shpshift

Shapeshifter By: Kiwi

Late one Sunday afternoon, Beverly Montgomery woke up in her New York studio apartment. As she got ready to leave, she thought about how much she was dying to get away from the city life. She quickly pushed the thought out of her mind and continued to get ready to go to work. “Ad promotion in ten!” Clara announced as she walked in the door, Beverly’s perky secretary. “Bev, you have three presentations to the new companies this afternoon. Here are your notes, I’d advise you review them, visuals are set up in conference room ‘D’ and the coffee is on.” Clara said quickly as she rushed back out of the room to answer the phone. Beverrly reached for the pile of papers that Clara had set down on the end of the long desk. She sighed, are people going to actually like this idea? She asked herself. An animated, talking, guinea pig trying to sell the newest computer software, yeah right, like anyone would like that idea! Some of these executives are suckers for animals in the promotions though. It’s worth at least a try!
Beverly is the head of ‘Random Vision’ a company that sells their ideas to different companies, whether it is for ads, theme songs, or new action figures, they do it all. Although she’s done it for almost eight years, Beverly has been dying inside. Just to get away from the everyday pressure of the office. A weeks vacation to the country would be the perfect get away, the only problem, no one could stand in her place at the office while she was gone.
Ruby Valentine woke up the same morning to the crow of the rooster outside her window. With a big yawn, she reluctantly rolled out of bed and glanced at the clock 4:30 a.m., the usual time she woke up, time to take care of the animals. Feed the horses, milk the cows, and collect the eggs from the chickens, her typical routine every morning for the past five years. It wasn't that she didn’t love the animals and the free spirit of the country life; it was just that it was too repetitious for her.

   "Beverly!” Clara called from the front desk. “Meeting! You’re late!” Beverly had been in her daydream of the laid-back life once again. “All right, I’ll be there in a second.” Beverly yelled back. With a soft sigh, Beverly gathered her notes and trotted down the hallway to conference room ‘D’. "Good afternoon!” Beverly politely greeted all of the executives that sat at the long table. It was the same old routine that she did every Thursday when a group of CEOs would come to listen to the new ideas. Who knows the real reason that they were called executives, all they would do is sit at the table drinking their coffee in deep thought while they would nod their heads, tap their ballpoint pens on the desk and say things like, “Interesting.” or “I see!”
      Once again, she quietly sighed as she set her notes down at the head of the table. “Glad to see all you made it here today. Thanks for coming and feel free to voice any questions, comments or opinions that you may have. If there aren’t any up front, I’ll get right to it.” Beverly said with a huge, fake smile plastered across her face.
     Two hours and no offers later, the meeting was over. All the executives filed out of the room saying “Thank you for your time, Miss Montgomery.” and “It just wasn’t what we were looking for.” Oh well, another two hours wasted on a useless ad. Put it in the rejected file and move on.
     “Hey Dave!” Ruby greeted her horse as she threw a bail of hay over the fence. Dave ran right over to the fence when hearing is name called. He stood there for a minute while he got his nose petted. “How ya’ll doing?” Ruby heard a voice from behind her. “I’m good, how about yourself?” She answered dumping the rest of the feed into the dish for Dave and then turning around. “Good, good. I was just passin’ by, thought I’d see if ya needed anything from the city.” Ruby’s neighbor Howie asked. “Yea, yea I do. Mind if I ride along?” Ruby asked. “It’d be a pleasure to have your company.” Howie said. Ruby set down the bucket that previously had the feed in it. Quickly cleaned up and then jumped into Howie’s old beat up Ford bronco.
       "Clara! Can you schedule me a flight to San Antonio please?" Beverly asked her secretary as she walked back into the office. "Sure. When would you like to leave?" "As soon as freakin possible! I need a break. I'm outta here for a couple of weeks." Beverly plopped onto the over-sized couch that sat underneath the large window. She sat up and look out to see the busy city she called home. New York, of course it was a great town. But she had grown up and lived there all her life. Time for a much needed vacation away from all of the humble jumble of the city life. Her cousin and best childhood friend Ruby lives in Texas, the perfect vacation spot for Beverly to escape.
     :Ring::Ring:: Ruby cell phone played the tone to Bonanza as it rang. "Hello?" She answered. "Hey Rube, this is Bev. Whatcha up to?" Beverly asked from the other end. "Just headin into town with Howie. Why?" Ruby responded. "Wondering if you'd like a visitor for a couple of weeks!?" "Sure! I'd love to have ya come down here for a little while." Ruby was excited, she hadn't seen Beverly in almost two years. But they have always talked on the phone on a regular basis. "All right, Clara just scheduled my flight, I leave tomorrow morning... I arrive in San Antonio at 12 noon." "Seeya there!" Ruby and Beverly ended the conversation. "My cousin Beverly is coming for a visit." Ruby announced to Howie. "NYC Beverly?" he asked. "Of course! Who else would it be? She's coming tomorrow.. you couldn't be a sweetheart and drive me into town tomorrow too and pick her up from the airport could ya?" Ruby begged since her truck was broken. "I'd be glad to." Howie smiled and they continued their trip into town. "Thanks!" Ruby was excited to see her cousin.

    The next morning at the airport Howie and Ruby showed up at 11 o'clock just to make sure they'd be there on time. "Flight 214 arriving from New York City. Gate 37C" The announcement of the plane was heard throughout the airport. They waited patiently until Ruby came through the corridor that led from the plane to the terminal. "Hey girl!" Ruby ran up to Beverly and greeted her with a hug. The two walked back over to where Howie was waiting patiently. He had never met Beverly before but had always heard a lot about her. He too, was quietly excited about meeting the city gal. Ruby began to introduce the two. "This is Beverly, the cousin." "Hi, I'm Howie, the neighbor and chauffer extrodinare." He was quite the comic although you wouldn't picture it fromt the cowboy image he protrayed.
     Days went by with Beverly spending every minute possible with Ruby, the had a ton to catch up on over the time they hadn't seen each other. Beverly explained her latest engagement breakup --- this was now the fourth --- she was obviously the most unlucky person in love, but her hopes were still high, that someday, she'd meet her dream man.
     Howie popped in every once in a while to say hi and see if Ruby would need anything from town. He wasn't sure, but there was something about Beverly that drew him to her. Was it the city gal persona? Whatever it was, he couldn't get enough of her presence around him.
     The next two weeks passed by quickly in anticipation of the group's trip to the Big Apple. Friday night came and they were just finishing their packing for the red eye flight they were to catch in three hours.
     They arrived at the airport just in the nick of time to catch their plane. As the passengers filed on, Nick began to make small talk with Beverly, it was the first time they had met and all of a sudden he was jumping a plane to New York with his girlfriend, her best friend and a business woman he had never met. "How long have you lived in the cit?" Nick asked. "Too long!" "It can't be that bad, there are so many people!" Howie said smiling as he realized his seat was next to Beverly's.
     As Beverly was stuffing her small suitcase underneath of the seat, Howie once again noticed how ravishing she looked. Her stature was small, standing only at 5'1", but it was well-defined. You could tell that she took good care of her body, a strict vegan who worked out weekly - if not daily - he was very glad that Ruby's cousin had decided to visit her, even more so that he would be able to accompany her on her trip back home. A trip to New York would be a new adventure. "So who’d ya finally get to take care of the farms?” Howie asked Beverly. “Mr. Lloyd’s wife and goat.” She laughed in response.

The next few hours flew by literally, as they arrived in New York, everyone except Beverly marveled at the size of the city. Beverly just sighed in her return to the city. It was all too familiar to her. She looked out the window at local tourist attractions, in the airport terminal she noticed Ruby, Nick and Howie’s astonishment of all of the gift shop items they could buy and bring back to Texas.
“I’m sure James is waiting with the car.” Beverly said referring to the driver she had Clara send over for them. “You have a driver?” Nick said amazed. “Not a driver, just someone to pick us up! It’s not like he drives me to the supermarket or anything.” Beverly laughed. She was surprised at how fast these country natives impressed by the urban life.
The four soon arrived at Beverly’s luxurious studio apartment. A two story abode in the heart of New York, “Never knew an apartment could be two stories.” Nick said, obviously he’s always been a country boy… not even living close to San Antonio, he’d been born, raised and lived in Calvington all of his life. Calvington was small; exactly 128 residents to its name, and Nick knew all of them. Same with Howie, although he’d branched out of the country life, attended a local school and college, but eventually returned to his country roots, he was still a country boy as well. Nick and Howie have known each other practically all of their lives, since they were 8. Shortly after though, was when Howie and his family moved into town, but they had always maintained a good friendship, when Howie decided to move back to Calvington after college, there was his buddy Nick to help him start out his farm and buy a house. New York was quite different from Calvington, not only with the population but also the environment of the substantially sized town left an instant impression on Nick. He was hooked, and there was no way that he would be leaving in two weeks.

Ruby was thinking the same thing. Beverly immediately introduced the guys to her neighbor and best friend, Kevin. “Ruby and I are going to the office, I’m sure Kevin would be glad to show you guys around the town a bit.” Beverly said after they had unpacked some of their luggage. “We’ll have a guy’s day out!” Kevin was excited to meet some of the friends Beverly had brought back from Texas. “Great! We’ll see ya later.” Ruby said jumping up. She was just as excited as the guys were. She’d heard a lot about Random Vision where Beverly works, and now she’d finally be able to see where she’d heard so much about.
     A few days went by with the country three still marveling at the size and intensity of the town. Howie wasn’t convinced though, he longed for the quietness of the farm. That’s why he’d moved back to Calvington five years ago. He wanted to leave the day they arrived in New York, but of course he didn’t want to just walk out on Ruby and Nick’s vacation. And he definitely didn’t want to leave the chance of getting to know Beverly better. On the last day of their stay in NYC Ruby quietly approached her cousin to ask a question, “Bev, are there any, um, job openings at Random Vision?” she said softly. “Yeah, for an ad illustrator, why?” Beverly answered with another question. “I don’t want to go home. I like here too much. It wouldn’t be possible I could get that job. You know I love to draw and design. I’d move.” Ruby said with enthusiasm. “Seriously? Because I want to move to Calvington! We’ve been looking for new
advertisement opportunities; perhaps I could open an office in Texas.” Beverly said with a smile.
     “Did ya ask? Did ya?” Nick ran into the room. “Yes Nick, I asked.” Ruby said still smiling at the thought that she’d be able to stay in the city. “I wanna stay too!” Nick said eagerly. Beverly simply laughed.
     And with that it was settled. Beverly arranged the office situation, a new branch of Random Vision would be opened in Texas, Clara was promoted to Beverly’s previous position, and Nick took over the job as secretary, after of course he was able to figure out how to work the fax machine, and Ruby as put in at the entry level illustrator.
     Beverly moved to Calvington, and Howie also returned home. They slowly, but surely, became close friends. Howie was still hoping that it could be more, but there was always time he kept telling himself and Beverly would give him that time.
     Beverly opened her office in the next town over (whose population was a few thousand more than Calvington’s).
    Ruby, Nick and most of all Beverly were all happy with their decisions to change their lifestyles, jobs, home lives and to shape shift.

Shapeshifter has been nominated at the Gravity Of Love Awards!
Go check it out!