My digits? What kind of message is that? I didn't know if he meant me or not, but I wasn't about to reply to something so...curt, so lacking in any hint of romance.
I did know he meant me. I remembered him, sort of. There were two of them, together forlornly when I brought my shopping cart back to the car. They were parked in the bay behind me, the Nissan with the hood up, the guys with their mouths down. I set about shifting my purchases into my Merc and struggled to get the pressure washer box up and over the wire (so how was I going to be able to use it? - but that's another story...). The guy in red parka came over and offered to help, got it where I wanted it, and I thanked him.
"Are you in a hurry to get away?" he suddenly asked. When a random man asks you that in a parking lot you the alarms start blaring, so I played it cautious.
"I do have someone waiting for me so I really need to get going."
"Oh, OK, it was just in case you had time to help me out. I'd left the lights on too long and battery's flat. If I could find someone to give me a jump start |I'd just be so grateful."
He seemed genuine enough. He had helped me out. And I'd lied, there was nobody waiting and no rush to be anywhere. I looked at red parka man, a spaniel waiting to be petted. Then at his mate, blue puffa jacket guy, looking... at me, intently. He looked away quick enough when our eyes met. Harmless, or at least harmless enough, said my antennae.
RPM connected with my hesitation. "It wouldn't take long, I've got the leads right here." The smile half hopeful, half encouraging. I looked around and there was nobody else he could ask for now, and one Samaritan deserves another, don't they?
So I closed the trunk lid, shifted my car around to be nose to nose, released the hood and he did the rest. In less than four minutes the Nissan was purring away, my hood was back down and I was on my way home to my imaginary someone. RPM had given profuse thanks. BPJG never said a word. He did look though. A lot. Had positioned himself so that he could always sneak a glance. I thought I saw him grin as I pulled away.
It was Thursday when I was back into Craigslist. I've no idea what made me have a sneaky look at the Missed Connections ads. Sometimes I'd gone in there just for the laughs, the desperation that oozed from every line.
'Tractor Supply Friday (Stephensville)' I'd been there on Friday so clearly my brain would want to click. And there it was. Words springing from the sparse sentences. Shy. REALLY want you number. Fate. Friend a jump start. I really want them - your digits.
Surely not me? Surely me? Otherwise the coincidence level... This was my grinning silent admirer, Mr BPJG. Had I thought him cute? I really couldn't remember much beyond the sly glances and that final grin. No, he couldn't have my digits. Really, he couldn't.
I forgot all about him. I almost forgot all about him. OK, I sometimes wondered if I'd made a mistake. It wasn't like I had admirers queued up at the door, and dating in your forties was proving more of a challenge than I could handle. But if I'd made a mistake it was just another one in a long, long line. So?
Four months or so passed. I was back in Tractor Supply again. It was a hot day, a Friday. Looking in Lawns & Gardens for fertiliser and a new hose cart. Looking, looking, and then looking up. At a shopping cart stopped dead centre of the aisle. At a stupid grin above it. At those eyes which had watched me so intently.
He came towards me, opened his mouth, and I waited for sound to emerge. And waited. The look sinking from joyful to crestfallen.
"Still shy?" I asked. He nodded, still dumb. "Still REALLY want my... digits?"
"You read it?" My turn to nod. The puppy looked happy again. "I can speak, really, it's just..."
He'd made me laugh and that was enough.
"I'm nearly done in here." I looked at his empty cart. We looked.
"Err... I'm done too." I couldn't help my quizzical expression. "I don't come in to buy. I've been coming most Fridays since, you know... Sometimes weekends."
"For me?" He looked into the emptiness of his basket. "Just to say thanks for getting your buddy's car going maybe? Or do haunt this place for the atmosphere?"
"No, no, it's just that you wouldn't go from my head and I wanted to see you and I knew the ad was a long shot but maybe coming here I'd see you again and even if I didn't it helped me keep your face in my head and I always thought that maybe there was a chance and sometimes I didn't and..." He stopped himself, somehow, eyes lit up and shining, waiting.
"Sounds like I just gave another jump start. Always good to know I can still do it. Think it's time to head for the register?" I smiled. I smiled a smile that let him smile back, that turned Mr BPJG into Mr Mine.
We don't go to Tractor Supply much. But when we do we get two carts. And one of them stays empty
Footnote : The story derived from a Craiglist ad, in the Dallas listings, which went as follows -
"Tractor Supply Friday (Stephensville)' I wish i wasnt so shy . cause i REALLY want your number!! Maybe fate will let you see this !! You gave my friend a jump start ... So can i have them please?! Your digits?!"
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