Lucky Date

Lucky Date

I was just 24 at the time, I was working construction for a good friend of mine. We were working on this home that was getting a complete rehab. Right next to her home, windows, roof, siding, porch, and driveway. I noticed her next-door the very first day. You could not help but notice her she was that beautiful.

At the time I still had not got the nerve up to talk to her, but we have made eye contact a couple of times and she did smile. Then I hear this little voice, excuse me, and then again, excuse me can you move your truck please, I said sorry I did not hear you and she said your truck, it is blocking the driveway, I cannot back out.

I said sorry no problem I will move it right now. We started walking toward the truck. I said I am sorry for blocking your driveway, then I said you are going to be late for your lunch date and it is going to be all my fault. She smiled and quickly replies oh it is not a date, I just do not have any luck when it comes to dating, all I seem to have is bad luck.

It may have been the Sky-blue shorts, she was wearing. It might have even been, her sea-green eyes and the way they sparkled when she is looking right at you. I do not know exactly what it was, but at that moment, I finally got enough nerve. I said I have two tickets to a Bright Cellars wine tasting and dinner tonight. We will be tasting Merlot and you cannot go wrong with that.

I bought them from my church, see they are trying something different this year for their fundraiser. I would be thrilled if you would go with me. I laughed and said I am willing to take that chance even with your bad luck. She stopped and turned, she was looking right at me and said sure that sounds like it would be fun what time. I said 8:00 and she replied OK see you at 8:00 tonight.

Since we have gotten back from lunch, I cannot stop thinking about our date. At lunchtime, I even looked up the Bright Cellars company and Merlot wines so I can act like I know what I am talking about tonight. It might just be me; time is moving slowly now. Finally, work is over and now the weekend starts. As I run to jump in my truck, I see a flat tire. I somehow have a rake in my tire, and we do not even have a rake on this job.

Just like it always does when you have somewhere to be and you are in a hurry everything seems to be going wrong, 35 minutes to change the tire. I am headed home west on Interstate 22 just passing exit 1 the Weirton Main Street exit. When a bird flies in the passenger window and starts flapping his wings in my face. I am not going to lie to you at first it scared the hell out of me.

I lost control of the truck for a couple of seconds. The bird flew right back out the window. What you do not want to do, is panic or overcorrect. When you are in this type of situation you do not jerk the steering wheel too hard to the left or the right. It can be awfully bad, but it is exactly what I did. I narrowly missed the guardrails and light pole. Somehow went right between them.

I shot over the embankment down onto the exit ramp for Weirton Main Street downtown exit. Now if you were driving by and you had seen that ,you could have very well thought that I did all that on purpose. This is exactly what the police officer whose squad car I landed in front of as he was exiting the ramp thought. After 30 minutes for the sobriety test, and another hour waiting for the canine to show up and do a search. Then there was my $289.00 ticket for reckless operation and illegal exit from a highway.

I am rushing to get home and get a shower, dressed and get back in time to pick her up for the date. Now that is when I discover there is a gas line break in the neighborhood everybody's gas is off, and I am going to be taking a cold shower. I am not very superstitious, but at this point, I am starting to feel maybe she is a little bad luck. I am done showering; I am getting dressed and it is at that point when I realize.

I have one pair of skinny jeans I do not even know where they came from and a white dress shirt, I bought for a wedding two years ago clean and that is it. As I take a drink of my blue Powerade it is running down my arm turning my sleeve blue instantly. I have nothing else to wear so I grab a leather jacket and just slide it on over the shirt. That would have been a great fix except for the fact that it is 83 degrees outside.

The first thing the waiter says sorry about the heat the air conditioning just went out. It is one of the hottest days on record we are inside a building with no air conditioning, and I am melting right in front of her. He says, while you are looking over the menu, may we start you off with a sample of some Merlot wines, the host Bright Cellars has selected quite a few for the evening.

As I am looking over the menu, I am thinking to myself I hope nothing else goes wrong. First, I feel the heat as the flames rush by my head from whatever it was the waiter was supposed to be preparing at the table behind me. It singed all my hair on the back of my head. At this point, I am thinking if I can just get out of this date alive, it will be OK. Everything and I mean everything that I had ordered came out wrong, but I said nothing I just wanted this night to end. We smiled and had some great conversation, but I could not help myself I was convinced she was jinxed.

When the waiter said is there anything else I can get you before she even had a chance to answer I said no, no thank you just the check, please. The waiter hands me the check on the little tray, I slide him my credit card. It has been about 15 minutes now and I am thinking the waiters taking a long time when two police officers walk up to the table. They say Nick if that is your real name, we need to speak to you for a minute please. I am thinking if they take me into custody at least I will be safe and away from her.

I showed them my ID and it still takes me another 30 minutes to convince them and the credit card company that it is me. When I finally get the bill taken care of and I walk outside there they were towing my truck because I parked too close to a fire hydrant. That was when it happened, the moon was bright, I turned to go back to the restaurant and the next thing I know I am in her arms and she is kissing me. A kiss like I had never experienced before. It was probably only a couple of seconds, but it felt like an eternity to me.

The next thing I know I am asking her if she would like to go to the monster truck show next week at the County Fair. At the end of this year, makes 7 years now we have been married. We have been a member of Bright Cellars wine of the month club ever since the day we got married. We have had our share of bad luck, but every morning that I can get up and kiss her face makes me, the luckiest man in the world.

By

David F Anderson