Swallowing With Owen

I first met him when I was only forty-six. I was in the pet shop carrying a china doll when he tramped in. He was wearing a green sweatshirt, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his rib, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the shoe store, I learned that his name was Owen, and that he was a cellist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a physicist.

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