Phase I.III- Town Hall

"Well, as you see," the blonde in the yellow sundress showed off a beige sweater, "my sweet little girl and I completed this in only three days!"

The other housewives swooned at that, chattering about their own knitting projects.

Patty sighed, but kept her composure, nodding along as the women brought up their own knitting projects or baking projects or their children or (especially when Patty brought up various issues relating to women) the best cleaning products.

She had hoped to gather some of the women to get a better understanding of their **** to engage with politics or why they were struggling to connect with her.

So far, it was actually enlightening, at least for Patty. Whilst she had a softer look with a dark grey button-up dress suit, and some pretty extensive make-up and her tight bun replaced with free flowing hair, the women were still a little apprehensive of her. They smiled (boy, did they smile), but they also never really addressed her concerns, or steered the topic away. While she admitted an interest in knitting and cooking, she conceded she hadn't done it in a while, and the women looked at her with a bit of.... pity?

In fact, they all were stay-at-home mothers. Some lesbians had a part time job, but they were also laser focused on the home. That was at least something of a start, and something she could try to address with them.

Indeed, once she realized this towards the end of the meeting, she did talk a little about giving them a little more support. Making sure they had the tools needed to ease their burdens a little.

Patty had hoped to perhaps spur these women to get back to work with this, and they seemed receptive to it.

Still, there was still that distance between Patty and the women. She realized even the dress suit wasn't enough. In order to fully reach these women, she would need to be a lot more like them.

"Pardon me," she quickly got at least one of the housewives, a young black girl named Joanna in a plaid dress, "What's the best place to shop here?"

"We have a lot of department stores, but Levin's or Katherine's are both pretty good." Joanna looked her over. "Especially if you want to try out a look."

"Got it." Patty took out her phone and noted the names for shopping later.

Phoebe shifted nervously in her seat, as she watched her friends .... Could she really call them her friends anymore, they looked so different now... sat and talked in Diana Tuck... Diana Cutler's home.

Charlie looked like she did in the photos: Elegant, with her beehive haircut (suspiciously free of any white or grey) and pearls and green floral dress. Her emerald eyes, once fiery with determination and anger, were now soft and vacant, as she laughed. She looked so much younger, oddly enough, with clear, slightly tanned skin and her pearly white smile (she admitted in one of their last conversations prior to this that she had lost some teeth.)

Cheryl and her partner Marina weren't much better off. They wore matching pink shirt dresses, with a lot of petticoats. Cheryl's long black hair (again, free of any grey) was tied back with a white headband, whilst Marina's silver hair was tied in a bun. Again, they just looked younger and their bodies seemed to have been rammed into those tight dresses. They lost a lot of weight.

Diana seemed to be leading the conversation. She wore a dark green sweater and red and green striped skirt. She had what Phoebe remembered was called a "pageboy" hairstyle. She looked the oldest, but even her wrinkles were miniscule, covered up by make-up, mostly around her eyes.

Phoebe was mostly silent as her friends talked around her. Unlike their Zoom chats, they were mostly talking about their mundane domestic lives. It was strange, they would sometimes repeat their conversations. Different words, but the exact same topic. Talking about cleaning, new recipes, their home renovations.

Phoebe, in her orange button-up and white pants, felt uncomfortable. She had done enough research into each of their disappearances, but they just said that they were just living in Stepford, nothing sinister, and just moved on.

Only Diana seemed to really notice she was asking about their disappearance, and began addressing her.

"You're still a judge?"

"Yeah, I decided to take a sabbatical to help my daughter run."

"I see. How is Patty? It's been too long, and I was hoping to speak to her since I saw her ad."

"Oh, she's busy with the campaign." No way in hell was Phoebe going to let her daughter's mentor talk to her now. At least until she had more evidence.

"Well, I'm sure I have some insight, if she wants to talk to me. Ways of helping get more in tune with this place."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"You know, I saw her ad on TV the other day." Cheryl interjected. "I can't remember the last time I voted."

The women nodded along, even former Senator Diana. Another shock, given all these women were deeply involved in politics. That's why they remained so close.

"Well, you have to remember, the contracts."

The women nodded along. What the hell was "the contracts"? They mentioned it a couple other times. They just said it was an agreement they signed at some point. She didn't even get what it was for.

"So..." Phoebe tried to get the final item. "Abby couldn't make it?"

"She usually doesn't." Charlie noted. "She's such a great wife, I don't know how she does it."

"I know." Marina interjected. "She looks the exact same as she did when we last saw it, no aging whatsoever, and she still pleases her husband."

"Hold on, the exact same? No aging"

Diana took out her phone, and showed Phoebe a photo of the five of them together. The women looked the same as they did at the moment. However, Abby looked the exact same (albeit in a black and pink dress with puffy sleeves) as she had when Phoebe last saw her in 1992. A brunette with a huge smile, high cheekbones and medium breasts.

"W-What?" The shocks kept coming for Phoebe. These women had a few years shaved off, but they still were older, there's no mistake about that. Abby was still 30 years old. What the hell happened with that?

Phoebe just nodded off, with this information overwhelming her, while her friends chitchatted for a few more minutes. Finally, they started leaving.

"Tommy is coming home in a few hours. I have to prepare the house for him."

"You seem to take a lot of orders from your son."

"Well, you have to remember, he's not just my son anymore. He's my new husband as well. And I have to please him."

Leah laughed along as Regina recounted another story about her and her girlfriend, about collaborating with several other bi and lesbians in the club with a fraternity in a prank where they managed to turn on the fire alarms at a local sorority, and watching the girls come out in their underwear.

Leah knew it was kinda shitty, but the way Regina told it was just so fun.

Leah actually really liked the LGBTQ+ club (Mattachine-Bilitis Alliance). They all still looked like 50's weirdos (not like the queers from Yale), but they were patient, supporting, and the room was so nice and well kept. They had weird interests (stuff from the 1950's and 60's, not a lot of modern stuff), but they were really nice, and a lot of fun to hang around.

She even talked with Regina and her friend Sam after the meeting was over. Sam was a nice enby with a pixie cut, and blue jumper short-shorts. They were really cool, very calm. They even loved some modern stuff. Leah felt a little over dressed in her Yale Jersey and pants.

Regina parted ways to head to class. Leah and Sam walked and talked some more, before a limo showed up. Connor Whitling emerged and waved.

"That's my dad." Sam waved back.

"Your dad's the mayor?"

"Yeah, but he still likes to pick me up." Sam and Leah approached the limo.

"Leah!" Connor actually came out and hugged Leah, to her confusion.

"Hey, Mayor" Leah was confused a little by the hug, but just accepted it.

"I see you've met my child."

"Hi, daddy." Sam kissed her father on the cheek and went into the limo.

"It was nice to see you again, Mr. Whitling." Leah admired the man for a bit.

"You too, say hello to your mother. Tell her I'm real excited for the election."

"Uh-huh." Leah didn't quite know how to perceive that, but just stood silent as the car moved out.