[Chasmo]

Although the sun shined brightly as Danielle eased her 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet into the parking lot of the Maryland State Capital – the sprawling lawn of which was the staging ground each year for the flower show – the sporty convertible’s top remained up which in turn basically sandwiched Maria in its back seat.

“I can’t believe you kept the top up mom,” the crouched teen groused, “I’m completely crushed back here.”

“Be quiet Maria,” her mother snapped, “you didn’t expect your sister and I to get blown to bits by the wind on the drive over here did you.”

“Yeah Maria,” Anna piled on, “unlike you, people will actually want to see us.”

Happy just to be getting out of the car, Maria held her tongue even after noting that her mother had pulled into a spot that said “Reserved – Maryland Attorney General.”

As the doors to the Parnell family’s $250,000 roadster opened, every male head within view turned to watch. From each of the driver’s and passenger’s side doors stepped out the long, tan, high-heeled legs of – on the one hand – Danielle – and on the other – Anna Parnell. Bedecked in their ostrich feathered creations and sporting the most fashionable sunglasses below their spectacularly sophisticated hats, the mother and daughter Parnell looked mouthwateringly sexy and they knew it. Abandoning Maria to practically crawl from the sports car’s back seat, Danielle and Anna veritably prowled onto the state house’s expansive lawn toward the gathering of similarly smartly dressed sophisticates.

After each accepted a champagne flute from the veritable army of waiters racing to greet them, the two beauties temporarily split up, Danielle to torture some of the men in front of their wives and Anna to tease mercilessly the boyfriend of Sharon Miras who, although two years older than the feather-frocked femme fatale, was as intimidated by the younger girl as her mother Rachel, the newly appointed Maryland Attorney General, was by Danielle.

Having shunned the affections of Anna’s arrogant older brother Will, Sharon was sure that Anna wanted to make her day miserable – and she was correct. Despite her age advantage and the fact that she was already in college, Sharon Miras always felt “less than” around the ceaselessly sexy and sophisticated Anna Parnell. What made today even worse was that Sharon’s new boyfriend, the Harvard college rower Aaron Tabash, was standing by her side as Anna approached. Although the fact that the now rising college senior was dating Sharon should have instilled in the young girl all the confidence she needed to face down Anna Parnell, the imminent arrival of her uber-fashionable female nemesis instead practically paralyzed her with a foreboding sense of imposter syndrome.

“Why hello there Aaron,” Anna practically purred while placing her hand on the tanned forearm of the clearly flattered oarsman, “don’t you look handsome today in your seersucker shorts and polo shirt. If only I could see that handsome face you’re hiding behind your mask.”

Before the captivated collegian – who couldn’t pull his eyes away from the vision in front of him – mustered a word, Sharon Miras desperately but cautiously sought to intervene.

“I like your dress Anna,” she shyly offered as perspiration began to form on her forehead.

“I’m sure you do,” the eldest Parnell daughter replied derisively, before again seeking to belittle Sharon Miras in front of the young Master Tabash.

“How about you, Aaron,” she coyly addressed him, “what do you think of my dress compared to . . . say . . . what your girlfriend here is wearing.”

Completely put off his game by the teasing temptress before him, Aaron Tabash tried his best to be diplomatic in the face of her leading question.

“Well . . . I . . . um . . . I think you both look very nice . . . so really . . . I don’t think comparing your dresses,” he bumbled.

“Let me help you out stud,” Anna purred as, guiding the young man’s hand to touch the feathers on her dress, she wickedly smiled, “there is no comparison either between our dresses or anything else about us . . . it would be like comparing a butterfly to a caterpillar.”

As Aaron stood stunned and Sharon cowered, humiliated again by the younger girl, Anna went in for the kill.

“Isn’t that right Miras,” she laughed reveling in her superiority before continuing her onslaught.

“I will say one thing for you though,” practically guffawing at the broken girl, “you certainly look better with that mask on than without.”

And then, after her running her long fingers down the goose-bumped arm of the mesmerized Aaron Tabash, Anna Parnell, with a self-satisfied grin on her face, turned on her towering white heels to rejoin her equally arrogant mother.

Had she even thought to look back at the carnage her hubris had had wrought Anna may have seen her sister Maria, along with a gaggle of her high school classmates and others who had come to protest the frivolousness of the flower show in the midst of a raging health crisis, come to the aid of a now crying Sharon Miras.

* * *

As Anna made her way across the expansive lawn, drinking in the male attention and mocking the female envy cast her way, Danielle Parnell was working her own magic with the attendant men while belittling their wives, girlfriends and daughters whether there to defend themselves or not.

The emerald-eyed beauty was as usual reveling in the inability of any man present not to gaze upon her splendor and the absolute futility of other women present to compete with her. That so many of the flower show’s attendees – male and female alike – had pathetically in her view decided to wear an array of ridiculous looking masks only added to her feeling of superiority. That the fashionably forward gathering was slowly finding itself surrounded by a sea of protesters – while it should have been a warning of things to come – only cemented in her mind the privilege that she so enjoyed and, of course, deserved.

“Your dress is so fashionable Danielle,” gushed Katherine Wray, a staple of the Washington, D.C. social scene who herself always turned more than a few male heads. The 43-year-old Nashville native – despite Danielle constantly making her look the fool – could not help but vie for the dominating diva’s attention and approval. Somewhat unaware of her own effect on the rougher sex, and although married with children of her own, Katherine harbored more than a few Sapphic fantasies about what Danielle might look like under her power suits and – at least for today – plumage.

“Well of course it is Katherine,” Danielle imperiously responded with a fake smile, “we can’t leave the likes of Mr. Hess and Dr. Miras here looking to you – or worse yet their wives – for a hint of fashion.

Cut to the quick again, all Katherine Wray could muster was a sheepish smile as Adam Hess and Richard Miras drank in the arrogance of the self-same woman who had just denigrated their own wives in front of them.

“Now which one of you handsome gentlemen is going to make his way to that crowded bar and get me another glass of champagne,” she cooed tantalizingly.

“Make it two boys,” came the equally arrogant order of Anna Parnell who arrived to join her mother just as the two men – like excited children – practically raced one another to the bar as the mother and daughter Parnell laughed at them behind their backs.

* * *


Rebecca Ross and Emily Duncan were seething. As usual, Danielle was teasing Rebecca’s husband Adam to the point where he was not only embarrassing himself but her as well – just as that prima donna Parnell wanted. What’s more, Danielle’s equally arrogant daughter – who had just left Sharon Miras a shaking and crying mess – now had the girl’s father running to fetch her a drink like a smitten school boy. And where was Rachel anyway they thought. The crowd of protestors that was gathering to shut down the flower show – and that each of Rebecca and Emily was at this point ready to join – was growing by the second.

“Can you believe those two,” Emily angrily asked Rebecca through clenched teeth, “it was bad enough when Little Miss Perfect pranced around on her own with her high heels and tight clothes teasing any man she saw. Now she has her daughter as a partner in crime.”

“Trust me, Em,” Rebecca replied equally annoyed, “I’d love to pluck those feathers off both of them. And that Anna . . . ooooh . . . that girl . . .”

“Deserves a good spanking,” came the voice of Nicole Silver, another one of the Annapolis areas truly beautiful women who – although no shrinking violet herself – despised Danielle Parnell and her daughter every bit as much as did Rebecca and Emily.

“You can say that again Nic,” laughed Emily now that Mrs. Silver had broken the tension, “and her mother could use one too.”

“I think the only ones getting spanked are the four of us,” came the dulcet tones of Mrs. Katherine Wray, who likewise had just joined the circle of friends, “the Her Majesty the Queen and Princess Grace over there are being waited on hand and foot by Rebecca and Rachel’s husbands.”

And so they were. As the masked Mmes. Ross, Miras, Silver and Wray stared daggers, Adam Hess and Richard Miras were practically tripping over each other trying to be the first to reach Anna Parnell with a glass of champagne.

“Boys, boys . . .” the teasing teen mocked, “slow down before one of you spills something. And don’t forget about my mother – she gets a glass too.”

More than a little irked that her daughter had stolen even a sliver of her spotlight, Danielle prepared to issue no small retort to her offspring but was stopped by the sound of Rebecca Ross practically bellowing at her husband.

“I’ve had just about enough of this Adam,” she stormed, “that girl is too young to even be drinking!”

Titillated that she had caused a dustup between husband and wife, Anna Parnell decided to stir the pot even more.

“Oh Rebecca,” she goaded the older woman knowing that addressing her by her first name would raise Mrs. Ross’ hackles even further, “by that logic you’re too fat to even be eating. But we’re not going to starve you now are we.”

As a shocked silence fell over anyone within earshot at the unbridled arrogance of the young beauty, Anna Parnell daintily took a full champagne flute from the hand of Rebecca’s husband and – with a self-satisfied smirk on her stunning face while looking Mrs. Ross directly in the eye – haughtily exclaimed “I didn’t think so -- cheers” before knocking the glass back in one throaty gulp.

“Cheers, darling,” Danielle imperiously replied beaming, “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“Too bad we can’t see the shock on her fat face,” Anna continued delighted that her mother – as always – had her back.

“Although I do think they all look better in those masks,” came Danielle’s retort as she and Anna clinked glasses while looking down their perfect noses at Rebecca, Emily, Katherine and Nicole.

Had the two alpha women not been so satisfied with themselves they may have heard the crowd of protestors – who had witnessed the entire escapade – closing in from behind. Had they noticed, they probably would have been very surprised to see Maria leading the charge – flower show garden hose in hand – followed by a newly confident Sharon Miras who was carrying an industrial strength leaf blower accompanied by her mother – the Maryland Attorney General -- who was out not only to avenge her daughter’s mistreatment by one Anna Parnell but to make sure the Governor’s mandatory mask order was enforced.

Unbeknownst yet to anyone, the real flower “show” was about to begin.