July 28, 2016
Listening to  Adele is not pumping me up to get motivated for the day.  Love her but need something with a bit more 'snap'.  She does put me in a melancholia so that's what I  will share today...sappy.

The Name was Lloyd
MPOTOCKI

“Third time’s a charm,” Cort thought to himself as he put the finishing touches on what he was sure would be ‘the one’ that would steal Her heart. 

“This will get me noticed!” he repeated over and over as he placed the last Coke bottle near the top of the sculpture, giving it a celebratory ‘clink’ with his finger.

He took his usual position a bit down the block to be in full view of the moment She walked out of the house to admire the gift he had created just for Her.  Cort checked his watch.  It was 10:12am.

“3 more minutes,” he said softly to the chipmunk running past.  “Fingers crossed!”

At 10:15 exactly, the most beautiful woman Cort had ever seen and almost spoken to, emerged for her morning run.  The sun reflected its radiance off her golden locks and added a gleam to the emerald green pools of her eyes.  Cort stood tall so that She would be sure to see him.  She paused next to it then turned toward him.  Their eyes locked.  Cort went over the introduction he had so diligently practiced for when this moment arrived.  As She approached, he couldn’t contain his Cheshire Cat grin.  His heart skipped a beat as She stopped in front of him.  Cort was never so glad to be a garbage man ‘specializing in recyclables’ as he was right now.

Her voice was an ethereal and silken invitation.  “Wait right here,” she said then left.  Cort felt his knees grow weak so leaned against the tree trunk to steady himself.  “She spoke to me...I am so in like Flynn!!!”  He wondered how long She would be.

20 minutes.  It took her 20 minutes to come back.  With the police.  To arrest him.  For stalking, harassment and trespassing!  The smile She gave him as the officer placed him in the cruiser was what he had yearned for.  Cort wished he had a camera to capture the moment.

“Stupid.  Stupid.  Stupid,” he said as he hit his head against the plexiglass separating him from the cops.  “I should have made the sculpture of Her instead of two swans holding their heads in a heart shape!”  “She must think I’m a sappy dolt.” 

Cort sat in the slam for 3 hours when he was told that he had made bail.  He didn’t think anyone knew he had been arrested.  His one phone call had been to his mom’s answering machine.  Cort was pretty sure she was out of town on yet another of her whirlwind romances with the latest ‘Mr Right’.  Cort wished his mom would just stay at home, bake cookies and watch soaps like all the other moms. 

“Can I ask who bailed me out?” Cort said to the officer leading him out of his cell.  The officer checked the paperwork.  “All I got is that the name was Lloyd.” 

“Lloyd?”  “I don’t know anyone named Lloyd,” Cort mumbled.   
At his apartment, Cort waded though all his easels and art materials.  Before his mom had made him get a job and move out, he had much more time to work on his art.  Cort picked up the latest edition of the local art community’s newspaper.  On the front page was Lloyd F. Masters, maker and breaker of local, aspiring artists.  “OMG!”  Cort said out loud.  “Lloyd Masters must have seen my sculptures and bailed me out of jail!!”  “I’m on my way to fame and fortune and the love of my life!”

Cort couldn’t afford an attorney but had a sympathetic public defender who was able to get him 20 hours of community service since he had not actually spoken with or physically interacted with his ‘victim’.  Ironically, he was assigned to clean up trash along many of the same roadways he had found the recyclables he had used in his sculptures.  Cort, being Cort, took this as another omen of being on the right path.  Along with his release and community service sentence, a restraining order had been issued requiring him to stay at least one block away in every direction from Her home.  He could work with that.  Conveniently enough, there was a small park across the street tucked in between two apartment complexes.  This was the final omen as it fulfilled the restraining order distance and was visible by his muse.

One the ground floor of one of the apartment complexes was a bar.  Clancy’s had been the neighborhood bar for years and those that frequented it were either ancient or new to the neighborhood.  In either case, it was not a busy place.  Cort chose to create his next sculpture the Saturday after his first stint of community service and Clancy’s to hang out in while he waited for night to fall so he could spring into ‘artist mode’.

When he arrived at Clancy’s that first Saturday afternoon, he was the only customer.  The bartender was a pixie-looking brunette with an amazing smile.  He was bursting to talk to someone,anyone, about all the exciting things finally falling into place in his life.  Since bartenders were known to lend their ear to patrons, Cort struck up a conversation.  It was much later than he expected when he realized he had to get going.

“Thanks so much for listening,” Cort said to the bartender as he got up to leave.  “I had a great time.”  “If all goes well, I won’t see you next Saturday, but if it takes longer, I’ll see you next week.”

Cort headed to his car to gather the materials he would need to complete the Venus de Milo-esque sculpture he chose for his next project.  He slept in his car after it was completed, setting his phone alarm to be awake and in his new vantage point by 10:10am.  Like clockwork, at 10:15am, She left the house, headed down the walk, and began her run, never looking his way.  Cort felt like he had been punched in the gut.  He headed home to shower then spent the rest of the day pondering what went wrong.  He could only assume that she just didn’t see his creation from across the road, so he would need to go bigger, much bigger, next time.

Next Saturday, he was back at Clancy’s.  His bartender friend was working.  They had another great conversation while he waited for cover of night to create.  Cort had a momentary thought that if he wasn’t already involved with someone, he should really consider asking her out on a date. 

At dusk, Cort headed out to the spot nearest to the road and most directly across from Her house.  He stopped at the remains of last week’s sculpture.  It looked like a carcass picked clean with only the dowels and wires he used as the frame remaining.  A slight breeze rustled a paper that was oddly taped to the top of it.  Curious, Cort snagged it.

“Keep up the amazing work.”
Lloyd

“Son of a gun!”  Lloyd was still watching him!  He was on his way to notoriety as an artist, which would only assist in his endeavors to woo the love of his life.  This excitement fueled his drive to complete his latest work quickly.  His heart sank when She didn’t come out of the house the next day.  Or the next 2 weeks.  The only thing that kept him going were the notes left by Lloyd and time spent at Clancy’s.

“Today was the last day of my community service.  Tonight will be my last attempt to get Her to notice me,”  Cort said in an Eeyore-like tone. 

“I’m sure things will work out like they are meant to, Cort,” the bartender said as he got up to leave. 

He slept in his car like always but this morning, as the light of the new day was spreading, he saw someone standing next to his sculpture.  He was facing east with the sun in his eyes so couldn’t clearly make out who it was.  “It has to be Her!”   Cort fell out of the car, quickly smoothing out his rumpled clothes and running his fingers through his hair.  He couldn’t do anything about needing a shave, but knew it wouldn’t matter.  She had finally come to him.  As he approached, he stumbled over a tree root and almost face-planted into the back of Her.  It took him a moment to realize that the locks were not golden, yet there was something familiar about Her.  Cort excused himself and stepped back.  When She turned to face him, he realized she was his bartender friend.  She had just taped a paper to his sculpture.  She moved close enough to whisper a revelation in Cort’s ear. 

“I am Lloyd.” 

The remaining shadows around them melted with the morning sun, catching Cort and Lloyd in a kiss of epic proportions.