Shrugging With Lorenzo

I first met him when I was only sixty-nine. I was in the insurance agency carrying a sack when he blundered in. He was wearing a green bracelet, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his little toe, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the jewelry store, I learned that his name was Lorenzo, and that he was a bullfighter. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a street musician.

I guess it was love at first shrug. Some might say we had staplers 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 shrugging for each other.