General Fiction posted September 11, 2022

Exceptional

This work has reached the exceptional level

A young fellow's relationships.

Oh My!

by Terry Broxson

I started dating Cindy shortly after arriving in Ft. Worth. We kept company for a few months. If a fella had food allergies, didn't like liquor, sex, dancing the two-step, or chicken fried steak with cream gravy, then Cindy was going to show him a really good time.

Thankfully, I met Dr. Balew.

A woman named Peggy introduced me to Cindy. I told my mother (she lived three hundred miles away) Peggy was a woman I knew at church. Mother asked, "Why did a woman at the Baptist church introduce you to a Catholic girl? Aren't there any good Baptist girls in your church?"

Actually, Peggy was the owner and barmaid at the It'll Do Till It Won't, a little out-of-the-way bar in downtown Ft. Worth I frequented. I needed to think those lies through before I threw them out there.

Peggy bought clothes Cindy's mom made. Her mom was a great seamstress, Cindy not so much; she helped with the fittings.

As a recent college graduate, I landed a job with the Burroughs Corporation paying five hundred-fifty dollars monthly. I also received a 1971 brown Ford Pinto company car. I even had a girlfriend, according to Cindy.

I thought 1973 was going to be a remarkable year.

It turned out I was right. It all started the day lightning struck and thunder boomed. I met Rachel Balew, PH.D. She was a beautiful psychologist, tall and willowy. Her bright green eyes bore into my soul with insight and intellect I did not know existed. She was thirty-three, a mere ten years older than me.

***

At my second session, Dr. Balew asked, "Cooper, how did it go with Cindy when you told her you wanted to end it?"

"She took it pretty well, except for the scissors. I told her exactly what you told me."

"Scissors?"

"Her mother's pinking shears. I think she wanted to stab me in the back. But I just took them out of her hand. And went out the door."

"What did she say?"

"She said give me my mother's shears. I dropped them on the front porch and kept walking."

"Cooper, at our first appointment a few days ago, you said you had never broken up with a girl."

"Dr. Balew, that's right. Two girls dumped me in college. But I never did a breakup on my own. That was why I needed help. I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't want any problems with Cindy."

"Sounds to me you have achieved your goals. I don't think you will hear from Cindy again."

"Does that mean I don't need to see you anymore?"

"Not for that problem. You can save the twenty-five dollar-per-hour fee."

"And our discussions are private, right?"

"All my patient information is confidential."

"Dr. Balew, how about I take you to dinner to celebrate."

"Cooper, I don't see my patients outside the professional relationship."

"But Dr. Balew, I am not a patient anymore."

"Look, you are a cute young guy. But I am ten years older than you. Nothing good would ever come of it."

"It's only dinner. We have a drink or two, a few laughs, and chocolate mousse for dessert. What can it hurt?"

"I know how you think. You would want more. After the mousse, you would be thinking wouldn't it be great if we had a long weekend at the lake in the mountains? There is a beautiful cabin I know about that is for rent. You would want some wine, a midnight swim, a leisurely late breakfast."

"Dang, Dr. Balew, that sounds great!"

"We could probably only do that once."

***

"Dr. Balew, do you treat all your patients like this?"

"Cooper, remember, you are no longer a patient."

***

January 16, 2022

Dr. Balew is sitting in a private lounge of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Otis Taylor, President of the hospital, enters the lounge and says, "Dr. Balew, so good to see you again."

"Otis, you don't have to call me Dr. Balew. Rachel is fine. Cooper is the only one who calls me Dr. Balew."

"Well, Rachel, your husband is doing fine. The cardiologist will talk to you later, but everything is okay."

"Excellent."

"We could not have a problem with one of our largest hospital supporters. That would be bad PR."

"Otis, Cooper and I were happy to give you the twenty-five-million-dollar donation. Your team does good work."

"Rachel, I don't mean to pry, but I am curious how you and Cooper got so wealthy."

"Ever since we moved to Florida, all our new friends had the same question. When I met Cooper, he was a 'wet behind the ears' college graduate selling business machines for Burroughs. He could sell. He sold me on him."

"He told me it was the other way around."

"Maybe it was. Anyway, he left Burroughs and went to work for IBM. A lot of folks were working on computers for the masses. Steve Jobs started Apple. Cooper met Bill Gates, who was developing software for IBM. Cooper went to work for Bill as head of marketing and began getting stock options. Cooper retired ten years ago. We still have a lot of Microsoft stock."

"The American dream."

"Yes, it was."

"If you could indulge one more question. I saw your daughter Cindy and your grandson last week. She told me an amusing story about how she got her name. I wonder if it's true."

"When I met Cooper, he wanted to break up with a girl he was dating. He wanted my advice. He didn't have much money but hired me for two sessions. The girl's name was Cindy. They did break up, and later we got married. When our daughter was born, he wanted to name her Cindy. We also have two boys and three grandchildren."

"So, Dr. Balew's advice won the day."

"Otis, Cooper made up that doctor stuff for his mother. I met him at a little dive bar in Ft. Worth. I was a twenty-five dollar-an-hour hooker!"