Roxie’s Entrapment By Elizabeth Sowden

Episode 2

0
5 February 2007

Rain drops beat against the surface of the window pane while Roxie stared down into the street below. It was 3:30 in the afternoon, and the hour and a half she had left seemed to stretch out in front of her like and endless ribbon of highway leading to nowhere. A manuscript—the autobiography of the CEO of a Wisconsin dairy corporation—sat on her desk. When Roxie tried to read it, the lines of ink ran together like mascara on the face of a telenovela star. In college, Roxie would sometimes have Sunday dinner at Graciela’s house, and while Graciela and her mother were cooking, Roxie would sit and watch telenovelas with Graciela’s abuela, Concepción. Whenever the show’s womanizing villain came on the screen, Concepción would shake her fist and hiss “hijo de puta,” and bid Roxie to do the same.

Roxie missed those afternoons. She couldn’t believe how long ago it seemed. Roxie sighed and made a note in the margin. She wanted to take the manuscript and dump it in the incinerator. This thing had no business going to print—it was like a really nerdy girl with thick taped-together glasses being named prom queen. The guy went on for 150 pages about the process of cheesifying or cheesification, or whatever the word was…she couldn’t remember it, even after she’d read it thirty dozen times.

She put the manuscript down and stared down at Houston Street. She suddenly had the urge to sneak out early and go see a movie at the Angelika. Roxie’s mouth watered as she thought of popcorn smothered in butter from the do-it-yourself spout.

Just then, the intercom light on her phone lit up. She picked up, and it was the Brainless Intern, Kelli, on the other end.

“Its Grassyella on the phone,” Kelli chirped.

“Thanks,” Roxie mumbled, thinking that Kelli had just turned Graciela into a Golden Retriever from Kentucky. A millisecond later, Graciela came on the line.

Hola, Rosita, ¿que haces?”

“Graciela, I’m so bored! I swear to God, they save the worst manuscripts for me. What are you up to?”

“I’m buying a TV for my brother. What’s the difference between LCD and plasma?”

“Nothing, they’re the same thing.”

“Really? Its so complicated now. Remember when you used to come to my house and watch novelas with my grandma? It was thirteen inches and you had to smack it every twenty minutes to keep it working right.”

“Yeah….didn’t we have one just like it in our dorm freshman year?”

“Yeah we did—remember the one Noëlle had senior year? She hung it up on the wall and all the guys wanted to go to her room to watch TV but she never let them.”

“Well, that would be the ideal thing to get. Can you afford it though?”

“Girl, you know I can always find a discount.”

“Why are you buying a TV for your brother, anyway?”

“Because, I broke his…”

“How did that happen?”

“Well I dropped it on the floor….”

Roxie laughed. “How?”

“He bet me I couldn’t lift it over my head, and when I did, his cat jumped on my head and startled me so I dropped it.”

“Was he mad?”

“Actually I think he was happy. He needed the excuse to get a new TV.”

“Why does he need an excuse if he’s not buying it?”

“Oh, well…”

Just then, Roxie heard footsteps and the voice of her boss coming down the hall.

“Hey, Graciela, I gotta go.”

“Ok—but wait—are you busy tomorrow night? I want you to meet someone.”

“What? No, Graciela, not a fix up.” Roxie’s heart beat faster as her boss’s voice grew louder.

“I’m not hanging up til you say yes.”

“Graciela, my boss is coming.”

“So just say yes.”

“Fine, yes.”

“Great! See you later!” With that, Graciela hung up. As she listened to the dial tone, Roxie knew she had been set up. It was just like Graciela to wait until Roxie absolutely had to get off the phone to spring this on her. Now she was trapped. Roxie hated going on any kind of date, but now she had to go on the worst kind of date, a blind date and even with Graciela there it was sure to be a disaster.

“So, Roxie,” her boss asked, and Roxie could feel her fingers begin to sweat, “how’s the manuscript?”

Writen by: Elizabeth Sowden


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