Gloria Browning had been the school tramp for the whole three years she attended Corcoran. She was a legend still and hadn't been in the school for two years. When I was in elementary school I had heard stories about her, her name synonymous with "going all the way".
She wasn't a particularly beautiful girl either. She wore way too much makeup and her clothes, though skimpy and exciting, were kind of dirty-looking, unwashed and unpressed.
By the time I was in Grade 10 she was somewhat of a joke. If a girl was called a "Gloria" or a "Browning" it meant that she was pretty easy - but you'd have to be desperate to want her. She fulfilled a need but she wasn't a person.
Gloria worked in the supermarket where I did. She worked days on the cash register and hadn't changed a whole lot, except maybe looked a little more used. Her clothes were hidden behind these ugly apron-like uniforms we all had to wear, and she used to flirt with all the make customers who would come through. You could see the anger on the face of most of the women around when it happened. They thought she was a slut, too.
I started working on Aaron about July 13. I told him that God thought it was about time that he had a partner to keep him company and that he would send someone very perfect that Aaron would love and that would help him to become the important person he was still going to be. She too would be blessed and special.
By this time Aaron had bought his first car. He was afraid to buy anything too good, so he bought an old "fix-her-up" and told Dad he was making payments on it. He wasn't of course. He had paid cash. I had convinced Aaron that he should keep the same "working hours" that I did and Dad would never realize that he didn't really have a job. So every day at five o'clock, he would stop at the market and pick me up.
Gloria also got off at five. I had followed her the week before Aaron got the car so I knew she was pretty regular in what she did. Every day like clockwork she would go to a coffee shop on her way home. Sometimes she would buy something at the bakery or pick up some groceries at work first, but she always seemed to treat herself to a coffee before going home.
I waited till the day she did some grocery shopping. When Aaron picked me up I suggested that we go for a coffee first since I was anxious to face Dad today. Aaron didn't seem to have a problem with that so we went into Donut Delicious, got a couple of coffees and I sat at the back corner of the store in one of the booths. I made sure Aaron could see the store.
Gloria took a little longer that day and I was getting worried that I had messed up, but sure enough, about 5:35 I see her out the window making her way to the store.
"Do you know who that is?" I asked Aaron.
"No. I don't think so. Man, she's really a scuz. Look at that makeup!" he laughed.
"The Lord be with you," I said.
His head didn't hit the table because I had fixed that up a long time ago. His eyes didn't close either. They just became real vacant, like he wasn't in there anymore."
"Can you hear me, Aaron? This is God."
"Yes."
"The time that I promised has come. The time for you to know that special person who is going to help you become important is now. I want you to look out the window at the girl who is coming across the street. Do you find her beautiful, Aaron?"
"No. She makes me... sick."
"Ah, but you will, Aaron. You will find her the most beautiful, the most beautiful creature you have ever laid eyes on. Everything about her is beautiful. The way she moves, the way she dresses. You even find her makeup beautiful. She takes your breath away, Aaron. Look at her. Isn't she beautiful now?"
"...Yes."
"You have to have her, Aaron. She is making you more excited than any other girl you have ever seen. She has to be yours. And she will be, Aaron. She is my gift to you. She will be your Queen. You won't be happy until she is yours - body and soul - but preferably the body. She really turns you on, doesn't she?"
"Yes."
Gloria had entered the store now and was ordering coffee.
"You want to meet her so badly and when you hear her name, your heart is going to beat so fast that you will know how much you want her. You will do anything to have her. I'm going to count to three now and you'll be wide awake and you'll continue having coffee with Chris. "One. Two. Three. Oh, by the way that girl we just saw that you said you liked the look of just came in."
"Where? Oh yeah. At the counter."
"I know her, you know. We work together."
"No kidding. How come you haven't mentioned her before? She's gorgeous."
"Do you want to meet her?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Hey, Gloria." I called. Come on over here and join us.
I'm not really sure that Gloria knew who I was. She had a puzzled look as she came over and then a spark of recognition.
"Chris, from work, remember? I bagged for you a couple of says ago."
"Oh yeah, Chris. Hi." Her voice was kind of nasal.
"This is my older brother, Aaron. Aaron, this is Gloria."
Aaron stood up as though he were at some formal affair and looked her straight in the eyes. "Hi. Why haven't I seen you around before? Sit down."
Gloria reacted to attention of any kind like she was a cat on catnip. She went into her "flirting" routine almost immediately. Aaron really wasn't that bad-looking now and she knew it. She moved in very close to him. It was love at first sight!
I somehow knew that I would be walking home alone tonight.
***
I questioned Aaron late that evening. He was a man in love. He kept telling me how wonderful she was and how he had never seen a woman so beautiful. And she seemed to like him. Really like him. He asked her out the next night and she said yes.
I couldn't resist putting him under again and telling him that this was the woman that he had to lose his virginity to. He had to find any way possible to sleep with her. Not that that would be a problem with Gloria. God would understand any playing around because she was a gift to him from God.
Then I told him how Gloria liked men who were real men. She liked bold, strong men and that's why she was attracted to him. And he had to protect her - he couldn't let anyone else look at her. She belonged to him.
I was sorta getting bored with the whole thing now. My brother was such a jerk and so easy to convince of anything.
I didn't put Aaron under for about two weeks after that and I didn't see him much. Instead of giving me a lift home each night he took Gloria home. Some nights he didn't come in till well after I was asleep.
Gloria was a changed person at work. She stopped flirting with all the men, had conversations (not long ones, but...) with other women at work and couldn't stop praising him around me.
I, of course, gave her some advice. He likes to give gifts, I said, so ask for expensive things. He doesn't like to feel cheap. Her face lit up on that one.
Another day I said that my mother and father knew about the two of them and would try to pull them apart - particularly my father. She began to hate him almost as much as Aaron did.
Aaron was still working out so he was very strong. His hair almost hit his collar now and he seemed to take pride in his new physique. He started getting into fights over Gloria. If any guy would look at her twice, or worse, if any guy would say something bad about her - he was off like a cannon.
Then he got thrown out of the house.