Pondering With Stan

I first met him when I was only thirty-four. I was in the bike shop carrying a comic book when he barrelled in. He was wearing a beige gorilla suit, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his knuckle, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the pizza parlor for an Irish Coffee. I accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the pizza parlor, I learned that his name was Stan, and that he was a law clerk. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a referee.

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