The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
The Lunch Date
The little old man settles into the booth with his wife. He sits on the same side with her, though the waitress set the menu on the left, expecting them to take places across from each other. Yet, they are perched close, so she slides over the menu and re-arranges the silverware without any fuss.
He looks around at the other tables, mostly vacant at this time in the afternoon. “Well, now I’m disappointed. I thought this was a Tap-Dance place.”
“Tap-Dance?”
His wife exhales a laugh and squeezes his arm as he elaborates. “Yes, can you tap dance? A Tap-Dance Bar?”
“Oh, no, it’s a Tapas bar. It means…”
His wife intervenes, “He’s teasing you, dear. We’ve been here before.”
He grins over at his beloved, “I might have gotten her and the bartender to dance like Fred and Ginger, don’t spoil the joke in the middle.”
“Who me? Never.” She raises an eyebrow devilishly and he laughs. They have their their own rapport. The waitress gives them a few minutes to decide.
The couple stays shoulder to shoulder, often leaning to kiss the other on the cheek. Their food is delayed and they don’t mind. They find the other sufficient, they find the other delightful. After lunch, he gets up and she follows. At their full heights they identical in size–a perfect match.
He takes her hand and leads her to the door, like Fred and Ginger and once upon a time.
–Colorado.
My grandparents on their wedding day
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
Priceless.
🙂 I thought so too, Michael.
Paige
I love this. It is something my dad would have said, a tap dance bar, he was always teasing waitresses.
I was a waitress all though college, and I remember the elderly jokesters best of all. 🙂 Thank you for sharing that, Darlene. I’ll be thinking of you this Father’s Day.
Paige
I love the line – “At their full heights they identical in size–a perfect match.”
In a day and age where “love” has become a convenience or a practical entity that allows you to operate within society, it is refreshing and inspiring to see two individuals genuinely in love with each other, lost in each other’s presence, and unable to be separated by a table between them.
Perfect, indeed 😉
Dave, I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. I love it when a story unfolds in front of me while I’m seated and have a pen at the ready. 😀
Happy Father’s Day, Dave!
Paige
Thank you Paige, I appreciate your awesome work and your thoughtful well wishes on this day 😉 Truth be told, your non-fiction story in this post along with an image that appeared on my desktop wallpaper yesterday inspired a very short story about a couple in love. Thanks again, and best wishes for an inspired day!
Absolutely lovely!