Plans For Promised Joy

Plans for Promised Joy

Jerry went downstairs to breakfast ahead of Rachelle, who was struggling with waterproof eyeliner, and soon they were all babbling happily about the city bond issue for the new park.  Julie thought they should have chosen a more central location, while Chad thought they should have issued bonds for the sewage treatment plant instead. 

As the family babbled, Rachelle was already beginning to believe in her and Jerry.  He was not a bulldozer or an anvil, but if he was a javelin, he was seated firmly in her earth and the lion that was Mark would perish on the point of it, if only it did not snap.  She was also learning that if she wanted nothing so much as to be overwhelmed with respect for Jerry, maybe Jules felt the same way about Chad.  There were things she could do about that.  This thought occasioned her to enlighten Jerry about Julie's infidelity, with a view to joining forces in Chad's education, and she sought early opportunity. 

This dovetailed neatly with Jerry's intentions of telling her the same thing, and he was left only to choose between “I knew it all along,” and “I can't believe it.” 

When she told Jerry, he rolled the dice, and laid his cards out on the table with Rachelle.  “Julie told me, but Chad and I knew how to defeat the secret message exchange, too.  We read about it in Julie's own handwriting.” 

After hashing out details, conversation turned toward love's deceptions.  “Do you suppose that Shakespeare's famous 'Comedy of Errors' results exclusively from  miscommunication,” he asked, “or are we fated to blind confusion, too?”

“How do I know Jerry?” Rachelle responded.  She was experiencing the contradiction of a double standard.  She wanted for Julie to respect Chad justifiably, but she could see Chad's perspective too.  If Julie was the one to coach him, Chad was not going to impress Julie with his romantic savvy. 

She broached this question carefully with Jerry, and his answer surprised her.  “You know how in 'The Prince,' Mr. M says you should make yourself both loved and feared, but if you can only have just ONE of them, choose to make yourself feared?” 

“Nope.”  Rachelle was not the kind of person to let anyone pull an intellectual fast one on her, so Jerry was going to have to make his point from facts already in evidence. 

This minor setback stalled him for a moment, but Jerry persevered.  “Well, you know how there's Professors you like, but you don't really worry about disrespecting them, and then there's Professors you don't like, but you can't afford to piss 'em off?”

Rachelle knew this problem all too well, and nodded agreement.  “Go on.”

“Well, there is actually the possibility for a Professor that you would be afraid to piss 'em off, but you really like 'em, and you want to do almost ANYTHING to please them!”  (He was thinking of Mrs. Malloy.) 

The light bulb came on in Rachelle's eyes.  “Actually Jerr, I kindof do see that.”

“So what we want to do is make Chad THAT kind of Professor to Julie.”  He basked in her approval for a moment, and then reality set in.  “Now how on earth can we get her to see him that way?” 

Rachelle had ideas about this.  “Do you trust me?” she began.