Staring back at me were the most gorgeous, the most luminous black eyes, more beautiful than a master painter could paint. They were the eyes of a young lady and they held me captive. We stood staring at each other for a long time. And just as she decided to leave the store I had decided to enter. We met at the door. We stopped and looked at each other, unable to move further.
"My name is Eric," I stammered.
"My name is Thalia," she replied, and then spelled her name for me.
I forgot about George and walked to the Mall exit, with Thalia by my side. We did not speak until we were seated in the small Thai restaurant at the southwest corner of the Mall parking lot.
"May I get you a drink?" I remember asking her.
"Only if you promise not to laugh. I would love to have some hot tea."
"I am glad to find somebody else who likes hot tea, because I do also and I always have some hot tea when I eat here."
I decided to add something special to her tea, something special to nibble on. When I returned to Thalia I carried our drinks plus four egg rolls, two for each of us.
"I always have one or two egg rolls when I stop here," I explained, as I put her tea and two egg rolls in front of her. "They are the best in town," I added. We did not talk for a long time. We looked into each others eyes while we slowly munched on our egg rolls. It was not until we had finished, that Thalia spoke up.
"Will I see you again?" she asked quietly. Then she added an even quieter "soon?' to her question. We exchanged e-mail addresses, residence addresses, and cell phone numbers before we parted.
I sat still for a long time after she was gone, looking at the picture in front of me, a picture of a lovely and lovable young lady by the name of Thalia. I looked into her eyes again, and I heard her voice. And somehow I felt lonelier than ever,
Lonelier than in the huge mansion with 18 rooms, an uncaring and cold human who claimed to be my father, and a woman who seemed to care only about herself. A mansion that was not a home, just a house, where words like love, caring, feeling, empathy, were locked up in a dusty dictionary high on a shelf out of reach.
What made me feel so strange? I could not possibly have fallen in love with two twinkling eyes that promised warmth and understanding; that made me want to hold her tight in my arms. I ached to be next to her so much that I finally called her cell phone. When her musical voice answered I could only stammer a question.
"When can I see you again? Maybe tonight, please?"
That evening we walked in the park and we talked. I do not know what we talked about; I just wanted to listen to her voice. And I wanted to walk with her knowing that she was next to me. I remember that our hands found each other and that soft, warm vibrations raced through my hand and arm right into my soul.
Even the swans understood our mood, did they not? I think they did, why else would they slowly swim over to stop in front of us and nod their heads before leaving us to our thoughts. I remembered walking the same path around the pond with another lovely and lovable lady at my side, and the swans were beautiful that night too. But tonight was different, tonight they were bathed in a shimmering aura. Their white plumage was whiter, their graceful movements more graceful.
We stood under the old elm tree at the corner when it was long past time we should have parted. I reached my arms around her and she melted into them. I knew then that that was where they belonged. Her eyes were shining in the dim light of a far away street light; her lips were moist and parted, waiting to meet mine. I wonder if we would still be standing under the old elm if not a passing car had honked its approval.
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