Staring With Ada Belle

I first met her when I was only twenty-six. I was in the shoe shine booth carrying a flashlight when she skipped in. She was wearing an emerald green pair of Crocs, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her thigh, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, I asked her to go to the ad agency for a cup of Sanka. She accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the ad agency, I learned that her name was Ada Belle, and that she was a stenographer. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a chief of police.

I guess it was love at first stare. Some might say we had peace pipes in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. She was seven years younger than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still staring for each other.