Staring With Laurie

I first met her when I was only thirty-two. I was in the newsstand carrying a cage when she skipped in. She was wearing an amber T-shirt, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her femur, but I pretended not to notice.

I was about to set the cage down when she staggered beside me. I guess she startled me, and I clumsily dropped the cage 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 butcher shop for a Mudslide. She accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the butcher shop, I learned that her name was Laurie, and that she was a plumber. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a truck driver.

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