Differences
752 Words
“RoseMarie,” Joseph prayed. “I know what you’ve been seein’. Please know that this was not going on when you were alive. It’s all just a turn of events. I have not forgotten about you. I loved you when you were present on this earth and I will always love you because you are forever with me. Believe me when I say that none of this went on while you were alive on this Earth. I would never hurt you but ...”
“Dad?” Marie called walking in.
“I’ll have to get back to you later,” Joseph rushed.
“Dad? Where are you?”
“I’ll be down in a minute, Doodles.”
Marie laughed at the sound of her nickname as the phone rang.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Yeah, yeah. What’s happenin’? Uh, is Marie there or what?”
“Who is this?”
“Her man. Just tell her that and she’ll know who it is. Obedience is key,” he laughed.
“You ain’t trainin’ no dogs ‘round here. I hope you don’t speak to my father that way. A man surely wouldn’t.”
“Marie?”
“No. It’s Dorothy. There’s no place like home,” she said sarcastically.
“Stop playin’, woman.”
“Stop actin’ like a jerk, little boy.”
“Oh, I got your little boy.”
“I bet you do. In every sense of the phrase. What do you want?”
“To talk.”
“About?”
“Us.”
“Oh, Lord. What about us?”
“I figure since we’ve been goin’ out for a while at stage one, we’d move up a step. You know? Take it to the next level.”
“You have got to be kiddin’ me.”
“What?”
“Next level? You’re lucky you get a peck on the cheek from me at this point and what next level are you talkin’ about?”
“You know,” Paul laughed.
“Oh, unh unh. I don’t know who you think you talkin’ to, but you need to check your so called let’s move forward speech at the door. I’m not the one.”
“At least hear me out. I have all this written down.”
“Stop playin’, Paul.”
“Who’s playin’? This mess took time. Fifteen minutes! The least you could do is listen. You owe me that much.”
“I don’t owe you anything!”
“What about that necklace I gave you?”
“What about it? It was a gift. You gave it to me for my birthday!”
“You owe me for that.”
“You don’t owe people for gifts they give you. If anythin’, you should owe me a new necklace. That thing put a green ring around my neck!”
“You should be appreciative that I gave you anything. Plus, you needed some color. You’re too pale according to your friends.”
“I’m sure that by color, they didn’t mean Kermit the Frog’s.”
“So, what did you do with it?”
“I threw it in the trash! What would you have expected me to do with it?”
“Keep it! That necklace was two dollars!”
“Two ... You said it was twenty-two dollars at Piercing Piergoda.”
Paul paused.
“Hello? Paul?”
“Yeah, uh ... see, what I had meant to say was ... it was two dollars at the Peaking Pear.”
“Peaking what?”
“Yeah, see ... sometimes I stutter and ...”
“Straight up lie, right?”
“Yeah. Wait, no!”
“Save it, Paul. I don’t have anything to say to you right now,” she ended hanging up the phone. She shook her head. “Unbelievable.”
“Who was that?” Joseph asked. “Nobody.”
“Paul again, huh? I really don’t like him, Doodles.”
“I know, Daddy. I’m beginning to see things your way.”
- Writer
