[stylist] Flirting with MOnday chapter 6

Tue Sep 22 01:03:12 UTC 2009

I love it.  Good going!  Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shelley J. Alongi" <qobells at roadrunner.com>
To: "NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 3:22 AM
Subject: [stylist] Flirting with MOnday chapter 6

This chapter is the end of the flash backs. It shows more of Glen's 
character and sets up the rest of the story.

Chapter 6

The quiet, older man who lived across my back fence must have thought I had 
lost my mind the next weekend. Usually the house was silent, there wasn't 
much that went on in the yard there due to my work hours. I was surprised he 
didn't come out to see what all the hammering and banging was about. He 
wasn't a busy body, in the past we had talked sometimes, exchanging 
greetings and waving as we passed each other in the morning. As I recall Mr. 
Delgado was a morning person, he was always out working on his rose bushes. 
I was always out in the morning but not working on rose bushes. Today I was 
outside early, putting together a set of patio furniture. Emotionally I was 
feeling stronger. The last two weeks, talking to Dr. meadows and finally 
telling Judy about Allison may had freed up some energy for other things, or 
perhaps it was working on this project that was making me feel better. 
Working with my hands has always relaxed me, whether it is in the kitchen or 
outside. I just generally never had time for both my job and my projects. 
But today I was taking the time because Judy was coming over at noon and we 
were going to barbecue. I had scrubbed that thing down, too and had dropped 
by the store on the way home to get a bag of charcoal. The neighborhood was 
quiet, the weather was perfect, balmy, gently breezy, rejuvenating, 
refreshing, invigorating. I even whistled a tuneless tune here and there, I 
wasn't much of a singer. I let the train do all the whistling in my life, I 
let the rails sing me into a quiet state, and when I was at home, I let the 
hammer and nails and cutting and chopping quietly relax me and infuse me 
with what I needed to get through the next part of my life. The combination 
of the two always seemed to work. So confident was I in my new found love 
and strength that I had invited a few people from work over to join us. They 
were people I considered friends. They said they would bring things to add 
to our barbecue. I couldn't hog Judy all to myself, I didn't need to. Her 
eyes told me she was mine. I didn't need to have all her time and attention. 
Judy said she would bring some colleagues from work if I didn't mind. Mind? 
I hardly minded. Judy Flower had pulled me out of my rut and had made me 
interact with life; it was like being free from some crime that I had never 
committed. Dr. Meadows helped me see that if Elizabeth had left me and had 
never attempted to contact me that I wasn't fully to blame for the 
separation. If I had tried to contact her and there was no response, I was 
free of obligation to her. I don't' know why I didn't see things that way. 
Maybe I was just to rapped up in my own sense of failed responsibility to 
see it his way. But I was starting to see it differently now and it was 
because Judy Flower, not through any type of manipulation or backhanded 
efforts on her own, was opening my eyes, I was like a nurtured plant in her 
hands. My life had been hectic and happy, but this added an element that I 
was now ready to accept. She told me I had something to look forward to.

"You know I make the best spaghetti and hot Italian sausage," she said. "I'm 
going to bring it to the barbecue."

"To a barbecue?" I said. I smiled now, thinking of this. Then I nodded to 
myself knowing that the guys I had invited to the little get together to 
celebrate my freedom from my own ghosts would probably be appreciative of 
spaghetti and hot Italian sausage. Heck, they'd be appreciative of anything 
that they didn't have to cook. I was the strange one, I was the one who 
liked to cook on weekends. They were the sports type, I watched a game here 
and there, but I didn't really go for the beer and football over indulgent 
weekends.

Now, I put the last cap on the final leg of the glass table I had spent the 
morning building from the kit in the box. I stood back and admired my work. 
It was always rewarding to have something tangible in my hands, something 
that said, hey I did this thing. This is good. I was happy. I started 
working on the chairs. The time passed pleasantly enough, Magnet and Angel 
wrestled in their enclosure. Vincent sat on the patio watching me, as if he 
approved of my activity. Soon it would be time to enter the kitchen and 
prepare the burgers. I was going to make them from ground meat today, none 
of this pre frozen meat for me. I wanted to get my hands in the mixture, 
knead it, rub in the seasoning, feel the grease between my fingers, poor my 
heart and soul into something as simple as a hamburger patty with lettuce 
cheese and tomatoes. I grimaced at the thought of the tomatoes. Let Judy 
have the tomatoes. I'd take the lettuce and cheese. I'm sure Scott, Andy, 
John, Mike, and Anthony would supply the beer and the sodas, and eat all the 
tomatoes. They could have them all. I was all about the meat today. I had 
bought a few steaks to throw on the barbecue and they had been marinating 
since last night. It was going to be a beautiful day. I needed one.

Preparing for the barbecue made me remember not long after the train hit the 
pedestrian, Judy did invite me to one of her New Year's parties. I was still 
scared as hell then. Even if I wanted to get to know Judy better, I wasn't 
sure I wanted things to change very fast. I remembered going home that night 
after we had dinner at the Chinese restaurant and sometimes being overcome 
by tears, seeing that man in front of me knowing I was going to hit and kill 
him. I spent some restless nights seeing those images. It made me nauseous 
for days after the accident even thinking of it, then suddenly I'd be calmed 
by remembering Judy telling me to relax in the restaurant, her eyes 
communicating her sympathy to me. I had held onto it. "Relax, Glen" she had 
said and Judy always had a calming way about her. Somehow when I saw her 
eyes and remembered her cool words I slept better and my anguished eased. 
Even with all this and the trust that was slowly building between us, I was 
still reluctant to proceed very quickly.  I remembered that when I first met 
Elizabeth I was charmed by her too.

Elizabeth met me on a riding path when I took Scarlet out for a walk.

"Nice little mare."

A red-haired girl wearing glasses sat on a black colt.

"Thanks," I responded to her compliment. We went on our way but when the 
riding trail ended and the little mayor clopped back to the dirt field where 
the stable was, I saw Elizabeth again, brushing out her horse.

"Nice day for a ride," she said.

I nodded. That first conversation had been casual enough, but then I saw her 
again and again and as things happen, we soon were meeting each week to ride 
our horses together. The start of that relationship had been innocent enough 
and we knew what happened after that. I ended up with a daughter, Elizabeth 
took her and moved to some town that I never learned the name of, and so I 
was still a little wary when it came to Judy. Maybe she would go away, too. 
She was nice enough, waving to me and holding my hand and practically 
letting me cry on her shoulder that day. Maybe I was the weak one, I always 
fell for kindness. Maybe it was my own tendency to be kind to others, or 
maybe I just didn't have any sense. Whatever the reason was, I found myself 
sitting across from Judy at the railroad café on a Wednesday, several months 
later after having driven her train so many days to work and seeing her run 
to keep from being late. Sometimes I saw her barely get on the train, she 
always sat in the first car, the one behind me. I couldn't see her once she 
disappeared past me but I knew she was there and there was something 
comforting if frightening about it. I always just sat up there looking at my 
screen and communicating with the conductor. Arriving at the next station 
I'd see her exiting but she wouldn't look at me. She had to go and we were 
on a tight schedule. So it was the mornings when I actually talked to Judy, 
or the afternoons when she seemed to appear out of nowhere. Judy told me 
that she took different trains because sometimes her hours shifted at work. 
She didn't always take my train but when she did I saw her. So that morning 
when I saw her sitting at the railroad café I decided to approach her, even 
if it was still with my heart in my mouth. I came up to her table and 
jingled my keys.

"Hey."

"Glen!"

Judy had the most beautiful smile. It could melt even my sometimes icy 
heart. Her smile always made me smile. I think the first thing I loved about 
Judy Flower was her smile.

"Good morning," I said.

Judy pointed to the seat across from her. The table was cluttered with her 
coffee cup, her plate, small red bag and her cell phone.

"I'm interrupting," I protested.

"hardly. Sit down." She waved me to the seat. "I'm just checking my accounts 
with the phone. No one would call me this early in the morning. They better 
not."

"Okay," I said, joining her. I had ordered coffee and now I set the cup down 
in front of me.

"No breakfast?" she questioned.

"I don't eat breakfast at Union Station. It's too early in the morning to 
think of food. I'll eat on my break."

"I see."

We were quiet. It felt nice sitting with her, even if my heart was pounding. 
I tried to relax, breathing in deeply and fighting the urge to run from her. 
I was the one who had joined her at the table. I tried to be my cheerful 
self.

"Haven't seen you in a while."

Then she told me about how she took different trains to work.

"And you don't work all those hours," she said. "That would be a long day."

"Probably I'm sleeping," I told her, "or running errands."

"Well I'm on your train today," she said, finishing up her coffee and 
putting her cell phone away. She sat back and looked at me, my high forehead 
and my blue eyes, she saw my cleft chin, her eyes rested on my badge.

"Takes a lot of work to be an engineer," she said, inspecting my cup. My 
hand lay on the cup, my fingers curled around its edge I was about to lift 
it to my mouth.

"Yes."

"I've known you A year and four months," she said. She smiled again. "I saw 
you waving last June and then July of this year was when the train hit that 
man and then we went to dinner and now it's November."

"And I owe you dinner," I said shyly.

What?" Her face darkened a little.

"You treated me to dinner that day, remember?"

"Ooh, I remember," she said quietly. "I won that argument."

"Hmm," I said. "You said I could pay next time."

"Well," she chuckled, "you came too late, Mr. Train Engineer." Her smile was 
priceless.

"No I didn't," I said, suddenly courageous, it was as if her smile had 
infused me with confidence. I put my hand out and touched her fingers. I was 
still scared as hell, but I was going to do this thing, at least till the 
next warning light halted me in my tracks.

"what about this Saturday," I said, plunging off the cliff into the unknown.

Judy's face fell. My heart dropped. Damn it I knew I shouldn't have asked 
her.

"Glen," she said gently. "You are the sweetest person I've ever met. 
Saturday is the day I volunteer with the Girl Scout troop and we're going 
hiking. We won't get back till late."

"I see."

Judy put out a lifeline.

"What about you coming to my New Year's party. Remember I told you I make 
the best spaghetti. I told you I'd invite you."

I thought about my schedule and my plans for New Years. I didn't have any 
plans for New Years.

"I'll think about it," I said, frowning. "I don't' know."

"Hey," she said quietly. "DO you really want to see me before then?"

I nodded shyly. It was a good thing we had to go soon.

"How about if we meet on Friday after your last run. Eight o'clock is it?"

"Nine," I corrected.

"Okay, nine," she said. "I work late that day and I'm going to be hungry. 
You're probably going to be tired. But you look so much like you want to do 
this."

I shook my head.

"next Saturday would be better," I said. "Friday night would be a little too 
late for me I won't be good company."

"Alright," she said. "Next Saturday. And I promise," she winked, "you pay."

She got up and I followed her. She came up close to me and I touched her 
shoulder.

"Have a good day Mr. Train Engineer," she said quietly. "I'll be behind you 
and I'll see you next Saturday."

Shelley J. Alongi
Home Office: (714)869-3207
**
NFBWD "Slate and Style" editor
http://www.nfb-writers-division.org

**
To read essays on my journey through the Chatsworth train accident, 
Metrolink 111 or other interests click on 
http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smshowauthorbox.cgi?page=&author=AlongiSJ&alpha=A

updated September 13, 2009
_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site:
http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>

stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
stylist:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/jbron%40optonline.net 