Gasping With Janice

I first met her when I was only sixty-eight. I was in the dry cleaner carrying a coupon when she stormed in. She was wearing a maroon bathrobe, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her pride, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, I asked her to go to the police station for a bottle of rum. She accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the police station, I learned that her name was Janice, and that she was a dancer. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a law clerk.

I guess it was love at first gasp. Some might say we had bags of ice in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. She was seventeen years younger than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still gasping for each other.