My date with a blackbird

My date with a blackbird

On an uneventful evening, I sat down in my lounge chair, kick up my feet, and had a bag of potato chips and some dip. I turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. Wouldn't you know it, every channel I went to was playing some kind of romantic show. Even the commercials all seemed to be about couples doing things together.

So I turned off the TV, sat up in my chair, and thought to myself, “I've had this feeling for a long time now, that I needed to find that special person out there that was meant for me. I'm going to take this silly television moment as a sign that I need to do something about it.”

My uneventful, normal routine was not introducing me to any new people, so I thought, maybe I'll be adventurous and try searching online. I'll see if one of these dating apps could lead to something. So I made a profile and started looking through the profiles that women had posted.

There seem to be a lot of nice women out there, but nothing that really stood out to me. Nothing that really got my attention, until I came across this profile and received a letter.

“Hi, John.

I have to admit that I've never believed one can find their partner this way.

It always seemed to me so official, like a market. Both men and women feel like merchandise for sale.

My belief was always that it should be spontaneous, life-like, not generic.

However, years have passed, and I felt more lonely than ever.

My children (two boys, both their own people, working and making me proud) insisted that I do something about my loneliness.

So, here I am, for that reason.

I do not know if I am the one if you are the one, but I sure hope that fate will tangle its fingers and that among all the other letters, your click on mine will be that little mark of spontaneity that I have been yearning for.

Thank you for reading, and if you like what my profile says, let us not waste much time, and let's have a meaningful conversation and create a connection that will make us forget about ever being alone again.

Sincerely,

Nuttallia”

Some of the things she said could've come from my own mouth. It was a kind of connection to the words she wrote, so I decided to write to her. I was taken by surprise when I almost instantly got a response back.

“John, I have been waiting for you. And no I do not say that to all the guys. The thing is, I have already read your profile and I've written you several letters that I never sent. I was so nervous, about trying to say the right thing. But then, I was so happy when I got your letter that I had to respond right away. Can we meet in person? I propose that we meet at the cafe on the corner of Fifth and Main Street, tomorrow at 3 PM. I know it's a little early for a workday, but I really hope you can make it.”

So I wrote back, “yes I would love to meet you. And tomorrow is okay, so I'll see you at 3 PM, where exactly should we meet? What I mean is, how will I find you there?” Then Nuttallia writes back, “John, that's great, but I do have to tell you one thing first, the words that I wrote on the profile and my letter to you are all true and from me, but the pictures are not mine. I had trouble getting my own profile so my friend let me use hers. I sincerely hope that this will not be a problem. I will be wearing a dark blue dress with a blackbird pendant on my left shoulder. Seating in the back is by reservation only, so just tell the greeter that you have reservations with Miss Blackbird and they will bring you to me. I can't tell you how excited I am to see you tomorrow.”

without giving it much thought I wrote back, “sounds mysterious, I'll see you at 3 o'clock tomorrow.” and then right after sending that response email I thought to myself, “what are you doing? You just set yourself up on a blind date with a woman you met on the internet and you don't even know what she looks like. Am I that desperate, or am I just crazy?” I did not like either option, so I chose not to answer myself.

The next day, as I was preparing to go out, I didn't have to think too much about what I was going to wear, because the restaurant behind the cafe is a mandatory suit and tie restaurant. So I pulled my Sunday best out, brushed off my dress shoes, and before I knew it, I was out the door.

Upon arriving, there was a line of people hoping to get in. One man was arguing with the receptionist because he said he had a reservation, This poor lady was trying to explain to him that, he had only reserved a spot on the waiting list, but there were no openings for him at this time.

So it was a little awkward when I walked up, but I did as my mysterious date instructed, “excuse me, ma'am, I'm here to see Miss Blackbird, there should be a reservation.” The lady raises her hand to signal to somebody and says to me, “Mr. Mulberry, yes of course sir. Miss Blackbird is here and anxiously waiting for your arrival. Right this way sir.” Apparently, My name is Mr. Mulberry.

As the receptionist leads me through the restaurant, it was striking how many well-dressed people are packed into this very nicely decorated restaurant. My eyes are scanning ahead, desperately looking for that dark blue dress and the blackbird pendant. But alas, I cannot see her anywhere in the crowd.

The next thing I know, we've gone all the way through the restaurant and I am really wondering where we're going. Two men hold open two giant doors that we walk through that take us into an area that looks like a bird Sanctuary because it's an all-glass-enclosed nature area. The space was almost as big as the rest of the restaurant but only one table in the middle.

I don't remember ever feeling so nervous before. There she is, sitting at the table with her back to me. Most of her back was visible because the dress was opened in the back in the shape of a bird. Her black hair was pulled up over her head and was weaved with patterns that were so fancy I don't know how to properly describe it.

The receptionist calls out, “Miss Blackbird, your guest Mr. Mulberry has arrived.” My blind date gets up from her chair and turns towards me, seems like it was in slow motion. She was wearing an absolutely stunning dark blue dress and sure enough, there was a blackbird pendant on her left shoulder with big diamonds for eyes. She smiles from ear to ear and says, “oh my dear John, I am so pleased you made it.”

She holds out her right hand with her palm down. So I take her hand in mine and she pulls me in to give me a gentle hug. She then says to the receptionist, please bring us the two glasses of White Merlot that I asked for. “yes of course ma'am and Jack is here to take your order or anything else that you need, whenever you're ready.” she says while bowing. My mysterious date replies back, “thank you, just the wine and some privacy for now.” The receptionist says, “of course ma'am.” Jack places the classes of White Merlot on the table and then all of the staff clears out of the room.

At this point, I was thinking that this had to be the best first date ever! Even with all of the mystery. For the next 15 minutes or so, we enjoyed some pleasant conversation that was mostly small talk, such as, things we like and don't like, and how we found each other online.

Then suddenly two men in suits come into the room. One of them says, “I'm so sorry to interrupt ma'am, but they're here, we have to go now.” Nadia pushes a cloth napkin over to my side of the table, grabs my hand, and place it over the napkin, with both of her hands on top of mine she says, “my dear John, I do hope everything will work out and we will be able to spend time together, possibly the rest of our lives. Please finish your White Merlot and there's a note on the bottom of the class with an address. Take the key and go to the address, there will be instructions there when you open the box. Please follow the instructions.”

The man interrupts again, “Ma'am, ma'am, I'm sorry but we really have to go now.” Nuttallia touches my face and says, “I'm sorry I have to go John. The next time I see you, we will have to be strangers. But after that, we will have time to be together. Goodbye for now.”

As Nadia starts to hurry off, she says to the other man that is there, “your only job is to make sure that he is safe,” she says while pointing at me. The man replies, “I understand ma'am.” Even though she was walking fast, Nadia stops to emphasize her point to the man and says, “whatever it takes, he's important.” She then rushes out the back door followed by three men.

I turn to the man that stayed behind, put both my hands in the air and say, “what the heck was that?” He replies to me, “I'm not at liberty to say, sir, please enjoy your wine.”

As I sat there, I resorted to speaking to myself out loud, “well, I could've never predicted this.” During this time, I looked at the key that was under the napkin. Also, there is definitely a note at the bottom of the class. So I finished my White Merlot and then pulled the note off.

It was just an address. So I put the address in my phone to search. Turns out it's a bus station. Obviously, the key must be to a locker.

Someone then starts talking to the man that was left behind, through his earpiece. He then quickly walks up to my table and says, “I'm sorry sir, but you also have to go now.” “Are you going to tell me what's going on?” was my reply. Then we both hear several women start screaming from inside the main restaurant. I said to the man, “never mind let's go,” and out the back door, we went.

He leads me through a couple of twists and turns until finally he stops and says, “continue down this path and you'll come out in the parking lot, go through the parking lot and you should recognize where you are. Remember, you were never here. Good luck with your mission sir.” And then he goes back in the direction we came from.

I continued walking at a normal pace for a minute and then I hear a ruckus where I had just been and what sounded like glass breaking. So I decided to walk a bit faster. I found my way to the car and drove home. As I parked the car in the garage, I sat there for a minute looked at the key and the note with the address on it, and said to myself, “well John, now you know what it's like to have a blind date with a blackbird.”