CUPID CALLING
DISCLAIMER: The characters of Lee and
Amanda are owned by Warner Bros, and Shoot The Moon
Productions. The story is mine for everyone’s
entertainment.
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: A light Valentine story
about a determined cupid named Sidney assigned to Lee Stetson ,
and Sidney’s
battle to make sure that this year Lee gets struck, even if it be the derriere.
Somewhere in
the depths of the miscellaneous part of the universe exists, maybe in the
imagination,maybe in the heart, a joyful group of extraverts. Their primary purpose is to please the
customers,
whom are
innumerable. These outgoing sprite’s
busy time begins in the middle of January to their peak time, February 14th. Overtime is mandatory from February 13th
through February 15th.
All cupids on
hand. Their location is called Cupid
Central.
Cornelius, the
head Cupid, reviews the N. C. W. A. list every year, (non-compliance with an
arrow).
The recipient
is given three chances of success.
After that, three strikes and you’re out. The list wasnot overwhelmingly large but the most experienced
sprites were needed to handle these cases, the hard core avoiders. Cornelius was really concerned about the
latter group. The members of this group
managed to
steer clear of the intended arrow. As
Corny reevaluated the avoiders, he noticed one especially tough customer.
The history
showed one Lee Stetson, an intelligence operative in Washington
D.C. , as being
very strong in the “steering clear” category.
Corny would engage his most experiencedcupid , Sidney, to deal with Mr.
Stetson.
The first order
of business was to send Sidney to Earth to observe Lee and come to a conclusion
concerning his present emotional level.
Particularly with regard to the woman in his life, his partner, Amanda
King.
Sidney would
report back to Cornelius with his findings, and they would decide the next step
to take.
Sidney would
approach Mr. Stetson around January 21st to allow enough time before
Valentines Day to motivate Scarecrow.
The sprite
invaded Lee’s apartment at the scheduled time, armed with his notebook, and
arrows. Flyingaround Lee’s abode, the
cupid’s first impression was one of complete disarray. Clothes and newspapers were scattered
everywhere. “He needs the cleaning
angel in this place,” thought Sidney, making a note. He then flew into the
bedroom, with his noisy little wings, to find a slumbering agent.
He approached Lee more closely, to observe
his dream state, of course. Stage
3-“heavy into it”, and a completely pleasant dream, to boot. Sidney took more
notes on the intensity of his dream, and the emotion involved with reference to
Amanda King. Lee was hugging his pillow
for dear life, and sporting a silly grin on his face, as he rocked the object
of his affection back and forth. What a
sweet dream, apparently. “Amanda,” he
smiled, as his lips formed a kiss.
“Well, the
dream situation seems to be alright, no problem there,” concluded Sidney. “Next, is how andwhat he does consciously
throughout his day. That definitely has
to be where the problem lies.” Sidney
got a little too close to Lee with his wings, because Lee awoke and swatted at
the buzzing in his ear.
Even tough the
cherub was invisible to him,the noise level got through, and sent Sidney
sailing across the room, spilling his notes and arrows. He was a little peeved.
Scarecrow
retrieved some fresh underwear, and headed for the bathroom, for his morning
shower. The cupid waited for him until
he was ready to leave for work. Sidney
would not have been able to keep up with the Vette in traffic, so he snuck in
the back seat. He tried to stay put with
his wings tucked under
him. Well, the Vette took off a second
later. The little angel was not
prepared for this action. He didn’t
know what seatbelts were, so he was bolted forward into the front seat. He screamed angrily, and hit Lee’s arm.
Even though, again, he was not seen,
Scarecrow still heard his cry at a distance, and felt a prick onhis right
arm. Lee Stetson was starting to become
one of the cupid’s non-favorites.
Lee parked the
Vette in the Agency lot and made his way up to the Q Bureau. It was all Sidney coulddo to keep up with
him. Once up in the Q, Lee saw his
partner at her desk. She greeted him
with a sweet smile, and a “Good morning, Lee”
Sidney liked her instantly. Lee
returned her smile, and replied, “good
morning,
Amanda, working on reports, I see.”
“Yep, and almost done,” she sighed.
“Then I get to start the next batch.”
“Hey,” Lee
interrupted, “let’s go get a cup of coffee first to break up the monotony. Maybe, I’ll even eat a light breakfast,
c’mon,” he hurried, “get your coat.”
Lee took her hand, they headed down the steps to
Pop’s. a breakfast
café around the corner. Sidney decided
he would wait till they got back, noting the hand holding on the way out.. He was too tired to even bother flying now.
He decided to take a short snooze in one of Lee’s desk drawers, just for a
little while. “Zzzzzzzz,” after three
seconds of putting his head down, using his wings as a pillow, he was sound
asleep.
Of course, the
drawer was left open to accommodate the sleepy cherub. Thirty minutes, you know who, was sawing
logs , so much so, he could
be heard.
Lee and Amanda
entered and tried to resume their working schedule. “Lee, what’s that noise, that sawing sound, like someone’s
asleep?”
Amanda
inquired. “I hear it, too,” remarked
Lee, “but I don’t see anyone.
Oh, well, back
to the old grind. As he attempted to
take his seat, he tripped over the open bottom drawer. “Ow,” he complained,
“who left that open. He shut the drawer
quickly. Next thing he heard was this
muffled scream, coming from the drawer.
So he opened it. Sidney was
perturbed, and hit Lee with his
quiver of
arrows on the arm. “Ow,” stammered Lee,
what was that?” holding his right arm.
“Lee, are you o.k.?” asked a concerned Amanda.
“Yeah, I just
feel like I’m getting stung all the time,” Scarecrow
answered.
Sidney was ready to give it all up, but he calmed down.
The rest of the
morning in the Q was routine. Francine
waltzed in around lunch time with some more case paper work. She casually , but deliberately, talked to
Amanda about the Agency’s upcoming Valentine dance on the 15th, and
the fact that she already had a date with Fred Fielder planned. “I’m sure you’ll have
a wonderful
time, Francine,” Amanda acknowledged, with a sweet smile.
Then Francine really stung. “How about you, Amanda. Who are you going
with?” she seethed. Lee was pretending
to fill out some
reports, and
couldn’t get up the nerve to interrupt and say, “she’s going with me,
Francine,” as his heart wanted him
to. Sidney couldn’t stand it anymore. He gathered the bow, aimed the arrow ready
to shoot,
and hit Lee in
the butt, dead center, right side. “Oh,
God,” Lee yelped.
He stood up,
traveled to Amanda’s side, placed his arm around her waist, and boasted to
Francine, “she’s my date, Francine. I’m
a lucky man
to have had her
say yes,” Lee slyly replied. “I’m
really looking forward to the dance, especially with Amanda.” Francine looked at both partners, and stated harshly,
“whatever”, and walked out of the Q Bureau.
Lee knew there
would be hell to pay next, so he locked the Q door, ready to see papers fly,
among other things. Amanda disengaged
herself from his arm, walked back to her desk in silence, face down.
She would not
look at Lee. She grabbed her purse and
coat to exit the office, the shadow of tears in her eyes.
She wanted to,
at least, have some self -respect left.
Lee had taken care of the rest.
“Amanda, wait,” Lee shouted, running after her, “please wait.” Amanda made to the parking lot in two
minutes. She forgot to retrieve her car
keys from her handbag, and, as she was doing so, Lee caught up with her. “Amanda, let
me explain,”
implored Scarecrow.
He placed his
hand on her arm. “Don’t touch me, Lee,”
she yelled
in a voice he
never heard before, daring and final.
Scarecrow
grabbed her car keys from her quickly,
“get in,” he
ordered, “I’ll drive.” She angrily sat
in the opposite front seat of her car, and slammed the door. She kept her eyes down, and her arms crossed
in front of her. “Where are you taking
me,?” she shouted, through gritted teeth.
“To my place,” he answered curtly.
“We can eat lunch and talk,” he
responded, a
little more soothingly, trying to take her hand, and keep his cool. She wouldn’t budge.
Lee used her
car phone to inform Billy that he and Amanda had some case activities to clean
up, and they would see him tomorrow morning.
“Why did you tell Billy that?” she demanded.
“Amanda, we are
going to talk, you’re not leaving my apartment until things are settled,” he
returned firmly. “So you can feel
pacified for what you just did to me.
How could you, Lee? How could
you?”
she stammered
her whole body shaking, the tears starting.
Lee looked at
her very emotionally, wondering why, but grateful, to be feeling this way. He wanted to inform her of what she meant to
him, so he decided to risk it all.
“Amanda, darling, please look at me.
I’m so sorry
for announcing you as my date that way. I wanted to show up Francine, and stop
her from harassing you . Most of all, I
really want to take you to that dance, Amanda, please, can we call a truce.
Can you drive?
I’m too upset.” Amanda looked at Lee,
and softened a bit. He was teary eyed,
all the pent up feelings, now surfacing .
He smiled and took her hand. She
softened at his gaze, reaching over for
her car keys,
placing her other hand on his cheek to stop a tear. “Thanks,” he smiled, taking her hand from his face and kissing it.
“Look, just
hear me out, and then, if you want to leave, you can drive me
over to pick up
my car, and then go home, deal?” She smiled and nodded affirmatively. They drove in silence to Lee’s apartment,
giving him a chance to calm down.
Sidney
scrunched in the back seat, because he knew there would be hell to pay with
Cornelius, for not following procedures.
Cupid Central would
be buzzing
today. Cupids don’t get mad, and
hitting the customer with the arrow before Valentines Day was unheard of previously. Lee Stetson sure brings out the worst in
cherubs.
Lunch of roast
beef and cheddar cheese sandwiches was very good. Afterwards, they settled down on the sofa, close to each
other. Lee took both her hands in his,
trying to figure where to start. He
decided to pour his heart out, and come clean with everything he felt for her.
“Amanda, I
don’t have a lot of expertise at conveying feelings, but here goes, he looked
her in the eyes. “When I first met you
at the train station, I looked into those beautiful, brown eyes, and I knew I
was a goner. I fell for you on that
first day, and I’ve been fighting it ever since.”
Lee wiped his
eye as another tear came. “Amanda, I’ve
never felt
this way about
any other woman. I feel such a strong
bond with you. The intensity scares me,
some times, and holds me back from revealing my feelings. These feelings are getting stronger every
day.
Look at me, I’m
a wreck.” He stopped to focus. “Amanda, I love you with all my heart. I can’t lose you, like I’ve lost many others
that I loved , my parents, Dorothy, Eric.
I would die if I lost you. I
can’t live another day not telling you how
I feel,” he was shaking . “I’m so sorry
about the way I confronted Francine. I
wasn’t using you, she deserved everything she got. I really wanted to take you to that dance, but was too chicken to
ask you. Do you understand all
this?”
Amanda
responded by wrapping her arms around Lee’s neck tightly, and kissing him
soundly, pulling him to her as closely as possible. When they broke for air, she looked into his eyes and said, “I
love you, Lee Stetson. I’ve been
dreaming of this moment for so long, I never thought it would come true.
I love you so
much.” Scarecrow smiled and shook his
head. He kissed Amanda passionately,
“my Amanda,” he whispered.
Sidney, who had
come upstairs with them, was sitting on Lee’s desk, and saw the whole incident.
“They don’t need me anymore,” he smiled.
“I’m so glad it worked out for them.
It makes this job worthwhile.”
He flew back up to Cupid Central, small wings
buzzing all the way. Cornelius called
on his “kiss’ tell” phone, and told Sidney he wanted to see him
immediately. Sidney flew into his
boss’s office and sagged down uncomfortably on his wings , expecting the
worst. No reprimand was given, just a
note
in his drop
file, that he took proper “aim” under the circumstances. Sidney asked if he could visit Lee and Amanda
one more time to leave a present for Valentines Day on the day of the dance, at
Amanda’s home.
Corny didn’t
see any problem.
February 15th,
Saturday, the day of the Valentine dance
Amanda’s family
was away for the weekend , so it was decided that Lee would pick her up at her
home
at 6:30 p.m. to
have dinner beforehand. They were very
close now, celebrating each day as a gift, and
wondering why
they had not told each other, how much they loved one another earlier. Lee, especially, greeted each day with
happiness, as he thought of the woman who had made it all possible. Sometimes,
though, he
still wondered where that sharp sting in the butt came from. He had a black and blue mark in
that area for
three weeks afterward.
Amanda looked
beautiful in a new red gown, floor length, slit up the back, cut reasonably low
in front,
with matching
shoes and bag. Around her neck was a
ruby and diamond necklace, and matching earrings.
This was Lee’s
Valentine gift. She looked
beautiful. Her hair was up in a French
roll, secured by a
diamond
hairclip in the back, soft ringlets framing her face. The door bell rang at 6:30 p.m., and this time
she was ready
for Lee. He looked her over, just
staring, and replied, “you look fabulous.
I’ll have all the men jealous of me tonight.” He took her in his arms, and kissed her possessively. “I love you, Amanda.”
he
whispered. Amanda looked into his eyes,
“I love you, too, Lee. This will be the
best Valentine holiday ever, because I get to spend it with the man I
love.”
At that moment,
both heard a “buzz” across the kitchen, and a small cupid appeared before
them. They were both amazed, but not
overly so. Sidney flew over to Lee,
presenting him with roses to give to his
Amanda.
Sidney gave Lee
a small arrow and bow as a reminder of the turnaround in his life. Lee smiled and pinched the cherub’s cheek
playfully. The cupid got bright red. Amanda kissed him on the cheek.
Sidney whirled
around, batting his eyelashes. “Thank
you,” they both said in unison, smiling at one another. Sidney just chuckled, waved goodbye, then
disappeared.
“He was so
sweet,” smiled Amanda.
“Not half as
sweet as you,” replied Lee, taking her hand.
I’ll be forever grateful to him for waking me up. The bow and arrow is
the reminder. I’ll treasure these for
the rest of my life. Let’s go, my
love,’ Lee smiled, “we’ll be late.”
He guided his
partner to the Vette, and thought to himself, he will never forget
Sidney, nor his
sore butt.
Happy
Valentines Day, everyone