Laughing With Joseph

I first met him when I was only forty-eight. I was in the Starbucks carrying a crate when he tramped in. He was wearing a purple tunic, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his skull, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the novelty shop, I learned that his name was Joseph, and that he was a lawyer. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a fisherman.

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