Do you ever feel like someone else is running your life and you have absolutely no control? Lately, it seems like something unexpected is always happening to me, and although it might seem like a coincidence…I’m not really sure. I mean, how many times do crazy things happen to one person? I think I get more than my fair share. Like yesterday…I went out to lunch with my husband. Now that doesn’t sound like something that could get me in trouble, right? There I am, waiting for Chris outside the courthouse, and who should come by, but a judge with whom I’ve played golf in a foursome that included me, Uncle Joey, and Ramos. That day I had on my hair hat, and Uncle Joey introduced me as his niece from Orlando, Shelly Manetto. I was hoping the judge wouldn’t recognize me, but could I be so lucky? Nope…not a chance. It might have been okay, except for the fact that the judge was with the police chief.
The police chief likes me, mostly because I’ve helped solve some hard cases, and he was enthusiastic about introducing me to the judge. The judge remembered me as Shelly Manetto, so when the chief started out with the Shelby part of my name, the judge jumped in with…”Shelly… yes, I’ve met you… you’re…” I jumped in and said, “A consultant for the police,” before he could say Joe Manetto’s niece, like he was thinking. It kind of threw him for a loop, and he wondered what was going on. Then he realized it probably wasn’t a good idea to talk about Joe “The Knife” Manetto with the police chief, and maybe that was why I’d cut him off. But that got him to thinking about me working for the police and “The Knife” and his eyes got big. Did the police chief even know I was Manetto’s niece? Had I infiltrated the police department for Manetto? Then he remembered how I’d driven the golf cart and stopped so suddenly that he’d fallen out and cut his arm pretty bad, and it was probably better to stay far away from me. His life was complicated enough already.
Instead, he said, “Oh, yeah…you help the police, that’s right.” I let out my breath and smiled, then told him it was nice to meet him. The chief was pleased the judge had heard of me, and said something about how great it was to have me on their side. The judge nodded politely, willing to go along with whatever I said, mostly because of Uncle Joey. Then they went on their way, and I let out a relieved sigh. Who would have thought I’d meet those two people at the same time? It was uncanny! See what I mean about coincidences?
Shelby Nichols Consulting 