Pounding Headache

As promised, you pick up something for supper on your way home from classes. It was out of the way, but it will be worth it. When you step off the elevator you can hear pounding.

Maria is pounding on your apartment door with the side of her fists. Her face is so red that it's almost purple. She doesn't see you and yells, "Let me in you little gutter slut. Why are you preventing me from being with him? When I get a hold on you, I'll make sure you can never get in the way again!"

You clear your throat.

She continues, "After all, what are you going to be able to do from the hospital after I put you there? If you even make it to the hospital. You might end up in another dumpster somewhere along the way."

Now for sure you have had enough. "Maria!" you bark.

That gets her immediate attention.

"I can't believe what I just heard. Those aren't very ladylike manners. Did it ever occur to you that I am the one that decided, by myself, that I don't want a relationship with you?"

She starts walking towards you, hips swinging. She opens her arms readying herself to give you another busty hug. Her shocked face transforms to a big smile to hide the self she just displayed. "Hi, neighbour! How are you?"

"Stop!" Even holding things, you quickly raise your hands in front of yourself to block her. "You are giving me a headache."

She stops in her tracks. The wheels are turning in her brain, trying to figure out how to spin this to get what she wants.

"Look, I met you when I moved in. Thought that it would be nice to have a friend that knew the neighbourhood, but I've seen the way that you act and I don't like it. Stop and think about my household and how it's run. Does that tell you anything about the type of woman I want to be with? It's not you."

"But it could be me," she says swinging her hip as she takes another step towards you.

"You have not stopped and you are not thinking."

"Oh, come on. Why couldn't it be me?"

"Get down on all fours." You see the shock on her face, and her mouth opens. You simply raise one eyebrow. Slowly, she gets down on her knees, looking up at you the whole time. When she's on her knees, you can see the question in her eye. So you nod once to let her know you really were serious. Seeing that, she lowers her hands until they are touching the floor gingerly. You wait a minute to see if she will say anything.

"From down there, think about what it took to get you down there. It doesn't say anything about me. It says something about you. I also want you to think about your rudeness and the way you treat others. Once you've thought about that, then ask yourself why it can't be you. I don't want you to change for me; that won't get my heart. Just move on and become a better person." Leaving her with her thoughts, you walk past her to your apartment.

She puts her feet on the floor under her hips and then uses her hands to push off and stand up. She looks over her shoulder at you. "I got a pair of jeans all dirty, just for nothing? Thanks a lot, neighbour!" she sneers. She stomps off to the elevator and you watch her until she gets on and the doors close behind her.

Now that you are alone in the hallway, you unlock and open the door. "Jane! I'm home." You close the door. Since you are alone in the room you say, "It's just me. How was your day, Jane?"

Slowly Jane peeks her head around the corner from the bedroom. When she sees you are truly alone, she crawls out to greet you.

"So, Jane, how did you do with the rules? I know you didn't answer the door for Maria and you weren't talking to her through the door when I arrived. It looks like you left the room too. But did you leave the apartment earlier, or talk to Maria earlier in the day?"

"No, master! I was a good girl. I didn't go near the door all day. I washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen and then cleaned the apartment. After lunch I set the table and then read my reader. When she came to the door, I took it with me to my cage, which made me feel safer."

"Good girl. I am so proud of you. Why don't you take my backpack to my work area and I'll take supper into the kitchen? You ready for supper?"

She nods as she takes your backpack from you.