Despite having spent the last three years
living as the wealthy widow Linda Mallory, Gabi couldn't help but still
see a maid in the mirror. That was who she in truth was and
it was a self image she had a hard time leaving behind. After
all she had never intended
on perpetrating a masquerade like this, it just kinda
happened.
She had only been in the employ of Mrs.
Mallory, who was new to town like herself, for a few months before
her employer suddenly disappeared hang gliding. It was sad, she
seemed like a decent enough lady, but at the time what really worried Gabi was
that she had yet to be paid and was afraid she might never get paid. That was
what led Gabi to impersonate her the first time.
Gabi knew it was wrong, but it seemed like a victimless crime. All she meant to do was dress up in some of Mrs. Mallory's designer clothes, style her hair like hers and drive her luxury coupe downtown to the bank. There she would withdraw enough from the lady's account to make up for what she was owed. They were about the same age and build and few people in town knew either of them. Simple enough of a plan really.
Of course things did not go to plan.
The bank manager was excited to hear they had Mrs. Mallory, one of their
largest account holders, in the office and came out front to meet her.
Overwhelmed Gabi didn't know what to do or say. All she knew was that she
didn't want to be caught trying to defraud a bank and so continued the
deception.
The bank manager helped her complete
her withdrawal and even invited her to a party. She tried
to find an excuse not to attend, but she was too flustered to think
straight and eventually agreed. He picked her up that evening and at the party
she was introduced to all the most important people in town, the mayor,
the police chief, the head of the Ladies Auxiliary… as Mrs. Linda Mallory.
After that, to everyone who mattered,
she was wealthy, new in town, widow Mrs. Linda Mallory. Gabi found it easier to
just continue the deception than it was to extricate herself from the web of
lies she had created, so that was what she did, she set aside her own identity
and devoted herself to being the rich lady everyone believed she really was.
No matter how long she spent living a life of glamorous leisure though she still felt like an impostor. She was just a maid living a lie, one who feared that at any moment she would be caught and again be reduced to scrubbing floors in an apron and uniform. No matter what anyone else thought, that was who she really was and who she saw in the mirror.
This caption is appropriately title: this story is maid-to-lady, not lady-to-maid!
ReplyDeleteWell the original Mrs. Mallory could comes back to sever as a maid and maybe more
ReplyDeleteplease continue this story
ReplyDeleteWell...a Maid2Lady story for a change. That's charming. And yes, it would be fun to have Mrs. Mallory return to complicate things. Or alternatively, for someone else who knew the real Mrs. Mallory to arrive and recognize Gabi as an imposter.
ReplyDeleteOr, a really bizarre turn of events might force Gabi to resume her real identity, such as the reappearance of a long-lost relative in need of help. Can Gabi "code shift" between Mrs. Mallory living her respectable life and Gabi helping her cousin get back on her feet without compromising her assumed identity, or will her desire to help her cousin result in the collapse of her house of cards...?
This is a very nice captioned image. Perhaps Mrs Mallory crashed her hang-glider and suffered a serious head injury causing her to lose her memory...
ReplyDeleteNow THERE'S an interesting thought. If Mrs. Mallory were to show up at Gabi's door, memory confused and asking if anyone there recognized her, perhaps Gabi would decide that the best way to deal with her was to enlist the aid of a hypnotherapist to help the poor lost dear develop a coherent personality and skill set consistent with a new role in life as Gabrielle, Mrs. Mallory's maid...?
DeleteAfter the crash, Mrs Mallory suffered amnesia and didn't know who she was. She spent several months in hospital recovering, but eventually she regains her memory and makes her way home. Needless to say, she is shocked by what she discovers. Gabi is equally surprised, but plays it cool, insisting that she is Mrs Mallory and the other woman has lost her mind.
DeleteLinda seems uncertain, and is about to leave, saying she will contact the police, but suddenly feels faint and asks to sit down. Seeing her chance, Gabi adopts a more comforting tone, and tells the woman that the reason she remembers the house is because it was she who used to be the maid there. "I was so worried about you after you disappeared. It's so nice to have you back. You can have as much time as you need to recover, and then you can have your old job back." Linda seems reassured by this. "I guess, you're right..thank you Mistress"
Both good suggestions for a continuation of the story. No doubt by the time Linda turned up on her doorstep, Gabi would have a driver's licence, credit cards, and other ID in Linda Mallory's name but bearing her photograph, to show the poor confused girl. Perhaps Linda is a "bottle blonde", and her hair has grown out in its natural brown while she was in a coma...
DeleteGabi decides, of course, that she needs to make sure that her "blessedly returned maid" remains her maid, so she arranges for poor "Gabi" to get the "best" of care from a doctor. Isn't Mrs. Mallory a Queen among employers?
DeleteThe doctor, of course, provides for a series of hypnotic treatments and regular counseling sessions which will ensure that her new identity is reinforced, and that no pesky old memories of any other life ever emerge.
The doctor is, however, still a doctor, however ethically flexible she might be, and she soon begins to suspect that "Gabi" is pregnant, and feels obliged to make sure of it, and to pass along the news to "Mrs. Mallory".
This will be startling to Gabi, and a new complication, but on the other hand, it raises new possibilities. After all, if "Mrs. Mallory's" maid is a single mother, clearly no-one else would ever offer her such a cushy job, so "Gabi" will be all the more tied to her boss.
Perhaps eventually, a man will spot "Gabi" on the street and cry out, "Sally!", reuniting her with the father of her child...?
Some good suggestions in there. I was not planning on making any continuations to this one, but perhaps I might now. The only issue is that Gabi didn't mean any of this to happen, it just did. Lying to the real Mrs. Mallory after she has already suffered so much seems far more sinister. Is there a way she could be doing this for the woman's own good?
ReplyDeleteOr at least, persuade herself that she's doing it for the poor woman's own good. People can persuade themselves of all sorts of things, given a strong enough motivation.
DeleteIn order to allow Mrs. Mallory to reclaim her rightful place, Gabi would be forced to confess to her imposture, and to spending Mrs. Mallory's money for a longish period, after all. That would give her a strong incentive to persuade herself it wasn't in poor Linda's best interests to return to her original position in life.
Perhaps she could tell herself that the amnesiac and possibly brain-damaged Mrs. Mallory's mind is too fragile to tolerate the rush and bustle of her society life, which would be made all the more "frothy" by the rich scandal of the revealed imposture, and would be happier, or at least more content, in the simpler and more routine life of Gabi the maid [ https://escapepod.org/2014/01/25/ep432-inappropriate-behavior/ ].
Perhaps the real Mrs. Mallory died as the result of someone who wanted her dead hiring a hitman who reported success...but then the villains find there is someone supposedly Mrs. Mallory who is alive.Will they trust the hitman or believe he lied?...can the new Mrs. Mallory be safe?
DeleteOh, I like the idea of the anonymous comment of the 5th of January 2023, of a hit man (or woman) who knows good and well that Mrs. Mallory is dead and her body disposed of, wanting to get to the bottom of the imposture, to save his reputation (or her life).
Delete