This morning he ordered a large country omelet, hash browns and a slice of fried ham. Usually he would smother it all in thick rich brown gravy but they didn’t have any today. Determined not to let his disappointment spoil the meal, Simon chewed his toast with deep satisfaction. It’s hard to beat good honest hot food on a cold winter’s morning.
Just as Simon reached for the strawberry jam a shrill wind blew through the room and a wide carpet of snow unrolled itself across the floor from the front entrance.
“What the…?” he spluttered. The mild curse was lost in a jumble of cries and complaints from other customers. It was a very cold morning after all.
His head turned as if on a swivel and saw what for a second appeared to be a headless man trying to hold up the ceiling. The apparition was awkward and leaned heavily like it was carrying a very heavy backpack on one shoulder. The upraised arms swung wildly about threatening to throw heavy canvas gloves into someone’s Cheerios.
The absurdity of seeing boots six feet in the air, for of course they were a pair of boots not gloves, sent Simon into a spasm of laughter. There was only one person on campus that could be expected to make this sort of entrance.
“Hey Jody”, he called back over his shoulder and downwards.
“Simon! What are you doing here? I thought we were going to meet at the Pavilion for breakfast.” Jody’s face was a deeper shade of red than the jam Simon was spreading on his toast. Evidently he had been upside down for quite a while.
“If we were meeting at the Pav, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I wanted set a record for walking on my hands. I figured going twice around Bonnycastle and then on to the Pav would just about do it. But I got cold so I thought I would get a cuppa joe.”
That smooth New Orleans accent made listening to Jody a pleasure. He could read from 101 Things Women Hate to Talk About and crowds of girls would still gather just to sigh and gaze into his large blue eyes. The fact he had a swimmer’s muscular and extremely fit body had nothing to do with it.
A smile passed between them and then Jody drawled, “Hey Linda! Can I get some coffee and a jelly-filled over here?”
The waitress called Linda straightened her blue uniform and hurried over to talk to the inverted Cajun. As she approached, he tilted onto one hand and fruitlessly brushed back his long shaggy blond hair which had been dragging in the blown snow.
“Anything else I can get you honey?” she asked him coquettishly.
“Just the coffee and doughnut…and a long straw please.”
Simon and Jody had become dorm mates just a few short weeks earlier but already they felt like brothers.
“How far have you walked already?” called a girl from another table.
“About thirty feet”, he said with a grin. A fit of coughing struck and threatened to topple him like the Tower of Pisa.
Just then Linda returned with his coffee and set it gently on the floor. Jody took a deep pull on the straw and let out a contented sigh.
“Oh, that’s good stuff.”
Linda was down on one knee next to him, absentmindedly admiring Jody’s strong arms. He twitched his head in a ‘come here’ way and she leaned in very close. Jody whispered in her ear for a second and Linda blushed furiously, sprang to her feet and hurried back to the kitchen.
“What’d you say to her?” Simon asked.
“I asked if she had any other leopard print clothes.”
Simon was confused but didn’t have a chance to question him further because someone had just caught both his and Jody’s attention. Moving from the very back of the Castle seating area was a tall shapely figure that seemed familiar to Simon. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a very tight pony tail which swung gently with her walk. One hand was closing a great heavy black jacket while she held a book close to her face with the other. Jody glanced up at Simon’s slack jawed expression knowingly.
“Well, if it isn’t the Ice Queen”, called Jody in a pseudo-mocking tone. “Buddy, that girl there is the biggest IQ on campus. I’d ask her out but we Loosiana boys don’t like frostbite.”
Her book didn’t drop a single millimeter as she stopped between the boys. But a sweet voice lashed out at them; castor oil mixed with honey, “Jody Martin, coming from a guy who measures success by the notches on his bedpost, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
The force of her insult was swept away as Jody’s arms finally gave out. Down he tumbled in a heap, banging against his adversary and knocking her right onto Simon’s lap. His arms wrapped instinctively around and held her close. He was lucky to catch her without someone being impaled because Simon still had a knife in his right hand, a fork carrying a large slab of ham in the other.
Virginia wriggled helplessly for a second before scrambling back to her feet. She then began to carefully pick bits of hash browns from her dress.
“I am so sorry. That clumsy oaf fell into me and…” Ginni’s apology faded into a mumble and then died altogether. For the first time she had looked into Simon’s face and a spark of recognition was beginning to blaze in her eyes.
“No, no problem”, Simon was assuring her. “It was just an accident.”
He too was brushing potato and omelet off his clothes. Only when she fell silent did he look up to gaze at her. Here she was! This was the girl he’d seen shopping that day. The warm red hair; almost feline shape of her mouth and eyes; and even her heavy winter coat didn’t completely cover her flawless figure.
“I…uh…You’re fine…I mean, are you okay?” Simon hadn’t stuttered like this since he was four.
Jody watched this moment with extreme interest. He was known as a Ladies Man around the school. Only this girl, Virginia Shelton, had ever brushed him off without a single thought. Frankly, it was a bit hard on his reputation. Jody asked her out just the one time. After that fiasco they had settled into an agree-to-disagree relationship punctuated by sarcastic banter. In their hearts, both knew they were enjoying the game far more than they ever would have in a relationship. Jody smiled.
“Soooooo. Have you two kids ever met?”
“No”, Simon answered too quickly.
“Yes”, replied Ginni equally fast.
She grimaced at Simon and then laughed quietly.
“Do you remember going to the prom with a skinny little girl who wore braces? Her dress was pink and gold and wouldn’t stay up so she used duct tape under her arms. You noticed it when she reached for a glass of punch.”
Simon’s eyes widened to the size of basketballs.
“No way was that you! Ginni, Virginia Shelton?”
Jody had never seen her off-balance before but right now Ginni appeared positively shy. She bowed her head slightly and turned pink. Ginni reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a heavy set of reading glasses. She slipped them over her eyes, loosened the ponytail and then piled the hair on top of her head. An amazing transformation was taking place. She hunched over and affected a bucktoothed smile. Suddenly she was a 12-year-old tomboy straight from the backwoods.
Simon was dumbstruck. “It is you!” Looking to his friend who had by now regained his feet he shouted, “Jody, we went out once! My mom asked me to take her to the prom. Some football players tried to jump me just because I kidnapped their mascot.”
“You? Do something so underhanded? I’d never believe it” Jody said in mock dismay.
Simon’s face broke into a huge devilish grin; a boy caught by an indulgent parent with his finger in the honey jar. “Yeah, they cornered me just after we got inside. So I threw the punchbowl to them and they wet themselves.”
The boy’s eyes were filling with tears of laughter. To their great shock, Ginni was also laughing. Hers was not the tinkling repressed laugh of girls too concerned about what others think. Nor was it a huge booming guffaw which implied lack of self control. Ms. Shelton was filled with happy memories and exploded in honest mirth. Jody’s face twisted into something resembling that of the town lunatic. Some evil comment was hatching in that fertile brain.
“Seems the Queen was once a skinny little Ice Princess. Tell me, did Prince Charming here sweep you off your feet and take you away on his mighty steed to a fairy tale castle in a kingdom far far away?”
Ginni’s eyes flashed and her mouth worked as if her tongue were covered in acid. Jody flinched a little in anticipation of a blast which never came. Instead, she offered her very prettiest, most alluring smile and took Simon’s arm. Her head lay down on his shoulder and the scent of cinnamon and vanilla perfume chased away all his reason.
“No”, she simpered, “We were separated by an evil witch who cast a spell and hid him from me for lo these many long years. But here we are, together, in a Castle, far far away.”
To the shock of both men, Virginia flung her arms around Simon’s neck and kissed him full on the mouth. He went past surprise into full paralysis. For 10, 20, 30 seconds she continued to press her lips to his until the entire café was cheering wildly.
Finally she let him go, winked at Jody and said, “Sometimes, fairy tales can come true.” Then with a much more pronounced swing in her step than usual, Virginia headed out into the blizzard.
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