Love Letters by Summer Cheng@SummerCheng37

Prologue: All Alone?

       Kelsey Ann Smith gets up, gets ready for the day and heads into work.  She arrives on time for her job at the local card shop,  Cards and More.  She sweeps the floors, reorganizes a few birthday cards on display and settles into her desk.  She sighs.   

    Kelsey reflects on her life.  She was always a shy child, but still has a few friends.  She is sad now that most of her friends have  gone on with their loves. Some have gotten married, others recently engaged, and few are happy to still be a part of the dating scene.  Then, there is always the girl who is satisfied to be single and a part of the business world.  This is what her sister is like.  She is happy for her sister, and the others. Really she is!

      Why is it that at a place like this, where all sorts of cards, everything from birthday cards, business cards, Mother's Day and Father's  Day, sympathy cards, thanking of you cards, anniversary cards, announcement of birth cards, and so on Kelsey finds her self to be one of the loneliest people she has ever known?   Her own father, calls her twice a year and even says it is unhealthy for her to be like this.  What is she to do about it though?

     It is not as if she has any possible  potential  boyfriends?   The only time she thought this was back in high school.  It was then she told her crush, Joey Adrkins she had a crush on him.  He thought it was just a prank!  He laughed at her, threw water on her and tossed her inside a locker.  Turns out her first crush, was a total loser!  He was a jerk.  He was not kind, and she had no idea what she ever saw in the guy!    

        Then, in college, Kelsey had her eyes on a member of the college basketball team, Timmy  Fredricks.  Only, Timmy did not even seem to notice her!  She found herself once again,rejected and treated as if she was not even there.  At least Timmy, had not been rude to her. He just never knew she liked him.  He liked the cheerleader squad  captain, Saran Evans.   It turns out Sarah was the girl who was more popular than she ever was and so she never stood a chance with Timmy.

       Ever since, Kelsey had gone back into her shell as her parents, her sister, and her doctors called it.  It seems the past hurts was enough to make her to shy to speak up, or to give herself much of a chance when it came to matters of the heart.  Kelsey has Asperger's  syndrome or  high level autism as some people call it. This is something, she finds herself ashamed of since it makes her feel like she has done something wrong.  To be honest, she has no idea how she got this job since all her interviews for all the jobs she applied for went badly, and the one at the card shop was not much better.  She wonders if the manager hired her out of pity?  It would be just like him to do such a thing.   

     The manager, Kelsey's boss,at the card shop, is one of the kindest people she knows.  He is married, has four grown children, and six grandchildren.  He brags on all them quite regularly.  He also carries around their picture with him at all times.  He shows her the photos every Friday during lunch break!   Why it is because of her kind boss, Kelsey strives to do her best at her job!

       The last thing Kelsey needs is to get fired and have her sister ridicule her over another thing she has yet to succeed in!  She is just glad she is does not have to put with her sister's  criticism everyday.  

     Meanwhile, Kevin Leon Honda is hard at work at the car place.  He is a cars salesman because he inherited the family business from his father.  He often fills lonely despite all the coworkers who work alongside him, and all the customers he sees daily.   He is not one to complain, but how is it almost everyone he knows is married, or almost married when he is still single.  He supposes bachelor hood is not all bad.  It does have it perks.  For instance, he can stay up late without it waking up a wife, or children.  He can go out to eat, he can stay home, he can bowl, or fish, etc. without having to wonder if his wife approves or not.   The disadvantages are he feels lonesome.  At a group party, he is one of the few single guys there standing around eating while everyone else dances, plays games or talks.  He is not sure why, but his social skills when it comes to parties is not that great.  This is all in spite of his being great at his job!  

       Today, Kevin goes home from work earlier!  It was a rather slow day.  Not at single sale.   Ouch!  That was going to have a huge affect on his check account in the long run.  He thinks, what will he tell his father?   He smiles despite everything when he sees a slip of paper near his kitchen table.  He picks it up and reads it!  What he sees there makes a huge impact on his life for a long time!

     Published on January 9, 2019 & Edits Made January 10, 2019

      to be continued in  Chapter  1   First Love Letter?