Flinching With Terence

I first met him when I was only thirty-three. I was in the laboratory carrying an elephant tusk when he loped in. He was wearing a yellow pair of cycling shorts, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his scalp, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the bookstore 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 bookstore, I learned that his name was Terence, and that he was a biologist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as an advice columnist.

I guess it was love at first flinch. Some might say we had coat check tickets in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. He was five years older than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still flinching for each other.