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Topic: Pride (04/12/04)
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TITLE: “Up The Corporate Ladder” By Susie Jones 04/14/04 |
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“What’s to appreciate? What do you do around here? You don’t clean, cook or even take care of yourself anymore! You don’t do anything but bitch constantly! You...” J.T. flinging his arms wildly was interrupted by Rita.
“Why not, you make promises after promises about changing your attitude, but have you even tried to change? NOooooo…it seems to me that you must like my attitude or you wouldn’t act like such a horses butt and get me so riled up!” With blazing eyes, Rita gave as well as she got.
“I’ll not walk around with a ring in my nose, honey, so you might as well get from behind that pulpit of yours and quit your preaching! My mother told me to watch out for you. She said that any woman with brick red hair and pickle breath who wore a hat with purple plumage to meet her prospective mother-in-law was nuts!”
“NUTS, that woman called me nuts? Boy is that ever the kettle calling the pot black!” In exasperation Rita picked up a rose patterned tea cup and threw it across the room, missing J.T.’s head by inches. “Oh, just shut up would you? Take that snotty nosed sarcastic attitude of yours and stuff it up your behind!” Rita swiped the tears from her cheeks as she stormed across the room with a dust pan to retrieve the broken tea cup.
Following close behind, J.T. Yelled, “She’s right; you do have fur between your ears! You won’t even listen to me! All I want is for you to ….uh, uh, uh, let me finish...”
Rita looking up from her position as she swept tiny chips of china into the dustpan had begun to interrupt again. Sighing she waited for J.T. to continue.
J.T. knelt down beside her, taking away the dust pan, he placed it on the floor and pulled Rita onto his lap “What I mean, is that I want you to love me for who I am, not who you thought you could make me into being. Honey, I’d feel inadequate if I let your daddy promote me just because I’m his son-in-law. Let me keep my pride, I want to make it on my own, without help.” J.T. fingered Rita’s long red tresses as he searched her face for understanding, “It’s bad enough that I let you talk me into joining your Daddy’s company, you knew when you married me that I felt this way. Please try to understand. Help me to be someone you can be proud of. I know we don’t party much or go out with the old gang anymore. It’s just that when I do have some extra time, I like to spend it with you alone. I love you Rita, but I don’t like you when you push me like this.” He tipped her chin up so that he could see into her eyes, “Be patient with me Rita, I‘ll make it up the corporate ladder, but I have to do it my way or not at all. Believe in me, honey, that’s all I ask. You can do that can’t you? Cause if you can’t’, the whole premise of our relationship isn’t worth peanuts.” Tears slid down Rita’s cheeks mingling with J.T.’s as he pulled her face to his shoulder, afraid of the answer he might see in her eyes if he continued to look. “I thought we were better prepared for marriage than this. Maybe we should just call it quits. I don’t know…help me Rita?” J.T. cleared his throat as his voice caught. “Don’t we love one another enough to stop this constant bickering and arguing that we do? We used to be able to talk about things, it’s gotten to where in the last two or three months that we can hardly be in the same room anymore without going at one another. I love you Rita, I want to save our marriage don’t you?”
With heartfelt sobs Rita threw her arms around J.T. and hugged him as if to never let go. “Oh, J.T., Daddy always said that you were the pick of the litter! I love you too much to ever let you go. I’ll try harder to be patient, but as you know patience was never one of my virtues.”
J.T. kissed the top of Rita’s head as she shyly asked in her little girl voice, “Did your Mother really say I had Pickle breath?”
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The above story was originally writtten as an exercise using the following words:
Ring crown appreciate premise fur
Pulpit pickle promise brick plumage