After a long look at the sky, he took a deep breath and plunged underneath the water. It was mid-to-late October, and it was cold. He looked at the sky because the trees were post-pretty foliage and were just brown and dry.
He had met her at the grocery store. People are especially vulnerable at the grocery store. I don't know what it is - something about sharing the most basic functions of life with a complete stranger. You always wonder what the cashier will think of your selections. (What? You came for sweet potatoes and rubbing alcohol? What is going on in your life?) It's for this reason that those self-checkout machines are so popular. Anyway, she was standing in the jam aisle trying to pick a flavor. Her first instinct was to just pick the cheapest, but he cheapest in this case was grape jelly - but her mom had always used grape jelly.
James saw her standing there, and he knew exactly what she was going through, standing there all overwhelmed by flavors. He was tempted to just roll in, grab a raspberry and walk away like he was always this decisive, but then he might not see her again, so he tried a joke instead:
"Preserves? What on earth are preserves? And jelly? Sounds like Vaseline, and who wants that on a sandwich?"
She smiled. He gave her a ride home. She went back into her room when they got to her house, and he took a bite out of every apple in her basket, just because he could.
That's how it started.
-First line credit: Annie Fuller
-David C.
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