When Love Strikes

“You don’t look right.”

Bill turned his head to the left, cocked his chin up, tightened his lips, and gave an evil stare at the woman who just said that to him.  Who did this woman think she was?  Talking like that to a complete stranger. 

“This is why I don’t walk to work,” Bill thought to himself, “Nuts.  These people are all nuts.”

 “I know you heard me,” the woman said again.

Bill grabbed his tie and pulled it.  He hated the thought of talking to someone and not having his tie perfectly aligned.

“Do I know you?” Bill said to the woman.  “Now, before you open your mouth again, why don’t you stop for a minute and think.  You shouldn’t talk to people you don’t know.  But since we are talking now, want to know something funny?”

“I’d love nothing more,” the woman replied.

“If I wanted to, I could make two phone calls and have you not only arrested for harassment, but I could sue you for every penny you probably aren’t worth.”

Bill felt great.  He loved talking to people like that.  He was one of the best lawyers in town and took pride in beating people down with words.  He waited a few minutes, staring at the woman, hoping to see tears.  Tears always made him feel even better.

“That’s nice,” the woman replied. She turned and looked forward.  No tears.

 Bill sighed.  He wanted tears.

 After a recent doctor’s appointment, Bill started walking to work three days a week.  The heat, the people, and losing the comfort of his expensive car made him even more miserable that he usually was.  And now this lady had gotten under his skin.

He stopped walking again and turned to face the woman. “That’s it?  You have nothing else to say?”

“Not really.  I was going to offer you a drink of my water because you are wearing that heavy suit in the heat and your face is all red and sweaty.”

The woman swooped left and walked by him.

Bill watched and felt like a jerk.  The woman was being nice and he had talked to her like that.

“Ma’am,” he said touching her shoulder. 

The woman turned.

“I’m terribly sorry for that incident a moment ago, it was not my intention to offend you, it’s just that the ...”

“Please, be quiet,” the woman said.

She again turned away from Bill and walked.  This was unheard of for Bill.  People didn’t walk away from him, unless of course, they were afraid.  But this woman wasn’t.  She looked past his suit, his tie, his sense of greatness, and just walked away.

Bill loved challenges.  And there was something intriguing about the woman.  Maybe it was her kind gesture, or maybe her quick, simple words, but he liked her.

He charged up again to grab her shoulder.  This time he was smiling and was working on something smooth to say.  Before he could try, she stopped and spun around with her finger in the air.

“Now you are harassing me.  I could make a couple of phone calls too, you know.”

“Oh yea?  And who would you call?”

“Doesn’t matter.  You don’t have to be some big shot lawyer to call people.”

“I’m a lawyer?  What makes you think that?”

“Because you think you’re better than everyone else.”

“Ouch,” Bill thought. 

Then the woman walked away again!

“What’s your name?” he yelled to her.

“What’s yours?” she yelled back still walking away.

“I’m Bill.”

“Nice to meet you, Billy!”

She turned a corner and was gone.  

Billy?  He hadn’t been called that since he was a kid.  Back when life was easy.  Back before his father forced him into law school, pulled him through his firm, and created the person he was.  A materialistic mad-man hell-bent on defending the so-called innocent and collecting tons of cash in the meantime. 

Before he knew what was happening, Billy had loosened his tie and began hustling down the sidewalk.  He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to catch up to the woman.  He felt this urge to apologize again for his attitude.  And somewhere inside of himself, he felt the sudden jolt of life.

It only took a block and a half before Bill saw the woman again.  This time, he hung back and watched her.  She didn’t carry a purse like most of the women walking the streets; she carried a messenger bag.  Her clothes weren’t fancy; her hair blew with the wind.  It wasn’t plastered into position like other people he was used to … including him.  He touched his hair and it felt like a drained deep fryer.  He took his hand and started rubbing his hair as hard as he could.  He shook his head and let his hair go wherever it wanted.

“What the hell am I doing?” he thought. 

Three blocks later, the woman crossed into a park.  The streets continued, the sidewalks continued, but there was a little cut off that led into a beautiful, seven mile long park that Bill had never been to ... ever.  He lived in this town all his life and never visited the park. 

Bill looked down and saw his expensive shoes touching the gravel.  At first, his heart jumped and he jerked his foot up as if it were fire.  Then, he saw the woman taking a turn on the path and, slowly, he was losing sight of her.  Bill still wanted to apologize to her so he started walking. 

“This is a nice spot,” he said smiling. 

The woman looked up from her book, confused.  She had walked halfway through the park and up a large knoll to sit peacefully and overlook the trees and the creek that ran through the park, and the city. 

“Are you stalking me?” she asked.  “I have pepper spray, just so you know.”

Bill laughed.  Laughed?  He had laughed.  A real laugh. 

“What a weird day,” he thought.

“No, I’m not stalking you.  I just wanted to apologize for before, I ...”

“Didn’t you already say that?” she asked.

“Yea, I did.  But I just want you to know …”

“Then why are you here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, sit down.  Let’s find out.”

The woman cleared a spot on her purple blanket and for the first time in his life, Bill sat down on a blanket in a park.  A park where there was grass, dirt, and life.

“I’m Angie,” she said sticking out her hand.

Bill took it.  He held it so gently and looked at it. 

“I’ve never been in a park before,” Bill said.

“Better late than never.”

How could someone be so positive? Bill thought.

“So Billy, what’s with the clothes and the attitude?”

“I don’t know.  I’ve been living this life for a long time.  Since I was a teenager, actually.  My father wanted me to go to law school.  So I did.  He helped me through it and then taught me how to become this.”

“There’s always time to change; I mean unless you like looking like that,” Angie said with a smile and a cold set of eyes. 

She was able to somehow see right through Bill.  And it scared Bill.  He was a defence attorney; one of the best.  He prided himself on showing no emotion.  His father taught him that there wasn’t room for emotion in life.  Emotion caused problems.

Bill’s cell phone rang.  He knew it was his father calling.  Calling to ask where he was, what case he was working on, and to find out if another large chunk of money was made.  No wonder Bill was completely miserable.

“I hate looking like this,” Bill said, still staring at the cell phone screen.  “I hate this tie, this jacket, and I hate this cell phone.”

“Well, change it,” Angie said.

“It’s not that easy.  My father expects something of me that, up until today, I was able to provide.  I don’t understand what is happening right now.”

Angie jumped up on the blanket and startled Bill.  He looked up and the glare of the sun came over her entire body in a way that she became her silhouette.  She looked beautiful.  Bill was shaking, he was actually nervous.

Angie reached down and grabbed the cell phone out of his hand.  She flipped it over and slid the back off.  She took out the battery and put it in Bill’s hand. 

“You ready?” she asked. 

“For what?”

“To let go.”

“Wait a minute, what are you doing?”

Angie turned and threw the cell phone with all her might.  For a moment Bill saw the little black device in the air and then it fell into a large pile of trees.

“Okay, that’s the line!” Bill yelled.  He was pushing himself to go back to being Bill.  He was a lawyer, he wore a suit, he drove an expensive car, and he used to have a cell phone. 

Theft, destruction of personal property … compromising a man’s career, no wait, that last one was overboard, Bill thought.

“Next!”  Angie yelled.  She slithered up against Bill and started pulling off his tie. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Bill said.

Angie didn’t reply.  She just pulled Bill in closer and loosened his tie.  She started to pull it over his head and Bill stopped her.  He grabbed Angie and kissed her.  And they stood for a few moments kissing in the park with Bill’s tie up around his forehead hanging off to the side.

Bill stood holding his wife’s hand and she looked up with a smile.  She looked tired and worn out.  Bill smiled not because he wanted to, but because he had to.  He had to have faith in her.

“Okay Angie, one more push,” the doctor said.  “One big push and your baby will be here.”

Angie closed her eyes, put her chin to her chest, and pushed.  Bill squeezed her hand three times which meant “I love you” and Angie squeezed back once for “too.”  A few seconds later, their first child, a son, was born into the world. 

 Just as Angie had turned him into mush many years ago, their newborn son, Colin, melted him.  Bill still couldn’t believe how perfect their life had become. 

Once the room settled and the doctor’s left, Angie took a nap.  Bill picked up his son and walked over to the window.  They were on the top floor of the hospital and could see a beautiful view of the city and the park.

Bill could still picture himself standing there that day, kissing Angie.  With each second that passed his life changed, and each day that passed with Angie, it became better. 

Bill looked down at his son, peacefully sleeping, and said, “Son, you never know when love will strike.”  He kissed his son’s soft head and said, “I’m walking to work one day, miserable as usual, and this woman comes up behind me and says ‘you don’t look right’ …”
 

 
Kiss in the Park Giclee Print
Xuereb, Leslie
Buy at AllPosters.com

Reviews (applause received)   

Liss   United States
"Loved the short! Sweet and uplifting! Bravo!"
 

Jodi MacArthur   United States
"These both are amazing, Jim. Good work! I look forward to more."
 

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