Something Fresh

Yesterday was one of those days you want to take home to meet Mom. And when I say yesterday I mean the whole long day. It began with a bright sky and mocking birds singing, not just one of their Billboard Top 10 tunes, but an entire album of songs that qualified for Emmy nominations.

That may not seem like a big deal to you but it's a rarity for me. I told Ms. Wonder about it this morning over coffee at Port City Cafe. No real point in telling her; she already knows all there is to know about the Genome. Still...

"Let's hope today is the same," she said with her usual optimism. She's a gem, that one, with her positive outlook and her moxie. I wonder why the Universe allowed me to get ensconced in her life. It seems too good to be true and yet there I am.

The whole thing seems wondrous to me even after all these years. You probably remember the story I told in a previous post about getting trapped by the safety belt in my car on our first date. Surely you remember. I'd look it up now if I were you and not familiar with the story. You can always come back to this post after you've come up-to-date with events.

If you're one of the regulars that hang onto every word I write, then you'll understand that after that first date, on the very next visit I made to her office with the corporate rent check (it's something we did back in the day), she told me that she knew I loved her and wanted her for my own and that she would--and she made it perfectly clear--that she would be my wife.

I was shocked of course. Not what I was expecting at all when delivering the specie to the landlady. But what could I do? A parfait knight like the Genome does not leave a woman dangling. She had stated in no uncertain terms that she would walk the aisle with me while the organ played "The Voice That Breathed O'er Eden." 

I did what any gentleman would do. "Oh, that's settled then," I said. "Do you prefer a large or small wedding?"

Unfortunately, that particular wedding wasn't to be; not yet at least. A hurricane was spotted loitering around in the Gulf and we made hasty plans to hightail it to Arkansas--Hot Springs as I recall. The nuptials came about a year later.

But as I was saying earlier, on this day she offered her blessings for an enjoyable day and I was grateful as always. She and the Universe share a special bond, being almost best friends since they first met on this side of the veil. Still, I was doubtful and I told her so.

"I'm not expecting the day to turn out so pleasant," I said. "The feeling I have is like the one I felt on the day I entered Doyle Jaynes's apartment and found every flat surface covered in pizza boxes and the floor strewn with soda cans."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"The worst part is that the air is heavy with the stench of stale tobacco and Frank Sinatra is singing something about round and round, down and down.”

"What are you talking about?" she said looking as though I'd just admitted to keeping ferrets. "Stale tobacco? Sinatra?"

"Oh, sorry," I said. "What I mean is that the air in my mind smells of tobacco, etc."

She nodded and then stirred her cappuccino thoughtfully. "Can I ask you something?" she said.

“Of course," I said.

"Are you ever happy? Really happy?"

We looked at each other for a long moment while I search the data banks for the most recent spot of happiness.

"I was happy when Port City made me the customer-of-the-month for April," I said.

"Yes, but that was fleeting. Do you ever have extended periods of happiness?"

"We had this discussion just recently," I said. "Remember, the dogs in the park, sniffing butts, carrying sticks, and chasing balls?"

She gave me a look like the one she wore when her best girlfriend decided to quit her job in Houston to go wait tables in an ice-house in Bandera.

"Where can I go but to the Lord?" she said and I thought it must be a rhetorical question and so left it lying there. 

I knew the question was loaded with something but not being sure of what, I struggled to find the correct response.

"Yes," I said, "we didn't resolve anything that day either if that's what you're getting at."