Screeching With Geraldo

I first met him when I was only twenty-three. I was in the shoe shine booth carrying an advertisement when he bolted in. He was wearing a metallic red poodle skirt, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his paw, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the jewelry store for a shot of tequila. 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 Geraldo, and that he was a nuclear physicist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a restaurant owner.

I guess it was love at first screech. Some might say we had padlocks 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 screeching for each other.