I sat back, smiling and nodding my head again.
“You’re telling me, that you are the one to place, or should I say, suggest her name to me?”
“I am…and I did,” I assured her.
Marjorie was the night shift supervisor where Gayleen and I both worked. She was in her late fifties to early sixties perhaps. Always a no nonsense kind of an individual, with a gruff demeanor, and a permanent scowl on her face that looked like it had been painted there. But Gayleen and I knew something that no one else did, which was part of the reason for doing this.
“What’s she got to do with any of this though?” Gayleen asked, still obviously not convinced she hadn’t come up with the name out of the clear blue sky all by herself, and not having anything to do with me actually suggesting it. Even if that were possible.
“Part two to all this,” I smiled once again. “Edward.”
“Edward?” She chuckled. Like I said, we both knew something, knew there was something even if no one else did, and especially as we were both pretty sure neither one of them had ever acted on it either.
Edward worked there too as the night janitor. A very geeky looking, very shy guy. The kind of person who was kind and considerate to everyone, and who would never hurt a fly. Neither would he ever step out and ever boldly do anything he was even tempted to do. No matter how much he may have wanted to. For quite some time now, Gayleen and I had seen him on occasion looking over at Marjorie whenever he came through the warehouse at night. He was constantly looking at her through puppy dog eyes. Easily half her age, he still found her, for whatever reason, the obvious love of his life.
Neither Gayleen nor I had thought much about it. After all, they were who they were, and certainly no match was made in heaven, or even the possibility of that. Until one day, Gayleen and I saw something we perhaps shouldn’t have. Which made us both rethink things…just a little anyway.
It had been after work, Gayleen and I were out in the parking lot as we’d been doing for a while by then, fooling around a little, talking…just enjoying that time together.
She had then realized she’d left something at her workstation she needed for the next day, we’d headed back inside hurriedly before they locked up for the night. Marjorie as usual, the last one to leave and lock up. Her car we’d noticed was still sitting there out in front, so she hadn’t gone home yet. Not wanting to confront her either, we basically snuck inside with the intent to grab what she needed, and then head out again with no one being the wiser. What we saw took us both by surprise.
And we almost got caught, nearly running into her when we did. Thankfully, she was too absorbed in her own thoughts to hear us, or realize we’d actually come back in again. What was odd about it, was to see her standing there in the shadows, peeking around a corner looking out onto the main floor where Edward was still sweeping things up.
It wasn’t a big thing, but it was certainly a curious thing, especially as she had her hand on her breast, obviously cupping and caressing it…watching Edward simply sweeping up. We backed out of the area just as quietly as we’d come in, and soon after left, laughing about it. Making jokes about “Marjorie” of all people, obviously getting off in a way, looking at Edward secretly, in much the same way he’d tried just as secretly whenever looking at her.
“Yeah, Edward. That’s the second part of what I intend on showing you…proving to you. You and I both know, Edward would never in a million years actually approach Marjorie, right?”
Gayleen nodded her head in agreement with that.
“And would you also not agree, it would be totally and completely out of character for Marjorie to actually approach Edward directly either?”
Once again she agreed.
“Ok, so…doing what I believe I can do, if they were to actually come together with one another in such a way that you knew it had to have something to do with what I believe I can do. Which is in helping people believe in themselves, and with one another…provided that isn’t something they wouldn’t do otherwise. Just given the chance, the opportunity to experience the flame so to speak…that you’d be willing to believe there was something to all of this?”
“Honey…if you can figure out a way to get either one of them to actually acknowledge, or approach the other, I’ll support whatever you want to do, at least initially. So…having said that, what’s your plan here?” she asked mildly curious, yet obviously excited too.
“Tomorrow night, after work. I’ll prove to you what I’ve been telling you. I’ll just need a brief moment or two alone with each of them. Something I believe will be easy enough to do. After that, we’ll have to wait and see. Fair enough?”
We knew that Edward drove an old beat up Ford truck with one of those even older style camper-trailers attached to it. I often wondered if he didn’t in fact live and sleep in it. His truck was always the first one on the lot, and I daresay, the last to ever leave the lot as well.
Always parked down at the far end, away from everyone else, it would be easy enough to keep an eye on. As for us, I told Gayleen I’d pick her up, we’d then park my car a short distance away in an adjacent parking lot, and then scurry back to hide behind a small hedge near where Edwards truck was. If things went according to plan, I was fairly certain Gayleen would have her proof, and I’d have a partner for the rest of my long-term plans and ideas.
“OK, so now that that’s all settled, what say we do something about those clothes you’re still wearing?”
“You are good…those were my thoughts exactly,” she smiled standing as we prepared to leave.
The nice thing was, they really had been too!
**