Rude Awakening - Part 3

I left Starbucks and stopped at Schnucks that’s when I ran into Rocco. “Nice to see a friendly face.” 

“Thanks, nice to see you as well.” 

Twitch wagged his tail, so I reached down to pet him. “If you’re not busy tonight, you should come over for dinner and bring your pup. I’d like you to meet my family.”  

“That’s very kind, thank you. I don’t want to impose.” 
            “It’s not an imposition. My wife loves having guests and the kids will have fun with Twitch,”.  

“Thanks. What time?” 

“How about five? That’ll give us time to relax with a drink before dinner.” I texted Rocco my address. We waved goodbye. 

I called Stacy to tell her I invited Rocco over for dinner. She had never met him but was always up for having visitors. I mean, if I have to put up with Claudia then she certainly shouldn’t have a problem with my new writer friend. 

Soups are my wife’s go to choice for easy meals in the cold months. She loves soup. When I arrived home, she had a pot simmering on the stove. Stacy found a recipe on online for Jersey Stew. Weird, but she’s always looking for new soups to make, so it could be a coincidence. I sensed this was a recipe idea inspired by Claudia. Maybe my paranoia was getting the best of me. 

Rocco and Twitch showed up right on time. Twitch wore a saddlebag on his back, containing a gift to share with us, a bottle of Rude Awakening and three bourbon glasses. “What a smart and generous dog.” 

“It was his idea.” Rocco chuckled. I laughed, then introduced Rocco to Stacy and the kids. Both kids cuddled Twitch and asked if they could take him to their room. 

Rocco said, “Of course. He loves the attention.” 

I guided Rocco to the family room and poured two small glasses of bourbon. I handed one to him. We chatted a few minutes before my paranoia surfaced. I told Rocco about all my worries. He listened quietly and said. “This will require a longer discussion. It would be best if we meet for lunch this week. Your concerns may be exaggerated.”  

There was no doubt this was true.  

Stacy came in to tell us dinner was ready. She had made croissant sandwiches to have with the Jersey Stew. Surprisingly, the stew was very tasty and paired quite well with the croissandwiches. 

After dinner, the three of us spent about two hours talking. Stacy loves to read and was intrigued by my friends occupation, so it wasn’t a surprise that she found Rocco interesting. We learned how he became a writer and his writing routine. Interesting and fun evening. They headed home early but Rocco promised to invite us over to his house soon. 

“This is great! Now, we have two new friends and they both have amazing jobs.” Stacy paused. “So many hidden secrets in this small town.” 

“Yeah . . . two? Rocco and who?” 

“Claudia, you goof.” 

“Well, Rocco has a real job. Claudia’s a fortune teller, so . . .”  

“You need to get over it. She’s my friend and she’s coming over for coffee tomorrow.” Stacy crossed her arms. “It’s a surprise. I’m going to introduce her to my friends in the cooking club.” 

“That should be fun.” I smiled. “Oh, but she’s a psychic . . . so she already knows.” 

“You’re such a jerk.” 

I met Rocco for lunch at Bemo’s the following week. Although I had never been there before, Rocco was a regular, so we were allowed to sit and chat as long as necessary without any interruptions. I opened up to Rocco about my deepest concern and talked about my suspicions.  

Rocco said, “Psychics are real, but I’m not sure if Claudia is a psychic. She could be a fraud, but she’s certainly not dangerous.” 

Talking about my problems and quirks gave me some relief. It felt like a cleansing, when you had the right person to listen. I knew I was paranoid, and prone to believe all the negative self-talk. I was right to trust Rocco. His advice was solid as I expected and worthy of my consideration.  

*** 

Stacy worried about Ben and needed a plan to turn his anxious behavior to a positive by 

exposing him to the truth. She was a practical joker. You would never know that by her demeanor, but it was something left over from her college days. She had tricked Ben a few times in the past and always brought him back to reality. A shock much like getting a bucket of ice water dumped on your head, but it brought him back and reset his anxiety clock, even made him laugh. This time Stacy would need a partner, a cohort. So, she made a call to her new friend. “Hey Claudia, this is Stacy. I have a favor to ask of you.” 

“Glad to help. What do you need?” 

“It would be better if I explained in person,” Stacy replied. “Are you busy now?” 

“No, my schedule is pretty open.” 

“Great! Come on over. I just put some cinnamon rolls in the oven.” 

Claudia giggled. “I love cinnamon rolls. See you soon.” 

*** 

I received an email this morning that said I was on a list. But what kind? Not a list of prize winners. More like a warning, but for what? The email couldn’t be tracked, but stated I was third on the list. No other names were mentioned. This, of course only, ramped up my worries. I can flip to paranoia in a nanosecond. Was this some kind of sick game? I can’t imagine anyone doing this to me. 

Stacy was more level-headed than me, so I showed her the message and asked for her opinion. She frowned as she read the message. “This is weird, but it sounds like a prank or dare by a teenager.” She brushed her hair back. “People are doing a lot of crazy stuff these days. It’s probably nothing, but it might make sense to let Stan look at this. He still has contacts at the police station.” 

“Thanks, that’s a good idea.” I relaxed my shoulders. “He may be aware of crank emails like this.” 

“Oh! And Claudia. You should show the email to her.” 

My shoulders tensed again. “Yeah, I definitely won’t do that, but I’d let Rocco take a look.” 

“Why Rocco and not Claudia?” 

“I trust Rocco, and value his life experiences. Claudia creeps me out.” 

“You are too suspicious. People aren’t out to get you. It’s all in your head.” 

I didn’t say a thing. I just waved goodbye with the printed copy and walked out the door. Stan was washing his car in the driveway. I held the copy over my head, “Hi Stan. I wanted to get your opinion on this suspicious note I received.”  

He wiped his hands on his pants then took the copy. When he finished, he said, “It’s very likely a prank. There’s a lot of stuff like this going on these days.” He handed it back to me. “Think about it logically. Why would they be warning you of danger? That would put you on guard, unless the goal is to scare the crap out of you.” Stan turned off the hose. “If so, that seems to be working.” “To be safe, I’ll take this copy to the station to see if they’ve heard about any pranks like this. Unless you can track the, it’s unlikely you’ll ever find the culprit.” 

“I would appreciate knowing more.” 

 “I’ll ask around and let you know what I find out.” Stan took the email copy back. “The only thing I worry about is that these silly pranks sometimes turn into real threats.” 

I scowled “That’s comforting, thanks.” 

I thought about the list all day, threatening my sanity. I hoped Stan would come back with information that my paranoid mind could absorb and calm the crazy scenarios I’d concocted. 

Later in the day, Stan came by to tell me what he found out. “Ben, I wouldn’t worry about this email, unless of course you receive a second one.” 

“Okay, so just some prank. Something kids do these days?” 

Stan handed the copy back to me. “That’s the read on it. The guys at the station see a lot of this stuff, and it rarely progresses into a real crime.” 

I raked my fingers through my hair. “That helps. But what if I get another message?”  

“It’s doubtful that would happen, but if so let me know.” Stan continued, “It’s logged in as an incident, so they could do a follow-up.” 

I felt better the rest of the day, knowing that Stan was on top of this. 

The remainder of the day was uneventful, and this helped me forget about my concerns. During dinner Stacy asked if I had received any new emails. 

“To be honest I haven’t checked. Stan said it was unlikely, so I hope he’s right. I’ll check later.” 

Stacy said reassuringly, “Knowing there is none would calm your nerves.” 

“Yes, but right now I’m doing fine. I don’t want to poke the bear.” 

“That makes sense.” 

Once the kids went to bed, I relaxed with a glass of Rude Awakening while Stacy read one of Rocco’s mystery novels. I needed a good night’s sleep, so I decided to wait until the morning to look at my email, in case there was a second message from my prankster pen pal. 

*** 

Stacy was up before me and had brewed a pot of coffee. I poured a cup and sat down at the kitchen table. My morning routine consisted of playing Wordle, then checking email before reading the news. The word of the day was prank. Interesting! A coincidence or a sign? This reminded me to check my messages. 

I pulled up my account and found a second email which reignited my paranoia. It said a surprise will be coming soon. This put me on edge, so I told myself that a surprise could be good, but I’m not a convincing liar.  

Stacy tried to calm me down, but that was like trying to put out a forest fire with a water gun. She left me to sulk around the house all day until I finally talked myself out of the funk.