Reading the Fine Print Read online

  “Tomorrow is Saturday,” I objected “can’t it wait until Monday.”

  “No, I have a test on Monday,” she replied adamantly. “I need it this weekend.”

  “Oh, alright,” I agreed ungraciously. “What about after the football game tonight?”

  “Great,” she nodded enthusiastically. “Where do we meet?”

  “I’ll be in the stands after everyone else clears out,” I sighed heavily.

  “You don’t mind if I wait to do your makeover until I see if it works do you?” she asked a bit skeptically.

  “Doesn’t matter,” I replied heavily.

  If Jesse was hoping for miracles, he was doomed to disappointment. What did it matter if it was sooner or later?

  “See you after the game then,” she took off just as the bell rang for the end of lunch.

  “Gee thanks,” I said sarcastically as I stood and picked up my tray.

  “Anytime,” Jesse grinned in return.

  ~**~

  “I did it,” Mitzi exulted, “and I owe it all to you, Janey. I will give you your makeover whenever you say. How about tonight?”

  “So I take it you passed the test,” Jesse asked ironically.

  “I got a B,” she could hardly contain her excitement. “I never get anything higher than a C and sometimes I flunk out. My parents were so thrilled they’ve promised me a shopping spree.”

  “I’m glad for you,” I said smiling ironically. A shopping spree sounded more like torture than a reward to me but to each his or her own I supposed. “You must have followed all of the rules to the letter.”

  “I did exactly what you said,” she assured me. “I put the Chain of Wisdom under each line as I read it and I remembered almost everything. It was amazing.”

  “Amazing,” I echoed.

  Although it was hard to keep a straight face, Jesse and I managed it, albeit not well.

  “I can be free tonight or tomorrow,” Mitzi offered “You can decide.”

  “Not tonight,” I stalled “I’m busy. Tomorrow will be soon enough.”

  “Okay,” she agreed gaily. “You have my number if you change your mind. Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “What was that all about?” Jesse asked perplexed as he closed his locker. “You aren’t busy tonight.”

  “I have…stuff,” I said a tad defensively slamming my own locker door shut.

  “If you say so,” he conceded shrugging.

  I watched him head to football practice with mixed emotions. He was right; I didn’t have anything planned, just my usual Monday evening of reading and writing. I had already done my scrapbook page from Friday’s football game and ever since I’d crocheted Mitzi’s Chain of Wisdom on Saturday, I couldn’t bring myself to even pick up my crochet needle.

  My primary emotion seemed to be anger, but it was mixed with a bit of sadness. Why couldn’t Jesse just come on out and say he wanted me to look differently? Why did he have to hide behind a…scheme…in order for me to be the girl he wanted me to be?

  My anger didn’t subside all the way home. I ignored everyone on the bus, but that was normal as well as mutual, and as I let myself into the house I felt thankful for the silence and emptiness. Both of my parents worked and never got home from work until around six so I always had the house to myself for over an hour.

  Usually, I would pick up a snack from the kitchen, an apple and a glass of milk, but I was so upset I knew I wouldn’t be able to swallow anything. Running upstairs, I threw my books down on the bed and then myself right down beside them. Lying there, staring at the ceiling, I tried to analyze why I was so upset with Jesse.

  Actually, I knew why, I was just desperately trying to avoid admitting it to myself. I had a huge crush on Jesse and had since fifth grade. I cursed the day I’d experienced jealousy for the first time. Jesse and I were pretty oblivious of the opposite sex at that point, which was an odd thing really when you consider that we were different genders, but our relationship was basically neuter up until that time.

  Jesse hadn’t changed, I had.

  I would never forget that day; the day a sixth grade girl had cornered Jesse and invited him to a party at her house. Jesse had of course asked if I could come, too and been immediately told ‘no’. When he told me the story later, in a very confused voice, not understanding why I wasn’t invited, I realized for the first time that Jesse was a boy and that there were girls who wanted to take him away from me.

  My jealousy wasn’t so much boyfriend/girlfriend at that point, but within a year I began feeling differently about Jesse. I never told him, never even really admitted it to myself, but I couldn’t hide from my emotions any longer. The fact that Jesse thought of me as a sister had never really bothered me before, but suddenly it bothered me a lot. If Jesse wanted a new me, perhaps I should give it a try.

  ~**~

  “Janey?” the wonder in Jesse’s voice was so obvious as to be painful.

  “Hey,” was all I could get out.

  “I guess the makeover was a success,” he said superfluously.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” I echoed hollowly.

  We were suddenly stilted with each other, neither knowing what to say. I could feel my heart breaking into a thousand tiny pieces at the thought of what we had lost in just the last couple of minutes. I wondered hopelessly if our relationship would ever recover.

  “Hey Jesse,” a masculine voice captured our attention “Who’s the new girl?”

  “Oh, hey Jerry,” Jesse said dully. “This is Janey.”

  “Hi Janey,” Jerry and a couple of other football players moved to within inches of me. “Are you new here?”

  “Yeah,” Jesse acknowledged “Janey is new here,” he mumbled turning to leave.

  I had the urge to throw myself after him, but controlled myself. After all, the whole thing had been his idea in the first place.

  What was his problem?

  Angrier than I had ever been in my life, I turned back to the other guys, trying to imitate the flirty behavior I had seen in other girls. I was surprisingly successful. I had two date invitations for the next Saturday before the first bell: one from Jerry and another from a guy named Steven. I really had no desire to date either one of them so I made up an excuse about some family thing I had that weekend and hastily made my way to class.

  Jesse pretty much ignored me the rest of the day. He showed up for our mutual classes right before the tardy bell and didn’t show up at all at lunch. By the end of the day, my normal calm was history and my anger knew no bounds.

  Ironically, my popularity with everyone else grew larger by the minute. Mitzi had spread the word about my Chain of Wisdom and all of the cheerleaders wanted one. I spent the entire lunch period bagging and tagging all of their offerings, Mitzi having shared with them what I would need in order to make their customized Chain. Each of them had some type of service to trade, everything from pedicures to manicures to different hairstyles.

  I refused any trades unless the Chain of Wisdom actually worked for them, and they all readily agreed.

  The next day ran along the same lines as the first. Jesse ignored me while the rest of the school couldn’t get enough of me. I was so ticked off at Jessie I decided to accept a date with Jerry. When Friday rolled around, the pain inside of me intensified with every tick of the clock as I waited all day for Jesse to find me and ask me his usual question.

  I waited in vain.

  Every day I became more popular, and every day Jesse and I grew further and further apart. We had no more communication, never even looked at each other. I tried to bury my pain, as months passed and we moved into basketball season.

  Christmas passed without any acknowledgment from Jesse. We had always spent Christmas Eve day together, just hanging around, talking, not doing much, but…nothing. I finally had to admit that we were done…our friendship was over.

  How did this happen? I asked myself
hopelessly. Is it all worth it? Is being beautiful and popular worth losing my best friend in the whole world?

  Months stretched into years. We graduated from high school, went our separate ways to college. I never married, unable to forget Jesse, unwilling to let any other guy get close enough to me to establish any type of lasting relationship, scared of the pain that might follow.

  At twenty-eight, I debated about going to our ten-year high school reunion. Would Jesse be there? Had he married? Did he have kids? All of the questions going around in my head were giving me a headache. I didn’t want to know, didn’t want to care, didn’t want…

  ~**~

  Wiping the tears from my eyes, I got up off the bed and moved over to my desk. Picking up the phone, I dialed.

  “Mitzi,” I said carefully emptying my voice of any emotion, “I’ve changed my mind, I don’t want a makeover.”

  The End

  Love

  By A. M. Reed

 

  I will carry you with me wherever I go…

  I will murmur softly to you before I sleep…

  I will love you, though I have not met you…

  When you finally arrive, I will be in pain…

  But that will not make me forget the love we will already share…

  Once you are here, I will hold you in my arms…

  I will sing you to sleep when you cry…

  I will rock you gently while you dream…

  When you grow, I will take you to the zoo and hold your hand…

  I will punish you when you pull an entire drawer onto the ground…

  And later give you an ice cream cone and a kiss…

  I will sneak into your room just to watch you mumble in your sleep…

  I will gladly get out of bed to rid the monsters from your closet when you wake me…

  I will wave you off to your first day at school with tears in my eyes…

  I will congratulate you when you get a good grade…

  I will comfort you when someone bullies you…

  When you become a teenager, I will suffer through your moods…

  We will have many arguments, but nothing will make me forget the love I have for you…

  I will tell you that you deserve better when you come home with a broken heart…

  And I will cry with you as we watch a sad movie…

  I will attempt not to panic as you learn to drive…

  I will pay for the damages you cause…

  Once you are grown, I will cry as you walk down the aisle…

  I will give you my blessing as you start your new life with your love…

  And one day, not too long after, you will know the love I feel for you…

  And it will repeat…

  Into eternity…

  Spinning

  By C. L. Reed

  As I spun around my chair, I began to wonder the purpose of this school assembly. We had had many assemblies before, but it was the principle himself who had done the arrangements for today. And why on earth schedule a high ranking church official for our school. We were not a church sponsored school, just a small public school in the middle of nowhere.

  Today they had brought in a grand platform for the speaker. The platform had been built in the middle our gymnasium several layers high, with a staircase leading to the very top. The speaker would be at least 20 feet above the floor. Whoever this guy was, he must be very important. I had never seen such preparations made for any other guest to our school. However, I gave very little attention to the gallantry of it all. I was just enjoying the spinning chair. They had brought in extra chairs for the event. This one must have come from one of the offices and I was not about to give it up.

  As the speaker made his grand entrance, he was led in by many other officials. I assumed they must have been official since they all wore a variety of white and crimson red robes. Each made their way to the platform taking their place on each level of the platform. They must have done this all before, because they all knew exactly their place. I can only assume that the higher their place on the platform, the greater their importance. Important to whom, I did not know.

  The speaker climbed the steps to the very top. He was wearing a white robe covered by a white cape. Assistants helped him remove the cape and it hung it behind him. As they gently hung the cape, they began to spread it out as if it were a large curtain hanging on a rod. The cape spanned at least ten feet to each side of the speaker. The spreading cape revealed golden inlays. As each crease unfolded, more and more gold began to gleam from the bright spotlight that had begun to focus on the speaker.

  As the program proceeded, I grew more and more dizzy. The spinning chair had begun to take its toll on my head. At that point, I could not tell you what the speaker even said. To this day, I don’t believe that he was even speaking English. It was all a big blur and all these grand arrangements seemed to be wasted. But again, I was very glad to have my chair. It was very comfortable. I could lean way back and, with the tips of my toes, I could give a slight push and it would revolve several times. I began my own little contest – How many revolutions could I make with just one push. As I counted, one, two, three, three and a half, three and three quarters, three and seven eighths --- it was then that I could see that the speaker was looking right at me. Uh oh – big mistake.

  At the end of the assembly, everyone began marching out. Basically reverse order that they had entered. As the speaker was led out through the crowd, many people were trying to get his attention. They were waving their hands in an attempt to get him to glimpse in their direction. That was the least of my desires. I just wanted to remain anonymous, but somehow I just knew that he was looking my way.

  As the grand procession came closer to me, the more I retreated. By this time, I had left my spinning chair. I just wanted to get lost in the crowd, but as I moved so did the procession. The bodyguards kept pushing through the crowds and at this point, I could tell they were following me. I had to decide what to do. Should I make a break for it and run, or stop and accept the punishment. Surely, the punishment could not be too bad. All I had done was spin a few times in a chair. So, as I stood there the speaker made his way towards me. As he grew closer, it was almost as if he had grown smaller, at least shorter. He could not have been taller than 5 foot. As he stood in front of me, I looked into his face. His skin was milky white, very soft looking, and in some way very kind. As I looked into his eyes, I could tell that he was not seeking me out for punishment, but he had something else in mind. He gently reached out his hand and put it behind my back. He then pulled me close. I could feel a very odd tingling. The tingling began in my back then down my legs to my toes, then through my arms, hands, and fingers. Did this short little man have some powers of healing? Was it a healing that I did not know that I even needed?

  ---- As the doctor looked up from his clipboard and over his glasses, I asked him what he thought this dream might mean. He stared straight at me and said, “It doesn’t matter what I think it means, but what does it mean to you?”

  The End

  Lady and Buckshot

  The Wright Ruff

  By L. M. Reed

  &

  M. L. Reed

  Hi! My name is Lady. I’m a German Shepherd. I live in a log house in the mountains with my owner, Jake Wright. He started training me about 5 years ago when I was just a pup. I call him The Boss.

  The Boss decided I needed a companion. He found a yellow Labrador retriever puppy that we could train.

  That puppy changed our lives.

  At first, The Boss just called him Dog. After a while, The Boss decided to name him Buckshot.

  The Boss and I figured we could train him, but boy were we wrong. Instead, Buckshot began training us. And so my story begins…

  As soon as I heard The Boss call me to come, I knew Buckshot was in trouble again.

  I sat in front of The Boss, waiting for the next command.

  I heard him mut
tering something about “That dog” under his breath and knew that Buckshot had escaped. Buckshot did that a lot.

  After leading me to the spot where Buckshot had squeezed under the fence, The Boss gave me the command to track him. I took off running.

  I found Buckshot a few miles from the house, playing with a lizard. The poor lizard didn’t know that Buckshot wouldn’t hurt him and kept squeaking “Help me!” over and over again.

  “Buckshot,” I barked sternly “Leave that poor lizard alone.”

  “Oh hey, Lady,” Buckshot greeted me as enthusiastically as he always did everything. “Do you hear him? He’s in trouble. He needs my help. I’m like super dog coming to the rescue.”

  “The only thing he needs rescuing from is you,” I placed myself between Buckshot and the unfortunate creature he was trying to ‘help’. “Run along lizard, as fast as you can.”

  “He’ll chase me,” the lizard whined.

  “I’ve got him now,” I sighed in resignation. “Go quickly.”

  The lizard scampered away.

  That was the beginning of one misadventure after another. Every night I would follow Buckshot out through his secret hole in the laundry room and drag him back home before The Boss noticed.

  Buckshot was out to rescue the world one creature at a time whether the creatures actually needed his help or not. Needless to say, my time was mostly spent saving the poor things from him.

  Then, one night, as I led Buckshot home, we heard a terrible howling. Buckshot didn’t stop to think about the possible danger as he took off loping towards the sound. I quickly followed.

  “Look Lady,” Buckshot said in excitement, once I reached him “there’s a puppy in trouble. What is that thing?”

  “It’s a type of animal trap. Probably set by some poacher.”

  “What’s a poacher?”

  “A poacher is someone who takes wild animals without permission.”

  “That’s not nice.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s against the law, too.”

  “Wow! Then it’s a real rescue this time. We have to get that puppy out of there.”

  “Yes we do. Hmm…but how?”

  “It’s okay, little puppy,” Buckshot walked over to the cage and began talking to the scared prisoner “We’ll get you out of there. What’s your name?”

  “Demon…”

  Buckshot laughed and said, “You don’t look much like a demon.”