amanda&gerry

AMANDA AND GERRY

A Fictional Story Of Two People Who Met And Had A Family In NYC And Married.  It’s Not Dramatic Enough For A Movie Or Operetta While It Might Make A Good Madrigal To The Music Of Dave Brubeck And His Family, Or Perhaps An Interesting Amanda’s Tale, As Part Of An Epic Poem Like Canterbury Tales, The Decameron Or Les Cent Nouvelles To The Music Of Bach, Ravel, Muzorfski, Copeland Or Debussy

By Izzy Ess Of Happiness

Amanda Salmon sensed some danger when a stranger entered her apartment when the door was open to create a breeze.  The stranger said, “Oops, I have the wrong apartment.”  He looked at the front door and said, “I must have gotten off the elevator on the wrong floor.  My apartment is just above yours and I neglected to look at the numbers.  I’m very sorry.”  The handsome stranger was tall and dark and spoke his English with a British accent.  On impulse, Amanda extended her hand and said, “My name is Miss Amanda Salmon.  If you’re the guy upstairs, I have to say that you do play the sweetest music on your stereo.”  The stranger smiled and took Amanda’s hand and shook it gently but very firmly.  “Hi, my name is Gerry Brooks.  Yes, I do enjoy my music and I must be turning up the volume when it’s really good.  Would you like to come upstairs and listen to my stereo?”  Amanda smiled and said, “Why don’t you come inside and tune my radio to your favourites and we can listen here?  Have you had supper yet?”  Gerry Brooks took off his jacket and threw it on an easy chair.  “Supper sounds super!  Whatcha making?”  Amanda smiled.  “It’s already made.  I tend to use my crock pot and let it cook all day.  It’s ready and it’s beef and pork and veggie stew.”  She pointed to her stereo and said, “How about some music, Gerry?”  Gerry walked over to the stereo and turned it on.  He tuned it to a station which played good jazz all day.  The sound of Dave Brubeck was on the air and Gerry turned the volume up.  Amanda liked the station and her head was bobbing to the beat.  Gerry’s head was bobbing, too.

Amanda served the stew and they both sat down at the small ornate kitchenette  table.  Gerry’s knowledge of good jazz was good and they talked about Dave Brubeck and his music.  Gerry liked the food and complimented his new friend, Amanda.  She had a little Chianti left and they sipped it slowly.  During a big band number of Glen Miller, they got up and did a jive step in the small place in front of the old fireplace which did not operate.  Amanda felt romantic and so did Gerry and they kissed and hugged after doing their old dance.  Sitting down again, they finished off the stew upon their plates and the rest of the Chianti.  They cleared the dishes off the table; Gerry washed while Amanda dried.  It felt so right to retire to bed and make some love which really was exciting.

The romance and the sex, the suppers and the wine continued nicely.  They alternated their apartments and switched off on the cooking and the buying of the wine.  They started telling each other stories of their work and families.  They laughed easily and frequently.  The music was always on and seemed to be the lubricant for their growing closeness and intimacies.  The sex was great as they admitted to themselves that there was love in the air.  Their outings were always fun and they enjoyed movies and bars and bistros.  Sometimes they’d stay overnight in a small hotel and sometimes, they’d rent a car and go into the countryside for a long weekend at a small inn or bed and breakfast.  They loved the quaintness of the places in the Mohawk valley, like Geneva, Avon and Elmira.  Sometimes they’d even cross the border into Canada and enjoy some old Québec, Québec, or Kingston, Ontario.

Eventually, they started visiting family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland.  Eventually, Amanda discovered she was pregnant.  They made the decision to have the baby and not get married.  They did look for and rent a bigger apartment with a sunroom which could stand in as a nursery.  Amanda delivered a healthy little girl during which Gerry was allowed in the delivery room and assisted in the birthing process.  Gerry and Amanda shared the household duties and the picking of the antique and used furniture for the old-new place.  Together they invested in a new-old stereo with new and old components which filled the new-old apartment with wonderful easy-listening music, mainly good jazz.

Gerry was an options dealer on the NASDAQ.  His salary was substantial and was mainly small consistent profits from trading wisely.  He had a knack for picking long and short term options to great advantage and was amassing a lot of money in securities, bonds and futures contracts.  Amanda was an executive secretory of a J. P. Morgan branch bank and drew a large salary and benefits which helped the coffers of the new family which was expanding as Amanda again became pregnant and expanded appropriately.  She had become an MBA candidate and was in line for a big promotion and more executive types of positions.  The happy couple combined their financial assets for great advantage with regard to taxation and investments.  College funds were started for the children.  Financial security was assured.  And, witnessed by family members from both sides, they were married in NYC’s St. Peter’s Basilica, after which they had a small reception for kith and kin atop the Empire State Building.

Amanda was found to have a malignant papilloma on her cervix and needed to have a complete hysterectomy.  Microscopic sections on the tissue removed showed that everything was removed.  There was little chance of recurrence of the malignancy and no chance for another pregnancy.  Our Gerry developed an acute leukemia which required chemotherapy and radiation.  He lost all his hair and the hair that grew back was thin and white.  On the positive side, his malignancy was brought under control and no recurrence would be seen in the next five years or the next five years, thereafter.  The two children, a boy and a girl, flourished and were enrolled in magnet schools for both drama and academics.  They were to do very well, excelling in both theatrics and academics.

Mr. Gerry Brooks was killed in a freak accident when a huge piece of a wall of a building being demolished fell from the jaws of a crane and came crashing through the covered sidewalk and crushed poor Gerry to death before any passers-by could start CPR.  The EMT paramedics were too late and he was declared dead by the hospital physician who saw him in the ER after the paramedics brought him there.  An autopsy showed that he had died as a result of massive injuries to the brain and spinal cord as a result of the 500 lb. piece of wall that had fallen on him.  Amanda was called to claim the remains.  She arranged for cremation and his ashes were put in an ornate vase for her.  Her in-laws and out-laws from Pittsburgh and Baltimore came to the memorial at Amanda’s apartment.  Amanda was invited to stay for a while at her in-laws in Baltimore and she accepted the offer.  Gerry’s will and insurance provided for her, and the children, for a lifetime.

In Baltimore, there was a proud community nearby which had excellent schools and community projects for fair treatment of minority groups as well as logical layouts for housing and community buildings and meeting places for folks to congregate and co-operate with regard to schooling, housing, welfare and garbage collection.  It was an award winning community called Colombo and it attracted Amanda and her family to see it would be suitable for them.  it was and they moved.  Amanda had quit her job with J. P. Morgan and was living off the substantial inheritance left by Gerry for herself and her children, as well as her own wise investments.  Within a year, Amanda met a divorced man that looked a lot like Gerry.  He had his two children living with him.  It was as natural a match for Amanda and she went for it.  The man, a Steven Weinstein, made more than adequate room for her and her two children at his larger than usual condominium townhouse.  They developed some great romantic attachments and she and he lived happily together for the rest of their lives.  Amanda and her new husband lived into their late eighties, happily and comfortably.  All their children were eventually married and moved to various parts of the country to pursue their dreams and goals of careers and families.

THE END

© Izzy Sommers, Md

Welland, Canada

12/12/13

The Last Of 12/12s

For A Year

While 12/12/12

Won’t Appear For

A Long Time.