking into the other sister’s bedroom to steal/borrow some item of clothing, Annie crept into Ellie’s backyard garden. She put her heavy bag down next to an American Beauty rose bush. Standing with her arms akimbo she smiled a devilish grin as she looked around and felt her plan would succeed.

The next morning found the two sisters at their prospective homes, sitting at the counter enjoying their first cup of coffee.

Ellie got up and walked over to the curtained window that opened to a view of her gorgeous roses. She wanted to see her beauties. She drew back the curtains with a smugly satisfied smile that she would wear at the expense of Annie not being able to win this year’s competition.

“My roses!!”, she screamed. The prideful smile was replaced with shock and horror at the sight her eyes beheld.

The roses remained on their bushes- not a petal out of place. Ellie exhaled an angry snort and charged like a bull out the door. She stood with her legs wide apart to hold her steady and her arms held out in crucified agony as she looked aghast at the rainbow of neon pink, green and yellow roses on the bush closest to her. She reached out to touch the neon glow of a pink rose and took her finger away tinged with the bright pink glitter. The bush next to the neon rainbow one was a graphic zebra pattern of black and white. Next to that a purple and gold duo of colors that matched their high school,The Raiders, colors. Every goddam bush had been spray-painted circus colors, Las Vegas glitz or a tacky referral to the sister’s past tumultuous high school days. It was a bad memory for both of them, as they realized that they were now equally matched in wits and devious wisdom to do the other damage. It was when the game truly became a competition that would last a lifetime.

Next to the purple and gold rose bush sat, on the ground, an empty vase filled with water and her favorite pair of garden shears- returned with an obvious message that she should create a bouquet of memories.

“You bitch!!”Ellie hissed as she turned around and marched back into the house.

Neither she, nor Annie would be winning the $1,500 prize. Ellie picked up her coffee mug, tasted the now tepid liquid and dumped it into the sink. She refilled her cup from the heated pot, sat back down and sipped. Her eyes glazed over in detached fury but resigned to her loss. She smiled as she thought about the retribution Annie would pay, her mind suddenly lazer-focused on a perfect scenario of shame and humiliation for her big sister.