GrowingOlderHopeWiser

Daniella scoured the thrift stores on Saturdays like a ritual with her best friend, Stacy. She called it a mission to find something unique for her planned Afro/Boho apartment. This Saturday, she made her way to ODD BALLS Nifty Thrift on Dixie Highway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It had the coolest selection of vintage, consignment, and just plain weird stuff. She spent about an hour going through the many sections of the cluttered and fascinating store. And there it was, up on the wall, among the many pictures, knick-knacks, neon signs, and odd mirrors. The African wooden carved mask with wild black hair. Very scary-looking and awesome! Daniella had to have it for her collection. She haggled with the shopkeeper to lower the price and walked out with the mask for $75. It was the real thing, not a mass-produced one. The shopkeeper said he was glad to get rid of it but did not say why. 

The mask was carefully wrapped in tissue paper and placed in a brown paper bag. Daniella put it in the back seat of the car. 

She told Stacy, “Let’s head over to the bookstore for a coffee and check out some magazines.”

Stacy was already uncomfortable being near that scary mask. She could not figure out what possessed Daniella to buy that horrible-looking thing. “I think I’ll pass on the bookstore. Can you take me home?”

Daniella was disappointed but agreed to take Stacy home. She was starting to feel a little queasy herself. She pulled out of the parking spot, and two cars screeched to a stop right behind her. 

“Wooo! That was close,” she said. 

Stacy clutched her big purse in her lap. “You ain’t kidding. That was close!”

“Let’s get out of here; I’m not feeling so good,” said Stacy, looking a little green and sweaty.

“Neither am I; maybe we got food poisoning from our lunch at the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet.” 

Daniella pulled out safely this time and headed south on Dixie to drop off Stacy in Wilton Manors. She then headed home to Pompano Beach. 

Rick was home, sprawled on the couch, watching College Football on the big-screen TV. “Hey, babe, have fun thrifting?” he said.

Rick was an easygoing, nice guy, very tolerant of Daniella’s next “big mission.” The Afro/Boho theme was okay with him, as long as his wife was happy, as they say. He furrowed his eyebrows when Daniella dropped the packages on the table and ran to the bathroom. He could hear her retching over the loud TV. “You okay?” he asked as he knocked on the locked bathroom door.

“Go away,” Daniella said.

Her voice was weak and raspy. Rick was getting concerned now and went to the living room to call Stacy’s house. Jennifer answered. 

“Hey, is Stacy around?” 

“No, Rick, Stacy has locked herself in the bathroom and won’t come out. She keeps saying something about The Mask.”

Rick repeated to himself, “The Mask?”

He went back to Daniella and knocked on the locked door again. “Honey?”

“Go away!” She growled.

That was really strange. Rick started to get scared. “The Mask.” He ran to the table, tossing the packages around. When he touched the brown bag with the Mask, he felt a vibration and dropped it. The package fell to the floor and unraveled, revealing the ugly, scary Mask. Jennifer had called back, wanting to know if Daniella was okay. Stacy had symptoms of food poisoning. Rick agreed it might be that and said Daniella was puking in the bathroom.

“What about the Mask?” asked Jennifer. 

“That mask thing is on the floor; it’s ugly!”

“I’m glad it’s at your house, not mine, then,” Jennifer said, laughing.

Rick hung up the phone and went to check on Daniella again. The bathroom was still locked, and the house was silent. 

“Daniella, Honey, talk to me. Let me help,” Rick begged.

A slow, soft, scratchy sound came from the door. 

“Daniella, open up now; you’re scaring me!”

The door was unlatched and pushed open slowly.

“Damn, Rick, can’t a girl get sick without all the drama?”

“Daniella, why did you buy that really ugly mask?” Rick said, still apprehensive. 

“It will be part of my collection, right?”

Daniella picked up the Mask from the floor and began combing its hair with her fingers. Humming to herself, she danced with it, then put it on her face.

“Take it off!” Rick was really scared now, trying to rip the mask off her face, but it would not come off.