whilst taking a photo of this, as the moon was slowly inching out from the bank of clouds, i suddenly remembered that 38 years ago this day, the first mr. summerfield and i went on our first almost dinner date.
i was preparing some documents for a meeting for the next morning, when he appeared at the door of my office. "george!" he called (everybody was george at the time) and when i looked up he threw a small box of nina ricci perfume - l'air de temps i remember - and i caught it one handed over my head. "are you back already?" i said after i thanked him, "you just left two days ago, didn't you, george?" "smart ass, i've been gone three weeks. no date tonight?" i shook my head. "trouble in paradise, is there?"
now it's hard to ignore john lee although i was the only one in that office who quite succeeded doing so. his large frame hovered around the whole door frame, his voice boomed when he wanted to, and he always tried to speak the local language that made him sound quite funny.
"i'm done, got to go home. bye george!" i said to him. "it's late," he said, "come i'll take you to dinner and you tell me all about your boyfriend troubles."
i let him take me to dinner mostly because it would mean that he would take me home and i didn't have to take a taxi by myself. i knew then that the dinner wasn't just a friendly dinner: i could tell by his body language and the careful choice of words when he joked around. he had wanted to buy me a rose but i said i didn't do roses, that i prefer daisies. or orchids. then on the drive home, i don't remember now what we were talking about, but i somehow remember saying "my mother always chastised me about singing while cooking. she said i'd be bound to marry an old man." and he said, "what no hope for me?" and we both laughed so hard. john lee was of course twenty-two years my senior.
i think it's natural when we are getting in age to remember things from so long ago that we haven't thought of for so long. i always remembered the conversation but the date itself didn't click to me until today. it's the birthday of one of my friends at that office because we got her a cake. i can't even remember her name now! ah, it will come to me in another few years, hopefully.
