PAID TO BE MRS. BLACK

Chapter 3 An Old Friend

Chapter 3

An old friend.

Signing Mary sat down outside the restaurants lost in her thoughts when someone called

"Johnson is that you?" the voice asked

Mary turned around too fine a young neatly dressed lady standing beside her with a curios glance,as she stares at the face of the lady,she started to look familiar,gasped "oh my God!" she exclaimed "Rachael! Rachael Berry?"

"I knew it was you." She said and hugged Mary "you are the only one I know of; whose sad expression always makes a scene looks beautiful."

"You are stupid," Mary said laughing obviously she has missed her longtime friend

Rachael was her one-time friend she had made,back in school but before college,she just disappeared "where have you been? After that birthday celebration,you just disappeared."

"Yeah I know," Rachael said with a sad look as she sat down on the wooden bench "my father came for me. I did tell you,about my parents getting a divorce right?"

"Yeah,I remember you saying something like that."

"Well it happened and my new stepfather for some reason didn't want me to live with them,no matter what mom told him,so dad came down from London and took me with him. It happened so fast I didn't have time to do or inform anyone,although it was not too easy staying with dad at least I was in a place where I m was wanted."

"Oh! I m so sorry to hear that. I didn't know any of that; I just thought that my best friend abandoned me." She said with a shameful grin

"Nonsense Mary," Rachael said with a serious face "you know that will never happen?"

"Yeah sorry about that. Thinking about your sudden disappearance as you abandoning our friendship,was the only way I could sleep comfortably without worrying about your where about."

"I would prefer you worrying to death and having a sleepless nights than thinking of me to be such a person Mary."

"I know,I know... I said I was sorry,didn't I?"

"Hmmm,whatever. Anyways forget about me,tell me what happened to you? I meant Dora the other day and asked about you,she mentioned something about dropping out from college. Why? I mean it was hard to believe knowing how much you loved school; what happened?" she asked with a very hard to read expression.

"Oh,It's nothing important,you don t have to worry."

"What? Are you kidding me right now Mary? Back in grade school,we use to call you freak,you know why?"

"What? Seriously I didn't even know I had such a neck name."

"Well... I came up with it. Cool right?" Rachael smiled

"Cool? Are you crazy? How the hell does being called a Freak means cool? For pIt'sake."

"Well... yeah that was in the past. Anyways my point is,the reason I had come up with such a name; was because Mary you were obsessed with studying,you were clever and brilliant to the point of you having problems with the teachers because of your kin interest in always correcting their mistakes,when you had the chance. So you want me to believe that someone who loves school,studying and had a great dream to travel around the world suddenly just dropped out of school for nothing? Please,what do I look like a fool? Tell me the truth Mary,what really happened?"

Mary signed she had totally forgotten that the main reason her friend didn't get along with others at school,was because her persistence was a pain "Well... It's good to see that you haven t changed."

"Ha,ha,ha wish I could say the same about you. Now spell it" with a deadly-serious expression Rachael folded her hands along her chest,a sigh she is not giving up

"Seriously,fine" Mary signed at loud,

she told Rachael the truth about her whole situation,how she had decided of giving up her education,her future then,for her siblings to continued theirs,although she is not regretting her decision and was rather happy to see her sibling matching forward,sometimes she did feel sad,the feeling of being a failure,of being stock in one place for twenty years,was constantly eating at her very soul. She wanted to do something about it but don t know how or what to do,the fact that she was tire of putting on a fake smile like everything was okay.

The sadness in her heart was great,a twenty years old failure,with nothing to her name. No matter how strong she acted like then,she dies inside every single day.

"Wow!" Rachael exclaimed in disbelief "that is nothing compare to what I had gone through. I m sorry."

"Oh,It's okay. Like I said I don t regret making the decision just that I should have looked for other alternatives before giving up."

"Yeah? So what do you do now?"

"Oh nothing much,I worked with my parents at the farm fortwo years and manage to own a little vegetable shop at the counter market and now I m currently working at that restaurant," I said pointing at the local restaurants behind her

"Oh,that restaurant but how come I don t see you,every time I visit there."

"Probably because I close early,you only saw me now because I decided to take a breather,"

"Oh then I m glad,I came on time today."

"Yeah,"

Rachael stared at her friend for a second,it was hard to believe that the Mary she was seeing right now was just twenty although she was older than her,she looks like her mother.

Working in the hard ground of Chicago must have really taken a toll on her. "I can't believe I am seeing you right now Mary,It's like a dream."

"Well,I understand but I assure you It's not a dream."

We went silent for a while,and then Rachael spoke again,this time with concern "If I knew something like this was happening,I would have come soon than later."

I signed,seriously she hasn't changed a bit "Rachael that s has nothing to do ..."

"But never the less," she said cutting me off "It's not too late,I have a proposition,a way out for you,that s if you are interested?" she glanced at me

Huh! "Okay,let s hear it." I smiled,a way out she says? I have been looking for a way out for the past two to three years,what way could she have thought of that I haven t found? And I was always the clever one.