Sneezing With Nils

I first met him when I was only thirty-one. I was in the dry cleaner carrying a yo-yo when he trotted in. He was wearing a hot pink letter jacket, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his artery, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the liquor store, I learned that his name was Nils, and that he was a handyman. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a bank robber.

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