Page 41 of The Summer Request
He shook his head. “Yeah, yeah. You’re getting bounced.”
The jig was up. No one batted an eye as she disappeared through the doorway, down a deserted hall, and on to join her friends.
December 13th, 2003
Dear Diary,
Today is the thirteenth anniversary of the first Emerald Life Polishing Session. We just got home from an exclusive, high-level members-only banquet in Cabo to celebrate.
Everything was exquisite, just as Lou intended. I didn’t see much of him because he was busy talking to donors, but his speech at the welcome dinner was beautiful. One of the volunteers put together a video of people explaining how much the Emerald Way has helped them. It made me cry. We do so much good, and I’m proud to be a part of it, even if my role is small.
I made a mistake, though. I told Lou that the new recruitment model he’d proposed made me nervous. He swears I must not be paying attention, and maybe he’s right. He announced it at the event without discussing it with me beforehand, so maybe I missed something. I’ve been working seven days a week teaching new trainers the Emerald Way, so I’ve not been as present as I should be.
That’s the thing, though. We’re having a hard time keeping up with new sessions because we have more people who want to attend than there are trainers to teach them, but Lou is still upset that our recruitment rate has slowed this year. It’s only natural, I think, because we can only expand so fast. He disagrees. He wants to start incentivizing current Emeralds to bring in new recruits. For every new recruit they bring in, they get a cut of the new recruits’ session fees.
People are excited about it. They say it’s a nice little bonus for recommendations they’d make to friends and family anyway, and it’ll help them pay for their own sessions.
Here was my mistake: I told Lou it sounds a bit like a pyramid scheme.
He just about bit my head off. He hasn’t talked to me in three days. I know he’ll get over it eventually, and maybe he’s right and I’m overreacting. It’s word of mouth marketing, after all, and we can reach more people this way.
I’m just so tired. The beach was so beautiful in Cabo, but so lonely. I didn’t see any animals, only a few birds, but I think the resort does something to keep them away. They’re afraid of poop, I guess.
It wasn’t like back home, where I could look out on the water and see a fat little harbor seal bobbing along, or an eagle, or whale fin in the distance. There’s so much beauty, but it feels so empty.
- Justine
Fifteen
The three of them handled captivity differently. Val banged on the walls and called for help. Michelle paced the room, looking for exits and trying to come up with a strategy.
Lisa sat on the floor and didn’t say much. From her perspective, there wasn’t anything they could do. Yes, they were being held illegally, but who was there to tell? The door was locked, there were no windows or furniture, and wherever they were, no one could hear them. At least no one who cared.
On the plus side, they’d gotten their purses back. Lisa was grateful for the enormous bag she’d been dragging around with her this entire trip. She had snacks, a water bottle, and best of all, Justine’s diary.
As her friends tried to deal with the reality of their situation, she slowly read through every entry in the little notebook. Some of the entries were full of hope and excitement, while others were written in a cloud of despair.
The darkness in her words was haunting. Justine admitted at one point that she turned to journaling to help her deal with negative emotions, but still. It seemed like she’d struggled far more than she let on, maintaining her funny, kind, and helpful persona.
Val eventually turned her annoyance onto Lisa. “Why are you so quiet? Aren’t you angry?”
It’d been at least two hours since they’d been locked away. For Lisa, the time had flown. “What good does it do to get angry?”
Val let out a disgusted sigh before flopping onto the floor next to her. “It makes me feel a little more in control.”
That was a fair point, even if it didn’t make sense. “I’ve been reading the diary. Did you know that five years into their marriage, Justine tried to talk to Lou about starting a family?”
Michelle took a seat across from them. “What do you mean ‘tried’ to?”
“He wouldn’t have it. Look for yourself.” Lisa tossed the diary over to Michelle and watched her expression turn from a thoughtful curiosity to a deep scowl.
Michelle flipped the page and muttered, “Poor Justine.”
“Let me see.” Val scooted toward Michelle and read over her shoulder. Her response was less subtle. “When did he become such a monster?”
That was the question of the month, wasn’t it? When they were younger, Lou seemed nice enough. He was kind to Justine. His family welcomed her like one of their own, and she was happy. She belonged. Justine had always wanted to belong.
It seemed clear to Lisa that Lou had fallen prey to a common vice: greed. Then he picked up more of the deadly sins – pride, gluttony, and a heaping of lust.
