Johnny Settles Down

Scheming And Plotting

     It was a day at the courthouse.   It was October and lots of fall marriages to file.   Clerk Messer was busy with up to ten weddings a day.    One afternoon, on a break, she leaned up against the counter in her filing room as she was the lead clerk.  Genny paused.   

     "You okay?"  She asked.

"I was just thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself."

"I wonder if I will ever fall in love again?   Sometimes I think that I am just not one of those women who find love in her lifetime.   I must have had it good in another life."

"You are just as deserving of love as any woman."

"I am not Christine or Laurel."

"You are so pretty." 

"I'm not.   Please stop."

"Karen, you are.  You have let Curtis poison your mind."

"Well, he is right."

    This hurt everyone who loved her's heart.  She was beautiful, but it was clouded by lies.  She went back to work.    Sure, Karen was a big girl, but she wasn't out of shape big.   She had a bit of a belly.   It wasn't bad but she felt huge.   She was so embarassed she got big.   She had gone on a diet, lost weight but then packed in on dating a guy who had no intention of marrying her.  He even lied to her and she found out he had a wife with cancer from a friend.  It crushed her heart and she ate and ate and ate and ate.  She was dating this guy just because she was lonely and he liked fat chicks, but he creeped her out.   He was the one who wouldn't let her leave unless she kissed him or did something with him.   He scared her.   That lasted for a few years and finally she got the courage to tell him to "fuck off" on December 29, 2021.   He was around as he worked for a funeral parlor as attendant, helping the bereaved.  He was a flashy dresser and he wanted to show his beautiful girl off.  It weirded her out.   

    "DeeDee, we HAVE to do it.   I am going to write that letter," she told her.

"Let's do some of the boudoir photos.   She was smokin'.   She looked like a fat Kate Moss.   I think we need to send the green ones."

"Of course.  I will write the letter and then get back to you.  I  want to see her happy."

"Same."

"Well, I know what I am doing tonight."

    Johnny went about his day, alone.  He read, he painted, he strummed a guitar, and he ate a good meal.     The help smiled and was friendly, but he took to heart what Gina said.   He looked at himself in the mirror, "God, he had aged."   The trial, Jeff's death, the tour, Shane's death, and life had taken its toll.  Maybe Gina was right.  I needed to have someone.  He read in the drawing room and he thought to himself, "It would be nice to have someone to read next to him."   This shit was lonely for him.

    At four thirty, she tells everyone goodbye and she walks out with Genny, DeeDee, Gina Sorensen, Randi Woods, and the office cutie Daniel Otterbein, or "Danny".  He baked the best cookies.   They walked down the steps.   Sheriff Scremin looked at her.   "She has some big titties," he said to himself.   He watched her walk out the door.   They talked of movies and trivial things.   They were going home.   She was going home to silence, which was better than the verbal ramming she got from her ex, who was mentally ill.   She thought to herself as she got into her car, "it would be nice to come home to a nice cooked meal.   It would be nice to come home to conversation."  

    She watched the news.  She went to a luncheon and she saw the ladies who had supportive husbands and love at home and she said, "I am just never going to have that."  She went to her room, meditated and went to bed.  Across the pond, Johnny was reading in bed.   He wished he had someone to talk to, to tell about what he was reading and how the words just flowed.  He smiled and turned in.   

   In the kitchen of Genny's house, she got out the boudoir photos,   She wore a green bustier and teddy and a red one.   "Which one do you like the best?"   She asked her husband.  "The left titty," he joked   She began her letter.  It was hard what to say to him.  "Look, she wants you to hone her," she threw that a paper away.   She talked about what a fan she was and her work and that she really enjoyed his movies.   She left her contact information., saying she was too shy to ever do something like this.  She wrote in a dark colored card with pretty florals.   It would be something that he hung in his home.   She didn't mention wanting to bone him, but she mentioned how she admired his work, him as a person, and what he had to endure   She wished him the best, and she threw in the picture of her in the green bustier.  It was tasteful.  It was pretty.   It was downright beautiful.   She hoped and prayed that it got her attention.   

    A few miles away, she was getting ready for bed.  Tatum, the white faced pitbull curled up next to her.   She accepted it.   Sometimes she felt so alone.   She told herself, "Maybe this is as good as it gets."   Across the pond, Johnny decided to turn in.  He thought to himself, "I wonder if my  bed is going to be this empty?"  He saw the girl again, blonde haired, fuller figured.   "I must be dreaming.  I have been alone for so long, but I am never going to get hurt again."