Love in a Rowboat
Another wet love story
When things got intense between them Larry usually resorted to laughter. It was his coping mechanism.
Shirley reacted by running away and hiding. It seemed to work for her.
One day they went out on the lake in a rowboat. They were not going fishing. They merely rowed out to the center of the lake and stayed there talking and taking in the beautiful scenery. Shirley brought a picnic.
Larry had asked Shirley to marry him six months previously. She said that she was not ready for marriage then she ran away to her cousin’s house across the state where she stayed for two weeks without ever answering her phone.
When Shirley came back Larry asked her if she had given any more thought to his proposal. She replied that she had but that she was still not ready. Larry did not bring it up again until they were in that rowboat out in the middle of the lake.
“Oh Larry, I’m sorry but I’m still not ready. I have concerns.”
“Concerns?”
“Yeah. We’re just so different. I’m a really, really, really serious person and you are the exact opposite. All you want to do is joke around and have fun.”
“Hey, we’re complementary. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“I don’t think that’s how it works. We’re just too different. We can have fun together but marriage is a very serious thing. Can you be serious enough about that kind of commitment?”
“Hey, I was serious when I asked you to marry me. Dead serious. I can be serious. I can be serious as a heart attack. But life is too awesome to be serious all the time. Having fun is equally important as being serious. You need a mixture of both and we are the perfect mixture. I bring out the fun in you and you bring out the seriousness in me.” Larry thought about how perfect it was that they were out in a rowboat on the lake because she could not run away.
“Larry Sweetie, I need to know that you are truly one hundred percent serious about us. When we have kids are you going to be serious about their welfare? Are you going to stick it out even when it’s not fun?”
“When we have kids?”
“Of course!”
“Hey, kids are a lot of fun! And yes, they are a very serious matter, too. Think of how well balanced the kids will be with us as parents. You can teach them how to be serious and I can show them how to have fun and laugh. You’ll never see how serious I can be until we have kids. I’d be a killer dad.”
“What about me? Will you be a killer husband to me?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! I love you, Shirley. Please marry me.”
Shirley fell silent as she stared into his eyes. Larry could tell that she was thinking really hard.
Suddenly, Shirley stood up in the rowboat. With a very subtle hint of a smile on her face, she turned and dove into the water and proceeded to swim for shore.
“Shirley! What the hell are you doing?” Larry slapped his forehead. She always ran away. Maybe marriage wasn’t right for them. Was she going to run away — or swim away — every time there was friction?
Larry opened the picnic basket and pulled out a fried chicken drumstick taking a bite of it. Maybe their relationship was doomed. She just did not believe that he could be serious.
As he took another bite of chicken it suddenly dawned on Larry that she was playfully testing him to see just how serious he was. He tossed the rest of the drumstick into the lake, stood up, and dove into the water swimming after her.
It was a long swim. Larry was very out of breath when he made it to shore. Shirley was sitting on the beach in her wet clothes. She had already caught her breath. Larry sat down next to her as his breathing very slowly returned to normal.
“Yes,” said Shirley.
“Huh?”
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Larry turned to look into her eyes. She had a huge smile on her face. Quickly, they were kissing and hugging.
Eventually, Shirley pulled back, “Well, that was certainly fun.”
“Kissing or swimming all the way across the lake?”
“Swimming across the lake, of course. See, I can be fun. I can be spontaneous.”
“Yes, Shirley, you can be fun. But admit it. You were being serious, too.”
She laughed, “I guess. I wondered what you would do. Would you jump in the water and swim after me — or at least row after me? Or would you just sit there and eat our picnic?”
“Well, there was no question in my mind. I wasn’t going to let you run away — not ever again. Of course I swam after you. Rowing after you would have been a lot easier…”
“But not as much fun, am I right?”
Larry laughed, “Yes, Shirley. You are seriously a lot of fun.”
After a couple of minutes of silence Larry spoke up, “You know, that long swim across the lake sure stirred up a powerful appetite in me. That picnic basket is still on the rowboat and the rowboat is still out in the middle of the lake. What should we do?”
Shirley rubbed her chin, “I guess you’ll just have to swim out there and get the boat.”
“Seriously?”
She poked him in his ribs, “Why don’t we both swim out there so we can have our picnic.”
Larry and Shirley were quickly back in the water.
Once back in the rowboat with their breath back to normal Shirley reached into the picnic basket, “Hey! There’s a drumstick missing out of here!”
“What? That’s impossible. How can that be? The fish must have gotten it. Or maybe it jumped overboard and swam away to see if the other pieces of chicken would follow it.”
After much serious laughter Shirley looked into Larry’s eyes, “Larry?”
“Yes.”
“Will you marry me?”
“Hell yes!”
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. Stories by White Feather
A previous wet love story:
