“He Walked By”

He walked by. Everyone was busy concentrating on writing at the prompt and then he walked by.

That of itself would not have been a problem, except as he walked by, some unknown walking guilty party made the mistake of commenting to Lloyd that he should put in his hearing aid.

That was not so bad but it triggered a long dissertation about the hearing aid, which distracted some of the group from the important work of writing during the closely monitored time allowed for writing at the prompt.

Rather than cause a distraction, the guilty one would better have simply brought an ear trumpet for Lloyd to use at the next group meeting.

By John Gable

*****

  He walked by the diamond ring counter and asked the salesgirl for the time. She looked at her six dollar watch and told him it’s 2:30.

     “Thank you,” he said planning to move on towards the men’s department. He looked into her blue eyes. Those big blue eyes were like clear pools and he dove in. Once he broke surface he could breathe again. To stay in her company longer he asked to see some rings.

She unlocked the case and after he pointed to a ring she took it out and showed it to him.

“That’s a lovely engagement ring,” she said handing it to him.

He brushed her hand as he took hold of it. “Please put it on for me to see how it looks.”

She slipped it on her ring finger of the left hand. He held her hand and admired the ring.

“Are you about to get engaged?” She asked.

“I hope so,” he answered. “Do you like it?”

“Yes,”

“Good, I’ll take it.”

“Want me to gift wrap it?”

“No, just keep it on.” He got down on one knee on the other side of the counter, held her hand and said, “Will you marry me?”

She studied the ring again. She liked the feel of it on her hand and whispered,

“Yes.”

By   Ellynore Seybold-Smith