Grumbling With Wes

I first met him when I was only fifty-eight. I was in the nail salon carrying a yardstick when he sidled in. He was wearing a fuchsia pair of suspenders, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his hangnail, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the beauty salon, I learned that his name was Wes, and that he was a chimney sweep. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a landscaper.

I guess it was love at first grumble. Some might say we had wire strippers in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. He was four years older than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still grumbling for each other.