“Oh!  I’m sorry.  I thought you were someone else…someone I’m supposed to meet here…” 

Henry kept talking…almost as though he couldn’t stop.  But I took another step.

I really couldn’t help myself…he sounded so puzzled…so flummoxed…so un-Henry like…that I had to laugh…

Yes.  Yes.  The laugh he had been listening to and apparently loving for the past few months…my very “unique” laugh…

His head snapped around and he started to reach for my arm.

Suddenly.  It was ‘the perfect storm’.

Three little boisterous boys came racing down the aisle after a visit to the bathroom in the back of the restaurant…

I quickly moved to get out of their way…but I was not quick enough as one of them bumped into me…

So…as Henry turned away from the table, reaching for my arm…my cane got caught on one of the spokes of the wheel chair that I did not even know he used!

I let out a cry as I started to fall…but Henry caught me and I ended up in his lap.

I looked at him and then down at his chair…

His laughing eyes looked quizzically into my surprised ones…

“I bet you didn’t expect this…did you?  Vietnam…second tour…Bouncing Betty…”

“By the way…where the hell were you going, Karla?“

I was almost…but not quite speechless…

“You see…when I first saw you sitting here and you watched me walk in…I saw your eyes start to narrow and you tilted your head…”

“I thought perhaps you were disappointed at what you saw…”  I started to falter at this point.  I was feeling quite stupid.

“Or…: Henry interrupted patiently.

“Or…maybe the sun was in my eyes as I was trying to clearly see as well as desperately hoping that this beautiful woman walking toward me would be the incomparable “Annabelle”…the one with the sexy laugh.”

“Oh…”  I said quietly.  “I guess…”  I had no snappy return for that.

Henry looked over my shoulder and motioned for me to turn around.

“We have an audience who appear to have almost stopped breathing…” Henry said.

When I turned and looked, there was a small group of diners who had gone suddenly quiet when I had cried out as I had fallen into Henry’s lap.

I turned back and grinned at him.

“So…what’s our encore?” I asked.

And then he kissed me…on a brilliant fall afternoon in the Canal Park Cafe overlooking Lake Superior…

And everyone clapped.  Because…who doesn’t love a happy ending.

The End

I could see through the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked Lake Superior that Henry had picked a table toward the back of the restaurant.

He had no idea what I looked like but of course I could recognize him.

I had seen countless ads in the local Rocky Point newspaper promoting his show.

He sported a shock of blonde hair and even though we had what seemed like about a month of summer in Rocky Point…he looked like he had just finished a 3-week vacation in the Cayman Islands. 

God, he was really good-looking.  He looked even better in person.  I suddenly felt very nervous.

I was glad I had put blonde streaks in my shoulder-length, brown hair and had taken advantage of the past two sunny days to extend my tan.  I knew I looked pretty damn good for an “older” woman…maybe a little on the thin side…but I was working on that.

This was like a date…right?  Oh hell…am I too old for this?

I hadn’t been to this restaurant before but I had visited here yesterday…to get the “lay of the land”.

I often did this when I was going to new places…to eliminate any surprises or potential parking problems.

As I entered the restaurant the hostess remembered me from yesterday’s visit.  She came over to me right away.

I told her I was meeting someone today and thanked her for her attention.

I started to walk towards Henry who was looking out the window.

As I got closer, he turned and saw me coming toward him…my trusty cane helping me along the way.  I stopped and took off my sunglasses.

My vision had improved in the last four months, so even though I still couldn’t read a book…I could see Henry’s face quite clearly.

I saw him tilt his head to the side…and I could see him knit his brow…ever so slightly.

It was not real obvious…but just enough for me to guess what he was thinking.

I had seen that look before.  It was that “Ohhh…” look.

As in…”Ohhh…she needs a cane to walk…I wonder what’s wrong with her?”

Was he wondering if I was Annabelle?

The sexy laugh he loved and the  conversations we had shared over the past few months probably did not match the woman he now saw or was expecting to see…walking in his direction.  

There was no doubt that I was definitely not what he had expected.  I’m sure he would have made the best of it…but I had been to that rodeo before…and did not plan to go again.

I continued to slowly walk down the aisle.  As I moved closer to him, I saw that he was smiling…but a little tentatively.

“Annabelle?”  he questioned.

I turned towards him and said, “Excuse me?”

“Oh…oh…” he said. “I don’t suppose your name is Annabelle by chance?”  Henry sounded unsure…how very odd. Henry never sounded unsure.

“My name is Karla.” I answered politely and continued to move on to the rear exit that I had discovered from my exploratory mission yesterday.

I would have been a perfect boy scout…had I been a boy.  I was always prepared.

 

Of course…it wasn’t the program that was changing my life…it was Henry.

He was charming.  He was interesting.  He was comforting.  He was funny.  He could be outrageous.

I soon realized that I was really looking forward to calling in and talking with him…more each time.

Sometimes I purposely stayed awake for the whole show…until I heard the familiar strains of “In the Still of the Night” playing  in the background at the end.

I didn’t call in a lot…although there were some who did.  Some of Henry’s listeners called every night and Henry always talked to them.

It was as if he knew they were lonely…and just needed to say “hello”…

But… more importantly…I think Henry knew they just needed for him to say “hello” back.  And he did.  He always did.

One night…after a few months of occasionally calling in and talking with Henry…he asked me to stay on the line when he went to commercial break after my call.

What was this all about? I actually sat up in bed and glanced over at my dresser mirror to see how I looked…which was pretty crazy.  This was radio! 

It turned out that Henry had heard about an art and antique show this weekend in the Canal Park area by Lake Superior.

“It sounds like it might be interesting…” he had said.  I had learned that Henry liked antiques and that he collected antique Christmas ornaments.

“Would you be interested in going on Saturday?  We could meet at the Canal Park Cafe around noon, have lunch first and then just browse around.  My treat…of course,” he said.

And then he chuckled…and I wondered for a moment if he was just joking around…but then he quickly continued…

“Of course, if you want to pay for yourself…you surely can…”  Then he laughed again.  “You know…if you want or feel the need…you can pay for me too!”

Earlier that week he’d had a controversial author on his show.  She had written a new book about how women actually “enjoy” paying their way when going on dates with men. Some even feel insulted when men offered to pay for them.  

It had been a heated discussion with many listeners participating.  I had chosen not to call in that night.

“Yes.” I said…probably too quickly.  My pulse was racing.  What was going on?

I think I surprised Henry with my speedy reply.

“Oh!  Well…good then.  That’s great!  I’ll see you Saturday…at high noon!”

Then he paused and said more softly…

“I’m looking forward to meeting you…Annabelle from Rocky Point.”

I apparently had forgotten everything and anything I may have learned about social niceties…for all I managed to say once again was…

“Yes.”