Vegetating With Gabriela

I first met her when I was only twenty-seven. I was in the souvenir shop carrying a stick when she zipped in. She was wearing a carrot-orange pair of contact lenses, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her kidney, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the photography studio, I learned that her name was Gabriela, and that she was a clockmaker. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a firefighter.

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