Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ANNOYED (04/05/18)
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TITLE: CrossWords and Kindnesses | Previous Challenge Entry
By Wilma Schlegel
04/12/18 -
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Ida took the cake to the table balancing a steaming cup of coffee in her other hand. Ahhh. She sat down and stretched her legs out - stretching all the way down to her toes. Life doesn’t get any better, and thank you Lord for this blessed food. I am your servant and I accept this wonderful food as the gift you mean it to be. Her grace was quick but sincere.
She unfolded her hands and opened her eyes and there 'he' stood. Looking at her. And her cake.
“I thought you were going to have lunch,” he accused.
“I am having lunch. This is lunch. What’s wrong with it?” she felt defensive and so annoyed. Man why does this man have to be so annoying? She asked the question with her eyes as they attempted to bore through him.
“Nothing." Earl moved away from the table and toward the refrigerator.
Thank goodness, she thought. “I would have made you a sandwich, but I got tired of waiting for you.”
“I was just trying to get a few things done,” Earl pulled the lunch meat, cheese and tomatoes out of the refrigerator. He opened the cabinet to get the bread and chips out and the bread fell on the floor. He looked at Ida.
She quickly glanced down at her cake sticking the fork in, knowing that the cake had depreciated in its enjoyment value by fifty percent.
He brought his sandwich to the table and sat himself down hard enough that the bite Ida held fell off her fork on the way to her mouth. She got a mouthful of nothing.
She lovingly gathered another chunk onto her fork and placed it carefully in her mouth. It was heaven to her palate.
“What’s a seven letter word for gubernatorial. Middle letter might be a ‘P’, I think,” Earl asked/said in that way of his as he looked at his ever-present crossword book.
Ida moved the cake inside her mouth and said, “MIdon no,” and swallowed.
She took another heavenly bite.
Earl asked, “What’s a fourteen letter word for frog, hyphenated?”
Ida swallowed. Hard. “I don’t know.” She sipped her coffee. Ummm. At least the coffee went down uninterrupted.
“Is there any more coffee?” Earl asked.
“Yes, I’ll get you some. It’s pretty good.” Ida half stood.
“Naw, I’ll have it later.” Earl was looking at his crossword again.
Ida sat, heavily. She raised another forkful. Even its smell was delicious. She moved the fork to her lips.
“What’s a nine letter word for exasperating?”
“Earl! Are you sure it’s not a seven letter word that starts with an ‘h-u-s-b’? Or a four letter word that starts with an ‘E-a-r’? Can’t you let me relax? You drive me crazy!” Ida slammed her fork down.
“Sorry, I thought this was fun to do together." Earl’s shoulders sank a little.
Ida finished her cake in silence. It was a little hard to swallow.
As she got up to carry her plate to the sink he started in again.
“What’s a thirteen letter expression for ‘they-found-your-cell phone?” he asked.
Ida stopped short. “What?”
“Your work called when you were out. Said somebody turned in a phone and they knew you had called earlier about losing yours.” Earl divulged what he knew.
“Is it mine? When can I pick it up?” She walked over to him.
He reached into his pocket. “Here it is, Ma’am. I knew you were busy today, so I went and picked it up for you right before lunch.”
Ida’s eyes got big and her tongue stuck inside her mouth. She had no words and no recourse. She was a jerk. There were no words. Her tongue would not work.
And then somewhere deep inside was a quiet voice that spoke to heart. “Now would be a good time to tell him you’re grateful and that you love him.”
The phone was left on the table next to the crossword puzzle book. Ida and Earl walked down the hallway together. The afternoon held a lot of potential.
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