The Lovely Chocolate Mob

Status Change

Miss Planter took on a look of confusion, so I knew I couldn’t let her stay in that state long. “Let me explain,” I started. “I know I’ve been placing you in a precarious position since I’ve started making my feelings about you known.”

She said nothing. She wanted to hear more.

“I care about you and have come to love you,” I said. “I hope you feel the same way about me. I know in your profession that you’re not supposed to mix it up with patients, so you’re no longer my counselor. By firing you I have upgraded your position from counselor to girlfriend. Of course, you will lose no business because I’m still paying for the marital counseling between Dr. and Mrs. Burke, who can meet more frequently now that my slot is open.”

Miss Planter looked a little surprised, then said, “If we’re going to be a couple, don’t you think you should call me ‘Karen”?”

I thought on this for a moment, and replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

Miss Planter smiled and said, “Randall, I do feel that way. It occurred to me that I know everything about you, but you really don’t know me. I …”

“Let me interrupt,” I said. “Sorry. I know all I need to know about you. You’re younger than I am. You were raised on the east side of town, with two siblings, David and John. You attended Eastside High, were fourth in your class, then got married at an early age. You have three children, Kevin, Brittany, and Daniel, all grown, and you raised them yourself when your husband refused to grow up and left. You attend the Second Baptist Church in town and worked to feed your kids and get your degree and later your master’s in the field of psychology and counseling, and …”

Miss Planter’s face became more and more surprised and twisted when I spoke; I was hoping I had got all the facts right.

“How did you find out all this?” asked Miss Planter.

“I did research before I started coming here,” I replied. “I wanted to know who’d be crawling around inside of my head before I told all.” This didn’t seem to satisfy her, so I said, “It’s all on the internet! There’s no such thing as privacy anymore; that’s a thing of the past. Plus, you know all about me; don’t you think it’s fair I know about you?”

“Well, yes, it’s just…”

“You have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed about,” I reassured her. “Everything I know about you is good. That’s one reason I love you.”

“Oh, I love you too, Randall.” And with that she fell into my arms, which I really didn’t expect but was glad to have happened. The flowers were tossed onto a chair as I hugged her and kissed her face, multiple times. Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

I stopped and looked down at Miss Planter, who had closed her eyes. “Do you like this?” I asked.

“I love it!” she said, smiling with her eyes closed.

“Good, ‘cause there’s plenty where that comes from, babycakes!” and resumed the kissing her all over her beautiful face.

And with that, she started laughing in my arms; it was almost hard to hold onto her.

It was good to hear her laugh; this made me happy.



The End