Chewing Gum and Wrinkled Skirt

Don't blame me - I had a hard time coming up with a title for this chapter. And an even harder time coming up with a picture - obviously. This is part three of Rebecca's saga. You can read part two here. Part one is linked from there... I couldn't honestly link this with Weekend Wordsmith this week - but I expect to have something for that maybe tomorrow. I'd love to have your feedback, folks! Thanks so much for reading!

Chewing Gum and Wrinkled Skirt

Rebecca explained about the broken window through the cracking gum on the other end of the line. She wondered why no one ever taught this girl that young ladies don't chew gum, especially not so loudly. What was that little poem Sister Rose-Michelle used to share with the class? "A gum chewing girl and a cud chewing cow are the same. But there is a difference somehow - I know! It's a look of intelligence on the face of the cow."

"We can come tomorrow" said the young girl. Rebecca requested same day service as indicated in the ad. "Uhm - it's just a broken pantry window, right?" asked the girl. "Yes" Rebecca replied. "Look - I can send someone out there for ya this evening but it is gonna cost ya like double 'cause it's like night. Just put some plastic or plywood on it and I can have someone out there sometime tomorrow". More cracking gum. This caught Rebecca off-guard as she was used to people LOOKING for an opportunity to charge double. "Oh - okay" was her timid response. "That will be fine - thank you." She gave her name and address before hanging up the phone.

The next morning, while she waited she remembered something Garrett had once said to her - that she made her own trouble. That she over-thought and over-analyzed everything and that THAT was the cause of most of her trouble. Some days Rebecca thought he may have had a point. But sometimes - like with this window, trouble just found her.

She wondered what he would look like. She pictured his strong hands and forearms and smiled herself when she pictured his warm friendly smile and remembered how safe she always felt with his arms wrapped around her. It was probably because she was lost in these sweet reminiscent thoughts that she hadn't heard the incessant knocking on the door. The doorbell being, of course, still broken.

"Uhm - hello?" The voice startled her. "Glass?" "Oh! Yes! Come on in!" She jumped up and tried in vain to smooth wrinkles from her cotton skirt. It was no accident that her hair was washed first thing that morning or that she smelled like lillies of the valley. In spite of these extra efforts - she had had to dig through boxes to find something legitimately pretty but not overdone and and never did find that iron. So - it was off to the door in a wrinkled skirt...

They met in the hallway - eyes locked - and even though Rebecca felt her heart jump when she saw him she was not sure if it was because she was taken with him or if it was because she was surprised that the man standing in her hall was not Garrett Lewsinski at all.