Mind
by Waldo
4. Chapter
I got mad at LayWanda the next morning. I arrived at work as the dock men were unloading a truck that I was not expecting. After looking at the invoices, I discovered that LayWanda had bought a truck load of stuff that I had not been aware of. We buy a lot of truckloads but this particular merchandise is not a fast volume turnover item and I would never buy this much at one time. I stormed into her office and demanded to know what was going on. She explained that the vendor offered a good reduction on truckload volumes and I tried to explain that it would take three years to get rid of that much stock. I left her office mad at her stupidity and she was also mad at me for being so old-fashioned.
The rest of the day was no better. I found out that she had called on one of our customers and agreed to set up and maintain a display area on consignment. Not only were we going to stock the area, but we would not get paid until it sold. How can we make money when we operate a business in this fashion?
When I got home, I wanted to kick the door in. I was still mad. As I fixed myself a drink, Val came into the kitchen “Hi, John. I heard you come in and it so-so-sounds as if you had a bad day. Steph went to the store and we are finished for the day. Can I join you in a drink?”
“Sure, Val. My day was miserable. I wanted to kill LayWanda. I wished I had enough money so I could buy her out. But I don’t want to talk about her. How was your day?” I said as I fixed her a gin and tonic.
“I had a session with Amanda today. She is very attractive and I feel so ugly when I am around attractive women. I to-told her that I would probably fall in love with her if I was a man. She laughed and said she could arrange for that to occur. That is, for me to become a ma-ma-man. She is very beautiful, friendly and nice. She as-asked me to come over and jog with her so-so-sometime. She is going to have a very nice of-of-office when we fin-fin-fin-finish the remodelling and decorating.” she said as she took a sip of her drink.
“I can’t wait to see what happens with Steph. Did Steph tell you that Amanda is trying to help her quit smoking?” I said.
“Yes. I saw how she didn’t ne-need to smoke yesterday and how little she smoked today. When I came back with the wallpaper for the outer office, they were just finishing up their session. Then Steph went to the furniture store while I re-measured the windows. Amanda and I ate lunch together. She gave me some tips to help me quit st-stuttering. But as you can hear, I still have my problem.” she said.
“Val, you know that I love you as a friend and feel that you are the sister that I never had. I will do anything to help you and you know that. I think that you need to find you a good man and you will quit stuttering. You need someone to hold you close, to tell you how much he loves you, and to screw your brains out on a very frequent basis. If I wasn’t married to Steph, I would camp out on your doorstep and show you all the tricks that I can do with my tongue. That is tricks I used to be able to do. Steph won’t let me practice most of them. But you need something more in life, than going home to those damn cats.” I said.
“Thanks, John. I know that you are ri-ri-right, but I can’t bring myself to get involved with an-an-anyone again and risk getting hurt again. Ralph knew how to hurt me and make me feel bad. Everytime I meet someone, I get so te-te-tense inside and ne-ne-nervous. I screw it up by running away and not letting them get cl-cl-cl-cl-close to me. I get nervous just thinking about meeting someone new.” she said. “I talked to Amanda a little today and sh-sh-she asked some very pe-pe-personal questions. I told her about Ralph and what he did to me. She also asked me about my parents and I to-to-told her what my uncle did to me when I was seven years old. She has ways to get you to talk about th-th-things that you don’t want to talk about.” she said.
Before I could say anything else, Steph came in carrying a bag of groceries “Hi, gang. I am back. There was such a crowd at the store. I got some steaks and was thinking about having a barbecue tonight. How about hanging around and joining us Val?”
“Thanks, but I need to go home and take care of Ca-ca-Casper. Maybe next time.” she said as she finished her drink and picked up her purse.
“Are you sure? I bought enough food for several people and we would love to have you join us.” said Steph as she put her arm around Val’s waist.
Val shook her head no and I watched as Steph walked her to her car. They look so much alike that they could pass for sisters. I have seen some of Steph’s old pictures when her hair was her normal colour, which was the same shade of brown that Val’s is. Steph told me that she changed her hair colour in college because some people had difficulties telling them apart, except for the boobs and stuttering.