All Booked Up

Isn't it amazing what you can learn from books?

“Sorry I’m late.” Henrita leaned out her open car window. She batted her eyelashes at Tim.

“Is that a traffic ticket waving in your hand?” She would want him to pay for it.

“They threw the book at me. I raced to get here.”

“How much?” Tim palmed the ticket, eyes searching for numbers. He gulped. “Four hundred dollars! How fast were you going?” He gulped. “Wait. This isn’t a traffic ticket. It’s a donation ticket for the police fund. Whatever happened to a box of donuts?”

“I felt grateful they finally let me go with a warning.”

Tim had heard a variation of this before by chapter and verse. “How did the traffic cops throw the book at you, darling?” He steeled his jaw in preparation for whatever wild explanation Henrita might offer that involved him.

“Glad you asked..” She palmed a heavy hard cover tomb into Tim’s helpless hands. “One palm greases another. When they found out I’m a professional fund raiser, they asked if I might be interested in hosting this year's events.”

“And you refused, then gave them four hundred dollars to cloud their minds for your escape.”

“Nope. It’ll be free publicity and a checkmark on my portfolio. I ‘ll get a fee worth more than the four hundred when they see how well I’ll be doing.”

Tim had also heard this before. “You’re a fund raiser?”

More books flew into Tim’s arms. “I read it in a book. That one on top. Self Help Guide to Fund Raising. Hey. Where are you going? I thought you wanted me to …”

Tim shrugged, juggling his armload and leaving. “That’s O.K. we’ll do it another day. Right now, I’m booked up.”

He’d have to learn fast, how to become a professional fund raiser.

Word count 299