As she sat waiting for her “chaperone,” her mind regressed to a game which she used to
play when she was little. Talk to a stranger, and pretend that you’re someone you aren’t. Oh,
but of course, the stranger was always Justin, with a British accident assumping the role of “Mr.
Phipps” or “Duke Windsor.” The thought of talking to an actual person and playing this
childhood game frankly scared the whits out of her, while intriging her at the very same time.
Just as her mind swirled with the thoughts of it, an elderly woman sat down next to her, and
smiled gently.
“Hello, honey. How are you?”
Of course, being the type of person that she was, Lexi abandoned thoughts of the
childhood game, and smiled back and answered, “Just fine ma’am. Thank you. How about
yourself?” Her slight twang was audible.
“Oh, good. I’m an old lady. Could you tell?” The woman’s eyes roamed the airport,
“There are a lot of handsome young fellows around here, my dear.” She chuckled to herself,
“And I’ve just come to the realization that I’m officially ’over the hill.’ Awful dear. Awfully sad to
get old. I’m old enough to be some of these whippersnapper’s grandmothers. Oh, but anyway.
There’s nothing that I can do about that, now is there?” She turned and smiled at Lexi. “How
rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. Now didn’t I?” Lexi nodded slowly, smiling at the old
woman’s zaniness. She extended her hand, Lexi noting the large, and extremely tacky rings that
graced her long slender fingers. “My name is Lucille. Lucille Seakler.”
Lexi, smiled at the woman. “It’s an honor to meet you, Mrs. Seakler. My name is Lexi
Anderson. I’m a big fan of your work.”
The woman’s jaw dropped noticably, “Why.. You’ve heard of me, darling? Well. That’s
quite an honor I must say. Not too many people that are your age would have.”
Smiling gently, Lexi answered, “I’m a big fan of black and white pictures. Romances
especially.” Lucy once was a young starlett, a beautiful woman who romanced the finest men in
Hollywood, Lexi recalled.
“So, what’s your real name Lexi?”
“Alexis. But.. no one has ever really called me that.”
“Is this your first time to California?” Lucy asked, truly interested to know. It felt good on
Lexi’s part to be speaking to someone who truly cared about what she had to say, although she
was merely a stranger.
She nodded, her reddish golden hair bobbing up and down as her deep blue eyes
brightened, “Yes. It is. I’m visiting my best friend.”
“Oh? Where is she? Did she leave you stranded? People are just so busy nowadays.”
Lucy asked, a symathetic tone laced into her voice.
“Oh no. It’s a he. Justin. He’s in a singing group. My plane came in early, and I guess
the person that’s picking me up isn’t here yet.”
The elderly woman nodded and spoke softly, “Well, enough about him. How about you
my little one? What do you do?”
Lexi fiddled with the heart ring from Tiffanie’s that Justin had given her for a birthday
present last year. In a low whisper, she answered, “Write.”
The low rumble of Lucy’s laughter filled her ears, and then Lucy’s theatrical voice.
“Darling! Don’t be so very shy about it! You’ve gotta live for what you love to do, and love what
keeps you living! Oh.. that sounded as though that should have been in one of my movies.
Now.. oh dear. Forgive me. But yes. What do you write, darling?”
Taking a sip of her cappuccino, Lexi paused for a moment, then answered, “I’m writing
my first novel right now, actually. I finished a chapter, and then Justin called saying that he and
his friends missed me. I don’t know how they could miss me.. I mean.. I’m just me.” She looked
at Lucy for a moment then began again, “I’m terribly sorry. I really am flapping my jaws a tad too
much. I usually don’t speak so much, but.. I think I’m suffering from a lack of sleep, or too much
caffeine, or maybe it’s a combination of the both.”
The woman laughed, “Oh. Quite alright, darling. Quite alright. Now.. I’ll make you a
deal,” She paused to fish a scrap of paper and a pen out of her bag, quickly scrawling something
on a peice of paper. “Now, I’ll make you a deal. You finish that book, and I’ll get it published for
you. I like you. I love to help young people. And honey, you remind me of myself so very much
at that age- young, shy, afraid of the world, and well.. lonely. My son is the president of a big
publishing company. Not those trashy supermarket romance books either. The real thing. You’ll
get a pretty little cover. I’ll make sure he takes care of you well, dear.”
Lexi was beaming, “Really, I couldn’t Mrs. Seakler. I feel that I’ll only grow from the
inevitable rejection letters. It’ll better me. But thank you very much for the offer.”
“Stubborn.” The older woman hissed.
“Excuse me ma’am?”
The corners of her eyes danced as she smiled, “I forgot stubborn. You’re stubborn like I
was, dear. I’ll tell you what... You get that book published and call me up. I’ll buy out every
bookstore in a ten miles radius. And when they ask me who you are, I’ll can re-tell my thrilling
story when I met the Lexi Anderson in the airport.”
She turned on her heel, and just as Lexi thought that she was gone, she turned around
and quickly sped back. “Sweetie, I’m going to tell you a few things that I wish that somebody had
just been nice and told me at your age. Life is to short to waste it cleaning up tears. You might
as well be happy, because only your real friends care if you’re miserable. And lastly, don’t ever,
ever let anybody make you feel inferior. Don’t ever let them think that they’re better than you.
You hold your head high, darling. And you make them see. You make them see that Lexi
Anderson is a person that they will never stomp on again.” She smiled and then added softly,
“And you’ll know it’s love when he cares about nothing else but you. Just you.” Lucy laughed,
“My life is complete. I’ve been the little old lady that shared her wisdom.” Lexi smiled to herself
as she heard the heels of Lucy’s shoes clicking on the tiled floor of the airport and saw the tall,
and still beautiful woman walk away. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she would
remember Lucy’s words for a long time to come.
