Kisses & Curses

Chapter One (Completed)

Harlem, NY

"You have mail."

Vivienne's head came up so fast her purple-rimmed spectacles slipped down her nose. Impatiently, she pushed them back into place. Seeing the large manila envelope in her older sister's outstretched hand, a conspiratorial smile titled her lips. She turned off the rotary drill and set it aside before hurrying across her tiny workroom.

"I don't understand why you're so excited, Viv. Whatever you produce from this little adventure of yours, you'll do something to sabotage it like you do everything else. The minute your Phoenix rises, you go and shoot it down faster than Dick Cheney can say, pull."

Vivienne rolled her eyes heavenward. "Charlotte, I'm in too good of a mood to get into it with you today. Five times already this week is enough, don't you think?"

Her half-sister had always had it in for her since the day she was born. Vivienne couldn't help it they didn't have the same deadbeat dad. Or that their mother had doted on her as a child. They were both adults and parent less, still Charlotte couldn't get over it. It's one of the reasons why what was in the envelope was so important.

After taking the envelope from her sister, Vivienne turned it over and read the forwarding address. A tingle ran down her spine. This was the means by which she could leave the home she and her sister inherited after their mother's death and shared out of necessity. Already tasting her future, she slipped her finger under the flap and split the package open.

"Well, someone has to talk sense into you," Charlotte huffed, placing both her hands on her boyish hips. "I just don't see how you can blow all of Mama's insurance money on a piece of property you haven't seen let alone bought in some online auction. Heck..." she paused to suck her chipped tooth, "you don't even know if that pit still has anything left. Wasn't the gold rush two hundred years ago?"

Vivienne glanced up at her sister and for the thousandth time wondered how both of them could have come from the same mother, a former professor at Columbia University. Maybe Charlotte inherited her ignorance and downright nastiness from her father who'd walked out on their mother before she was born. Albeit a rolling stone and a talented musician, he refused to have anything to do with Charlotte, even leaving her out of his will when he died of a heart attack seven years ago.

Shared genes aside, sometimes Vivienne felt only one of them had an ounce of sense, and it wasn't Charlotte. "It's not Mama's money, Charlotte. As one of her beneficiaries, it's legally my money. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't use all of it, only five thousand."

"The price alone proves you've wasted your money." Her sister snorted. "If it was worth something then the owner wouldn't have sold it so cheap."

Vivienne fumbled through the documents, finally pulling out a paper resembling a certificate. "I had a certifiable valuation of the mineral potential of the claim done up by a professional geologist." She scanned the document. "Both the open pit and the adjoining tunnel mine show traces of turquoise, silver, and even gold."

"Traces? You're traipsing two thousand miles across country for only traces? You you can find traces of gold and silver in my jewelry box."

Vivienne threw her hands in the air. No wonder she'd never realized her full potential. It wasn't for the lack of trying. And she never wanted a cheering squad but a pat on the back and a 'job well, done Viv' every now and then would've been nice. Unwilling to let her sister's words put a damper on her plans, Vivienne decided to call it a draw. She slipped her arm through her sisters, entwining them.

"Just this one time, can't you be excited for me?"

Charlotte wiggled her arm free. She'd never been the touchy-feely type. "I just don‟t want you to lose your shirt."