“Okay. Now how about this? Suppose little Tandy, at the age of five, was made aware of this affair by Mom’s yelling.”

“Lots of yelling.”

“Especially if we assume that Geoffrey Roberts knocked up Marie. A lot of women can tolerate indiscretion. But getting the other woman pregnant?”

“Fireworks,” Marge said.

“Yep. I can picture the irate wife screaming it for all the world to hear. ‘You f-ing bastard, you not only slept with the little tramp, you got her pregnant.’ That kind of thing.”

“Sounds good.”

“So let’s assume that Tandy, even at five, knew that a Bellson, and/or Marie Bellson’s pregnancy, was the reason behind her parents’ divorce. It traumatized her, but maybe she was able to hide it. Kids can hide their pain well. Suppose she could deal with her past by ignoring it. Putting it out of her mind. Then, lo and behold, at fifteen, she got pregnant. And all the old traumatic feelings began to resurface.”

“‘A stage-mom bitch,’” Marge read from her notes. “That’s how Tandy described her mother to Cindy. You know, maybe Tandy’s pregnancy brought out old feelings for Mom as well as for daughter. The pregnancy ruined Mom’s life once, now another pregnancy was ruining it again. Especially if stage-mom bitch had a lot invested in Tandy’s modeling career. Can’t you picture Mom screaming at her, ‘You’ve just ruined your entire life,’ etc?”

Decker paused a moment. She seemed so upset when she talked to herself. “Tandy talking to herself? Or was she actually talking to someone else who was yelling at her?”

“She was hearing voices?”

Decker said, “Could be.”

Marge said, “Well then, suppose the voice also told her about another pregnancy that once ruined her entire life—Bellson getting pregnant by Pop. Too much trauma for her to deal with. She quit modeling, moved out West, and began to eat her anxiety away. Soon she had ballooned to three hundred pounds.”

Decker said, “Wow!”

“Food is love,” Marge said. “Then she met Marie. And…”

“And what?”

“And I don’t know. I’m asking you.”

“I don’t know, either,” Decker said. “They became best friends? Like you said before, it doesn’t make sense. Tandy should have hated Marie.”

“Unless demon child suddenly reappeared as demon young adult. And the woman began to have demented conversations with herself. Saying things like, I’m going to find and screw Marie Bellson if it’s the last thing I do.”

Decker said, “So you’re assuming Tandy recognized Marie Bellson as the evil woman who caused her parents’ divorce twenty years ago. Marge, Tandy was only five.”

“Maybe Tandy didn’t recognize her face, but she recognized the name. Maybe Mom never let her forget it.”