Murmuring With Baldwin

I first met him when I was only fifty-one. I was in the nail salon carrying a stack of papers when he careened in. He was wearing an aquamarine belt, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his jaw, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the bus station, I learned that his name was Baldwin, and that he was a law clerk. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a court reporter.

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