That certainly surprised them!
Momma and Aunt Mimi were very pleased, of course. They went off together to plan the wedding and left me to get ready for the man they hoped would be my future husband. I was beginning to wish I hadn't told them. After all, I had no idea why my boss had behaved towards me in that way. He had never even noticed me before now. However, he had noticed the perfume I had been wearing. Lately I had been wearing a perfume called Intrigue. It was
made by another company and I actually preferred it to the perfumes we made. Mr Amos did have a very good nose for perfumes. Perhaps Intrigue was so good he just couldn't stop himself. Who knows?
Anyway, I had to get ready for my evening out. Although I couldn't explain why Mr Amos had suddenly found me attractive, I really wanted to find out. In my own way I'm as bad as my Aunt Mimi, I guess. The funny thing was, I don't really like men like Mr Amos. But I wanted to find out why he had changed.
So I put on my best black dress, lots and lots of Intrigue and my one pair of high-heeled shoes. The handbag I use for work is the only one I've got because I don't go out that often. I took it. Then I heard the doorbell ring.
Momma and Aunt Mimi were at the front door before I could move. They wanted to see my date. Both of them were trying to get me to hurry up. They had big smiles on their faces.
I opened the door. 'Hello, Anna.'
It was Mr Amos. He looked very handsome. However, he was quieter than before and was looking down at the floor. I could hear Momma and Aunt Mimi behind me. I could tell they liked him. It was embarrassing.
'Hello, Mr Amos,' I said.
I was expecting him to say something friendly, like 'Call me David' or something. But he didn't.-
I managed to get him away from my Momma and Aunt Mimi without too much trouble. I guess they thought we
should be alone together if they had any hope of hearing wedding bells in the future.
He hardly said anything in his car, either, apart from polite conversation about how nice I looked. I could tell he didn't mean it. Men have a way of calling you 'nice' when they really mean they don't care how you look.
Anyway, he drove me to an expensive French restaurant where we spent some time having drinks and ordering food. All the conversation was of the polite kind, but I could tell he was getting ready to say something. Then he turned to me with a serious look on his face and spoke.
'Look Anna . . .' he began.
I knew it! He'd changed his mind and was trying to think of some excuse to get out of our evening together.
'. . . about today, at the factory,' he continued. 'I don't know why I behaved like that.'
'I thought it was because you found me attractive, Mr Amos. And because you liked my perfume,' I said, wondering why the Intrigue I was wearing didn't seem to be having any effect on him. But it was obvious he hadn't been listening to me.
'You see, Anna,' he said, 'if we can see this as . . . as. . .' 'As what, Mr Amos?' I asked.
He suddenly put on a smile. As a reward for all your hard work at the factory. After all, you are one of our best chemists. It's the least I can do to show how much I value your efforts. Have this meal on me! I'll pay for it!'
If the meal had been there it would really have been on him - I would have thrown it at him! So he had changed his mind and now wanted to get rid of me. I didn't believe
for one moment that this meal was a prize for being a good little chemist. I needed to be on my own to think what to do.
'Excuse me for a moment, Mr Amos,' I said, getting up from my seat. 'Of course,' he answered, looking less nervous than before.
I went to the ladies' room. I felt like breaking the furniture or something. I was annoyed! I had my pride, after all! And why hadn't my Intrigue worked? Perhaps I hadn't put enough on, even for his expert nose. I decided to put a lot more on. Perhaps that would work. I looked in my handbag - it wasn't there! All that I could find was that bottle with the fruitcake in it that I had made at the factory. I didn't care, I put it on. I used up half of the bottle. Then I went outside again.
As I was walking back to the table I almost ran into the waiter who had served us. He stopped and looked at me with a stupid look on his face. Then he remembered he had a job to do, walked on and knocked down a table with some cakes on it.
When I finally reached the table, Mr Amos was looking embarrassed, as if he didn't want to be seen with me. I could see he was trying to hide it but he couldn't. Suddenly a strange thing happened: he opened his mouth, as if he was going to speak, then stopped. He had smelled the perfume — the fruitcake special
— that I was wearing, and the change that came over him was immediate. His look of embarrassment just disappeared. Instead, he looked like a dog who had just found a bone; his eyes shone and he
smiled until I thought his face would break in two. He stood up.
'At last you're back - I missed you, Anna,' he said. 'I've been in a terrible dream and I've just woken up.'
'A dream, Mr Amos?' I asked. I didn't understand what he was talking about. 'Call me David, darling ..." he said.
Darling? What did he mean? What was happening?
'Yes . . .' he continued. 'I dreamt that I was being awful iо you, treating you as if you were just someone who worked for me. The truth is that you mean so much more than that to me . . .'
I wondered what he meant. Was he going to raise my pay?
He went on. 'You must realise that I'm crazy about you, darling.' He was calling me darling again. He was being serious.
I have to say that at this point I was feeling very confused. Five minutes ago my boss didn't want to be seen with me. Now he was saying he was crazy about me! What could be making him behave like this? Then, all at once, I realised: it was the fruitcake special! Intrigue might smell great, but it didn't make a girl attractive to men. But my fruitcake perfume did.
'I feel my heart growing with love for you, Anna,' said Mr Amos. He was looking
at my body through the black dress.
Just then a waitress came to the table. She told me that I had a telephone call and asked me to answer it in the lounge.
I wondered what it was about.
'Excuse me, David - I won't be long,' I said.
'A minute is a long time when you're gone, Anna,' he said. His words were like conversation from a bad movie. But I kept quiet about it — he was my boss, after all, even if he had gone crazy.
When I got to the lounge I took the phone. I noticed someone waving their arms at me from another phone across the large room. I could see it was that waiter again -there were bits of cake all over his trousers.
Now what could he want? I soon found out.
'Miss . . .'his voice was excited at the other end of the line. '. . . I know I am only a poor waiter but love makes me brave . . .'
Why did everybody sound like bad movies tonight?
'When I saw you just now,' said the waiter, 'I couldn't stop myself from falling in love with you. You are so beautiful. Please tell me you will see me ... I know I can offer you more than that rich fool you're sitting with. I may not have his money or his looks, but I love you far more than he ever could. Please be mine!'
'Wait a minute, Romeo,' I said. 'Why don't you just calm down and serve the lobster, like a good little waiter?'
It was the perfume, my fruitcake special again. The waiter had a good smell of it when he had passed by earlier and now he thought he was in love with me, the poor man. It wasn't his fault. I told him that if he loved me he would not talk loudly about it.
'Of course, my love. I will not embarrass you . . . darling!' the waiter said.
So far I'd had two men call me darling in one evening. Aunt Mimi would be pleased.
But if the perfume had worked in that way on the waiter, I had better take care not to pass by any other males too closely. I could end up with a group of men following me home, all saying they loved me. And wouldn't that be .iwful? Well, wouldn't it? Well, maybe not but it wouldn't be easy to explain to Momma. And I wouldn't even mention it to Aunt Mimi!
Thank goodness the place was quiet that night. I walked back to the table, trying my best to keep away from other men who were in the restaurant. I was lucky; it seemed that they would have to get close to the perfume to get the effects.
When I got back to the table I saw that David had been joined by Sabina, a beautiful young model who was his latest girlfriend — their pictures had been in all the papers recently.
'So, you're Anna. I haven't seen you before, Anna.' Sabina said my name as if it were a dirty word. 'Don't you work for David making perfume or something? Terribly exciting.'
She held out her hand to me as if I were expected to kiss it. I didn't. 'Sabina,' said David. 'Anna is the woman I love.'
I could hardly believe my ears. David Amos was telling me he loved me right under the nose of his beautiful girlfriend, Sabina. All because of my fruitcake. I had to say something. This was getting to be silly.