Hollering With Garrick

I first met him when I was only thirty-nine. I was in the pastry shop carrying a corncob when he staggered in. He was wearing a violet stovepipe hat, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his vein, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the brewery, I learned that his name was Garrick, and that he was a DoorDash driver. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a poet.

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