A hit man/woman falls in love with his/her target.
MISS PAULA
©2005 by Mae Ondracek
This will be an easy target because we know she
doesn’t go anyplace in the evenings. Any
way, that is what they told me at the office.
A I had to do was wait for Miss Paula to come out of her apartment in
the morning and put a bullet through her head.
What could be simpler?
Well, I’m sitting here waiting for her to
come out of her apartment and she doesn’t come out. What can be the matter with her? I wonder.
I look at my watch and see it is already ten A.M. Now, surely she couldn’t have gotten away
from me. I’m the expert, you know, and I
sure would have known if she went by me or not.
So, I waited in that dark hall until
When I thought of it, I said ‘why not’ and
I got up and went to her table. I said,
“Excuse me, but you seem to be lonely.
Can I sit with you for awhile?”
She looked up and said, “I’d like
that. My name is Ellen.”
I took her soft hand in mine and said, “My
name is Delbert.” Boy, I didn’t want to
let her hand go, it felt so soft and warm.
She laughed a little and said, “I better
have my hand back, so I can finish my lunch.”
I felt so embarrassed, that I almost
dropped her hand. But gosh, she was
really good looking and I’ll bet she had a great figure, too. “Won’t you sit down?” she asked.
I shook my head to remove the cobwebs and
said, “Thank you, Ellen, I’d like that.”
I sat down and just stared at her. I couldn’t believe how pretty she was and she
had invited me to her table for lunch, I mean, this whole place was empty
except for us two and she had invited me to her table. I mean, she really wanted me to sit with
her.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but you can
talk, can’t you?” she said with a half smile.
I smiled at her and told her I didn’t mean
to be rude, but, gosh, she was just to pretty to talk too. She was very flattered by my saying that, so
she just went on eating and soon finished her salad and said, “Well, I have 15
minutes left before I have to go back to work.
Do you want to talk about anything?”
I said, “I sure do,” then I just sat
there. I didn’t know what the matter with
me was, but if I couldn’t think of something to say, she’d get up and walk out
of my life. So I blurted out, “How about
going to the movies with me tonight?”
She looked startled but she was ready
with, “Well, it is Friday, so I guess I could go out with you and a movie would
be fine. I’d like that,” and she smiled.
“Now I’ll have to be getting back to
work,” and she scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to
me. “This is where I live. If you really mean it, you can pick me up at
I just sat there with a half smile on my
face, not even bothering to look at the paper.
Then I became aware of somebody standing beside me. “Did you want something else, Sir?” he asked
me.
I said no, and I was sorry I took so long
to get up. I put her slip of paper in my
pocket and headed out the door. I
couldn’t work any more that day, so thought I’d just go home. When I got home I took her paper out of my
picket and you could have knocked me over with a feather. That was the address I had been waiting at
all morning. The guys at the office
didn’t tell me what she looked like, but I’ll bet she was Miss Paula.
Now I ask you, how can such a pretty girl
be included in a file suit over a man.
That man came in and wanted me to find out where this girl was, and blow
her away. Well, if she was Miss Paula, I
couldn’t no more ‘blow-her-away’, then I could stand on my head while playing a
harmonica. I had to laugh at that
because I hadn’t stood on my head since I was in grade school and I couldn’t
even play a harmonica. Boy, this was
interesting.
But as it neared
Yes, it was the same
apartment building I was at this morning.
I went in and knocked on her door and it was opened almost
immediately. There she stood, looking so great, I had to gasp for air. She said, “Won’t you come in for a
minute? I have to get my coat.”
I couldn’t help it, but I just stood
watching her and when she finally said, “Aren’t you going to come in and shut
the door?”
I came to my scenes and went in and shut
the door. Boy, what a pretty apartment
and it was kept in such good order. Then
she said, “You know, Delbert is a fine name and it really suits you.”
“Thank you,” I said still standing by the
door. Ellen got her coat and put it on,
picking up her purse and said, “Well, shall we go?”
I hadn’t heard her, so I just stood there,
looking at her and she finally took my coat sleeve and jiggled it, “Delbert,”
she said.
I shook my head and said, “What do you
want?”
She looked at me a little strange and then
said, “I thought we were going to a movie?”
“Oh yes.
Excuse me,” I said. “We are off
to the movies,” and I opened the door and went out into the hallway. I waited while she locked her door and then
we both went outside. We walked to the
movie theater and seen ‘Charlie’ was playing.
I asked her if she had seen it and she said no, so we went in. What was ‘Charlie’ about? I don’t know, I hardly looked at the
movie. Before you knew it, it was over
and we were outside. I asked her, “Would
you care for some coffee now?”
“Well, I sure could use something to drink
right about now. That would be great,”
she said and we hurried to Mr. Dee’s restaurant. It was sort of busy, so we took the only
table that was empty. I said, “Boy, we
were lucky. This was the only table
empty,” and I helped her out of her coat.
Boy, what a figure she had.
The waiter came and we ordered coffee,
then just sat there waiting for it to come.
While we drank it, I asked her where she worked and she said, “You know
that little store around the corner, the one with the balloons in the
window? Well, that is where I work right
now. I free lance and am helping them
open up the store.”
“Wow!
That’s great. You’re helping them
get it all ready to open. When will that
be?” I asked.
“We’re open now but we won’t have the
grand opening for at least another week,” she said. “There is so much to do in there.”
I drank some coffee and it went down the
wrong way and I started to cough. I
coughed and took out my handkerchief and blew my nose. Boy, I felt awful. I said, “I’m really sorry about that. I should be more careful.”
She looked very worried and asked me, “Are
you all right now, Delbert?”
I shook my head and coughed again. Then I said, “”Yes, I guess I’m all right
now, Ellen. Thanks for asking.”
“Do you want to leave now?” she asked.
I shook my head no and carefully took
another drink. It went down fine and I
felt better. “Well, that doesn’t happen
very often. Maybe it’s just because I’m
in such gorgeous company, that’s why.
I’m really sorry.”
She looked embarrassed and looked down
into her coffee cup. Then she looked up
and her eyes were smiling, “I’m sorry, but I really didn’t think something like
that would happen.”
We were both laughing now and the waiter
came over and asked if everything was alright.
We said, yes it was all right and guess we had better leave, as it’s
late. I helped Ellen on with her coat
and lightly ran my hands down her arms.
Boy, were they great. I wanted to
kiss her and everything. Man, I must be
nuts. I put on my coat and we hurried to
her apartment.
“Would you care to come in for another cup
of coffee?” she asked, smiling.
“I sure would but I guess it’s too
late. I better be going home. Can I see you tomorrow?” I asked.
“Tomorrow would be fine. I’ll make pork chops for dinner. How will that be?” she asked.
“Wow!
Pork chops will be great. All I
was going to have was a sandwich at Mr. Dee’s,” I reported. “See you tomorrow,” as I gave her a small
kiss in her cheek.
She was startled, but smiled and said,
“Why. Thank you, Delbert. That was
nice. See you tomorrow.”
I turned away just as she closed the
door. I’m glad I did because I’d sure
have loved to stay. I hurried home and
took a shower and went to bed. I wasn’t
able to go to sleep because all I could see was Ellen. The next thing I knew, it was
I walked from one room to the next and
back again. I didn’t know what to do so
I picked up the bouquet and hurried to Ellen’s apartment. Oh, it sure smelled good coming from behind
that door. I knocked on the door and
almost at once it opened and there stood Ellen.
I leaned forward and gave her a kiss and could you believe it, she
didn’t even pull away. I smiled at her,
gave her the bouquet and she said, “Why, Delbert, they are gorgeous. Thank you,” and we went into the apartment.
I thought I had died and gone to
heaven. It was just perfect, the table
and everything. Ellen was just getting a
vase for the bouquet and when she put it on the table, I said, “Come here,” and
I gave her a kiss.
She laughed a little and said softly, “I
better see about the chops,” and she went to the stove to check the pork chops.
She said, “Now all I have to do is get the
potatoes ready for cooking. What kind of
vegetable would you like?”
I didn’t hear what she said because I was
looking at her. Then I heard, “Delbert!”
I quickly came out of my dream world and
said, “Yes, Ellen, what do you want?”
She laughed and said, “I asked you what
kind of vegetable you’d like to eat?”
I thought I’d better pay attention to what
was going on, so I said, “What kind of bread to you have?”
Ellen looked at me sort of puzzled and
said, “You aren’t paying attention to what I’m saying. I asked you what kind of vegetable would you
like for dinner?”
I shook my head to clear it and said, “I’m
sorry. Peas would be fine.”
“Thank you,” Ellen said, shaking her head.
Man, what a big baby I am. Can’t even pay attention to what is being
said. Come on, now, listen up. I said, “You must have to get up quite early
to go help with that store, don’t you?”
She laughed a little and said, “Oh yes,
I’m gone by
“Nothing.
I just mean, you have to get up quite early, don’t you?” I asked.
“Yes, but the job won’t last but another
week. Then I can rest for awhile,” she
said as she set the potatoes on the table.
Then she brought the pork chops and I suddenly knew I was very hungry.
She handed me the pork chops and I speared
one and put it on my plate. “Wow! That almost came apart. You sure are a good cook. This tastes great.”
I took the potatoes and peas and we both
began eating like there was no tomorrow.
Oh, if only I could eat like this everyday, I thought. I must have given a funny laugh because Ellen
asked me what was the matter. “Nothings
the matter,” I said. “I was just
thinking about eating like this everyday.
Wouldn’t that be just great?”
Ellen shook her head yes, but kept on
eating. I thought maybe I had embarrassed
her but she said, “I’m sorry. I…I just
don’t know what to say.”
I got up from my chair and went to her side. I knelt down by her chair and said, “What did
I say to make you go off like that? I’m
really sorry.”
She said, “It was nothing you said, really,”
but I could hear tears forming and I lifted up her chin with my hand. There were tears in her eyes and when I asked
her what the matter was, she said it was all because of Joe.
She had been married to Joe at one time
and he never said once how he liked a meal, and suddenly she was crying and I
held her tight and let her cry. It felt
good having her in my arms and I just let her cry until she was finished. After about five minutes she said, “Oh what a
big baby. I’m sorry for doing that,” and
she blew her nose and wiped her eyes.
“You know, I always thought when you got married, it would last a long
time. But we didn’t even last a
year. He had gone out working everyday
and he had found someone else. Yes, I
gave him a divorce but I wanted him to pay just like he had made me pay,” she
stopped for a minute and then said, “I’m really sorry for causing you
trouble. You had looked like such an
easy mark and here you are, taking care of me.
Oh Delbert, what am I going to do?”
I stood up and pulled her up and said,
“Well, I’ll tell you what to do. First
you get this food put away, then we’ll do dishes and then we’ll go out for a
walk. How does that sound?”
Ellen shook her head yes, and started to
clean off the table. I carried
everything to the sink and she started washing them. I asked for a towel so I could dry the dishes
and she opened a drawer and got one out.
We had those dishes done in no time and I told her she had better go
wash her face and put on some makeup.
“Okay,” she said and was gone.
I sat down and thought about everything I
was going to say to Joe on Monday. I was
really going to give it to him and I really meant it. I hadn’t heard Ellen walk out of the bathroom
and I must have had an awful look on my face because she said, “Delbert, is
there anything wrong?”
I looked up, smiled and said, “Well, you
sure do look a lot better. Come here and
give me a kiss.”
She walked slowly towards me and then sat
in my lap and gave me such a great kiss, that I’ll never forget it. I said, “Well, do you think we better go out
for a walk?”
She got up from my lap and said, “Please
don’t think to bad of me but I have to have you right now.”
I couldn’t speak; all I could do was
groan. If she knew how I wanted to do
that, she’d run away. I followed her
into the bedroom, watched her pull the bed sheets down and when she turned to
me, I melted in her arms. It was pure extacea
what happened there that Saturday afternoon.
I couldn’t believe it because she was such a loving person. As I lay beside her, I remarked, “Well, you
really know how to make a man feel wanted.
I really like that.”
She said, “Yes, but if you knew how I had
wanted you last night, you wouldn’t say that.”
“Last night,” I said. “You didn’t really know me then, did you?”
“As much as I wanted to,” she said and
shivered beside me.
I held her close and couldn’t ask for
anything else to happen but she said, “Do you still want to go for a walk?”
“Hm-m-m.
Now let me think about that,” and I had to laugh at the funny look on
her face. I kissed her and turned to get
up. While we dressed, she said, “Oh I’m
so lucky to have found you yesterday. I
was beginning to think I was just no good.”
I stopped buttoning my shirt and said,
“Now I don’t want to hear anymore talk like that. You were and are just wonderful. I don’t know how I’ll ever get over you,” and
I continued buttoning my shirt.
“What---what do you mean ‘how you’ll ever
get over me’?” she asked.
“Oh babe, I don’t mean
anything like that. I love you and hope
you love me too.” I said, “Oh, I hope you never find out how I’ll ever get over
you. I really need you, you know.”
“I’m really happy to hear you say that
because I’ve been watching you a long time,” she said. “A long time.
Oh Delbert, if everything could work out for us.”
“It will, you’ll see. Are you ready for that walk now?” I said.
We walked all over, that day, and then
went back to her place and made love again.
It was wonderful. How could it
not be? I had found my true love and she
had found hers. In the days that
followed, we were very happy and it will be two years since we’ve been
married. Our lives are just great and we
have one tiny baby in the corner. We
call him, Ray, because he is really our little bundle of joy, which brought a
ray of sunshine into our lives.
I’m so glad Ellen found me that day I
walked into Mr. Dee’s Restaurant. That
will always be a special place for us to eat.