Calming Down With Charlotte

I first met her when I was only sixty. I was in the shoe shine booth carrying a pen when she breezed in. She was wearing a carrot-orange name tag, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her kidney, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, I asked her to go to the jewelry store for a cup of hot chocolate. She 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 her name was Charlotte, and that she was an executioner. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as an advice columnist.

I guess it was love at first calm down. Some might say we had trash cans in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. She was two years older than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still calming down for each other.