Lila woke up that morning with a smile on her face. For the first time in years she felt happy. She had found someone that liked her for who she was. Ricky was so handsome and so charming. He had proved different than any of the other reporters she had ever met. She knew why she was so happy. She had fallen in love.
Ricky walked into
his office early that morning. He knew his boss would be upset that he hadn't
gotten the story, but he didn't really care. He had met a girl that he liked and
knew she felt the same way. His co- worker Neil Simon poked his head into his
office,
"Congratulations Ricky."
"Uh, thanks. Ricky looked down at his hand. What had he done? he didn't
remember breaking any news worthy story. He got up and walked down to the office
of the boss, Mr. McGuire. He burst into the room and marched over to the desk.
"I quit. I hate digging and prying into other people's private life. And
plus I didn't break the story on Ms. Fowler." The boss looked at him and
before he could say anything Ricky had walked out. He went back to his office
and cleared off his desk and shoved everything into his briefcase. He went to
his apartment and told the landlord he would be out by the end of the week. He
was going to go to the hospital and beg Lila Fowler to marry him. She was going
to be discharged this afternoon. He would buy them a house and they would get
married. Because he was in love.
Lila was sitting
in the common room with her suitcase and bag waiting for Ricky to pick her up.
He had called her and told her that he would come by for her. Some of the
patients were watching the noon news on the big TV. Suddenly the news anchor
started to say, "Top reporter Ricky Bentley has found at a new side of the
Lila Fowler suicide scandal. Apparently her husband Mr. Olsen who owns about
half of Ohio alone, was having an affair with young lady half his age. Lila sat
there frozen while the people in the room all turned to look at her.
Ricky had betrayed her.
He had lied to her. All he wanted was the story all along. Tears started to form
in her eyes. She grabbed her bag and ran out of the hospital. She hailed a cab
and ordered the driver to take her to the airport. She ran up to the desk.
"A one way ticket to Paris please." Seven hours later she could see the
Eiffel tower from the window of the plane. She was now free from the rumors and
the lies and the love of her old life.
Ricky ran up the steps of Cleveland Memorial hospital and ran up the flights of steps to the common room. She looked all around the room and saw that Lila was not there. Suddenly a woman in a wheelchair exclaimed, "You're the guy from the news with the story on Ms. Fowler. She ran out of the room about fifteen minutes ago. Really shook her up. Ricky gasped and ran out of the hospital to his office down the street and burst into Mr. McGuire's room. His boss sat there holding Ricky's cassette player he took to all his interviews. Ricky then knew he had forgotten to turn the thing off. He had turned it into the boss. He had destroyed his love.