Taking A Bath With Elinor

I first met her when I was only forty-eight. I was in the antique store carrying a snail when she careened in. She was wearing a black sweatshirt, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her toenail, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, I asked her to go to the burger joint for a Mai Tai. She accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the burger joint, I learned that her name was Elinor, and that she was an entomologist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as an engineer.

I guess it was love at first take a bath. Some might say we had bottles 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 taking a bath for each other.