At Street Side Thai Kitchen he orders Thai Chicken and she orders Sweet Basil Eggplant. They both opt for wine.

He’s doing his best to remain calm and cool but facing this much beauty isn’t easy.

When she talks, when she relaxes and expresses herself, her wonderful face brings forth emotions so readable they exceed his already-too-flattering descriptions.

It’s a battle for his consciousness as to which to give priority to, the words she utters or the shades of meanings expressed by her face. And her hair, right now it’s curving under her chin from both sides, in an angelic fashion, delicate and wing like, framing her face like a Madonna. And he remembers during the hug, crushing her hair’s feminine good-smelling softness to give her an almost paternal kiss hello on the cheek.

He can’t manage to hold his chopsticks straight. Tonight her flawless beauty vies for his attention. And all the time he’s listening to her, all the time he’s seeing her image, he’s stuffing his face with Thai Chicken with Lime Cream Sauce and she’s having Sweet Basil Eggplant. She would have eggplant, since just being with her plants seeds in his mind. Oh Jeez. Her seductive image, the sound of her voice, the exotic sweet creamy taste in his mouth, the whole experience is reminiscent of …well…you know. Well, maybe it isn’t but it’s the next best thing.

She explains the Fab rolls, their make-up, their composition.

The ingredients go in one ear and out the other. But the exquisite mouth that mouthed them is imprinted on his brain forever, searing his consciousness like a flaming branding iron.

The whole dinner is spiced by her conversation. Who would have thought a Thai dinner needed spice? He didn’t. He didn’t think she had it in her. He never imagined! The best things in life exceed imagination.

Oh, no, looks like he was wrong. He underestimated her caliber, and forgot that dynamite came in small packages. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a quote from F. Scott pops into his head and only because he’s just read The Beautiful and the Damned, and only because it fits exactly upon this occasion and so precisely upon this particular woman in this particular light.

“She was dazzling- alight; it was agony to comprehend her beauty in a glance.”

Good old F. Scott anyway, the guy could express pure elegance with mere words.

Describing Gloria in The Beautiful and the Damned was easy for F. Scott and he had it down. For the Thai Chicken with Lime Cream Sauce eater describing the Sweet Basil Eggplant eater was a challenge.

For me describing you? My Darling Barbara, words fail.

©Steven Hunley 2013

https://youtu.be/wCWYZHYIPyE Jeffrey Osborne – Stay With Me Tonight