She Wore a Yellow Dress.

“Have we met before?” asked the elderly gentleman as he stared down the spectacles that rested at the tip of his nose. He stared into the face of the middle-aged woman with dark long hair and olive skin who had momentarily just sat down onto the sofa after getting up to close the screen door that had been swinging back and forth. The evening October breeze was beginning to stir. A swirl of leaves blew onto the porch as an empty tin can holding gardening shears tipped over and rolled onto the cold wet grass. The weeping willows swayed their branches nearby as the empty pair of rocking chairs slightly moved forward and backwards as if orchestrated by the wind.

“Yes, we have met before”, the woman said in a melodic voice as she looked down ant her lap. She thumbed through the junk mail across from the older gentleman.

“You know, you look a lot like someone I used to know”, the man said as he removed his reading glasses and placed his Sudoku book onto the weathered coffee table in front of him.

He buttoned the very top button of his green and white flannel shirt and then interlocked his fingers onto his lap with his two feet flat on the ground side by side as he stared across the room at the woman sitting on the sofa with a pensive look.

“ Well, tell me who I remind you of”, she laughed kindly as she opened up letters and separated junk mail from the bills onto the side table of where she was sitting.

Right then, when the man was going to speak, a little calico house cat jumped up onto his man’s lap and leaned his head against his chest purring as he petted the cat gently on the head.

“Well, hello there Oscar” the man said as the little cat continued to purr and push his head upward in the direction the man was petting his head.

The woman stood up and rested the remaining letters onto the end table with the others.

“C’mon Oscar, it’s time to go outside and catch us a mouse”, she said as she scooped up the cat and put him outside the door.

She had to close the screen door and the main door as the wind began to pick up and blow more leaves up onto the porch. She put on the porch light and returned to the sofa to grab the remote control this time instead of the letters.

“Now remind me who you are again”, asked the elderly man as he looked eagerly across the sofa at the woman.

“I’m Veronica and I am your daughter. Do you want to watch the news or a movie?,”She asked as she quickly changed the subject.

“Oh that’s right. You are right” he said as if he felt ashamed that he had once again forgotten who she was.

She asked him again what he preferred to watch on the television guide in an attempt to distract his mind from feeling any embarrassment for forgetting who she was. The room grew silent as he didn’t respond to her question.

The rustling of the leaves continued to gather outside onto the porch corners.

“You know, I wanted to try that line on her”, he suddenly said.

“What line?” asked his daughter.

“Have we met before?” he said as he looked blankly ahead of him.

His daughter continued to click through the different channels and rattled off the titles on the guide as if she did not hear him. She didn’t know what he was referring to as seemed to be getting more mixed up in his memories and thoughts each day.

“Let’s see here. We have Cheers, Fox News, ESPN, The History Channel, and…” she rambled as he interrupted her.

He began to narrate a story she had once heard before. He cleared his throat and then began to speak.

“But I knew that I had to come up with something a little more clever. She was a beautiful woman. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. I didn’t want to sound like an idiot and I had thought about that line but then I changed my mind and put together something else to say to her”. The man kept his fingers interlocked tightly as if he was silently praying at the same time intermittently as he recounted his story.

“Well what did you say to her?” asked his daughter as she put the remote control down onto the end table and crossed her legs.

She gave her father her full attention as she folded her arms to listen intently. He didn’t usually speak more than a few sentences at a time.

“ I was looking for carpet that day. It was 107 degrees outside the little town of El Centro, California located about 20 miles north of the border of Mexico. Locals called it “Hell Centro” because it was so darn hot most of the year. I was having a new home built outside of town. I was also planning to marry a pretty woman named Sheryl with long blonde hair but had recently broken up with her because of differences we had. She was a little hot headed I guess. I had full custody of Tony and Jackie. They were six years old. It was a new start for me.

I decided to head over to Gordon’s Carpet Store. The only carpet store in town. I walked in and then I saw this beautiful gazelle of a woman. She was a Mexican woman with the most graceful and elegant appearance I had ever seen in my life. I walked across to where she was organizing some random pieces of carpet onto a shelf. She looked up at me. I just stared a bit in awe.

She said “Hello there sir, may I help you find something?” in the sweetest voice. I had never heard such a lovely voice. It was as if every word she uttered was layered with a songbird.

Her black hair was long and rested at her waist and her dark eyes sparkled as she spoke. Her mouth and nose were the most perfect symmetrical facial features I had ever seen. I just stared at her for a few seconds and realized that God had answered my prayers.

I thought in my mind “Yes! This is her. She is the one.” I thought confidently.”

“ After I returned from my thoughts, I said “I need to buy some carpet for my house that I am having built. I have two children. They are twins and make messes sometimes so I would like something that will not stand out if spills or stains should occur.” I was trying to be as composed and confident as I could. Then her beautiful voice spoke again.”

“ I can show you several options and then you can choose,” she said in the kindest voice with her native accent. I followed her. She walked as if she had momentarily been allowed to walk off the royal magistrate for a little while. She was so graceful as she walked and she smiled back at me as she turned her head around and I followed her.

She wore a long yellow dress that day as it flowed in small waves as she walked. In her right little hand she held a big ol’ measuring tape. As she stopped at the area in the store with various carpets, she gave me quotes. I told her afterwards I appreciated her time. But then I looked at her hand.

“Oh no”, I thought as I looked down.” “My heart sank like metal to the pit of my stomach as I saw her lovely little hand reach out to shake mine after I said “thank you for your time”.

Her ring finger had a wedding ring on it! I couldn’t understand this. I felt so strongly that she was “The One.” That she might be mine one day. A feeling that I had never felt before.

I was about to say “Have we met before?” after she showed me the carpet options but then I saw her golden wedding ring on her finger.”

Instead, I took a step back and said, “You must be so tired. I see you have a ring on your finger. You probably are looking forward to getting back to your husband and family. I won’t take up any more of your time.”.

“To my very pleasant surprise she then said the most magical words that my ears at that moment could ever process. She smiled and looked down at her ring as she tapped it with her perfectly manicured fingernails.

In a somewhat little laughing tone, she said , “I am actually not married. I just wear this ring so that men don’t ask me out and I can do my job with no problem.”.

“I couldn’t believe it. God did answer my prayers! I then asked her what any intelligent man would ask at that moment”, replied the old man with a twinkle in his eye.

The elderly man's daughter, looked across the coffee table listening intently with her jaws resting onto her fists that formed a vase for her chin. She quelled the tears that wanted to spill down her cheeks as she listened.There was a small moment of silence.

“Well, go on now. What did you say next?” asked his daughter. She was worried he would forget he was telling the story and ask who she was again.

The man crossed his arms across his chest and took a deep sigh as he looked straight across the room blankly again.

“Well, I asked her out,” he said confidently. “ I said “ Would you like to go out sometime and get dinner with me?”

She then quickly straightened up and replied “Well I actually don’t date customers.”.

“Well, I was a little disappointed but for some reason I felt that there was something still pretty special going on and this wasn’t the end of things. I knew I would see her again at least a couple more times. I had not given up hope.

After the carpet was all installed and I had paid in full, I returned to the desk where she was at. I signed my name across the line on the receipt and received my copy of the receipt. I then looked up and I asked her the question a second time.”

“You asked her out again?” Veronica asked.

“Yes, I asked the same question again,” her father confirmed.

“I said, “Would you like to get dinner with me sometime?’”

She then said the same thing a second time.” “Sir, I am sorry. I told you that I don’t date customers.”. She looked down.”

“ I then told her what came to my mind as a flash flood .I wasn’t going to give up. I would be stupid if I did.” “

I said this. “Well, I am not a customer anymore. I just want a friend to go to dinner with. Would you just join me just as a friend?”

“Then she said what was an eternal answer to my prayer at that very moment. She said “Well,if it’s as a friend then I can go with you.”.

”My heart then filled up with the biggest wave of hope and I felt as if I had just won the lottery.”

“So you got her to go out with you?” laughed Veronica.

She had already heard variations of this account and how the story ended but this was by far the most detailed version she had ever heard from her father.

“Yes, I did. We married two months later. Then exactly 9 months later YOU were born” he said as he suddenly stretched his arm out and jetted his pointer finger straight at his daughter and smiled.

“That’s how it went. You see, I was going to say "Have we met before?”, but I knew that wouldn’t work. It was too common. It wouldn’t add up in the end. I had to come up with a sincere line. That was the better strategy.”

The man looked up at his daughter and smiled. He put his glasses back on and picked up his Sudoko book and clicked his pen as he began to carefully write down numbers into the boxes with the point of his pen.