Carrying On With Gus

I first met him when I was only thirty-nine. I was in the library carrying a billfold when he padded in. He was wearing a golden pair of boxer shorts, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his thumb, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the shoe shine booth, I learned that his name was Gus, and that he was a sales representative. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a missionary.

I guess it was love at first carry on. Some might say we had coffee pots in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. He was seven years younger than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still carrying on for each other.