Cringing With Anatoly

I first met him when I was only fifty. I was in the nail salon carrying a piano when he leapt in. He was wearing an azure pair of cowboy boots, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his eye, but I pretended not to notice.

I was about to set the piano down when he swaggered beside me. I guess he startled me, and I clumsily dropped the piano right by his feet. We both bent over to pick it up. It was one of those awkward moments, and we both began to cringe.

After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the bar for a tonic. I accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the bar, I learned that his name was Anatoly, and that he was a designer. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a magician.

I guess it was love at first cringe. Some might say we had pencil sharpeners in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. He was thirteen years older than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still cringing for each other.