Chapter 3

Ed was smitten by Kelly. He had never met anyone that beautiful, who actually took an interest in him. The morning after their first date, he called the flower shop in the hospital to deliver a dozen roses to her at work. He worked around the house, keeping busy in the hope that it would make the time pass quicker. It didn’t work, but it did leave him with a very clean house.

He sat down to read his mineralogy books. That helped make the time pass a little quicker. He was about to go crazy when the telephone rang. After staring at it for several seconds, he reached over and picked up the receiver. He said, “Hello.”

Kelly gushed, “Thank you so much for the flowers! All of the other nurses were so jealous of me.”

Laughing Ed replied, “I’m so glad that you liked them.”

“Liked them? I loved them.”

Ed didn’t know what to say, so he changed the subject. He asked, “Are we still on for tomorrow?”

Kelly answered, “I was thinking that you might come to my place and I would cook us dinner. Do you like steak?”

Relieved, Ed answered, “I love steak.”

Kelly said, “Great. Oops, I’ve got to run. A patient is calling. See you tomorrow around six, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Bye.”

“Bye,” answered Ed even as she hung up the phone. He stood there for a moment trying to decide what to do. Happy that she had called, it only made him miss her more.

Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he decided that it was time for him to get cleaned up and try to look a little nicer for her. First stop, the barbershop for a haircut and a shave. Second stop, a clothing store to get a nice pair of pants and a shirt. Grabbing the keys, he headed out of the house. John was outside so he waved to him.

The haircut didn’t require much time. The barber kept trying to get Ed to talk, but Ed just sat there thinking about his upcoming date. Finally, the barber asked, “So, what are you doing in here a week early?”

Ed answered, “I have a date tomorrow, and I want to look nice.”

A few of the other men in the shop just looked at each other. Stories had been going around about Ed and his sudden change. No one really believed them. The barber said, “She must be real pretty for you to want to impress her like that.”

Ed, with a slight smile, said, “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”

One of the clients asked, “So what is she doing going out with you?”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Ed didn’t brag about how women couldn’t keep their hands off him. Instead, he answered with a self-deprecating chuckle, “I have no idea.”

The conversation died at that point. The barber trimmed the his hair without further attempts to initiate conversation. It was a standard western style short haircut. The barber probably gave a dozen of them a day.

Ed sat back and relaxed when it was time for the shave. There was nothing like a straight razor shave and this guy did one of the best in the entire area. The ritual always began with the hot towel to open the pores and relax the hair follicles. He could hear the barber create the shaving cream by stirring the soap with the brush. The hot shaving cream on the face, spread using the soft brush, felt great. As he sat there, the barber stropped the razor. The whick whick sound as the razor was pulled across the leather gave it a seriousness that a disposable blade never conveyed. The slow scraping as the whiskers were removed seemed to turn it into a ritual rather than a morning chore. Once the whiskers were gone, a damp towel was used to wipe up the traces of shaving cream. The astringent capped the entire ritual.

When it was over, Ed said, “I wish you were open on Sundays. I’d really like to show up on my date with my face this smooth.”

The barber answered, “You could do it yourself.”

Ed laughed and slapped his knee. He said, “I wouldn’t show up with a smooth face. I’d show up bleeding from a thousand cuts.”

The barber laughed and said, “That’ll be fifteen bucks.”

Ed pulled out a twenty and handed it to the barber. He said, “Keep the change.”

Leaving the barbershop feeling like a million bucks, he stopped by the bar for a drink. He stepped up to a stool at the bar and waited for Shirley to come over. She noticed him and asked, “Beer?”

He answered, “No. I’ll take a Coke.”

Shirley shrugged and poured a Coke. Setting the glass in front of him, she took the time to wipe down the counter while glancing in his direction. Ed sat there and slowly drank his Coke. He wondered what kind of clothes he should get for his date. He hadn’t bought anything other than blue jeans for as long as he could remember.

Finally, she could take it no more. She asked, “What’s on your mind?”

Without any hesitation, Ed answered, “I was wondering where I could get some dress pants.”

“Dress pants?” Shirley asked. She paused for a moment and then said, “I guess Cattleman’s in Phoenix would be the best place.”

Ed finished his drink in one gulp, pulled out a five, and slapped the five on the counter as he said, “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”

A very shocked Shirley watched Ed bolt out the door. Talking to Ed was confusing, but she realized that he had answered her question in the most direct fashion. She had asked him what he was thinking about, and he had told her.

Dressing in front of his mirror was a new experience for Ed. He had slipped on his dress pants after making sure that all of the tags had been removed. The dress shirt had not been in a package with all of the pins, but hung on a hanger at the store. He put on the bolo tie and then the western style coat. The coat felt strange and then he found one last tag. He cut it off and stepped back to look in the mirror. He shook his head in disbelief, unable to imagine that it was him looking back at himself in the mirror.

Ed sat down on the edge of his bed and though about what it meant to be a man. After a lifetime of bragging and boasting about himself, he realized that was the cheap way to look manly and it didn’t fool anyone. You had to be a man in order to consider yourself a man. It didn’t require fighting everyone over any little thing to be strong, you only had to know that you could defend yourself when required.

John had not acted tough and brave in the bar, but he was tough and brave. When pushed, he had defended himself fully confident in his ability to do so. Even if John had not won, he would have still been stronger than a guy that gave in easily to pressures to act against themselves. The fight had been over before it even started, John wasn’t out to prove anything.

Ed realized that he had been surrendering himself to what others wanted him to do just by having someone challenge him to do things. How many times had he done something because someone told him that he couldn’t do it? How many times did he actually boast about it after he had done it? That wasn’t manly, that was foolish.

The question that John had asked him about his job and if he enjoyed it came back to haunt him. He didn’t even know if he liked it or not. Drifting through life, he hadn’t been directing it. It was time for him to take charge of his life and that meant treating Kelly like a queen. He may not know everything that he wanted in his life, but he did know that he wanted her.

Grabbing the box of chocolates from the dresser, he left the house. Stepping outside, he noticed Maria and her son, Juan, in the front yard. He waved to them and got in the truck. Maria stared at Ed like he was a visitor from another planet. In the entire time she had known him, she had never seen him in anything except blue jeans.

Ed arrived at Kelly’s on time and parked in one of the few spots marked ‘Visitors.’ The complex wasn’t that big, but it took him a few minutes to find her apartment. Feeling nervous, he knocked on the door. Kelly shouted out, “Come in.”

He entered the apartment calling out, “It’s me.”

From the kitchen, Kelly answered, “Great. Make yourself comfortable. I’m working on the beans.”

“No problem.” He looked around the apartment. The furniture all matched, with a nice navy blue fabric. The coffee table had a scattering of magazines on it with a remote control for the cable television. The walls were covered with paintings of flowers and landscapes. It was a nice feminine looking apartment.

A sound behind him caused him to turn in time to see Kelly enter the room. She was wearing a very nice green floral dress that showed off her shape very nicely. It took him a moment to catch his breath. He said, “You look beautiful.”

Kelly looked him over and smiled at his clothes. In one of those mysteries that only women understand, she could tell that everything he was wearing was new. She said, “Wow, you look handsome, tonight.”

“Thank you.” Ed stood up a little straighter as he answered. He held out the box of chocolates as he said, “These are for you.”

Accepting the box from him, she glanced down at it. Surprised, she looked up and said, “Godiva Chocolates! I’m impressed.”

When he had gone to Cattleman’s, Ed had no a clue what kind of chocolates to buy for her. He had stopped and asked four different women what kind of chocolates would impress them. Without exception, every woman had answered the same. At the time, he had felt embarrassed about asking for advice. Seeing the look on Kelly’s face made him happy that he had not allowed his male pride to interfere with identifying the perfect gift.

She set the box of chocolates down on the coffee table and gestured to a chair. “Please have a seat.”

Settling onto the sofa, Ed felt a little uneasy. Since he didn’t know what to talk about so he chose a safe subject. He remarked, “You have a very nice place.”

She looked around the apartment and said, “Well, I don’t really spend enough time here to decorate it as I would really like. It’s comfortable enough.”

Ed said, “Well, I didn’t really decorate my house. I inherited most of the furniture and just kept it. I guess the house doesn’t really say much about me.”

The idea that someone could live in a house and not decorate it to suit their taste was totally foreign to Kelly. Wondering if it was a male trait or just unique to Ed, she asked, “You didn’t decorate at all?”

Frowning Ed said, “You know. Until just recently, I didn’t think too much about those kinds of things. I didn’t really wonder what I wanted or how I wanted to live. The other day, I started thinking about that and realized that I should direct my life a little more.”

This was a fascinating insight into his mind for Kelly. She asked, “So what are you doing about it?”

Shyly, Ed looked at her and answered, “I found a woman I like a lot. I thought I would start with that.”

Once she realized who he was talking about, she laughed merrily. That was the best line she had ever heard in her life. She teased, “Doesn’t she have any say about the matter?”

“You have everything to say about the matter. I’m going to be the best man you’ve ever met. So good that you won’t want to let me go. I’m going to be there for you and help you. I’m going to listen to what you say.” Ed realized that he was beginning to babble and shut up, blushing furiously.

The seriousness of his answer gave Kelly a moments pause. She said, “You remember what I said about marriage? I’m very serious about having two husbands and a wife.”

Ed had forgotten that for the moment and her reminder made him think. About to reply that he would be all the man she needed, he thought better of it. Instead, he asked, “Would you like to tell me more about that? I’d like to understand how it would work.”

Relieved that he didn’t start acting all possessive, Kelly smiled and answered, “How about we talk about that over dinner? I find that when you have a chance to chew on food after being asked a question, that you have a chance to reply with a little more tact.”

“That’s a great idea.” Ed felt relieved to postpone the discussion a little while. He added, “I’ve found lately that when I’m faced with a new idea, that I like to think about it some before making up my mind. I hope that’s okay with you.”

The evening progressed smoothly from that point on. The ice had been broken and they started talking without grasping for topics. Ed was amazed that an attractive and intelligent woman like Kelly would find him interesting. Kelly was intrigued by the quiet and thoughtful Ed.

When it came time to cook the steaks, Kelly showed Ed the grill on the little patio and let him perform the manly art of preparing the steaks. While he was at the grill, she was in the kitchen preparing the beans and salad to go with the steaks. After the first date with Ed, she had realized that he had chosen the swordfish steaks last time out of deference to what he though she might like. She had chosen the steaks for the same reason.

Ed brought in the steaks, his cooked to medium well and hers cooked to a nice medium. Kelly brought in the rest of the food. They sat at the table and stared at each other for a minute before Kelly burst out laughing and said, “Let’s eat this before it gets cold.”

Cutting off a small piece of steak, Ed tasted it and found that it was perfect. He looked over the table to see how she liked hers. She smiled at him and winked while chewing. Relaxing he tasted the beans, making a sound of approval. When he had swallowed, he said, “So tell me about this marriage idea of yours.”

Kelly finished her bite of steak and answered, “Well, I lived in a commune with my parents when I was a little kid. There were all kinds of adults and children there. One of the things that I noticed was that when someone was feeling a little down, there was always someone there that felt good. They would cheer each other up and the overall quality of life there was pretty nice.”

Ed listened thoughtfully and replied, “I can see how that would be.”

Kelly smiled as she ate a bite of salad. Waving her fork around, she continued, “I thought about it for a long time and decided that a marriage needed at least four adults in it. I’ve worked in a hospital for a long time and I’ve noticed that whenever four people are visiting someone ill, that at least one of them is up even if all the others are all down. One person will handle things and the others will support them. I took that number very seriously.”

He didn’t know if four was some magic number, but if she said that she had observed that then he would believe her. Gesturing for her to continue, he cut off another bite of steak. This was good quality beef, better than he would normally buy for himself.