When his eyes are wide in wonderment, when he is wearing an ear-to-ear grin, and when she can detect the smallest trickles of of saliva at the corners of his mouth, those are the times that he is most content. For his woman those are signs seen only a few other times. She has seen that look when she prepares his favorite meals and desserts. The only other times he wears such a look is when she is wearing little or nothing.
....She can understand the pleasure and joy that he displays when she prepares those special meals. She is pleased that her body pleases him. Yet, she can only feel pangs of jealousy when she sees him in such a state of euphoria outside of the house. He is in an almost drug-like trance as she falls behind his wake as they enter the store.
....She has turned her man loose in a hardware store! Only in the tool department of Sears had she ever seen him in this state. She is thankful that in public she is wearing clothing, certain that the animal in him would throw caution, modesty and decency to the wind. Here, in this Mecca she is but an afterthought
as he disappears down one aisle only to emerge from another several yards away.....They were there because they needed a new toilet seat. No sooner she had mentioned that need, that she was reminded of the cartoon character, the Tasmanian devil. So swift, so frenzied was his movements that he was finishing dressing at the same moment he turned the ignition key in his vehicle in the driveway.
He is like a little kid prancing and it looks like he is actually skipping through the aisles! He reminds her a young boy pressing his face against the glass of the display case in a candy store. That $5 off coupon he is clutching is not unlike the $1 bill clinched in that kid's fist while his other hand traces a path over the gold mine of confectionery delights. He is older now and it is a different kind of candy that excites him now.
She has already given up any thought that the coupon might be applied to the purchase of the toilet seat. She didn't have the heart to deny him his moments of treasure hunting. Besides, when they paid for the seat and whatever treasure he chose, they would be on the same sales slip. The $5 would come off the total purchase in the end. She might as well let him think that it was his item that was responsible for their savings. Why not?
When he was a kid he had once been faced with the cruelest of dilemmas. It was a difficult decision for a kid to make. Like a pirate's booty spread before him, each nugget gleamed and sparkled. Should he choose quality and spend his dollar bill on his favorite morsels? Or should he go the bulk route instead and score big in quantity. Ultimately he chose the the bigger haul. He knew that despite the fact that if was his dollar bill, he would be made to share.
....In his youth, growing up in the fifties, one dollar would buy a helluva lot of bulk candy! They no longer called it penny candy, indeed there is nothing you can buy for a penny these days. The price of one candy bar today would have garnered fifteen of them back then and they would have been larger.
She is surprised when next she sees him. She is stunned to see him approaching carrying a toilet seat. Was there nothing he wanted to buy? No tools? No nuts, bolts, screws or nails? Were there no frivolous gadgets like a screwdriver with a built-in AM-FM radio?
....Then he says, "It's a good thing we had this coupon when we needed a new toilet seat, huh?"
....She can only nod in silence. She begins to feel guilty, but she couldn't help but wonder what he was up to. Of course, if he is up to something, he wouldn't give it away. She is left to puzzle over his ulterior motives. Could it be that he is sincere? Maybe he deserves some credit. Maybe he has earned a nice supper. And maybe later she would....?
Can it be that our hero is in for a good night? Can it be that he is still that kid in the candy store? Will there be Southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes topped with a light brown milk and flour gravy? He smiles as if his face were pressed against the glass in that candy store. Maybe, just maybe she will make some home-made biscuits too.
Will she be in an amorous mood tonight? But then again, why is she being so generous today? What's she up to? What does she want?
No.302
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