The Keys to my Diary ~ Fern

Saturday, June 20

What an amazing date! I'm so glad that I didn't chicken out and stand him up. Mac is every bit as charming, funny, and sweet as I had hoped he would be. I was embarrassed to admit that I didn't know his name, but he seemed completely unfazed by it. When he told me it was Brody MacDonald, I immediately wondered if he had acquired his fortune in fast food. Thankfully, I didn't voice that pondering aloud, since the hamburger joint is spelled, McDonald's. Duh!

I like it that he goes by Mac. It seems like the name of an approachable and fun-loving man, not a billionaire business mogul. I like the name Brody too, though. It seems like a name that I could yell out in ecstasy during a naked and passionate embrace. Whoops! Did I write that out loud??

For being an incredibly rich tycoon, Mac certainly has a way of putting everyone around him at ease. My jitters even subsided after a few minutes with him. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though. This story deserves to be told from the beginning.

I was so nervous when I left my apartment and started driving up the road that leads to the club, that I seriously thought I might hurl all over my beautiful dress. I was distracted from my nausea by the crabs, though. Yes, that's right, I said crabs. There were hundreds of them skittering around in the road. The Keys had endured an unusual amount of rain lately, and the mangroves beside the road had become flooded. Some portions of the road even had a shallow stream of water flowing over it, but fortunately, I was able to drive through it. Apparently, the only dry land the crabs could find was on the pavement of the road itself.

There wasn't any place for me to turn around on the narrow two-lane road without chancing getting my car swept into the flooded mangroves, and I didn't want to attempt driving in reverse the two miles back to US 1. Besides, I could see cars coming up behind me. I squinted my eyes into narrow slits and held the steering wheel with both hands as I tried to weave between the scampering crabs.

The little buggers were dancing sideways, going every which way. It reminded me of my first video game, Frogger, where the little frog tries to hop across the road to avoid getting squished by cars that keep zooming faster and faster. In this version, though, I was in the big mean car trying to avoid crabs that seemed to have a death wish. When I heard one crunch under my tires, I cringed in horror.

After the hitting the third one, I decided that it just wasn't possible to weave and avoid them. So, I gunned my beat-up little car and barreled in a straight line towards TKYC. Amazingly, I didn't hit anymore of the little critters. I guess that, in this case, trying to be kind did more harm than good.

I parked my car in the employee lot and decided to hoof it to the restaurant. I still had plenty of time, and I didn't want to take the chance of taking a golf cart and having the wind whip my French twist into a rat's nest. As I walked, I received plenty of curious stares from fellow employees. They were no doubt wondering why I was all gussied up. A few members even checked me out, probably thinking that I looked somewhat familiar and wondering how they knew me. I just smiled and kept on walking.

I arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early, and he was already there waiting for me. I would have never thought that such a handsome, wealthy man would be interested in a date with me, let alone show up early for it. He turned when I entered the restaurant and beamed a smile at me as if I were the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Believe me, I know that can't even be close to the truth, but it sure is nice to feel that way once in a while.

He looked even more handsome in dress clothes. His shirt was unbuttoned at the neck, and he had forgone a tie in a blatant nose-flip at the Club's rules. I briefly wondered if the maître d' would let him get by with this transgression. As we were escorted to our table, I pondered the idea that maybe the black card buys a member the right to ignore the rules that the 'wealthy peasants' who hold other colored cards must abide by.