by Thornton, EJ
"So the plan is to have Jeannie hear them talking about her?" All the angels confirmed my guess. "Then let's go to work."
"Right," George said.
"Marla will get caught," Darlene commanded.
"By Jeannie?" I asked.
"No, by someone who can really make her think about spreading gossip while she's at work. Someone who makes sure she'll be reprimanded expressly for that," George answered.
"And worse than the last time," Darlene added.
"Her boss?" I asked.
"I think it'd be better if the director caught her," Darlene said. "Her boss caught her before. This time we'll put the heat on the boss through the director, and hopefully Marla'll get that message."
"Will that jeopardize her job?" I asked.
"We'll maintain the proper boundaries," Pearl said. Then she looked at Darlene for confirmation. Darlene agreed quickly.
"But to make it all the more effective, I think Marla needs to see the direct result as well," Darlene said. "We need Karen to tell Jeannie what was said about her and by who, while Marla is listening."
"Okay, so we have a plan. Places everyone," Darlene said, then left.
Judie and Jeannie were almost back to the office. Judie's tone had grown more supportive. Jeannie seemed more relaxed. "It's just every time the phone rang last night I jumped out of my skin. I had to unplug it," Jeannie said, continuing her story.
"Well, if you resist telling your family and wait until they call you, you're at the mercy of the whims of fate. It you might be in really terrible shape some night when they just decide to call. Just call them and get it over with! You sound like you know what you're planning to do. Let them deal with it," Judie counseled.
"You know, she's right," Pearl told Jeannie.
"I know you're right," Jeannie said, "That sounds really very logical on the surface, but remember what happened when I told them about the divorce. I'd really like to avoid that. That was crazy-making!"
"Honey, that's old news," Judie said with a drawl.
"Boy, it is now! Okay, now, please for now, let's keep this our secret." Judie agreed. They went back into the building without saying another word and quietly went to their desks.
Pearl started to work on Jeannie. "Jeannie, you're so tired. You should go lay down on the cot in the bathroom."
Jeannie yawned. She looked over at the coffee cup she had spilled earlier and gave it a look like, "You're kidding, right!"
"You're pregnant; you're tired. Go lie down. Nobody will miss you for a few minutes."
Jeannie looked around to see if she thought anyone was watching--nobody was. She got up and went into the ladies room. She snuck up to the partition, in case some might already be there. All clear. She set her watch alarm for fifteen minutes, lay down and closed her eyes.
Within moments, Marla and Karen came in. Marla was so excited to tell Karen this news, she skipped the usual precautions of looking around to see if anyone else was in the ladies room. "This one is so big, you'll just, just, I gotta tell someone, this is so big," Marla said.
"You said that already. What is it this time?" Karen asked, with a giant lack of enthusiasm.
"Jeannie is pregnant!" Marla blurted out. "Can you beat that?!" Marla snickered.
Jeannie stayed behind the partition. She covered her mouth quickly. Her eyes were huge and they darted back and forth trying to figure out how Marla could've found out. Realizing she was where Marla had to have been, her figuring gave way to anger very quickly.
"She just got divorced. I doubt she's pregnant. Why would you make something like that up?" Karen asked in disgust.
"Honest to God! I heard her tell Judie this morning. I was back there, lying down. I heard it all." She pointed toward the cot. Then she whispered, "I had cramps."
Jeannie made a face like she was grossed out at this information and squirmed away from the center of the cot, like there was something on it.
"Careful," Pearl told Jeannie, "you still need to stay hidden."
"I think that's absolutely the stupidest thing I've ever heard?" Marla tried to get Karen to gossip with her. "If I were her, I'd-"
"Well, I doubt Jeannie will ever ask you for advice, so I'd keep whatever you were planning to say to yourself, and since this is what got me into trouble the last time, I'm getting back to work and you better too." Karen left.
"Humpf," Marla snorted.
A toilet flushed and out came the director, who adjusted her skirt. Marla realized that she had been caught in the act. She left hastily, but it was too late.
Jeannie knew full well there was still someone in the ladies room, so she stayed hidden. The director left and Jeannie got up and left, too.
"Naptime's over," Pearl chuckled.
"Phase one, mission accomplished," George exclaimed.
We followed Jeannie back to her desk. She was even jumpier than earlier.
The director was already in a closed-door session with Marla's boss. Marla cringed at her desk. Karen worked across the room, oblivious to Marla's predicament.
Judie saw Jeannie come back in. "Is something wrong?" she whispered. Jeannie nodded and sat down.
Judie motioned to her to go down the hall, but Jeannie was emphatic. "Later... much later!"
Judie shrugged her shoulders and went back to work. Jeannie tried to work, but kept making mistakes. The more she tried, the more frequent the mistakes. She took several deep breaths and kept on at the task at hand. Things eventually got better. She was still very jittery.
Darlene called us over when Marla was called into her boss's office. The director was still in there. There was a little yelling, then it got quiet briefly. Then the director came out. After a few more minutes, Marla came out. Her eyes were downcast and she sheepishly walked back to her desk.
Karen was oblivious to Marla, but I could tell that something still bothered her. Karen got up and went over to talk to Jeannie. As soon as Karen left the room, Darlene got Marla to go to the restroom and wash her face. Karen knocked on the post closest to Jeannie's desk. Jeannie jumped a mile. "Can I talk to you?" Karen asked.
Jeannie nodded. They also went to the ladies room.
"They invented conference rooms, ladies," I said sarcastically, when we got there for the third time this morning.
"They should try that, huh?" Pearl replied. All the angels laughed.
Marla heard people coming in. She quickly turned the water off and hid in the stall that had the door that looked most closed, without actually being shut.
Darlene shook her head in disgust as she watched her charge stand on the toilet. "I knew she'd do that!"
"It's all just part of the plan," George comforted her. Darlene sighed, but agreed.
Karen said, "I know I should do this at break time or after work, but I thought you should know that Marla is spreading gossip about you, that you're pregnant."
Jeannie looked down and was close to tears. "I know."
"Well, I just thought you want to know," Karen said.
"I appreciate that very much," Jeannie said.
"Marla is such a liar. She's gotten in trouble so much, you'd think she'd learn when to quit," Karen vented.
"Well, unlike the rest of Marla's gossip," Jeannie took a deep breath and said softly, "it's true. I am pregnant."
"Whoa, Jeannie, I'm sorry," Karen said sympathetically.
Jeannie looked at her, shocked. "Sorry? Why would you be sorry?"
Poor Karen was shocked by Jeannie's response and started to back pedal. "I mean I thought that you . . . I mean, you just got a. . . I mean, oh the heck with what I mean, I thought you'd be upset."
"I am upset. I'm upset at Marla. I wanted to be the one to tell people, when I was ready. I really wanted to wait for a while."
George decided it was time for Marla to be exposed. George imagined a doctor's hammer and tested Marla's reflexes. Marla's leg went right out from under her and George and Darlene helped her to the ground. Marla fell as quietly as she could, but t
he fact that something fell was very obvious. After hearing the noise, Karen and Jeannie went to investigate, only to discover Marla sitting on the ground in a very awkward position.
"I'm outta here!" Karen said angrily and immediately left, totally disgusted.
Jeannie glared at Marla, almost like someone from an old science fiction movie. She should have had laser beams come out of her eyeballs to melt the person in front of her. I think if she could have, she would have.
"I know what you've been saying. This is none of your business. When I want someone to know about this baby, I'll tell them!" Jeannie yelled at Marla.
"I bet," Marla snapped back sarcastically.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I bet you were going to take care of the baby before you told anyone about it." Jeannie gasped.
"Maybe that's the way you'd handle it, but--"
"If you were smart, that's the way you'd handle it."
"You really think that?"
"Yes, I do."
"I pity you," Jeannie said quietly. "And now I know so much more about you. Stay away from me. Quit talking about me. I mean it!" Jeannie turned and left Marla on the floor, without so much as offering to help her up.
Instead of going back to her desk, Jeannie left the building and walked around the corner very fast to get out of the situation. Once she got out of eyesight of the building, she sat down on the curb and cried.
Pearl stayed right with her. "I know this is hard, darling, but you need to think back. Think back, Jeannie. Do you think you ever made anyone feel like that? Unfortunately, you did. Without thinking about what you said, you hurt their feelings over these exact circumstances. You need to remember that. You need to reflect about that and learn from it so that it never happens again. The next time you run across this situation in someone else's life, you need to have the perspective of acceptance, judgment just wounds people. Think long and hard about that." Then Pearl put her arm around her and held her tight.
Jeannie cried harder for a while, then finally slowed down, then stopped. After another little while, Jeannie got up and walked the rest of the way around the block and went back into the building to her desk.
Judie was waiting for her. She met her at the door and whispered, "Are you all right?" Judie saw Jeannie's tear-stained face.
Jeannie shook her head, then went to her desk and got ready to leave.
"Just go, I'll tell them you felt sick and left. That's the truth, right?" Judie asked and Jeannie agreed.
Jeannie packed up her purse and the rest of her things and left through the back door.
George and I went to talk to Darlene to see if we had helped Marla at all. They were back in with Marla's boss. Marla's head was down and the boss was scolding her again. Karen had apparently complained to him.
"Is her job in jeopardy?" I asked. The way the boss talked was pretty severe.
"No," Darlene said. "Marla does a good job. She always gets off with a warning, although she's never had two in the same day before."
"It's been a busy day," I said.
"Martin, George, I need you now!" Pearl's voice blasted into our conversation.
"And the hits just keep on coming!" George said. "Take care, Darlene. We have to go now."
Darlene waved good-bye and we caught up with Jeannie and Pearl. Jeannie was out of control. She had fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. She was speeding. She muttered angrily to herself. It was a good thing we showed up, poor Pearl was doing the work of three angels trying to calm Jeannie down, keep the car safe and warn the other drivers.
Jeannie drove straight to the pub. Jeremi was there. She walked right past him because her objective was a drink..
The bartender knew her by name and said, "You're in early today, Jeannie."
"Bad day," Jeannie muttered.
"Are you all right?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"I really need a drink, gimme a beer!" Jeannie ordered. The bartender promptly served her. Jeremi walked up as she paid for the beer.
"Thanks, babe," he said flirtatiously. "You must've bought this for me." He motioned his eyes toward her stomach.
"Give it back; I've had a really bad day!"
"I'm sorry, but we both know why," he said forcefully, but as low as he could to keep the conversation private. "Scott, she'll have a spring water!"
"You drink the spring water, I came in for a beer." As she glared at him, she reached for the beer again, Pearl held on to her little finger and let go of it suddenly as Jeannie's hand was coming around the top of the glass. To everyone but the angels, it looked like Jeannie spilled the beer all over herself. All the angels present cheered for Pearl, who took a quick bow.
Jeannie yelled at Jeremi for spilling the beer on her. He pulled back from her. Jeannie stormed off to the bathroom to dry herself off.
"Do you think the lesson sank in?" Pearl asked us.
George nodded in agreement. "Tantrums usually signify that it needs to be repeated. I agree, same lesson, different players?" he asked.
"Pretty much," Pearl confirmed.
After Jeannie had rinsed herself off, she went into one of the stalls and put her head down and cried some more. Before too long, two young girls came into the bathroom to freshen their makeup. The first one let the other in on the hottest gossip to hit the pub in a while.
"And," she gloated, "at first, they thought it was her appendix, but turns out, she's pregnant!"
Jeannie quietly gasped.
"You've got to be kidding me?" the other asked in disbelief.
"God's honest truth!" They both laughed.
"She seemed so much smarter than that."
"Poor Jeremi," the first girl said, while fixing her lipstick. She blew a kiss toward the mirror and they both left quickly.
Jeannie was so taken aback with that conversation that she stopped crying. She was hurt, offended and extremely angry. Now she wanted to find out who that girl was who was taking pity on "poor Jeremi." Jeannie flew out of the stall, the bathroom and the hallway to end up in the bar area where Jeremi was waiting for her. She saw the two girls walk sexy past him. The first ran her finger across his back as she walked behind him and said, "See ya, Jeremi."
To which he nonchalantly replied, "See ya."
Jeannie sat down beside him. He looked over at her and saw she was really upset. "Do you want the water?"
"You know what?" Jeannie started, "It was stupid of me to come here. I've got to get out of here." She picked up her purse and started to leave.
Jeremi grabbed her arm, "Do you want to go and do some-"
"Yeah, right," Jeannie interrupted him angrily pulling away.
Jeremi watched perplexed as Jeannie stormed out of the bar. Then he and the bartender continued the conversation they started while Jeannie was in the bathroom.
Jeannie looked like she had every intention of driving off as crazily as she had driven to get here. So Pearl pulled the keys out of her purse a few parking places away from her car. "Let's skip the 'DWI' part!" Pearl announced. The keys landed on the ground without a sound.
"How could she get a DWI, Jeremi did all her drinking for her."
"DWI - driving while infuriated," she corrected me.
When Jeannie got to her car, she frantically dug through her purse to find the keys. She finally threw it down and sat on the curb in front of her car in complete frustration.
"Please," Jeannie looked up to Heaven, "please tell me what you want from me! I'm sorry for whatever it is I did, just please, please, give me my car keys back so I can get out of here!" She put her head down and cried some more.
"You say you're sorry for whatever you did. Honey, you've got to be more specific than that," Pearl coached her. "You're moving in the right direction, but reflect on this day, the encounters of the day, the people who upset you." Jeannie started to cry harder. "Did you know your thoughtless comments hurt your schoolmates the same way? How about your in-laws, remember how you talked about them?" Jeannie looked u
p and sniffed, but she began to calm down.
Jeannie looked up to Heaven again. "God, help me please. I just want to go home. I want to go get my girls and go home. I'm sorry for whatever I did. . ." Pearl cleared her throat. "I'm sorry if I. . . if I--" Jeannie swallowed hard. "I'm sorry if I ever made anyone feel like this. I'm sorry if I ever thought someone else in this situation was stupid. I'm sorry if I ever thought I knew what they should do better than they did. I'm sorry."
"That's my girl!" Pearl said. Then she shined her angel light on Jeannie's keys. Jeannie saw them, retrieved them, got into her car and drove out of the parking lot carefully. She was completely drained.
Poor Jeannie was exhausted by the time she got the girls home from daycare. She went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and promptly closed it. "How's pizza sound?" she asked the girls, who jumped up and down excitedly.
Jeannie went over to the phone to order pizza. The answering machine's light was blinking. The whole time she was on the phone ordering the pizza, she stared at the blinking light. When she hung up, she unplugged the phone and the answering machine, too.
"Why did you do that?" Carole asked.
"Because I want it to be just us guys tonight, just us three," Jeannie said and got down on her knees and hugged her girls.
All the angels present joined in on the hug. It seemed to be the medicine Jeannie needed. She went into her bedroom and returned a few minutes later, having changed into sweat pants and shirt. She popped a movie into the VCR, grabbed the girls and said, "Let's get comfy." They all snuggled together on the couch to watch TV.
The girls enjoyed watching the movie, snuggled up close with their mom. Jeannie's thoughts were far away. Her eyes were glazed over. Carole had to nudge her mother about three times when the pizza was delivered before Jeannie was back in the moment and aware their dinner had arrived.
It had been a tough day on her and a tough day on Pearl. It had gone well, but it took a large toll on both charge and angel.
George and I stayed with them for the rest of the evening to support them with our presence. After pizza and the movie, Jeannie put the girls to bed. Then she went back out to the living room. She stared at the phone and turned away to clean up the kitchen.