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Never The Same Again
Part 5
By: Ashley

            “Hello,” came the voice on the other end.

            It was a man. 

            “Oh, excuse me, I must have the wrong number,” Shirley said, slowly lowering the phone to its base.

            “Shirley?  Is that you?”

            “Yes…” she said warily. 

            “Shirl!  It’s Lenny!”
            “Lenny,” Shirley squealed.  “For heaven’s sake, Lenny, what are you doing answering Laverne’s phone?”  There was a silence.  “Lenny?  Are you still there?”

            “Yeah, I—I’m here.”  There was uncertainty in his voice.

            “I said what are you doing answering Laverne’s phone?”

            “You – I – you…”

            Something was wrong, Shirley thought.  Something was very wrong.  “Lenny, is Laverne all right?”

            “Shirley, maybe you should come back to California.”

            “Why?  What for?”

            “I think she needs you.”

            “But Lenny, I can’t just up and leave.  I mean, I’m all the way across the country in Fort Bragg.  What’s wrong?”

            “Laverne got hurt.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”  Shirley paused.  Lenny did not speak.  “Lenny?”

            “She…”

            Shirley was growing frustrated.  “Would you just spit it out already?”

            “Look, she was in Chicago, and some guy decided to have his way with her with a Colt .45 aimed at her head.  You just … you gotta come.”

            Shirley was speechless.  “I’m on my way.”

            Lenny did not know that Shirley already had her belongings neatly packed in boxes, trunks, and suitcases.  He did not know when he spoke to her that there was a plane ticket to California in the palm of her left hand.