Page 43 of Marvelous

We were both silent, and then I asked, “So, what’s the deal with Old Man Hooper?”

She giggled, “Before I tell you that, what was that smell?”

I sighed, “He had a possum family under his house. More like an entire village. Guess when he boarded it up, he didn’t see them.”

She winced, “Crap.”

I nodded, “Yeah. The smell apparently stuck to everything in his house. I called a cleaning company, and they went out there today to give him a hand.”

She smiled, “Good.”

Then she took a swallow of her beer and said, “Do you believe in fate?”

I lifted a brow at her and then nodded, “Yeah. In a way. But I believe that everything happens for a reason.”

She tipped her bottle to me, “Right? So, I had just graduated from college. And I was looking for an old trunk for years. One in good condition. You know those old traveling trunks?”

At my nod, she continued.

And I swore that I wished I could freeze that one moment in time, her voice, her smile, how happy she was, and keep it with me for the rest of my days.

“Well, I saw one in an ad at an estate sale. So, I went. I bought it. I got it home to my apartment. And I opened it.”

I nodded.

“Inside there were dresses, knick-knacks, the usual, then I came across a bundle of white envelopes that were weathered and discolored with age, and they were all tied together with a red silky ribbon.”

“I read them. And when I found out what happened, I thought that the owner would like to have the letters back. They were romantic. So romantic that you felt it was you the person was talking to. Anyway, I researched all day and hunted down the man who had written the letters. I found him in an old newspaper clipping that had come out at the end of Vietnam.”

My eyes flared, “No shit?”

She shook her head, “No. It was Jacob Hooper. He was in love with her. And she with him. That red door, the red front porch swing? All for her. It was because of a dress she wore when they met for the first time, and it was red.”

“Fuck. That’s romantic as hell.” I said.

She nodded.

Then she sighed, “Stuff like that doesn’t happen anymore.”

I winked, “It does. You're just too stubborn to see it.”

She giggled, then laughed, “Touche.”

“So, you found Mr. Hooper, then a job?”

She shook her head. “Switch it.”

“Okay, now I get why you said fate.”

She nodded.

Then she asked, “So, you plead the fifth, huh?”

I looked at her and nodded, “Sure do.”

I knew what she was talking about.

Then she asked, “Why?”