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Never The Same Again
Part 8
By: Ashley

The next thing Lenny heard was the rapid click-clack of Shirley coming down the steps.  “Goodbye, Leonard,” she said, never once glancing at him.

            “Shirl, what happened?  I heard yellin’.”

            Laverne appeared in the doorway at the top of the stairs.  “And your about to hear more, Mistah… Big Mouth.”

            “What?” he asked, completely confused.

            “You can’t help someone who refuses to be helped,” Shirley replied.

            “And ya can’t punch somebody who weighs three hundred pounds,” Laverne shot back.

            Shirley slammed the door.

            “What was that all about?” Lenny asked, still baffled.

            “Don’t ask me no stupid questions like that when you know the answers!  Tellin’ her everything…”

            “What do you mean ‘everything’?” 

            “I mean, tellin’ her about the … you know … and about Edna.”

            “Someone had to tell her, Laverne,” Lenny said.

            “No they didn’t!”

            “Look,” he said, walking toward her.  “Don’t you think she deserved to know?”

            “No,” she said, crossing in front of him and plopping down on the couch. 

            “Why not?!”  He sat down beside of her.  “Look, Laverne, this ain’t like you.”

            “Don’t you start in on me, too.”

            “What’re you talkin’ about?”

            “I just got a whole lecture from Shirley about how I’ve changed.  I don’t need to hear it from no blabber-mouth, too.”    

            He sat up straight.  “I think you do.”

            “What?!”

            “The old Laverne DeFazio would never have called Shirley fat.”

            “She would have if Shirley had been fat.”          

            Lenny paused for a moment.  That was true.  He shrugged.  “Point is, you said a lot of hurtful things to her, and all she was doing was trying to be helpful.”

            “Some help she is, marryin’ some doctor none of us knows and movin’ away to God-knows-where to be with him.”

            Lenny stared at the floor.  “You gotta stop bein’ so bitter.”

            “What?” Laverne asked.

            “She didn’t mean to abandon you, Laverne.  Just like your mother never meant to abandon you.  Even Edna didn’t mean to abandon you.”

            The next thing Lenny felt was a stinging slap across his face, accompanied by the words, “Don’t you ever talk about my mother again!”

            Silently, Lenny went behind the couch.  He grabbed a large leather suitcase, and started heading toward the door.

            “Get out!” Laverne shouted.

            “What does it look like I’m doin’?” he asked quietly. 

            “I don’t wanna see you again!  Ever!”

            It felt like someone had shoved a spiked heel through his chest.  But when he opened the door, he saw Shirley on the other side, her hand in a white fist, preparing to knock.  There was a look of panic on her face.

            “Shirl?” he asked.

            “Lenny, I gotta use the phone.”

            “What’s the matter?”

            “I think I’m having the baby.”