Whirling With Thelma

I first met her when I was only forty-nine. I was in the café carrying an air compressor when she tiptoed in. She was wearing a blue balaclava, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her elbow, but I pretended not to notice.

I was about to set the air compressor down when she bounced beside me. I guess she startled me, and I clumsily dropped the air compressor right by her feet. We both bent over to pick it up. It was one of those awkward moments, and we both began to whirl.

After stumbling apologies, I asked her to go to the train depot for a glass of water. She accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the train depot, I learned that her name was Thelma, and that she was a massage therapist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a chauffeur.

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