Romancing the Chicken Bone
Once upon a time there was a handsome young Texan who worked on his hotel and restaurant management degree at the University of Houston. He had skipped summer classes the year before, but had decided he wanted to speed up the process so that meant hitting the books over the summer. American History from 1876 to the Present (1986) seemed like a good summer fit and he saw a time that fit his schedule.
On the first day of class he went to the Social Works Building Lecture Hall One. In these days he was always early for classes and appointments and the first day of school was no exception. This was despite being rear ended by some moron on the Gulf Freeway a couple hours earlier. So he entered the right hand door and moved to the middle of the 140 seat hall and found a spot in the middle. He dumped his backpack and dug out a pen and pad.
Then the handsome young Texan looked around the room to see if he recognized anyone. He did not spot anyone familiar, but on the stage stood a delicate lily, smile glowing, bronze flesh, and curls brushing the blossoms shoulders. She looked to be quite popular, as Asian bees buzzed by her for a chat and other blossoms from the China Sea surrounded her but none compared. The Texas could not help but admire the blosson’s beauty. Just as in the first day of elementary school when he decided he could never learn to read or write, he knew he would never get close enough to inhale the perfume, much less pluck the blossom.
So for a couple of weeks he focused on history. Every now and then the lily took root near him. They even exchanged smiles and once she stopped his beating heart with an unchallenged hello. But the Texan focused on the ramifications of Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan Hill rather than engaging the blossom in conversation.
Then came the day. One that looked to be as boring as the day that preceded it. Early as usual he sat in the middle and prepared to take notes. Just as the lecture began the lily walked in and selected the same row as the Texan. She smiled and apologised as she shoved passed, overladen with backpack and a large nondescript brown paper bag that she gripped by its rolled end.
The lecture droned on about the depression and the Dust Bowl. Being that it was summer school, classes lasted longer, but there is always a middle break. The handsome young Texan dashed to the restroom and when he returned she sat there. he sat too and they chatted for a sentence or two or three regarding a topic long forgotten. Something interesting like the weather, or traffic on the 610 Loop.
Those sentences kept buzzing in the Texan’s mind. The lecture was a distraction from his focus on the lily. Too bad he had a now forfotten appointment after class or the handsome young Texan could chat the lily up a bit. Talking is supposed to be good for blossoms or so he read.
Class dismissed. Open bag, stuff in note book, drop in a pen, zip shut, and lug onto the shoulder. The lily smiled as she waited for the Texan to get moving. Thump. Bathump. Bahtump. He stepped out on to the aisle and let her pass. She walked by in jeans and a button down blouse, both a darker blue than the Texan’s eyes. Thump. Bathump. Bahtump. And those eyes focused on the lily and that’s when fate struck. Thump. Bathump. Bahtump. The lily did not have her brown bag. Thump. Bathump. Bahtump.
“Excuse me mortal blosson,” he spoke words shaking off his tongue. “But you have forgotten your brown bag.”
The lily turned.
Stopped.
Looked.
The world went Neo; frozen as if nothing mattered. She looked at the Texan and smiled. Then he learned that the bag was full of chicken which she gave to her friend that worked down the hall in the computer room.
Next would come the mistake of the century. Invitations meant to be rejected were offered and accepted. Appointments that should not be missed, were. Nonexistent insults avoided in the name of ignorance. A bag of chicken eaten, a lily plucked, and a Texan grown just a bit older and fuller.
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:51 am
What a wonderful story! I want more of these!
November 2nd, 2005 at 1:07 pm
oh yay! thank you for taking the time to fulfil my request.
that was so nice. blossom ey? hehe.
November 2nd, 2005 at 2:50 pm
@etchen I don’t know how often I can go autobiographical, but I will try when the muse allows. The request made it a little easier to write.
@socialpest I enjoyed the exercise socialpest. A couple of years ago I took my son to that classroom after watching a UH football game. Nothing has changed in the room in almost 20 years. She is still quite the blossom and her eyes still smile. She is so much better than I.
November 2nd, 2005 at 4:34 pm
Wow! What a beautiful way to tell your story.
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:17 pm
awwwww. you’re so much in love then and you are so much in love now! baby baby baby, it’s so good this kind of good love exists.
should i go buy a bag of chicken to catch my beau?
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:18 pm
U and Kunsta should go Co-write a book or something….full of imagination and talent~!!! keep blogging pls! i may not blog much but i do read….:)well-written
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:46 pm
@Alisa I have told this story a lot orally. It was kind of refreshing to put it into words and try to make a bag of chicken romantic.
@misti tat sounds like a plan to me.
@wabbit hey there long time no see. Actually me and Kunsta may do this some day. I miss your writing but I understand you’re busy. Was a little worried about that last shout on your blog.
November 2nd, 2005 at 9:06 pm
wow… sweet…I can’t say anything.. as I’m smiling here…with both my lips and my eyes..
November 2nd, 2005 at 9:14 pm
@Jane Cannot imagine you smiling any larger. hahaha
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:05 pm
aaaaaaawwwwwwwww. that was delightful and lovely. it made me smile, sa.
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:18 pm
You don’t know how happy that makes me transience.
Wow another new icon just to emphasize your point. Cool. I need to go find one of Bjork’s (sp?)songs and listen. I don’t know if I have heard her before.
November 3rd, 2005 at 7:42 am
Ohhhh, soooo sweet ….. swoon
So who is this handsome Texan huh??? *wink wink*
New riddle: “Why did the chicken go to the lecture theater?”
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:12 am
Hey lynne. If I was an Aggie (Texas A&M) You would be killing me right about now.
Glad you enjoyed it.
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:19 am
I was reading the posts again wabbit. After reading yours I wanna make sure you unnerstan dat this is a true autobiographical event lah.
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:37 am
i am hungry after reading this… no chicken at home, so i am eating instant cup noodles now.. such a romantic story!!
November 3rd, 2005 at 10:39 am
The instant cup noodles came later cat. Glad you enjoyed.
November 3rd, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Gorgeous.
Just gorgeous.
November 3rd, 2005 at 3:13 pm
Glad to see you my Queen. Happy you enjoyed the post too.
November 3rd, 2005 at 5:22 pm
ahhh… memories of that long summer, of books, a bag of chicken and a dreams of flowers. we know what happen to the books n chicken but what of the flower? is there gardening involved? cheers!
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:37 pm
Gardening is always involved in these. Blossoms require nurturing, sunshine, and rain. And you have to be very gentle or they will leaf you.
November 4th, 2005 at 3:43 am
a beautiful tale, it’s fun to use the third person sometimes.
November 4th, 2005 at 5:54 am
This type of writing is so different than my usual style. Kind of refreshing. Got to use some writing muscles that had been ignored in the past.
November 4th, 2005 at 6:09 am
refreshing indeed. Look at how many comments you got for this story!
November 4th, 2005 at 6:23 am
Yeah K man. It really surprised me. Wonder if the same would happen for stuff I usually write? Horror and fantasy. Hmmm may dig in the archives and clean up an old story to find out.
November 4th, 2005 at 9:52 am
you must show your lily this post. *wink*
November 4th, 2005 at 10:56 am
I told her about it misti.
November 4th, 2005 at 10:59 am
she must be so happy! it’s soooo romantic. you sound so in love then and now you know?
November 4th, 2005 at 9:17 pm
Know what? Alzheimers hitting me again. haha
November 5th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
perhaps me too. i said the same thing earlier.
November 6th, 2005 at 1:28 am
Know what? Alzheimers hitting me again. haha
Uh. Waitaminute.
November 6th, 2005 at 9:18 am
i thought i wrote something here earlier. no no perhaps not.. but then again.. of course i did.. i think.
but you will get your hugs all the same. but i did gave you some earlier, i think.
November 6th, 2005 at 9:49 am
Excuse me. Have we met before?
Hug, oh yeah. I can do that.
November 6th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
Hey, ya left my part out of the story!
How I tried to talk you out of it, how we gamed for a bachelor’s party, and how our fishing days ended when ya got married!
However, let me say, I LOVE Branda and Jerry has the greatest kids ever. I love em like my own and would do anything for them.
November 6th, 2005 at 9:32 pm
That came later. Another tale I may choose to spin some day.
Damn I wish I could remember which end of the pole to point at the water. Ya get to eat the fish right?
Ed’s the best friend and partner a fellow a could ever ask for.
November 7th, 2005 at 8:17 am
can you clone Ed?
November 7th, 2005 at 9:26 am
You cannot clone Texan. Just sheep.
Sorry lah.
November 7th, 2005 at 11:44 am
*mmeeehhhhhh….
November 7th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
dolly calling…
(hahaa, since your comment box is stuck in limbo on the main page. this oughta kick the numbers. always did the trick for me. when you can’t beat bloggoflups, you get to learn how move their butts.)
November 7th, 2005 at 2:11 pm
Oh hello Dolly.
Say hello Dolly.
Oh sorry. My dad used to play that song really, really loud. Bad memories there, especially when he did it drunk off his at ass at 3 in the morning.
Speaking of three in the morning. Coughing keeping you up dear?
November 7th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
coughing jolted me outta bed more likey, but am ok now, drinking caracola’s mixture of hot honey and lemon. it helps.
sometimes i alternate with coca cola and lemon. lol. any concoction to keep away the cough syrup for now. 2 sets of antibiotics are enough for my overloaded system.
November 7th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Dang. Sounds like rough stuff. Snuggle up and go back to sleep.
November 7th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
meeehhhhh…cloned dolly sleeps..
November 7th, 2005 at 6:46 pm
Hahaha.
I’ll have to keep you away from Texas A&M. Be too popular there.
November 8th, 2005 at 8:38 am
Wow…. nice nice… 44 comments so far..
November 8th, 2005 at 9:34 am
yeah I need to make a new post. After I finish working on Skinwalker.
November 9th, 2005 at 1:54 pm
This is such a great story. I’m glad it had a happy ending, too!
November 9th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Thank you and welcome to my blog.
June 26th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
*prepares a vase for the lily*
June 28th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Ok, now I really want some Kentucky Fried Chicken!
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:39 pm
I want someone to write me a story like that… *jelus*
SA: You will get your story some day. You are so worth it.