I’m putting the finishing touches on my blog. I’m quite taken with my brilliance. My ability to twist facts into fiction. My complete understanding of human nature and its nuances, until . . .
“Ray! Ray! Ray!” The voice. The blaring, unceasing tonal demand. The refusal to take no for an answer. To cop a phrase, “She’s more beautiful than a runway model. She’s tougher than a tank of barracudas. She’s edgy enough to pull off any look. It’s La Flor.
“What’s up?” La Flor. I said softly and calmly. I watched a PBS special where I learned speaking softly and calmly works wonders on others.
“Whatever you’re doing, stop. Stop! Stop!” she shouted. So much for soft and quiet.
“Do you mean what am I doing now? Or, do you mean what was I doing?” I’m learning with La Flor. I want to get this right. If I don’t, we’ll carry on for four or five paragraphs.
“Tell me it’s not too late. See, I used too correctly. Please, tell me I’m not too late,” La Flor is pleading with me.
“Too late for what? Dinner? Coffee? Desert? Your favorite reality show? Give me a little help,” I said.
“If only LC were here. He would have reached you on time. I can’t run as fast as LC when I’m wearing stilettos.”
I looked at her feet, “Nice stilettos, how much they set you back?”
“Nothing, I used your card.”
“How much did it set me back?” I asked.
“Not as much as my earrings. Like them,” she said placing her palms behind her ears and pushing the lobs a bit forward.
“Tell me they’re zirconium.”
“Seriously, do you think La Flor is going to wear zirconium?”
Opps, back to speaking in the third person. What am I going to do? Get upset over it. Not a chance. I’ll report the card stolen, I thought.
“And, don’t you dare report the card stolen or lost,” she said.
What is she a mind reader?
“I’m listening to mind reading podcasts, and it seems to be working.”
I needed to change the topic, “Is this an emergency?” I asked.
“Of the first, second, and third order. Maybe the fourth, fifth and sixth orders. Maybe a takeout order,” she said.
Remember, I’m a sensitive guy. At least in my own mind. “Sit down La Flor. I’ll get you a glass of water.”
“Something stronger, por favor.”
“Diet Coke?”
“What I would give for a sensitive male,” she hollered.
“That’s me,” I said.
“Get real,” La Flor answered.
What choice did I have? I brought La Flor a glass of white wine and handed it to her. She took a sip. “Where did you buy this? What did you pay, a dollar seventy-five?”
“Hold on. It was on sale for three ninety-eight.”
She set the wine glass down, reached into her expensive leather, made in Italy, handbag, pulled out a tin of breath mints and took at least a half dozen out and chewed them as if she hadn’t tasted food for six weeks. “I’ll never lose the taste. If you ruined my wine tasting buds, I’ll, I’ll ….”
I finished her sentence, “Tell Ray about the emergency.”
Fortunately, La Flor’s attention span is a tad better than mine, that’s not saying much. She said, “Did you publish the blog?”
“As soon as we’re done I’m going to publish it.”
“I’m in time. Hold it. Keep it in draft. Save it for a slow day. Give it away.”
“Why?”
“I’m turning whistleblower,” she said.
“Whistleblower?” I am happy Little Carmen has to deliver pizzas today. I can only imagine what he would have done with the word whistleblower.
“I’m going to tear down walls. I going to bring the big shots down. I’m going to be famous. Maybe I’ll win a Pulitzer Piñata.”
I knew it was too good to last. The doorbell rang.
“Get it, Ray. It’ll be LC. I asked him to bring me an iced skinny latte while on his pizza deliveries.”
I didn’t have to answer the door. “Hey use guys, I gots your skinny, ninny, latte beautiful, tough, and edgy make me drool all over myself. BT, I can never remember the last letter. Anyways, I made this pie all by myself except for the dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings. Oh, I think it was S.”
“S? No, it’s W,” I said.
“What’s W?” a confused Little Carmen said.
“A letter. BTW, we didn’t order a pizza,” I said.
“It’s okay. It’s already paid for. The guy paid by credit card. I think use got it wrong, Ray-Mo. It’s BTS.”
“He won’t get his pizza,” I said.
“Not if he wants this one,” Little Carmen laughed.
La Flor stared at Little Carmen with a cross between a sense of awe and awful. I couldn’t quite make it out. She said, “Come over here and keep me company LC. Don’t talk while I’m talking. Did you know Ray gave me cheap wine?”
Little Carmen had a look of horror on his face, “Ray-mo. Cheap wine. You gotta nerve.”
La Flor put her forefinger to Little Carmen’s lips, “That’s enough, have a piece of pie and play with your smartphone. Ray, where was I?”
I wanted to say ‘the fourth level of insanity but didn’t. “So,” I said, “You are going to be a whistleblower.”
“Is that like those guys with the striped shirts at the football games?” said Little Carmen.
“LC!”
“Sorry, beautiful, tough, and edgy whistleblower.”
Come back tomorrow for the whistleblower’s story.
