He walked out to his car and drove over to the truck stop. He wanted to be completely familiar with the place before tomorrow. He noticed that to the right of the front door was a large ice cooler. Corey would have to pass in front of that before she went inside. He now knew what he was going to do and guarantee success the next day.
Ocarina got to the truck stop around 3:30. He doubted that Corey had conquered her fear of ever showing up on time for anything. So he was pretty sure he would have time for his plans. He had a large piece of poster board that he had worked on the night before. He got out of the car and using more than enough duck tape he affixed the sign to the door of the cooler. COREY PLEASE OPEN BEFORE WORK!!!! He was pretty sure that she would see the sign and hopefully everything would proceed from there. While he waited he saw a couple guys pull up to the restaurant, but it was on the other side and they entered the front door without even noticing his sign. It was now almost 4:00, he was starting to sweat and wondered if she was ever going to show up. Just then heard a car pull up where the employees usually parked. It was an old, blue Ford Escort, that likely had escorted itself over more miles than the expected life span of a car that decrepit. He watched as a woman got out of the car and started across the lot. He strained his good eye. It sure did look like her, it had been around four years or more, but she still looked the same. McGurk was wrong, she was not a bit heavier, or much of anything different, just her hair seemed a lot darker and with no recognizable hairstyle that he could determine. She walked past the cooler, then stopped…..looked at the sign, she hesitated as if maybe it was some kind of joke, but she reached over and opened the door. As soon as she did that, Ocarina opened his car door, jumped out and slowly walked over towards where Corey was standing. “Hey Corey, remember me?”
She was staring in the cooler and had reached in to grab some of the roses that were in there. She just had a couple in her hands when she turned around. “Ocarina? Is that you? And these are for me?” She had a great big grin on her face and seemed to be excited to see him. “Where have you been all of my life?” she said casually. “It’s been a long time.”
“Corey, I have been looking for you, for a long time.”
“What took you so long you silly boy? I never forgot about you, just had so much going on in my life, I couldn’t keep everything together in my mind. What to do, what was next. “
She walked up to him and gave him a hug and he grabbed her and held her as if he would never let her go again. “Corey, I can’t believe this is happening, my dreams come true, holding you, after all this time. I can’t believe it. Can we go somewhere and just talk, catch up and see what the future holds for us.”
“Sure, let’s go for a ride. It’s a beautiful day, summer is still around. Let’s go.”
“what about your job” said Ocarina “don’t you have to tell them you won’t be coming in?”
“Heck no, I hate that job” laughed Corey “I always have, and there are some bad memories there. I can always get another job.”
They hopped in the car and drove out of the parking lot. Ocarina decided that they would just drive out on the back roads and take it slow and easy. Enjoy the scenery, listen to some music on the radio and just slowly catch up on things and don’t rush anything. They seemed to drive for hours, down the two lane country roads. The ride was magical. It was getting closer to dusk. There would be a beautiful August sunset tonight.
Ocarina was thinking while listening to Corey talk. It was with unbridled ecstasy, when he heard that Corey had been abandoned by her truck driver friend. She was a free woman again after all these years. He vowed not to make the same mistakes that he did before. It was in a magazine that he found in the stall of truck stop restroom, that he got the idea for the cooler full of roses. It was mad. It was impulsive, It sure sounded romantic anyway, and it did work.
Now they were together again, meandering to who knew where. “Oh, Ocarina. After all these years. I still recognized you. Even with that black eye patch. by the way, how did you come by that, eh?”
“An unfortunate office accident. A combination of flying cup of hot coffee and a number 2 Ticonderoga pencil, as a matter of fact. It is supposed to be only short term. Don’t know how it ever happened, try not to think about it, it’s all warm beer now that I have you back. I do have you don’t I”
“Do you? Do you or not? I wonder” she said coquettishly “did you ever wonder where they get the term nosegay for flower bouquet? I’ve often wondered about that.” She turned and spit her gum out the open window. “Would you like to kiss me? Right now? purred Corey
In the excitement of the moment, Ocarina lost control of the car. They swerved across the narrow road, up a small embankment and ended up in an abandoned deer camp.
“Sure baby.” As the car came to a dusty, fly buzzing halt. He leaned over to her and kissed her as he always dreamt of kissing her and trying to make up for all the lost time. “Wow! Occie, you still really know how to osculate! “ sighed Corey. Yes, Ocarina thought to himself, they were back together for good this time. He heard Buddy Holly softly singing on the radio, “True Love Ways” They watched the sun began to set, and they could hear the gentle chirping of the crickets as they kissed once again.
“Oh by the way, I have one little secret I never told you about.” said Corey “ It’s no big deal, but….my real name is Tracy. Corey is my middle name and I never liked Tracy, so I never went by that name. My father always wanted a boy and wanted to name him Richard Tracy, after his favorite comic strip: Dick Tracy. So when I was born, he had to settle for naming me Tracy. They never had any more kids after me.”
“Well, if that’s the biggest secret we have between us, things should be looking pretty good. I’m happy to call you Corey or Tracy, as long as I can also call you mine.” laughed Ocarina.
The crickets were still singing on the radio and in the field around them.
Once upon a time…….The End, (for now)
copyright @2020 bill melnik
I was happy with the ending