The Receiving End

“Thank you for coming, ladies,” Joshua Elliot said with a smile, pulling out the empty seat between Carla and Liza.

“This better be delicious because I just postponed a date with Mr. Right,” Carla warns, snatching the menu the waiter left after serving them water and mixed nuts.

Liza adds, “And I had to reschedule Rick Fox because you said it was important.”

“Girl, stop lying,” Susan said, slapping her on her upper left arm as everyone erupted in laughter.

“I meant in my dreams. I could be home sleeping now and dreaming about him. He always waits for me at the same place,” Liza said in excitement. “He would be wearing his Lakers basketball shorts, shirtless and water would be dripping off his lean, chiseled incredible sexy body, and. . . .”

Silence alerts her as she stops. Her eyes sweep around the restaurant. The other patrons from the table nearby had her full attention.

Carla asks, choking in laughter, “you go to bed intending to dream about Rick Fox? I thought you had insomnia.”

“Honey,” she shared in excitement, “he is my sleeping pill. He beats all over and under the counter’s sleep aids.”

Laughter flowed on, and Carla said, “Believe her. She has tried them all.”

Joshua waited, staring at all of them.

“So,” the three women ask as he remains silent.

“Are you finished?” he asks. They gawk at him, he said, “I was waiting on Liza’s reason for coming.”

Stares sway around, and Liza says, “I avoided a date with Mr. Wrong.”

“Are we done now?”

An unfamiliar voice answered, “No.”

Eyes and heads followed the direction of the voice to the right on the table nearby.

An attractive, expensively attired young lady sitting alone, her left hand hugging her half-full wine glass with red wine, asks, “Where did Rick Fox meet you?”

Suprise touched them all for a few moments, and Carla said, “Girl, stay out of my cousin’s dream.” Turning back to their table, she points to Liza, “we got to get you a man.”

“Ok, ladies,” Joshua grabbed back control, spilling out before anyone interrupts. “Melvin needs our help. What can you give?”

Susan blurted out, pointing at Liza, “Didn’t I tell you he was going to fall off!”

“I said it first,” Liza defends.

“I have been warning him all of his life,” Carla adds. “I advised him if he keeps sitting on the edge, he is going to fall off.”

“Whoa! Slow down, ladies. What did he fall off of?” Joshua asks. “You three are the thirteenth family member I asked to help a family in need, and you are all saying the same thing.”

All three women eased back in their chairs, gazed at him in annoyance, and said in unison, “the receiving end!”

Joshua knotted his brows. Before he could unknot them, Carla informs, “Melvin has been sitting on the receiving end of things all of the thirty-five years of his life . . .”

“Hold on!” Joshua cried out. “You have been warning him from he was born?”

“What? You don’t listen to the bible?” Carla said. “By the fruit, you will know the tree. Melvin takes, and takes, and takes, and never gives back. I have been warning him for years. If you sit on the edge or end of anything, you will eventually fall off!”

All of us know someone who sits on the receiving end of things in their life. They take but never give. Life needs balance, and sitting on the edge or end of anything, you will fall off if you don’t do the right thing.

Thank you for resding this piece. I hoped you enjoyed it.