Part 4: Problems and Solutions
Amanda walked in the door to find her mother standing
next to the kitchen counter with an almost empty glass of orange juice.
"Good morning dear."
"Good morning."
"Where did you go so early?" (noticing her
outfit) "...In your pajamas?!"
"I had to help a friend out with their flat
tire."
"Oh. How did you help? Was your friend a guy or a
girl?"
"Well you sure are asking a lot of questions this
morning."
"I am your mother I think I have a right to
know."
"True, any other questions while you're at it?"
"Funny you should ask... I was wondering who the
man in this picture was."
Dotty handed Amanda the picture of her and Lee.
Amanda was shocked to see the picture, ten million
questions were running through her head, but she didn't show it, she had to
play it cool with her mother.
"You want to know who he is?"
"Yes."
"He is the person who I just helped out, that had a
flat."
"That's all…I know for a fact that you shared a lot
more than a flat tire... how about the same couch, same bathrobe, same shorts,
same breathing pattern, do I need to go on?"
"Okay, okay, we are really good friends... best
friends." Amanda smiled at that.
"Amanda, what am I supposed to think when I find my
daughter lying on the living room couch with someone I have neither seen or
heard of before, I mean put yourself in my place."
Amanda looks at her watch, "Mother, I have to go
get ready for work, I'll, I'll answer all your questions later." She runs
up the stairs with the picture.
Amanda got dressed and went to IFF without saying
anything else to her mother.
She walked into the lobby where Mrs. Marsten was sitting
at her desk.
"Good Morning Mrs. Marsten."
"Good Morning Mrs. King... is everything all right?
You seemed stressed."
"No, just
dealing with the everyday challenges of leading an insane and normal life at
the same time."
"Yes I understand, the double life can be a bit
stressful at times."
"Is Lee here?"
Mrs. Marsten's suspicions were confirmed. She had a
feeling this was about Scarecrow. She knew there was something between him and
Mrs. King, but wasn't sure how far it went.
"No, I haven't seen him." She handed Amanda
her security tag.
"Thank you, I'll just head upstairs then."
Amanda went upstairs to the Q-bureau and hung up her
coat.
****
Lee burst in the door to the lobby, Mrs. Marsten handed
him his tag. "Mrs. King is upstairs."
"Oh, thanks."
Lee hurried up the stairs two at a time, he really
wanted to see Amanda. He always felt 100 times better when he was around her
and he wanted to talk to her about last night and this morning. Lee felt like
he couldn't get to the 'Film Library' fast enough and when he finally got there
he almost fell through the door.
"Lee!"
"Amanda... I have to talk to you."
"You do? I have to talk to you to."
"Okay, well, you go first."
"No, you can go ahead."
"Amanda... don't try and get out of what you are
going to tell me, just say it."
"All right... well you know how last night we slept
on the couch together."
"Yeah..." Not sure where this conversation was
leading, he didn't blame her, after all it had been the only thing he had
thought about from when he drove away till now.
"And you know how mother was up taking a
shower..."
"Uh-huh..." Lee didn't like the way her story
was going.
"Well, it seems that before she took her shower she
had already come downstairs."
"What!"
Amanda handed him the picture.
Lee looked at the picture and then turned around so she
couldn't see his face, he was smiling... he liked what he saw in that picture,
but at the same time he didn't know what he was going to do about Dotty. He
could tell that Dotty probably got the wrong idea because it looked like he didn't
have any clothes on, but that was the least of his problems... she wasn't
supposed to see him at all!
"How much does she know?"
"I told her that you are my friend and that I
helped you out with your flat."
"She actually let you get away with just that."
"Well, I didn't really give her a choice."
"What should we do?"
"Standard procedure."
"Standard procedure? What would that be?"
Putting her hands on her hips.
"Go talk to Francine." He knew Amanda wasn't
going to like that idea, but he knew she would know what to do.
"FRANCINE! Why Francine! What is she going to do? I
don't want her to know."
" Look, if I can think of one person whose been in
this situation before it is Francine, the only difference was it wasn't her
mother. Amanda, just trust me with this okay?"
After a long pause Amanda finally gave in, she could
never resist Lee when he was trying to get her to do something.
"Fine."
****
They told Francine the story and showed her the picture,
although Lee did most of the talking.
"All right, I can solve your problem."
Together, "You can?!"
"Yeah, you want your mother to forget about Lee
right?"
"Uh-huh, you don't want me to give her some
forgetful drug do you, because I am not doing that."
"No, no, no, all you have to do is let her catch
you and Lee kissing or something, (they rolled their eyes and were wondering
where she was going from there) but make sure she doesn't get into a
conversation with Lee or invite him in, give her a little explanation based on
what she saw, and then the next time she asks tell her that you guys broke up.
She probably won't care because she never even knew him and will forget. Follow
me?"
Lee looked at Amanda, "Think it's worth the
try?"
Amanda sighed, "I guess."
TBC soon…