Synapses

Synapses

Harry Buschman

Lucille waited for the light to change and then stepped smartly off the curb. With her head held high she set her eyes on the green walk light ahead and dared any driver to challenge her right-of-way. Doctor LeRoy had just told her she had very active synapses and she was walking on air.

As he held her head between his hands he smiled paternally, and said, “What’s going on in there, Lucille? I can almost feel the switches opening and closing ... a regular Miss Brainiac. Your synapses must be of a very high order.”

He went on to explain that the human brain has been estimated to contain upwards of between 100 and 500 trillion synapses. She felt a warm rush throughout her entire body when he added, “But you’re probably off the chart Miss Bundy ... may I call you Lucille?”

She flushed right up to the dark roots of her blond hair. Lucille worked in Macy’s stout girl’s lingerie. “Wait ‘til I tell the girls in underwear,” she said to herself.

She had given up her lunch hour for a session with her shrink, Dr. LeRoy, and she was glad she did. She felt lean and mentally alert ... like all her synapses had been turned on at the same time ,,, sort of like a garden sprinkler. She never felt like this after sharing a corned beef on rye for lunch with Arnold.

As she waited for the light to change at 33rd and Fifth, a man looked down at her and said, “My, you’se a fine lookin’ white girl,” and smiled warmly.

“Go suffer,” she retorted. Normally she’d look the other way ... ignore it and pretend she didn’t hear. Anything to get across the street, pick up her pace and out distance him. But this time she looked the man square in the eye and told him to, “Go suffer!” It must be, as Dr. LeRoy said ... she was hot wired. her synapses were at fever pitch and no man dared touch her.

While in this electrifying state of mind, Lucille took up her station in Macy’s stout girl’s lingerie section ready to confront her first customer of the afternoon. She kept a sharp eye out for her boy friend Arnold as well. Arnold supplied dummies to the stout girl’s department and he always saved the best dummies for Lucille. She wanted to impress Arnold with her new found synapses.

Arnold appeared mid-afternoon wheeling a cart load of naked dummies. He stopped to say hello to Lucille and she asked him ... “Do you notice anything different about me this afternoon, Arnold?”

“No, I don’t, Lucille. But about tonight ... er something came up.” He seemed uncomfortable. “You know George down in shipping?”

“No, I don’t Arnold ...” her synapses were tingling.

“Well, he’s got an extra ticket for the hockey game at the Garden tonight. The Rangers versus Detroit. You know how much I like hockey, Lucille. You wouldn’t mind if I go with George, would you?”

“No. That’s okay, Arnold.” It was like somebody pulled her circuit breaker. She got that feeling you get when the TV goes dead.

“Have a good time, Arnold, she replied.”