Life Happens- 1941

Chapter 8

“Don’t open your eyes just yet,” Elliot whispered in my ear.  I could feel his hand dragging mine somewhere.  I had no idea where we were headed.

“Why not?” I pouted, “I’m not good at surprises.”  Elliot laughed, “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”  I opened my eyes.  The first thing I thought as I took in the scene around me was holy mackerel! 

I followed Elliot underneath some branches of a very large tree.  The tree had long, limber branches that stretched out really far.  All of the branches were covered in strings of little white lights.  The branches formed a tiny room of sorts, with a little opening on the side where the branches had stopped growing out.  Elliot led me through the opening into the middle of the circle of branches.  It was peaceful out and in between the spaces of each branch I could see thousands of stars.

In the middle of the “room”, there was a red and white checkered picnic blanket that was accompanied by a candle, one on each corner of the blanket.  I also spotted, to my surprise, a bottle of wine and two glasses.  I recognized them from home because when we first moved in together, Elliot helped me pick them out.  The glasses were crystal with tiny gold flecks around the rim.  We only took them out of our ancient china cabinet on special occasions.  This was, I suddenly realized, a very special occasion.  It could’ve been, for all I knew, my last date (romantic excursion sounds better considering how long we’ve been together, the word “date” just seems way over used), with Elliot before he left for the air corps.  Well maybe not. But still, it was special.

“What do you think?”  I could tell by his voice that he yearned to please me.  

“It’s amazing Elliot! You’re feeling very romantic this evening.  Not that I’m complaining.”  I tried to play a serious face, which turned into an epic fail.  He laughed, “Good.  Damn, I love you so much Charlotte.”  He lifted my hand up to his mouth and began tenderly kissing each of my fingers, one by one.  All I could do was grin, “I don’t think you need any wine tonight.”  I kissed his nose.  He laughed out loud, “Hmm, well I must say that I disagree.”  A mischievous smile spread across his lips and he reached greedily for the bottle of wine and poured himself a glass.  He looked at me demurely, “Would you care for a glass Madame?”  It seemed as though he expected me to say yes because he had already begun to pour a glass.  But before he could finish, I snatched up the bottle and flashed him an equally mischievous smile, “No, I’ll just take this,” I tilted the bottle upward, and took a long sip.  The aftertaste was overwhelming and I guess my facial expression suggested how my taste buds were feeling because Elliot laughed.  

“Too strong?”

“Just a little.”  

“I’ll be the judge of that.”  Before I could reply he stole the bottle from my grasp and made an attempt at taking a sip.  He tilted his head up in position for the bottle,  in a mockingly arrogant way.  As he tilted the end of the bottle up for  a drink, the wine came out faster than he had anticipated and his shirt ended up being the one who got the drink.  It was my turn to laugh.  He pushed me playfully and I grabbed his arm and thrust him down onto the picnic blanket. He swatted at the wine dripping from his chin.  The smell of Elliot was intoxicating- coffee, wine, and fresh paper.  

He smiled, “Come on.”  Taking me by the hand once more he led me to the picnic blanket.  I sat down criss-cross, not the least bit concerned about my skirt.  My mother always gave me lectures as a child about sitting on my knees when in a skirt so the boys couldn’t see my “undergarments.”  It doesn’t really matter, I remember thinking.  

“Whatcha think’n about?”  He kissed my cheek suspiciously.

“Oh nothing.”  Realizing he was watching me I tried to cover up the moment. “Really.”