...Kiss The Girls And Make Them Cry

My former neighbor Peggy called me up one day and told me that one of her girlfriends, Loretta, had a huge fight with her boyfriend and needed a place to stay. Would I be willing to rent her a room for a few weeks until she got her life organized again? Also, there was a cat that needed lodging too.

We worked out a deal. Loretta is a professional chef so she'd supply the food, do the cooking, and in general "keep house". It turned out that she's one of these people who is a bundle of energy, can't sit still for a minute. She LIKED to mow the lawn, and she pushed that mower around twice as fast as I ever did. All the furniture got moved, dirty corners that hadn't seen the light of day in twenty years would pass muster for use as a hospital operating room, all the pots and pans and cutlery were scrubbed "just because", the back porch was cleaned up, and she scrubbed my boat inside and out. I was forced to go buy car wax and upholstery cleaner for the truck.

We went shopping together like in this photo, out to dinner on occasion, a movie or two, and already had some friends in common. She soon found a job at a nearby restaurant and everything seemed great except for her cat Baby. Every night Baby would get in bed with Loretta, then as soon as Loretta went off to Dreamland Baby would sneak in to my room and curl up on the pillow next to my head. Loretta got jealous.

I think Loretta was still in love with her ex boyfriend, or at least very hurt by his rejection of her, because no romance ever developed between us. Believe me, I tried...LOL, but Baby and I seemed a match made in heaven, at least to Baby. After a few months Loretta had saved up a few dollars, managed to put 15 pounds on me with her culinary skills (a record!), and decided to take a job in Las Vegas. She left Baby with me. She told me that Baby liked me better anyway. I haven't seen Loretta in about two years now, but she calls every couple of months to check on how Baby is doing. Last time she called she was in New Jersey. I'd lost the 15 pounds. Baby is fine.

P.S. Want an archival quality print of this or one of my other photos? E-mail me at preacherpop42@aol.com for details.