Page 23 of My Thursday Throwback

“Why in the bluegrass of Kentucky is she calling me?”

“I am uncertain, Ms. Fitzsimons. Should I tell her you are unavailable to take the call?”

“No, put her through,” she said hesitantly, knowing the woman had called on Scott’s private line. Zelda’s sophomoric attempt to bar Samantha from getting to him last night was almost laughable. Only the laugh was at her expense. Pip was right. She had the number to Scott’s private line. They may have been in contact for years for all Zelda knew.

“Zelda Fitzsimmons, how may I help you?” she said, trying her best to sound professional.

“How did you know?” Samantha asked.

“You have to be more specific, lady. It would help me a great deal, though, if you clarified your comment,” Zelda said, trying to remember Pip’s words at not coming across as a total bitch.

Samantha sighed audibly before answering, “How did you know someone had molested me?”

Zelda breathed deeply, pulling together years of wordplay to make sure she put the metaphor in the right frame. She thought of a documentary she’d watched at a Survivor’s conference a few years ago about lions and nature versus nurture. The analogy, although cerebral, fit the context perfectly.

“Lion cubs are taught to hunt through play. Is hunting and killing inherent in their nature or is a learned behavior in order to survive? We are not so different from the animals. Only our world is predicated on a sense of morality based on rights and wrongs. If the play you learn as a child became a norm in your life’s routine, then your sense of right and wrong becomes distorted. The wrongs done to you become your right, therefore turning the former plaything into a skilled predator,” Zelda said.

“You sure are fancy with your words. I have no idea what any of that means, but I wanted you to know that I tried to speak to Scott and tell him I was sorry,” she said. “It has been years and I often wondered how well he had adjusted.”

“To be frank, Samantha, you could have said that the first night. The whole raising your hand in the audience thing was to catch him off guard, to see if there was still a spark between you. I mean, I don’t blame you, the man he is, wow, is a far cry from the 13-year old boy you played house with, but that ship has sailed. He wants kids and a family, not your teeth in a jar on the nightstand,” she said, clapping her hand over her mouth.

“As you said earlier in your fancy talk, it seems you are expressing a learned behavior of being a bitch,” Samantha said, hanging up the phone.

“Well!” Zelda said, bursting into laughter. “Teeth in a jar...shit that was funny.” Today would be a good day after all.

---