Jumping With Zoe

I first met her when I was only twenty-three. I was in the saloon carrying a hip flask when she crept in. She was wearing a metallic red skirt, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her belly button, but I pretended not to notice.

I was about to set the hip flask down when she scooted beside me. I guess she startled me, and I clumsily dropped the hip flask right by her feet. We both bent over to pick it up. It was one of those awkward moments, and we both began to jump.

After stumbling apologies, I asked her to go to the gym for a glass of Kool-Aid. She accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the gym, I learned that her name was Zoe, and that she was a bank robber. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a short order cook.

I guess it was love at first jump. Some might say we had magazines in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. She was nine years older than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still jumping for each other.