“Ray, am I right when I say there is a house rule where we can express ourselves without fear?” the snarky remark coming from La Flor.
Oh, oh. My mind races back 24 hours. There was La Flor’s incident with her mystery writer blog friend. They were wearing the same outfit. I got blamed. There was the incident with Little Carmen when he brought her the wrong Starbucks drink. I got blamed. There was the incident where Carmela and TT got a line more attention than she and Little Carmen did. I got blamed.
I decide to jump in the deep end, “That’s the rule.”
It’s not good when her arms go akimbo and she cocks her head to the left, and gestures with her right index finger. It looks like I hit the trifecta.
Her forefinger can within inches from my nose. No nose jokes please. La Flor said, “Yesterday. Yesterday. Yesterday.”
I replied, “Yes, yesterday was yesterday. Where are you going with yesterday? Do you realize it’s today and tomorrow is tomorrow.”
“I am so grateful LC is not like you. He’s sensitive. He’s smart. And, he’s secure in his own skin. Unlike some people I know whose name begins with R and means rat.”
I hold up my hand, “We have another rule, no insults, disparaging remarks.”
La Flor holds up her hand, “We have another rule to always tell the truth.”
I hold up my hand, “We have another rule, it has to be the truth and not an opinion.”
La Flor holds up her hand, “We have another rule, if the opinion is the truth then it’s okay to state an opinion.”
I hold up my hand, “We have another rule, “If the truth is going to hurt, try to say it in a way that is compassionate and kind.”
La Flor holds up her hand, “We have another rule, “If it hurts, suck it up and deal with it.”
“That’s not our rule,” I said.
“Yes, it is. LC and I voted on it this morning,” said La Flor.
“I wasn’t present for the vote.”
“You don’t have to be present if there is a quorum.”
“Were TT and Carmela present?”
“No, but I made them give me their proxies.”
“You made them?”
“Yes. I gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse.”
“You’ve been spending too much time with Big Carmen and Lil Carlo.”
“They’re sweet.”
“What’s the issue you wanted to talk about?”
“What issue?”
Another stimulating conversation with La Flor that leaves me talking to myself.