Mason’s Week Off!

Have you been wondering about how Mason, the town’s hero,  dealt with being in the Dunk Tank, and having ladies trying to win a date with him? Well wonder no more, Jason would like to set the story straight.  He wrote the story that I am posting today. Its good that poor Mason has someone like Jason  to defend him. If you missed the previous story, here is the link, Hero of the Town

                                                                           Mason’s Week Off! 

Mason was a bit embarrassed with himself over the dating contest. What had he been thinking? And Cara was so agreeable to this idea and really set him up good. After a bitter battle with several tie-break rounds, Sarah had won the contest, though Mason suspected she had a little help from Cara. Mason needed some time to think and recover from this odd turn of events.

The next day Cara hummed happily to herself as she walked in to the coffee shop to start working for the day. She stopped in her tracks startled by what she saw. There behind the counter in a three-piece suit complete with watch and chain, was a man that looked remarkably similar to Mason except he was graying at the temples and had a mustache and goatee. “Oh hello.” He said “You must be Cara. My name is Grayson, I’m Mason’s older brother. I’m afraid Mason was called out of town to look after his mother who has taken quite ill.”

‘Grayson.’ Cara thought ‘yeah sure. Another one of Mason’s tricks to make me look foolish. I am not falling for this sad disguise.’

“His mother is ill, huh?” Cara asked with a smug look “Wouldn’t that also be your mother, Grayson?”

“Oh, ummmm… no, you see we um have the same father but different mothers. Yeah, so it is his mother and not mine.” Grayson said stumbling over his words.

“I see.” said Cara completely unconvinced “You and Mason certainly do look a lot alike she said.”

“Yes” Grayson said “The Picklefoot looks runs strong among the men of our family. Here is a picture of Mason and me when I was 20 and he was 16.”

Cara examined the picture and was still unconvinced as she knew how Mason enjoyed using Photoshop, but she let it go for now. She was formulating a nice plan for Mason. That would teach him to play tricks on her.

Later that afternoon Sarah came into the shop. She had been tipped off by Cara about this Grayson fellow being just Mason in a disguise. Cara introduced Sarah to Grayson and immediately set about arranging for them to go out to dinner. Sarah would get her date with Mason no matter what kind of shenanigans he pulled.

So Sarah and Grayson went out for a nice dinner and enjoyed a lovely walk down by the creek and over the course of the week began to fall deeply in love with each other. Sarah was surprised that Mason had maintained the charade of being Grayson for the entire time, but he seemed quite dedicated to his plan. She enjoyed his company none the less. Cara was so happy with herself because she had finally gotten Mason and Sarah together and she could now rest easily knowing that there was one less available man in Bittersweet Creek.

The next Monday morning Cara once again hummed happily to herself as she walked to the coffee shop. Sarah was so happy with Mason even though he still pretended to be his older brother. Cara once again stopped in her tracks once she entered the shop. There behind the counter stood Mason looking like his old self with no silly disguise. “I see you decided to drop the disguise and be yourself again.” Cara said with a grin.

“What are you talking about?” Mason asked. Just then Grayson walked out of the back room and Cara’s nearly fainted. She couldn’t believe it. There really was a Grayson.

“Grayson told me that you have been quite nice to him this last week. I appreciate it. I just had to get away for a week, so I went  to the beach and asked my brother to fill in for me and make excuses for my absence.”

For the first time in Cara’s adult life, she was temporarily at a loss for words. She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.

“Oh by the way, to make up for all of our recent troubles I got you a gift. There was a nice boutique at the beach and I saw a nice beach bag that I thought you’d like.” Mason said.

“Uh, thank you. It’s wonderful.” A flustered Cara stammered “but what about Sarah?”

“Sarah?” Mason said “I didn’t get her a beach bag. Oops.”

“No matter.” Grayson said “Sarah and I are planning a trip together to the sea and I shall buy her any gift she likes.”

Grayson and Sarah did go off together and their love for each other grew with each passing day. Mason congratulated them on their new found love and happily went about the business of his coffee shop. Cara, while being happy for her friend Sarah, was still plotting to cure dear Mason of his bachelorhood.