Special Deal on Valentine Cards

[spelvin]

Miss Leslie pushed aside the curtain rings. “You can get ready in here while I get everything ready.”

Bradford hesitantly came out and stood in front of the screen. Miss Leslie approached Bradford and said, “Aren’t you a handsome young man! Turn this way a little bit and look at the camera. Stand just a little bit taller. She’ll want to see what you have here. Oh, that’s very nice! Hands by your side. That’s a good boy.”

Miss Leslie slapped Bradford on the bottom and went behind the camera. “Now look this way and smile.” Click. “That’s good. Now look this way and smile again.” Click. “One more time. Look this way and smile again.” Click. “There. Now you can go back to the dressing room.”

Miss Leslie walked over to the desk and spoke to Bradford’s mother. “Nice-looking son you have there.”

The two women sorted through the paperwork. “We need both names and both addresses so we can send the recipient a copy and send you a copy. The school system sent us a list of all the names and addresses, and I believe you said your last name was Clark?”

Bradford’s mother said, “That’s right.”

Miss Leslie looked through the list and said, “I see a Mr. and Mrs. Michael Clark at eight o one Fifth Street. Is that it?”

“That is it.”

“I’ll write that down on the form, then. And I’ll write down Bradford’s name as well. Now we’ll need the girl’s address as well.”

“Her last name is Hastings. We haven’t met the family, but Bradford is really crazy about her. I’ve asked around and found that her father’s name is Daryl.”

“Good. I find a Daryl Hastings at seven fourteen Hendricks Street.”

“That must be it. And the girl’s name is Sheila.”

“I’ll show you what the inside of the card will look like. This is the front of the card, where the photograph goes. The inside will read, ‘Hello, Sheila. Let’s face the bare truth. I want you to be my Valentine. Yours truly, Bradford’”

Bradford came out of the dressing room. Miss Leslie her guests to the front door and said, “I’ll get your picture to the print shop as quick as I can. And Bradford, you should get a card and Sheila should get a card in the mail in less than a week.”

Miss Leslie went about her usual maintenance work. Before very long, the door chimes rang. Miss Leslie came to the entrance to meet a woman and a beautiful daughter with long blonde hair. The woman said, “We came to see about your Valentine card special.”

Miss Leslie said, “Oh, yes! Come right in!” She led the girl to the dressing room and said, “Come back out when you’re ready and we will be ready for you.”

She led the mother to the desk. The mother said, “I see you happen to have the names and addresses open right to our address. That’s our name and address right here.”

Miss Leslie said, “Oh, yes! You must be Mrs. Daryl Hastings! I’ll fill this out this space here with your name and address. And where shall I have the Valentine card sent?”

“It’s to a boy at school that she hardly knows, but she has a really deep crush on him. His name is Bradford Clark. What’s the matter? All of a sudden, you look kind of--”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.”

[TeenFan]

I think the most important line is "Let's face the bare truth"