Carrying a bouquet of flowers into the Oval Office, Mrs. Landingham
placed them down on the President's desk, as she began to explain
where they came from.
"Sir, a few minutes ago, these flowers arrived for you."
"There's no card. Who are they from?"
"The person wishes to deliver the card on her or his own, and is
waiting just outside."
"Okay, send this mystery person in."
"The mystery person demands that you close your eyes. This person
doesn't wish to let you know who she or he is until this person is
already in the room."
"Mrs. Landingham, who are the flowers from? I'm a very busy man, I
don't have time to play guess who."
"I'm sorry Mr. President, but I promised this person that I wouldn't
tell you who it was. This person would like to tell you that own her
or his own. Shall I send the person in now?"
"Yes, before I get a headache, yes."
"And you're going to close your eyes?"
"Yes, I'll close my eyes."
"No need to raise your voice to me, sir."
"I wasn't raising my voice. Can we just get this over with?" Jed
asked, as he closed his eyes. Roni came running in the room as Mrs.
Landingham exited, shutting the door behind her. Roni went over to
her father, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you daddy."
"Can I open my eyes yet?"
"Yes."
"So these are from you?"
"Yep, do you like them?"
"I like anything from you. So tell me, how did you get Mrs.
Landingham to play along with you?"
"Huh?"
"She came in here and she gave me a hard time. She absolutely
refused to tell me who you were, normally she would just tell me."
"I guess she likes me." Roni said as a huge grin appeared across her
face. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me convince the
service to let me get a job."
Standing up from behind his chair, Jed made his way over to his
daughter's side, and put his right arm around her. "Now tell me, why
did you only apply to work in the men's section?"
"If I told you that's where they just ended up putting me, would you
believe me?"
"No. So which store did you decide on?"
"Well the service likes Belks better, from a security stand point, so
that's where I'm gonna work."
"When do you start?"
"Tomorrow."
"So soon?"
"Yes, well I actually started this process about a week or two ago."
"You know, you and I, we're going to have to work on some
communication skills."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning that you tend to do stuff, then you tell me about it. Or
you just flat out refuse to tell me."
"Tell you what, I promise to communicate better from here on out, to
show my appreciation for you helping me get a job."
"So flowers, a kiss, and communication, this is my lucky day."
"Think it's too much?"
"Come here." Jed said as he pulled his daughter into a hug and
kissed her on her forehead.
"Well, you actually looked busy when I came in this time, so I'm
gonna let you get to work."
"Ok. Thanks for the flowers and all. Later kiddo."
****************************
The next morning, Roni woke up all energized, knowing she was
actually going to have something to do that day. At breakfast that
morning, Roni found a little box all wrapped up sitting at her place.
"What's this?"
"Just a little present," answered Jed. "Go ahead, open it."
Roni opened the box, to find something else all wrapped up. "This
looks like it's a CD."
"Maybe it is, go ahead, open it."
After smiling at her parents for a few seconds, Roni opened up the
gift, and to her surprise, she found Matchbox Twenty's CD, Mad Season.
"Cool. But how'd you know I wanted this?"
"We're your parents. We just know these kinds of things."
"Ah."
****************************
After breakfast, Roni went on her, now, ritual walk through the
halls, where she ran into Sam.
"Hi Sam. Guess what."
"What?"
"I got a job."
"Congratulations." Sam said, as he gave Roni a hug. "So where you
working?"
"The men's department at Belks."
"Does your father know?"
"Yep, he helped me talk the service into it." Roni said with a smile
on her face.
"Cool. So does this mean you'll give me discounts and stuff whenever
I'm there?" Sam smiled back.
"Only if you come and see me every once in a while."
"Deal. So when do you start?"
"Today, in a few hours."
"Really? Such short notice?"
"Yes, well I've actually known for about two weeks now. Where you
headed?"
"Oval Office. We have a staff meeting in a few minutes."
"Ok. Well I'm gonna go walk through the halls some more. See ya
later." Roni said as the two parted ways.