now?”
“Yes.” Kelly laughed, then she narrowed her eyes conspiratorially and whispered in an even lower register, “Can you hear me now?”
“Very good, very good.” Sangrid took a long sip of wine, and set the glass back on the table, his smile broader than ever. Without the slightest show of self-consciousness, he placed his right elbow on the table, the hand open, and then he laid his left forearm on the table so the left hand was directly below the right. “Arm wrestle?”
Uh oh. The warning bells went off in Kelly’s head. This has just moved from a little eccentric to very weird. But he looked happy and, well, normal, so she hated to decline. Who knows? Maybe he spent the last few years in some place where this was acceptable behavior. She forced a chuckle, crossed palms with his right hand and grasped the left on the table.
“Go,” he said, and she reflexively tried to push his hand down, but she could feel he was only pushing back hard enough to keep their arms vertical, not trying to beat her. That was better, but a little insulting, so she shifted her chair a little and tried harder, putting her shoulder into it. He looked a little surprised as his arm was forced backwards, but also happy, as he exerted himself more strongly and forced her arm back to the vertical. Kelly made another effort which met with the same result, and then she slacked off, and he released both of her hands.
“Great, just great,” Sangrid enthused, as if he were a physical trainer who was helping her rehab from an injury. “Quick reactions, nice balance of fast twitch and slow twitch muscles. You really exceed all expectations, Kelly.”
“Thank you, Sangrid, but I’m beginning to have a strange feeling about all of this.” She kept her tone light, but there was no mistaking that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the way the date was going. “I’ve never been on a job interview, but I imagine it would be something like this.”
“You’ve hit the nail right on the head,” he confirmed her guess and slapped his hand on the table. “You have an excellent grasp of analogies and pattern recognition.”
Kelly felt herself starting to blush on hearing the high points of her self-image acknowledged and played back by a stranger, but she had no path other than forward. “So you see our date as a job interview?” she asked hesitantly, as the worm of doubt burrowed into the positive impression she had started to form of this cheerful, if somewhat peculiar man.
“Why, of course courting is like a job interview,” he replied, sounding almost surprised. “What could be more important than picking the right person to contribute half of the genes to your offspring? And would you want to accidentally fall in love with somebody you wouldn’t have chosen as a partner in a business?”
“You make the whole thing sound like a business,” Kelly complained. “Don’t you want romance, mutual attraction, that special spark?”
“We’re neither of us children, Kelly,” he remonstrated her, the beginnings of a frown appearing on his jovial countenance. “When people are well-matched, love may follow. But even if it doesn’t, they’re still well-matched, aren’t they?”
Kelly opened her mouth to reply and then closed it. She wasn’t going to debate him on the merits of love matches on a first date, but something about his vibe didn’t exactly match his words.
“It seems to me that well-matched needs to go beyond physical characteristics,” Kelly said slowly. “I get the feeling that you’re more focused on the offspring side of the issue.”
“Amazing, perfect, you really read my mind, Kelly,” he said, recovering his good humor. “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk about, but I couldn’t quite see how to bring it up. You see, I would be perfectly willing to pay you to have my child. I wouldn’t even insist on natural conception, as attractive as that proposition appears.” He concluded this
“Yes.” Kelly laughed, then she narrowed her eyes conspiratorially and whispered in an even lower register, “Can you hear me now?”
“Very good, very good.” Sangrid took a long sip of wine, and set the glass back on the table, his smile broader than ever. Without the slightest show of self-consciousness, he placed his right elbow on the table, the hand open, and then he laid his left forearm on the table so the left hand was directly below the right. “Arm wrestle?”
Uh oh. The warning bells went off in Kelly’s head. This has just moved from a little eccentric to very weird. But he looked happy and, well, normal, so she hated to decline. Who knows? Maybe he spent the last few years in some place where this was acceptable behavior. She forced a chuckle, crossed palms with his right hand and grasped the left on the table.
“Go,” he said, and she reflexively tried to push his hand down, but she could feel he was only pushing back hard enough to keep their arms vertical, not trying to beat her. That was better, but a little insulting, so she shifted her chair a little and tried harder, putting her shoulder into it. He looked a little surprised as his arm was forced backwards, but also happy, as he exerted himself more strongly and forced her arm back to the vertical. Kelly made another effort which met with the same result, and then she slacked off, and he released both of her hands.
“Great, just great,” Sangrid enthused, as if he were a physical trainer who was helping her rehab from an injury. “Quick reactions, nice balance of fast twitch and slow twitch muscles. You really exceed all expectations, Kelly.”
“Thank you, Sangrid, but I’m beginning to have a strange feeling about all of this.” She kept her tone light, but there was no mistaking that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the way the date was going. “I’ve never been on a job interview, but I imagine it would be something like this.”
“You’ve hit the nail right on the head,” he confirmed her guess and slapped his hand on the table. “You have an excellent grasp of analogies and pattern recognition.”
Kelly felt herself starting to blush on hearing the high points of her self-image acknowledged and played back by a stranger, but she had no path other than forward. “So you see our date as a job interview?” she asked hesitantly, as the worm of doubt burrowed into the positive impression she had started to form of this cheerful, if somewhat peculiar man.
“Why, of course courting is like a job interview,” he replied, sounding almost surprised. “What could be more important than picking the right person to contribute half of the genes to your offspring? And would you want to accidentally fall in love with somebody you wouldn’t have chosen as a partner in a business?”
“You make the whole thing sound like a business,” Kelly complained. “Don’t you want romance, mutual attraction, that special spark?”
“We’re neither of us children, Kelly,” he remonstrated her, the beginnings of a frown appearing on his jovial countenance. “When people are well-matched, love may follow. But even if it doesn’t, they’re still well-matched, aren’t they?”
Kelly opened her mouth to reply and then closed it. She wasn’t going to debate him on the merits of love matches on a first date, but something about his vibe didn’t exactly match his words.
“It seems to me that well-matched needs to go beyond physical characteristics,” Kelly said slowly. “I get the feeling that you’re more focused on the offspring side of the issue.”
“Amazing, perfect, you really read my mind, Kelly,” he said, recovering his good humor. “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk about, but I couldn’t quite see how to bring it up. You see, I would be perfectly willing to pay you to have my child. I wouldn’t even insist on natural conception, as attractive as that proposition appears.” He concluded this
Similar Books
