2. A Penny from Heaven (Romance in the street)

Brad Pitt strode quickly across the windswept deck of his yacht, reaching out his arms to me and encircling me with his love.  My heart was pounding as I heard him murmur words of adoration and passion.  I nearly swooned with delight as he crushed me tighter and tighter against his manly chest.  But was it from delight or.. or…lack of oxygen.  The weight on my breast became too much to bear and Brad’s breath…his breath…was stinky, like fish, tuna fish to be exact.  I slowly opened my eyes and there was Sammy, my 20 pound Russian blue cat, pushing his velvet paws into my chest, wanting me to wake and play.  Agggh, another bleak, grey morning in San Francisco.  No Brad Pitt, no yacht, just me, Sylvia Berta, a 26 year old, out of work lawyer who also seemed to be out of luck. 

            I groaned and rolled over, forcing Sammy to jump off of me.  I reviewed my options:  1. snuggle back under the covers and sleep the day away  or 2.  stagger from the bed, plug in the coffee pot, and wait in a stupor for it to finish perking so I could start perking.. 

No. 2 it was.  Although out of work, I was still the responsible person raised in the responsible Midwest, and I knew I had to treat finding a job as a job.  No way could I ever be a free spirit sailing the ocean blue with a blue-eyed millionaire movie star. 

Even though I planned to start my job search via internet listings in the privacy of my own abode, I knew it was necessary to shower and dress respectably to boost my fallen morale.   So I downed the coffee straight and did what was necessary. 

After several virtuous hours of sending my resume over invisible electromagnetic waves to anyone who was interested, I thought it was time for a reward.  And that meant , what else, but book store browsing.

Sammy hardly squinted his eyes open as he heard me open the door to leave.  He probably was getting concerned that I hadn’t already left to bring home more tuna kibble.

Walking carefully over the broken sidewalk pavement in my neighborhood, I thought over what had brought me to the most wretched job in the world—job hunting.  It all happened because I have a soft heart.  I have—actually had—a great Aunt Tilly whom I had never met but we wrote great letters to each other.  She lived about 500 miles away, just a little too far for a quick visit.  Anyway, I got a letter from her care taker home saying that Tilly was really failing and she had expressed a desire to see me. 

As the first year ‘associate’ in a small law firm I didn’t have much clout for getting time off.  But I braced myself and I asked for leave to go visit my sick great aunt.  The tyrant in personnel just laughed and offered a choice, “Your job or your sick great aunt.”  I knew the law could be heartless but even I was shocked at this pronouncement.  I decided I didn’t want to work for a place with this kind of attitude.  So I handed in my resignation and went off to see Great Aunt Tilly.

I only saw her for about 15 minutes before I was shooed out of her room. Later that night the caretaker called to say Aunt Tilly had slipped away peacefully.  Well, I had done my duty and as they say ‘no good deed ever goes unpunished,’   I was told she had given me her beloved cat and companion, Sammy, to care for the rest of his natural life.  The key word here is natural life.  He was not to be helped into a life after death for cats.   I also had a small bequest of $1,000 to help pay for his food and vet bills.  Wow, that cat would be living on caviar at that rate. 

Anyway, that was why I was punching the keys on my home laptop instead of in a law office  and why I was now rewarding myself during a ‘work’ day by strolling down bustling Sacramento Avenue towards our local, independent bookstore.. 

As I started to cross the street I noticed a tiny, shiny, copper object in the crosswalk.  It looked like a bright new penny.  Hey, I’ve heard that this is the way the newly deceased communicate their care and concern for you.  Of course no one explains how these spirits get their hands on these pennies from Heaven to leave out for you when they have no pockets and possibly no hands.  Anyway I bent over to check if it was a 2007 and thus possibly a greeting from great aunt Tilly.  As I was bent over, a car came careening around the corner and knocked me over.

What a commotion.  People came running from every where.  The driver of the car got out white and shaking.  I wasn’t really hurt, just shocked and also a little angry—not at the driver but at Tilly.  “First you make me lose my job, not you want my life!  Thanks for nothing, Tilly.”  I complained in my mind. I laid there, embarrassed and whining.

I looked up at the driver who was also whining, “ I’m so, so sorry.  I’ve called 911.  An ambulance will be here soon.”  As my eyes came back into focus, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Could there be two Brad Pitts?  Was I unconscious and having another dream?

“Damn, damn, this screws up my schedule,”  my handsome assailant muttered.

“Well, this may be screwing up my whole life, “ I retorted back.

“No, no sorry, I just mean I’m on my way to court to request another continuance and now the judge is going to throw my client’s case out because I won’t be there.

“A very busy lawyer,“  I said thinking fast.  “Do you need any help?” 

“Who wouldn’t--my partner just ran off with my fiancée.  So not only do I have a broken heart but he left me with all the work.”

“Well, I have a proposition for you.  I’m a lawyer, too, and I won’t sue if you hire me.”

Brad’s eyes, or the beautiful blue eyes of someone who looked as good as Brad did, widened in surprise.  “Well, I guess we could discuss it over coffee.  Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?”  Was he really a considerate person or just a lawyer protecting his you know what.  Which looked pretty good from where I lay looking up at him.

I smiled.  “I need a job more than I need a hospital trip.” As he helped me up I added,  “But I will need your driver’s license, phone number, and insurance information, just in case.  Also, hand me that penny on the road.  It might turn out to be a Penny from Heaven after all.” 

                                        The End