More Than a Kiss

The Garbage Man

Amy yelped into her cell phone, “You did?! She did? You did? She did?” She was so excited she hopped up and down. “Oh, Edison, I love you! I mean, you know, not that way. But I do love you, I do, I do, I do!”

Amy hung up. She was elated that Edison had found Jordan. She didn’t care if she was in a hotel in Las Vegas. All that mattered was that Jordan said she was coming home to be with her. She was on her way back.

By the time Amy got to her office, she found Veronica, Valerie, Jeremy and a big, muscled-up man standing around Chad’s limp body. Amy studied the muscle man. He had a flat nose that looked like it had been flattened by a snow shovel. He had big ears, shiny black hair and was missing some important teeth. “Who are you?” she asked.

“The less you know, the better,” he said in a voice reminiscent of Marlon Brando.

Amy looked alarmed.

“He’s the garbage man,” Valerie said.

Veronica laughed. “He’s here to pick up the garbage.”

With that, the muscle man bent, picked up Chad and flipped him over his shoulder like he was nothing more than a bag of flour. He walked off down the hallway whistling the tune to The Godfather.

“I thought you were just sending Chad in for a psych evaluation,” Amy said.

Veronica and Valerie shrugged simultaneously.

Veronica said, “All I do is fill out the forms. They go out the door…”

“And never come back,” Valerie said.