First Date

First Date

“Hold on,” Sandy said, stopping mid stride.

Frank stopped, but not happily. “What? We’re gonna be late.”

“Shhh!” she responded sharply. “See those kids over there? There’s something wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re behaving suspiciously. Like they’re nervous, or afraid.”

“They’re kids! Kids are idiots! Come on!”

“I need to make sure they’re all right.”

Frank sighed, “They’re probably just hungry. Kids are always weird when they’re hungry,” but Sandy was already walking over.

“Hi,” she said softly as she came up to them, “my name’s Sandy. Do you live here?”

The older, a boy about four, looked around as if he was looking to see where ‘here’ was. Then he said “No.”

Then the younger, a girl, said “Tommy’s bringing me to the store! I have money!” and she held up a dollar bill.

“We’re not supposed to talk to strangers,” the boy said, frowning at his sister.

“That’s a good rule,” Sandy said. “And another good rule is to go to the store closest to your house when you’re walking with your little sister. I just thought I could help you find the closest store if I knew what street you lived on.”

“Oh,” he said, “We live on Bennet Street.”

“Oh! Well that’s easy then, but we need to go back to Bennet Street and then the store is right near there! We can show you!” off they went.

When they got to Bennet Street there were a number of adults rushing around calling their names, and when they saw them one woman burst into tears and rushed over.

After it was over, Frank said, “Well, we did miss the movie completely.”

“Did you really mind?” Sandy asked.

“Not one bit,” he said smiling, and taking her hand.

Six years later, they got married.