It was supposed to be his surprise to me. He put a scarf over my eyes and tied it in a knot at the back of my head and he said I was not to look. I hadn’t the heart to tell him that I already knew. I played along, and behind the dark of the scarf I could picture him smiling and being pleased with himself.
Truth is, even if I hadn’t known, hadn’t overheard Col on the phone one Friday night making plans, even without that I might have guessed. Fact is, I planned the whole thing. He’s not what you’d call smart. Pretty as a filmstar, and he’s gentle, too, and he makes love like a girl; but he’s not what you’d call a thinker. Col’d never have come up with this if I hadn’t planted the seeds in his head and watered them careful as I water the beets in the bit of ground out back, the beets and the carrots and the herbs I got growing.
Maisie says as how I can twist Col around my little finger and she says it a little wistful, like it’s something she’d like to do with her Steve. And she’s right, but I like her Steve and I sometimes wish there was a bit more to Col. With Steve you can talk about stuff and he has a view on things and he brings something to the conversation. Col just nods and shrugs and he says he don’t rightly know nothing, which he don’t.
So, I says to him one day how I miss the town where we all grew up and it’s by the sea and I tell him the things we did once, when we were kids. I show him pictures and that jogs his memory, and I show him how he’s smiling as much as I am. Then, a day or so after, I remind him that I have a special birthday coming up and I say as how I hope he’s got something special in mind and I leave those photographs of us as kids just laying around where he can see them.
He’s booked us a room at the Sunny Side Up motel. He’s forgotten the number of the room where we first did it and where, straight after, Col got down on one knee, not wearing a stitch, and he put a greasy washer on my engagement finger and asked me to marry him; he’s forgotten the number of the room, but that don’t matter. And he’s invited Maisie and Steve and Paula, our best friends ever. And I’m sitting in the front seat of the car with the window down and my eyes hid behind a scarf and I can smell the sea and smoke from Denny’s Cannery and engine oil from the boats.
It’s supposed to be a birthday surprise and Col thinks he’s been real clever this time. Only, it’s like Maisie says, and I’m the one that has brought him here and all of them with me. And there’s a reason for this and Col thinks it’s on account of my birthday. And Paula and Maisie and Steve think so, too.
I’ve still got that washer Col put on my finger. I wear it on a lace about my neck. Col never did exchange it for a proper ring. Seven years we’ve been sleeping together in the one bed and I’m still waiting for him to do good by me. And the truth is I think he’s forgotten what he said in room 210 at The Sunny Side Up. So I’ve brought him here to remind him, and I even got a ring with a diamond in it, and I’ve booked a minister and a room in church, and our parents have been told to keep the weekend free. And that’s the real surprise, but Col don’t know it yet.
Patricia Ann McNair 
It was supposed to be his surprise to me. He put a scarf over my eyes and tied it in a knot at the back of my head and he said I was not to look. I hadn’t the heart to tell him that I already knew. I played along, and behind the dark of the scarf I could picture him smiling and being pleased with himself.
Truth is, even if I hadn’t known, hadn’t overheard Col on the phone one Friday night making plans, even without that I might have guessed. Fact is, I planned the whole thing. He’s not what you’d call smart. Pretty as a filmstar, and he’s gentle, too, and he makes love like a girl; but he’s not what you’d call a thinker. Col’d never have come up with this if I hadn’t planted the seeds in his head and watered them careful as I water the beets in the bit of ground out back, the beets and the carrots and the herbs I got growing.
Maisie says as how I can twist Col around my little finger and she says it a little wistful, like it’s something she’d like to do with her Steve. And she’s right, but I like her Steve and I sometimes wish there was a bit more to Col. With Steve you can talk about stuff and he has a view on things and he brings something to the conversation. Col just nods and shrugs and he says he don’t rightly know nothing, which he don’t.
So, I says to him one day how I miss the town where we all grew up and it’s by the sea and I tell him the things we did once, when we were kids. I show him pictures and that jogs his memory, and I show him how he’s smiling as much as I am. Then, a day or so after, I remind him that I have a special birthday coming up and I say as how I hope he’s got something special in mind and I leave those photographs of us as kids just laying around where he can see them.
He’s booked us a room at the Sunny Side Up motel. He’s forgotten the number of the room where we first did it and where, straight after, Col got down on one knee, not wearing a stitch, and he put a greasy washer on my engagement finger and asked me to marry him; he’s forgotten the number of the room, but that don’t matter. And he’s invited Maisie and Steve and Paula, our best friends ever. And I’m sitting in the front seat of the car with the window down and my eyes hid behind a scarf and I can smell the sea and smoke from Denny’s Cannery and engine oil from the boats.
It’s supposed to be a birthday surprise and Col thinks he’s been real clever this time. Only, it’s like Maisie says, and I’m the one that has brought him here and all of them with me. And there’s a reason for this and Col thinks it’s on account of my birthday. And Paula and Maisie and Steve think so, too.
I’ve still got that washer Col put on my finger. I wear it on a lace about my neck. Col never did exchange it for a proper ring. Seven years we’ve been sleeping together in the one bed and I’m still waiting for him to do good by me. And the truth is I think he’s forgotten what he said in room 210 at The Sunny Side Up. So I’ve brought him here to remind him, and I even got a ring with a diamond in it, and I’ve booked a minister and a room in church, and our parents have been told to keep the weekend free. And that’s the real surprise, but Col don’t know it yet.