MRS. PERIWINKLE

How well do you remember someone you thought you knew?

"Mrs. Periwinkle!" 

The elderly woman turned slightly in her chair to realize who had spoken to her. The smiling lady came closer to her and the two embraced, without the older figure standing from her seat. 

"Hello, Dasondra," Periwinkle said. "Look at you." 

Dasondra continued to smile as she drew another chair near. 

"Oh, no, Mrs. Periwinkle, look at you!" 

"How have you been?" 

"Let me tell you," Dasondra began, "I have seen some people and faces tonight more than anything that I haven't seen in years." 

"Thirty years, to be precise," the gentleman standing beside Dasondra spoke. He had retrieved a seat for himself and was now drawing closer.

Periwinkle looked at the individual and smiled from where she sat. 

"Mrs. Periwinkle, do you remember Edrae?" Dasondra asked. 

"Yea, she remembers me," Edrae replied. 

"How are you, Edrae?"

Edrae looked at Periwinkle with absolute coldness. 

"Been doing a lot better ever since I got out of your class," he replied sternly. 

Sitting between the two of them, Desondra gave with a laugh. 

"Mrs. Periwinkle, Edrae did not like your class," she said, still laughing. 

"A lot of people didn't," Edrae said, giving the old woman an icy stare. 

Periwinkle looked at him, then spoke to Dasondra. 

"So what have you been up to, Desondra? Since you graduated." 

"The usual," Desondra replied, "college, marriage, children, career, divorce. Now I'm older than you were when you taught us." 

Periwinkle smiled as Desondra laughed again. Edrae looked around as if seeking someone else. 

"Thank you, Desondra." 

"Oh, meant nothing by it," Desondra quipped. 

Periwinkle looked to Edrae. 

"Can I inquire the same of you, Edrae?"

"Hmm?" 

"What have you done with your life?" she asked him. 

Edrae took a deep breath. 

"I've done everything right," he answered with confidence. Desondra looked at him. 

"Finished college, started a business, marriage, divorced. Pretty much the same everyone does after school," he answered. 

Periwinkle gave with a disheartened expression. 

"I can't believe so many people divorce nowadays," she said. 

"Oh," Desondra began, "it was amicable." 

Edrae looked around the room once more. 

"So there was no way to salvage the marriage? Your ex-husband agreed to the divorce as well, Desondra?" Periwinkle asked. 

Edrae turned to look at Periwinkle. 

"I'm sitting right here, aren't I?" 

Periwinkle gave with a start. Desondra smiled. 

"You and Edrae married?" she asked more toward Desondra than Edrae. 

Desondra nodded slightly, but Edrae spoke up. 

"As she said, it was amicable." 

Periwinkle said nothing and seemed flabbergasted. 

Ignoring Periwinkle's reaction, Edrae spoke, "Desondra, look who that is." 

Desondra and Periwinkle looked where Edrae was gesturing. 

"Oh, Lord," Desondra said, "is that Vartelle?" 

"Yea, that's him," Edrae answered. 

"Who's that with him?" 

"She's blonde," Edrae answered, "but she don't seem white." 

Mrs. Periwinkle watched in the direction Edrae spoke of, but now didn't want to speculate further on who the person-in-question might be with if it wasn't a former student, which it didn't appear to be. 

"So have you seen anyone else here?" Periwinkle asked nonchalantly. "Any old friends?" 

"More classmates than old friends," Edrae mumbled. 

Desondra ignored him. 

"I spoke to Patietta Monroe when I first got here." 

Periwinkle gave with an approving look once more. 

"Yes," she said, "I saw Pattietta with her man. They seemed happy." 

"And Rhoda," Edrae said. Desondra seemed somewhat startled. 

"Who's that?" Periwinkle asked. 

"Rhoda Roberts," Edrae said, not looking to Periwinkle. Desondra still sat quietly and gazed at Periwinkle. 

"Rhoda Roberts," Periwinkle spoke. "Oh, yes. I haven't seen her here." 

"You not going to," Edrae quipped. Periwinkle looked puzzled.  Desondra hurried to explain. 

Mrs. Periwinkle," she began, "Rhoda is here, . . . " 

"She's here in one way," Edrae added. 

"Will you hush?" Desondra snapped at him. 

"What's going on?" Periwinkle asked. 

Desondra began again. 

"Mrs. Periwinkle, . .  " 

"Rhoda's a man now," Edrae leaned around and spoke. "You taking too long to say it." 

"Oh," Periwinkle spoke quietly. "I see." 

"She calls herself Rod now," Edrae said, "or he calls herself Rod, or . . . forget it." 

Periwinkle smiled and Desondra just shook her head. 

"Is she still here, or he still here?" Periwinkle asked. 

Desondra looked around, straining to see as many people as possible. 

"I saw him earlier when I just came in. Edrae was parking the car." 

"What does he look like now?" Periwinkle asked, looking around with no idea what she might see. All the while, the thought ran through her head; they're divorced and they came in together. 

"Like a male version of what she was like back in school," Edrae answered. 

Desondra looked at him, somewhat puzzled. 

"You think so? I thought he was rather attractive." 

Edrae gave Desondra a look. 

"I recognized her right off by the time I came in," Edrae stated. "She still looked the same. You was off talking to someone else." 

Desondra gave another strange look. 

"I talked to Rod for about fifteen minutes, before I came to find you," she said. 

"Well, Desondra," Periwinkle spoke, "that just further confirms your taste in men." 

Desondra smiled, but Edrae barely looked at Periwinkle. He stood from his seat. 

"On that note, I think I'll go see if I can find Roddy Roberts, so we can see if he wants to give you a ride home, since you think he is so attractive," and off he walked. 

Desondra watched him as he departed. 

"I just have to pick on Edrae a bit," Periwinkle said with a smile. Desondra didn't look at her. 

"He'll be allright," she responded. 

Changing the subject, Periwinkle spoke again. 

"I do want to see the former Rhoda Roberts. Do you see her anywhere?" 

"No," Desondra answered. "I wonder where she could be, he could be?" 

Periwinkle stopped and gazed at the approaching persons. 

"Well, look who this is," she said. 

Desondra laughed, "Oh, my goodness! That must be Hector Winslow!" 

The large fellow gave with a toothy grin and a near nasal chuckle. He barely looked at Desondra and instead turned to Periwinkle. 

"How's it going, Miz Periwinkle," he said offering the slightest of embraces to the sitting woman. 

"Well, look at you, Hector," Periwinkle replied. 

"One of your star students, wasn't I?" he stated, again laughing. 

"I don't know about that, Hector," Desondra replied, turning to Periwinkle as both women laughed. 

Periwinkle stared at him a bit. 

"I couldn't believe you eventually graduated." 

"Just barely," Hector responded, again with a snorting laugh. "I almost didn't." 

"You was glad to see him go, weren't you, Mrs. Periwinkle?" Desondra bemused. 

"No," Hector disagreed. "I was one of her favorites." 

Hesitantly, Perwinkle noted the individual standing behind Hector. The person was a slim young man with a smile almost as broad as Hector's and a dstinctively pointed nose. 

"Hector, who is that with you?" Desondra asked. 

Hector turned to the fellow behind him. 

"Oh!" he said, "I don't guess you would recognize him. This is the former Rhoda Roberts. Remember her? She goes by Rod now. She's a guy." With that, Hector nasally laughed again. 

"Hello, Mrs. Periwinkle," Rod said without approaching her. Yet another chilly reaction from a former student. She was essentially used to them by now. 

"Well," Periwinkle said, not ready to mention the new name yet,"this certainly is a bit of a surprise. So you're happy now?" 

Rod gave a humorless face in return. 

"Why wouldn't I be?" 

Hector laughed. 

"I always had a thing for Rhoda back in high school," he said. Rod smiled, while Periwinkle and Desondra chuckled amusingly. 

"I guess you still got a thing for her, him, Hector" Desondra asked, then said, "have mercy. Can't keep this all straight." 

Hector laughed the loudest, while Rod simply smiled. The small quartet grew quiet. 

"So tell me," Desondra began, "Rod. What made you decide to become a man?" 

Periwinkle gave Desondra a rather shocked look with her being so blunt toward Rod now. 

"It's who I always was," he answered. 

"Well, you certainly have changed," Periwinkle stated. "I guess I can still see some likeness of the . . . student I remember." 

"Can you, Mrs. Periwinkle," Desondra asked, "because looking at him, I just can't help but notice how much he's changed." 

"Ya think?" Hector responded, looking at Rod rather confusedly. 

Rod seemed to fumble a bit. 

"I haven't changed so much, Sondra. I'm still the same person I used to be." 

Desondra looked beyond Rod and commented, "well, that's not what you told me earlier when I first got here." 

Rod looked at her, somewhat puzzled. 

"I didn't talk to you earlier," he responded. 

"Oh, yes you did," Desondra said, leaning to the side in her seat, "but it wasn't you I talked to, it was . . . Rod!" 

Hector and Rod looked behind them to see where Desondra was calling to and saw a golden-haired, bulky man turn around to see who summoned him. He smiled upon seeing Desondra, flashing dimples as he did so, and gave no hint as to knowing who the previous Rod might be. 

"Hello again, Desondra," the second Rod said, then turned to look at the elderly teacher. 

"Mrs. Periwinkle!" the blonde Rod exasperated. "How nice to see you again."

Periwinkle stared at the new arrival. 

"Hello," she simply managed. Periwinkle turned to Desondra with an obvious look of befuddlement. It was Desondra who picked up the subject-at-hand. 

"So, Rod," she said addressing the blonde with dimples, "do you recall who this is?" 

She gestured toward Hector, but the other Rod stood there also. 

"Hector!" Rod two said with a laugh. "Old Hector Winslow! I remember you!" 

Hector simply stared. 

"Rod," Periwinkle called, "do you remember him?" she asked, gesturing to the previous Rod. 

The two men looked at one another, somewhat blankly. Rod two said after a while, "you do look familiar." 

"I was thinking the same thing about you," the first Rod said. 

"Would someone like to clear this matter up?" Desondra asked. 

"What's the problem?" Rod two inquired. 

"You can't both be Rod Roberts, formerly Rhoda Roberts," Periwinkle declared. 

The second Rod looked at the first Rod and gave with a slight guffaw, as if the answer was obvious. He then turned back to Periwinkle to speak. This was when Edrae re-appeared. 

"Here he is," Edrae said, motioning to the moustached individual with him. The guy looked at the two seated women and gave with a rather gap-toothed smile. 

"Sondra, Sondra, . . Desondra," he said, reaching out to shake her hand, then turned to their former teacher. 

"Mrs. Periwinkle," he proclaimed. "How are you?" 

The pair smiled, then turned to each other. 

"Hello," Periwinkle managed, "nice to see you again after all these years." 

"Told you she looked the same," Edrae forcefully told Desondra. 

Desondra simply looked at Edrae, then gestured toward the other persons standing in their midst. 

"Yes, Edrae," Desondra said. "You were correct. Rod looks just the same as he did in high school." 

Pause. 

"Speaking of high school, Edrae, do you remember these guys?" 

Edrae turned to view the trio. 

"Yea," he said, "I remember Hector. Everybody remembers Hector." 

"And do you remember Rod, formerly Rhoda Roberts?" Desondra said, gesturing to the blonde man. 

Edrae looked at the stranger somewhat with astonishment. 

"And maybe you remember Rod, formerly Rhoda Roberts here," Desondra now addressed the first Rod who arrived with Hector, who was absolutely devastated. 

"What is all this?" Edrae asked. 

"I think that's what we'd like to know," Periwinkle commented from her seat, gazing at the three men. 

"Is this the Rod you spoke to when you came in," Desondra asked Edrae about the third person. 

Edrae gave Desondra a confused look. 

"So this wasn't who you spoke to when you came in ahead of me?" he asked her, implying the third Rod. 

"No, because this was the Rod Roberts I was speaking to when I entered ahead of you," Desondra motioned to the blonde Rod. 

"That's the guy I saw walking away from you when I came looking for you after I spoke to Rod. This Rod," Edrae stated. 

"So what do you say, gentlement?" Periwinkle asked. "What are we doing here?" 

The three men gazed at each other. They didn't say a word, then the blonde smiled. The other two gave faint smiles at best. 

"What is it you would like to know?" Number three asked. 

"Which of you is the read Rod Roberts?" Edrae asked, now assuming his seat. 

"Can't you tell?" number one asked. 

"What's going on?" Desondra inquired. 

"A high school reunion," the first one spoke. 

"You want to catch up with those you knew so early in your life." Second one. 

"But how well did any of you know me?" Third. 

"So you're Rod?" Desondra asked. 

"Can't you tell?" the first one repeated. 

"Shut up!" Desondra ordered. 

"This is boring," Periwinkle declared. "What are you possibly getting out of this?" 

"What are you getting out of this?" the first one parroted. "Tell me to shut up. You want to act like we knew each other so well thirty years ago. You knew nothing."

"And we are here to prove it," added the second one. 

"So what are you trying to tell us?" Periwinkle asked. 

"How well did you know me to know I would do this?" the second inquired. 

"I'm glad now I had nothing to do with you," Edrae said. "You were strange then and you are obviously strange now, tho I got to admit, this is pretty clever."

"We moved in different circles," Desondra began. 

"And I was outside those circles," the first Rod stated. He looked at Hector, who could only stare in disbelief. 

"I was outside your circle," Hector said to his original Rod. "You thought I was silly." 

"We weren't shown how to be involved and work together," Rod told Hector. "We were kept away from each other." 

"And that's where we are now," said the third. "How aware are you now that we were nothing to each other then?" 

Desondra appeared saddened. 

"I thought we were all friends," she said quietly. 

"You can't be friends with strangers," said the first one. 

"This has gone on long enough," Periwinkle declared. "Whichever of you is Rhoda, formerly Rhoda, if you want nothing to do with us, then so be it, but this little stunt is uncalled for." 

"You are hardly anyone to decide what is uncalled for," said the first one. 

"You were the biggest contributor to the alienation and hostility that has resulted in this," the third one said, waving his hand toward the other two. 

Blonde Rod laughed. 

"So what do you think, Mrs. Periwinkle?" he asked. "Do you think you know which one of these fellows I am now?" 

Periwinkle stared at the blonde Rod in silence. 

"I never would have imagined Rhoda Roberts, of all people, could or would perpetrate something of this nature," she stated. 

The third Rod raised his head up. 

"That's an excellent bit of awareness for you to finally display, Mrs. Periwinkle," he decided, "so with that, I will give you the first revelation. I am not Rhoda Roberts. The actual Rhoda Roberts put me up to this charade tonight, to do nothing more than confuse her former associates from high school." 

The all looked to the third Rod, now an admitted imposter. 

"So you are?" Edrae asked, intending to learn who this person was.

"I am," he started, reaching into his pocket, ". . . going," as he pulled out a set of car keys. He nodded in the direction of the other two men standing with Hector, turned and departed. 

"So now we are supposed to know which of you two is really the former Rhoda?" Desondra asked, now somewhat tossed by the whole thing. 

"The notion would be," started the first Rod, "that I am not the former Rhoda, I have always been Rod, even in high school. I was never Rod." 

"I think that one is Rhoda," Edrae said, pointing at the first one. "Ain't no way I'd ever believe Rhoda would go blonde." 

"I had no problem believing Rhoda would go blonde," Desondra said. "She and I actually talked about it once in class, remember?" She asked toward whichever one would pick it up. 

"Nice try," the first one snapped. 

"Dear Desondra," began the second Rod, "I would only remember such a conversation if it actually happened. If it happened, then I would remember it."

"So do you remember it?" Edrae asked. 

"If it happened," he answered, "then I do." 

"Well," Periwinkle spoke, "I've just now noticed you have brown eyes and you have blue," she declared, motioning first to the blonde Rod, then the first Rod. "Rhoda had blue eyes." 

"I thought she had brown eyes," Edrae stated. 

"i thought she had brown," Desondra repeated. 

"She had blue." 

They all turned to look at Hector. 

"Rhoda had blue eyes," he said. "I always noticed them. They would have been the first thing I noticed about her, but I noticed so much about her, even from a distance. Especially from a distance."

"I don't think I've ever seen you so sad, Hector," Periwinkle commented. 

"And with that bit of awareness," the second Rod stated, "I must now divulge I am not the former Rhoda Roberts. While I am formerly a woman, I never met any of you before tonight. Your classmate contacted me as well, instructed me on who many of you were and told me to simply show up and tell you I was her, . . .him."

"So that means you are Rhoda, formerly Rhoda now Rod?" Edrae asked of the first person. 

The first Rod, now the only Rod, looked at Hector and said, "I have truly enjoyed your company tonight, Hector Winsow, as I never would have imagined I could have, simply because I am not the former Rhoda Roberts either. Like the previous two persons, I was hired by Roberts to show up tonight and tell everyone I was formerly Rhoda Roberts." 

"So you are not Rhoda Roberts?" Hector, who had always laughed, asked quietly. 

"Will that matter, Hector?" Rod asked. 

"Who are you?" Hector asked him. 

"I'm Austin Wells," he answered. "I'm a stage actor who was contacted and offered this impersonating job." 

"So you are not Rhoda now as a man?" Hector inquired. 

"I'm still the person who enjoyed your company this evening as you thought I was who you wanted," Austin Wells said, now appearing somewhat nervous. 

Hector looked at Austin and said nothing. He simply turned and left. 

"Hector," Austin called. "Hector, wait!" and Austin took off after him. 

Absolute silence. 

Edrae looked to the only Rod left. 

"So who are you?" he asked. 

The blonde Rod watched Austin Wells pursue Hector out of the arena. He looked down a ibt, then spoke. 

"My name is Vernon Peters. Much like, . . . like Austin Wells there, I was an actor also, hired to show up and give the impression I was your old school mate who was now a guy. I tought it would be a great challenge to show up and try to fool all of you, show you how much it doesn't make a difference who or what somebody is, . . . . but it just seems like one way or another, it does." 

"So if none of you were Rhoda or Rod Roberts, where is he?" Periwinkle asked. 

 Vernon looked at the three people seated before him and rached into his pocket for a folded piece of paper. He held it out to Periwinkle and she took it in her hand. 

"I think I'm rather glad I don't know any of you, never met any of you and quite honestly, will never see any of you again," he commented, "because I'd hate to think I ever knew someone who had such an affect as you did to make osmeone behave like this toward you." 

Vernon left. 

Periwinkle sat holding the paper and didn't unfold it. 

"Are you going to see what's on there?" Desondra asked her. 

Periwinkle looked at Desondra, then Efrae, and handed the paper to them. Desondra took it. 

"Give it to me," Edrae said. "Give it here, Desondra>" 

Desondra passed the paper to Edrae, and he slowly unfolded it. He gazed at it, then began reading. 

" Mrs. Periwinkle, I hope you now realize how little you knew me to decide anything about my intelligence or interests or capabilities. You were a stranger to me, so I was a stranger to you. I was hardly the unobservant little girl who had nothing to contribute. It was you who had nothing to contribute, ever. So that is why I decided I have nothing to present to you now and live down to your expectations. Instead, I opted to send others in my place to give you every indication, as I'm sure they did, that you knew nothing about me, as you couldn't tell if any of them, . . . a quartet of men, had been the person you thought you knew. So while you and everyone else overlooked me, now I extend that courtesy to you and disregard this reuinion, even thirty years on. You gave me nothing, but hopefully I have now given you some insight into how totally lacking you were as a provide of knowledge. Sincerely, R. Roberts." 

The three of them said nothing. Finally, Edrae spoke. 

"Well, I always knew you were a lousy teacher." 

"Edrae!" Desondra scolded him. 

"No, Desondra," Periwinkle said. "It seems he is correct. I would never have guessed Rhoda was capable of something like this, clever or spiteful. I never gave her credit. I guess we really have no idea if she surgically changed into a man or not." 

"Speaking of man," Edrae said, "who is the fourth man?" 

And they sat there and slowly looked at the mulling crowd circling around them.