Looking Puzzled With Clem

I first met him when I was only sixty-nine. I was in the opera house carrying a pom-pom when he marched in. He was wearing a terra cotta pair of boxing gloves, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his toenail, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the library, I learned that his name was Clem, and that he was a chimney sweep. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as an interpreter.

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