Growling With Giovanni

I first met him when I was only thirty-five. I was in the bakery carrying a teacup when he swaggered in. He was wearing a salmon beehive, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his waist, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the shoe store, I learned that his name was Giovanni, and that he was a tennis player. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a restaurant inspector.

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