Screeching With Vance

I first met him when I was only fifty-five. I was in the bakery carrying a billiard ball when he zoomed in. He was wearing a yellow flak jacket, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his antenna, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the bakery, I learned that his name was Vance, and that he was a coach. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a church usher.

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