A pounding headache awakened me this morning. Outside I could hear rain pounding. Vivid flashes of lightning were punctuated by loud booms of thunder. I could not pull myself from bed. I went back to sleep. And then... I was awakened by a thunderous pounding on my shop door.
Glancing at the clock on my wall I realized that my shop was supposed to be open a half hour ago. I flung on my wrapper, and dashed down the stairs, doing my best to ignore the violent pounding of my head.
Opening the door slightly to hide my state of dishabille I discovered Lucille Butler and her three small daughters, Alexa, Bertie, and Willie. Now my head was REALLY pounding.
In her most snippy tone Lucille said, "Are you sick? We can't risk catching any disease from you."
I wished to slap that smug, snotty, superior look off her face. I knew that I can not afford to lose her business. So I said, "No, you can not catch my headache. Come in. I will just rush upstairs, dress, and then I will be back to help you."
Lucille did not utter one single word of condolences for Celeste's pounding head. She sniffed in her most unattractive manner. "I suppose that will have to do. Such poor business practices are hard to accept!"
The next hour was torturous. Lucille pulled out each and every bolt of cloth. She chose the fabric for her daughters. Then her daughters proceeded to have a temper tantrum. Not just one Bond daughter but each and everyone of them.
At the height of the madness, Blake Calkin strolled in. Celeste noticed that he hesitated when he saw the Bond girls screaming and wailing. He smiled briefly, "Lucille, girls." Blake lifted his hat to each of the Bond's.
"Excuse me ladies but I must speak to Celeste, privately." Blake took Celeste's arm and led her into her kitchen.
"Thank you Blake. I simply can not express to you what a blessing it is to have a distraction from the screamers."
Blake said, "I wanted to invite you out tonight."
"Out?" Celeste asked.
"It's such a beautiful day. I thought we could go out to Carter's Creek and have a picnic. I will bring the food. I'll pick you up at six?"
Celeste sighed, "Blake it sounds divine. I have a migraine headache and the Bond ladies are NOT helping the situation."
Blake moved forward and began to massage Celeste's neck, head and shoulders.
The sensation was so marvelous that Celeste felt as though she would melt into the floor. After only a short time Celeste stopped Blake. "Blake this feels like Heaven but I can't afford to lose the Bond's patronage."
Blake said, "I'm going to stay while you assist them. I think they may be a shade kinder if I'm witnessing their actions. Then I'm going to massage you and get you some headache powders. I will just spend the day with you. Do you agree to that?"
Turning Celeste gently around so that she was facing him slowly, deliberately, he leaned down and kissed her gently.
The kiss was gentle but Celeste's reaction to it was anything but gentle. She was certain that she could hear fireworks, drums, perhaps an orchestra or two. "Yyyess Blake, I would love to have you spend the day with me."
Lucille called out in her most nasal tone, "If you have no interest in assisting me, I can take my business elsewhere!"
Blake whispered in Celeste's ear, "I will NEVER understand how a good man like Willard Bond married th tha thattt Lucille!"
Hand in hand they walked out into the shop.
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