Reading the Fine Print

  “I’m a Rottweiler,” the puppy whispered. “My owner says I’ll be big one day.”

  “Where’s your owner?”

  “I don’t know. I was in my backyard and this cat came. He made fun of me and I got mad and chased it under the fence. Then I got lost and I was hungry. I smelled food and then this thing trapped me here.”

  “You know, Buckshot,” I said coming up with an idea “you’re pretty good at digging out of places. Do you think you could dig into this one?”

  “You bet!”

  Buckshot slowly walked around the cage, testing the ground carefully with his front paws. Suddenly, he began to dig.

  I had to admit, he’d chosen the best spot, where the ground was the softest. It was no wonder he was such a great escape artist.

  It wasn’t long before Buckshot had a huge hole under one side of the cage and the puppy was free.

  “Now we just have to get you home,” I said. “I think I can sniff out the way. Follow me, please.”

  After returning the puppy to the backyard and warning him not to stray again, Buckshot and I hurried home. It was getting light outside. The Boss would be awake soon.

  The whole way home, Buckshot was very excited.

  “I am Super Dog.”

  “I’m sorry, but I think that name is already taken.”

  “Wonder Dog…?”

  “Nope.”

  “Rescue Dog…?”

  “There are whole packs of rescue dogs.”

  “I know…how about ‘I’ll-Save-You Dog’?”

  “I have one for you. How about ‘I-always-call-a-grown-up-when-I’m-in-trouble Dog’?”

  “Aw, come on…admit it…I did good.”

  “You mean you did well,” I corrected.

  “I’m glad you agree.”

  “I was simply correcting your poor English skills.”

  “You liked helping that puppy though, didn’t you?”

  “I am happy the puppy is safe.”

  “So next time…”

  “There will be no next time. If The Boss ever finds out about your nighttime escapes he will not be happy with you.”

  “But there are tons of animals out there that need my help.”

  I knew Buckshot would continue his nightly escapes, more determined than ever to play the hero. I also knew there was nothing I could do to stop that.

  All I could do was be there for him. After all, he was my responsibility.

  “I know,” Buckshot said in excitement “you can call me Mega Digger!”

  “Why don’t I just call you Buckshot?” I sighed wearily as we trudged home…well, I trudged while Buckshot frolicked.

  Buckshot didn’t bother to answer, shooting ahead of me eagerly searching for another poor creature to endanger…I mean, to save from danger.

  With a shake of my head, I smiled. Life would certainly never be dull.

  The End

  Fit or Fitty?

  A Poem of Old-ish Proportions

  By L. M. Reed

  A simple little ditty

  ‘Bout when I turned fitty

  And my body fell apart

  It was rotten from the start

  The snow atop my head

  Wasn’t temporary, instead

  I was steadily going gray

  And I couldn’t keep it at bay

  While my hair began to thin

  Oh, except around my chin

  Which I no more recognize

  As it’s doubled up in size

  And those folds of extra skin

  I don’t know where they’ve been

  But they suddenly appeared

  As my jaw line disappeared

  Adding insult onto injury

  I’m sagging everywhere I see

  And, kinda like my tush,

  My brain has turned to mush

  I’m forgetting everything

  Where did I put that key ring?

  But the one thing I can’t lose

  And it’s giving me the blues

  It’s what’s living on my hips

  From the kisses on my lips

  Cuz they’re the chocolate kind

  Not the Be My Valentine

  Those horrid sweets I’ve found

  As I gain pound after pound

  Taste too good to resist

  So they’re always on my list

  The sugar and caffeine

  They kinda treat me mean

  Make it hard to sleep at night

  Or awake when e’er it’s light

  And there’s never enough stalls

  To get me through the malls

  Whenever I’m out shopping

  Boy, that really keeps me hopping

  Now you young’uns listen well

  To the story that I tell

  Cuz the stuff that I been feelin’

  Well, it really sends me reelin’

  And you think you can escape it

  But there’s no way you can fake it

  When reality sinks in

  And you realize that you’ve been

  Simply living in denial

  And thinking all the while

  You would be young forever

  So in your mind you never sever

  The connection to your youth

  I thought the same…forsooth

  But now, I must admit it

  Though, I still don’t seem to fit it

  I guess I have to say

  I’m turning fifty today

  Potted Plants and Wedding Bells

  By L. M. Reed

  “Hey, find your own potted plant, this one’s taken,” I partially turned to glare at the man who had ducked behind me.

  “Who are we hiding from?” the man whispered conspiratorially.

  “We aren’t hiding,” I replied irritably. “Now if you don’t mind…”

  Presenting my back to him once more, I peered out through the branches, but the group had already disappeared.

  “Rats!” I exclaimed in frustration.

  “You shouldn’t do that, you know.”

  “Do what?” I asked crossly facing him with my hands planted firmly on my hips.

  “Abuse those poor animals in that manner.”

  “Poor animals…?” I repeated impatiently. “What are you talking about?”

  “Rats,” he replied easily. “My niece and nephew have a few as pets, and they are actually quite personable. Perhaps you should find some other term to express your…er…aggravation.”

  “Quite personable, huh? Too bad you haven’t learned from them,” I said nastily. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”

  I tried to move out from behind the huge plant, but a hand on my arm stopped me.

  “Why are you stalking my cousin’s wedding party?”

  “Your cousin…? Jerald is your cousin…?”

  “Not Jerald,” he contradicted. “Heidi, the bride…”

  “Oh.”

  For a moment, I was speechless.

  I’d been furiously planning how to get to Heidi Whitehall for the past twenty-four hours, ever since I’d learned that Jerald was getting married, but without success. Heidi’s parents were well-known as well as wealthy, and the security surrounding them had proven impenetrable.

  Then, out of nowhere, one of her relatives practically falls into my lap and suddenly I get cold feet.

  “You know Jerald…?” the man prompted expectantly, his tone at least twenty degrees chillier than before.

  “I…I…”

  My firm resolve was fast turning into jelly as I met the man’s frosty blue eyes, the scorn in them obvious even to my quickly melting brain.

  Taking my elbow, the man led me out from behind the potted plant towards the lobby.

  “What…what are you doing?” I asked in panic as we stopped in front of the elevators.

  “We are going somewhere we can talk in private,” the man replied as he hit the button for the penthouse.

  “Bu
t…but…” I stammered as he hauled me into the elevator. “No…I can’t. Please…stop!”

  The elevator was empty and as the door shut us in together, my panic turned into full flight hysteria.

  “Let me out! Please don’t do this! Stop…”

  I knew I was babbling as I struggled to free myself from the man’s grasp, but I couldn’t help it. The whole scene had turned nightmarishly familiar as it sent me back in time to another hotel and another elevator and another hotel room…and I knew how it would all end.

  “Jerald, please…” I begged, “Please…I don’t want to do this!”

  Strong hands grasped my upper arms and I began to kick and claw and bite…all of the things I should have done before, the other time, but was too young and scared and intimidated to do so.

  “Ow!” a male voice exclaimed as my teeth made contact with his hand.

  A second later, I felt a hard stinging slap across the face and as my hand came up to cradle my check, I felt my lower lip tremble.

  I will not cry…I will not cry…

  “I’m sorry I had to do that,” a kind voice said from above my head. “Let me look at it.”

  “It’s fine,” I protested truculently as a gentle hand removed mine and examined my face.

  “What’s your name?”

  I couldn’t answer right away. The tenderness and understanding in the voice, two things that had been in short supply over the past five years, brought a lump into my throat that I couldn’t seem to dispel.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he insisted. “Well, if you can discount the fact that I slapped you,” he continued with mild humor in his voice before the seriousness returned. “I’m sorry I had to do that. Please tell me your name.”

  “Shannon,” I whispered.

  “Shannon,” the man placed a finger under my chin and tilted my head up so he could look into my eyes. “I’m Garrick.”

  The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

  “I think we need to talk, Shannon,” Garrick said softly, “and the family penthouse is the only place I know where we can speak in private.”

  I tried to stifle the whimper, but only partially succeeded.

  “I won’t hurt you, Shannon, or let anyone else…I promise.”

  I nodded tentatively and reluctantly allowed him to lead me off the elevator and into the living area.

  For some reason, even though he’d slapped me, I believed him. After all, I had been hysterical and had actually bit the man. All in all, I thought he’d shown considerable restraint.

  “I would offer you some type of refreshment, but I fear we are rather short on time,” Garrick said apologetically. “Am I correct in assuming that you know something about Jerald that you feel my cousin should be made aware of before she commits to him for life?”

  For a moment, I hesitated. What I was about to do would change more than one life and in drastic ways. Was it really any of my business? What if I spilled my guts and it turned out that Heidi already knew, or worse, didn’t care? Why put myself through that? Why relive what was indisputably the worst night of my life?

  “Shannon,” Garrick firmly pushed me down onto the sofa and sat next to me, taking one of my small cold hands into his large warm one while the other hand once more tilted my head back forcing me to meet his gaze, “I know this is difficult, but I need to know what you know. In less than one hour, my cousin, whom I love dearly, will commit herself for life to a man that she apparently doesn’t know as well as she thinks she does. Tell me what you know and together we’ll deal with this.”

  “I tried to find Heidi alone,” I whispered, “but I couldn’t and I can’t risk…I can’t…”

  I trailed off miserably. As much as I wanted to feel brave, I knew I wasn’t. The only thing that had gotten me on that plane and forced me into flying halfway across the country was empathy…empathy for a woman who had no idea the type of man she was marrying…the mistake she was about to make.

  But facing Jerald again…

  “You don’t want to see him again,” Garrick said in sudden comprehension. “That’s why you were hiding behind the potted plant.”

  I nodded.

  “Tell me,” he urged.

  “He date raped me,” I said in shame, bowing my head, refusing to meet his eyes.

  There was no need. I knew what I would see there: the disgust, the ridicule, the anger. I’d face those and many more in the months following the ‘Incident.’ That was what it had become known as…the ‘Incident.’

  “How old were you?” he asked quietly.

  “Seventeen…”

  “Why didn’t you have him arrested?”

  “I tried!” I replied vehemently, lifting my head, eyes shooting sparks. “His parents were rich, I was a foster child…how do you think it went?”

  Tears streamed down my face as I glared at him defiantly, not really seeing him, but rather every single person in town that had pointed an accusing finger at the scarlet woman that had seduced the town’s golden boy and then had the audacity to cry ‘rape.’

  Lowering my eyes once more, I mumbled, “No one believed me.”

  “I believe you,” Garrick said firmly as he pulled out a cell.

  “Tawny…?” he spoke into the phone. “Put Heidi on…no it can’t wait. I need to talk to her now.”

  “Garrick…” I began, “what if…?”

  Holding up a hand, he silenced me as he continued.

  “Heidi…I know you only have forty minutes, sweetheart, but I have to talk to you…No, this can’t wait…you know I wouldn’t bother you on your wedding day if it weren’t important…the Penthouse…and don’t tell anyone other than Tawny…she can cover for you, that’s why you have a maid of honor…good, see you in a few.”

  Garrick hung up and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled miserably, burying my face in my hands. “I shouldn’t have come.”

  “Shannon, look at me,” he ordered.

  Lifting my head, I meet his warm blue eyes, nothing like the icy blue from earlier, and knew that he would protect me from Jerald just as he would protect Heidi from him. He was everything that Jerald wasn’t...kind, good, gentle, yet strong…and he believed me. For once in my life, someone other than Maggie believed me.

  “You have undoubtedly saved one of my favorite people in the whole world from a miserable marriage with a lowdown, scum-of-the-earth bastard and you have my eternal gratitude. I know it took a lot of courage for you to come, and I think you are very brave.”

  “I’m not brave…and what if she doesn’t believe me?”

  “As hard as it will be for her, she’ll eventually believe you. The important thing is for her to postpone the wedding until she can make an informed decision about the rest of her life.”

  “I hope so.”

  “May I ask you a question?”

  I nodded.

  “Once you realized you were…that no one believed you…what did you do?”

  “I ran away,” I admitted reluctantly. “I used the little money I’d saved from babysitting to take a bus as far away from Chicago as I could. Since I was already seventeen, I’m pretty sure people were just glad I was gone.”

  “And…” he prompted.

  “And I ended up in a small town in Nebraska. The woman who ran the diner there, Maggie, hired me and rented me a room. She had a son, but he was killed in Iraq so we became close…like family I guess. Eventually, I got my GED and then trained to become a nurse.”

  “And the child…?”

  “Child…?” I repeated fearfully.

  “You were pregnant when you ran away, weren’t you?” he prodded gently.

  “How did you…?”

  “Educated guess,” he shrugged. “Where is the baby now?”

  “Michael is with Maggie at the hotel,” I answered mechanically. “He’s almost five now.”

  My greatest fear was realized. Someone knew about
Michael. What if Jerald or his parents found out? Would they try to take him from me?

  “You kept him.”

  “He’s mine,” I said fiercely, “and I won’t let…”

  The knock on the door interrupted the rest of my sentence. Lapsing into silence, I waited on the sofa while Garrick answered the door, my thoughts in a confused jumble.

  As Garrick guided Heidi over to me, I stood nervously and smoothed my dark blue suede skirt with shaking hands.

  “Heidi, this is Shannon.

  Heidi was the epitome of every fashion model bride I’d ever seen in a wedding magazine with her beautiful blonde hair, tiny waist, off the shoulder neckline that showed off her glowing skin, and that million dollar smile. I felt the tears spring to my eyes as I realized I was about to wreck her world…her beautiful and perfect world. For a moment, I lost my nerve.

  I wanted nothing more than to find a hole and crawl into it.

  Then I looked up into the most understanding blue eyes I’d ever seen on a man and, instead of running away, I held out my hand.

  “It’s nice to meet you Shannon,” Heidi said sincerely taking my hand in both of hers. “I had no idea you were seeing someone, Garrick. I’m so pleased. It’s been too long.”

  “Oh, I’m not…” I began, withdrawing my hand.

  “Shannon has something she needs you to know, Heidi,” Garrick broke in, “but before she speaks, I want to tell you how important you are to me and how much your friendship has meant to me all these years. After Julia died, I’m not sure I would have survived without you.”

  “Garrick,” Heidi whispered, tears glistening in her eyes as she lifted a hand and placed it on his cheek, “I so want you to be happy.”

  “As I do you,” he smiled tenderly and, leaning forward, placed a kiss on her forehead. “That’s why, as much as I hate to do this, I have to ask you to postpone your wedding.”

  Heidi’s smile faltered.

  “There are some things about Jerald I’m fairly certain you don’t know…”

  “But that’s true of all marriages, isn’t it…” Heidi asked uncertainly.

  “It is,” Garrick admitted, “but Jerald has at least one thing in his past you have the right to know beforehand.”

  “And Shannon knows what it is,” she deduced as calmly as she could.

  “Yes she does…Shannon…?”

  “I’m so sorry, Heidi,” I rushed to speak. “If there were any other way…”