by W.H. Harrod
“What in the world is wrong with that animal?” asked Terrance, exasperation apparent in his voice. “He keeps on staring at me and moaning. I’m the one who got mugged.”
They were all situated in the comfortable living room. Terrance looked no worse for his experience. A long hot shower and one of Jess’s terry cloth robes had assuaged his earlier sense of personal injustice. Add several slices of the deluxe pizza he’d picked up on the way out, and he felt to be in fine fettle.
“It’s because you’re ignoring him,” answered Jess. “You know how much he enjoys your company—he lives for it. And look at you—there you sit eating all the pizza without offering him a bite. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Saying that, Jess promptly arose from the sofa and took one of the remaining slices of pizza over to where Harvey lay grieving. She bent down and laid the slice on a piece of newspaper in front of the huge sad-eyed dog. Still, Harvey made not even the slightest move towards the offering.
“See, now unless you’re a heartless creep, you better get up and come over here and pay some attention to him.” Leaving the piece of pizza on the floor, she returned to the sofa where Fifi eagerly awaited her.
“You know you’re really a weird and goofy dog, don’t you?” said Terrance taking Jess’s cue. Harvey’s head rose off the floor at the sound of Terrance’s voice coming in his direction. “Now if I get up and come over there and rub that big head of yours, you’re not going to attack me again, are you?” Harvey hadn’t a clue as to what Terrance said, but he understood the tone of voice. With brown eyes shining, tongue hanging deceptively still out the side of his mouth, he sat up, anticipating something good happening.
Terrance didn’t disappoint him. Coming over and sitting beside him on the carpet, he rubbed Harvey’s big head and hand fed him the slice of pizza. Harvey acted as if he resided in doggie heaven as he finished the hand fed meal and laid his big face across Terrance’s terry cloth covered knee. Then as he always did, Terrance massaged the top of Harvey’s head as the easily pacified critter partook of an after dinner snooze.
This is it, thought Terrance as he took inventory of his surroundings. This is what I always hoped for. He often envisioned this scene of Jess sitting in a comfortable room located in a quiet out of the way place absent the city noise. Across the room a beautiful young woman smiled at him. The dim light provided by the candles placed on the mantel above the fireplace didn’t allow him a clear view of her near perfect facial features, but as they were etched into his memory, the dim light proved sufficient. She completed the perfect picture.
After soaking up the experience, Terrance made his move. Ever so gently lifting Harvey’s big head from his thigh, he laid it on the carpet. Then slowly, so as not to awaken his devoted friend, he moved towards the sofa. Jess’s eyes displayed equal anticipation as she observed Terrance’s attempt to make his escape.
Sometime later, after the passions of youth were sated for, at least the time being, the realities of life again took up residence in the forefront of Terrance’s consciousness. He hadn’t intended to return his thinking back to his real life predicament but as he made his way from the bedroom into the kitchen to get a glass of milk, he glimpsed one of the many sayings from the “Tao Te Ching” that Jess posted throughout the house. He frowned as it reminded him again of the great differences in their basic outlooks on life. The saying before him contained in a frame and sitting on top of the fridge, typified their divergent beliefs.
“Deal with the difficult while it is easy;
Deal with the great while it is yet small;
The difficult develops naturally from
the easy, and the great from the small.”
“What is that that supposed to mean?” he asked as he stood before the open fridge. “It doesn’t make any sense. That’s what this whole country is all about—wanting and getting things. People didn’t cram onto small boats hundreds of years ago and leave their homes in Europe and Asia to come all the way over here to a new and often hostile country to just sit on their behinds and get nothing. They had a whole lot of that where they were.” He’d tried a number of times to talk some sense into her, but she wouldn’t understand.
He finished pouring a glass of cold milk, closed the refrigerator door, and turned around to sit down at the kitchen table to enjoy his drink. As he did this, he noticed, sitting in the middle of the table, another framed saying from the same book.
“Nature does not possess desire;
Without desire, the heart becomes quiet
In this manner the whole world is made tranquil.”
“I’m going to get a headache,” Terrance moaned as he laid his head forward into his hands. “Why is she doing this to me?”
“Doing what?” asked Jess from behind him.
“Oh nothing,” replied Terrance, surprised at Jess’s sudden appearance. “I was merely mumbling to myself again. You know how I do that from time to time. How come you’re up?”
“How come you’re up?” came back the quick response.
Terrance had to think for a moment. Why was he up? “I suppose I wanted a glass of milk to settle my stomach. And of course, I always enjoy attempting to decipher these ever so clever bits of wisdom you’ve strategically stashed around the house. Do you actually believe what this stuff is saying?”
“With all my heart,” said Jess in a tone of voice that indicated no offense taken.
“I believe you actually do,” said Terrance in return, likewise indicating his acceptance, for the present, of her different way of thinking.
“How are things going at work?” asked Jess directly, as if she wanted to get straight to the point. “Are things going okay?”
Terrance was surprised at the suddenness and the tone of her inquiries. He sat looking at his glass of milk sitting before him on the table before responding. The first thought that came to his mind cautioned him not to waste time trying to lie to her.
“How do you do that?” he asked, surprise apparent in his voice. “How do you know every time something a little different is going on in my life?”
Jess pursed her lips and sat back in her chair. Terrance knew by her actions, she really didn’t want to divulge any of her feminine secrets. “You always get this peculiar look when something is going on in your life that has the potential to cause stress.” Pausing for a moment, she continued on, “Well, actually, it’s more of a dumb look than a peculiar look. Never-the-less, it’s different,” she concluded, apparently deciding it would be okay to divulge this one secret. “See there! You just did it again. Why don’t you just fess up and tell me what’s going on? I’ll find out sooner or later anyway. Maybe I can be of help before anything gets out of control, if you know what I mean.” This last statement sounded like a reminder.
Terrance squinted at the veiled hint relating to one of his recent miscues. “Oh, now don’t worry; it’s nothing like that. I’m not about to go and get myself mixed up with another get rich quick scheme, especially one that involves trying to ‘sell short’ on the stock market. I’ve learned my lesson there, believe me.”
“Well, what is it then?”
Terrance hesitated, “Give me a few more days on this and I’ll be able to give you a better idea of what I’m hoping to get going. Right now, it’s all up in the air. I don’t completely know who or what all is going to be involved. I’ve given myself the next few days to try and determine if there’s anything to the idea or not. Just give me these few days, and I’ll tell you everything, okay?”
“As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with that professor’s gambling scheme. That thing scares me. Does it?”
“No, believe me when I tell you, it doesn’t. And I promise to tell you everything soon.”
“I believe you. I always believe you. Even when I know you’re not telling me the whole truth, I believe in you.” Jess smiled, “Someday soon I hope you will, too.”
Terrance smiled back knowingly. “Enough of this, let’s hit the sack. I�
�ll need my rest if I expect to wrestle with Harvey all morning long.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN