WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

Sally stood by and felt helpless, but she never feels hopeless. She was on the same team but she felt powerless to help the unknown debater win the debate. She was wordless but she did cheer her on.

She felt useless that she couldn't help in the debate but in true reality, Sally couldn't even hear the debate and had no clue what it was about.

One by one all the prosecutors were left laying on the floor, knocked out.

Debate over

Suddenly, there was a large hush that came over the room and all the buzzing stopped. Sally realized that the unknown debater had won the debate and all the other participants had dropped like flies.

The unknown female debater rushed out of the room, leaving all her possessions on the table (notepads, pens, pencils, you name it). Sally was overwhelmed with happiness that she had won the debate but also still upset that she couldn't help.

Plus the fact that the unknown debater had left the room without claiming her prize (and apparently so upset she just left everything behind) really upset Sally.

Sally proceeds out of the room

So Sally picked up the unknown prize and all the notepads and pens and pencils and headed for the exit. She knew she had to track down the unknown debater to return her possessions but she wasn't overly concerned about that, she had confidence.

There was a large group of people who were heading down a short set of steps to the ground level. It was all very official and woody and there were bright fluorescent lights overhead.

Sally was lagging behind and because she wasn't able to reach the exit as quickly as the rest of the crowd, she was standing behind them slowly making her way to the stairs.

She looked over at the exit and there was a sign on the wall on the ground floor that appeared at eye level (while she was in the upper room).

The sign was very simple and contained four words.

Husbands love your wives

Well, that is a popular Bible verse and Sally had been seeing a lot of it in those days so she smiled.

When she got to the bottom of the short steps, she looked up at the sign from her lower vantage point and it appeared different.

Wives love your husbands

Amazingly, Sally knew that was not from the Bible but was instead, the opposite of what was in the Bible but she smiled about that too. She liked it even better than the original verse.

Room with a view

Then Sally walked down the hall on the lower floor and was apparently standing in front of a window when she felt a LARGE wet kiss land on her lips (that covered half her face).

She was mortified because it happened when she blinked her eyes and when she opened them, there was Harry, standing about 2 inches in front of her looking very cross-eyed!

She did know who he was and she was confused about the loco kiss and wondered what he was doing there. She did feel love and compassion for him but there was no delight.

Then Harry stepped back about a foot and he didn't look quite so WHACKED OUT but only slightly whacked out at that point.

Clothes from Value Village

Then Harry turned and walked away and headed down the hallway without saying a word. He was also apparently wordless.

Sally noticed he was dressed in clothing that looked like he found them in a bin at Value Village (who had been leaving LOTS of calls for Sally on her telephone that she never picked up). She already gave everything to Goodwill and didn't understand why they were calling her multiple times a day (and leaving no message while she wasn't even in dreamstate).

Anyway, Harry was wearing navy blue work pants made out of royal blue gabardine (khaki style) and a matching shirt (with his name embroidered above the shirt left hand pocket).

It was the style of clothing all the bus drivers and gasoline station attendants and many other types of male workmen would wear during prior times (but not lately that's for sure).

Very official. The only problem was it was all way too big, huge! And Harry was just a skinny thing, not a lick of fat on his bones. Tall and skinny, not much muscle either. He was 30-ish or so and had a 30-inch waist.

Alligator belt or was it eel?

On top of that, if it wasn't bad enough, Harry was wearing an elegant alligator belt that all the swooners wore with their suits in the 1960s, although Sally had never seen anyone wear one with their work clothes. It was about half an inch wide, black on the outside, with a white leather inside facing. Very out of style too.

You could tell that someone probably spent a lot of money on it but Harry found it at the bottom of the bin. It also may have been a crocodile but it was definitely some kind of gator or even an eel.

The only other problem was the belt was SO big it looked like Harry had to tie a knot to get it to work. The excess foot or so was hanging down in front of him. Plus, the trousers were so big they gathered and puckered at the waist like a dirndl skirt!

You might say he was quite scruffy looking.

Car mechanic

As he turned to walk away, Sally noticed he was holding a set of tools and she quickly realized that they were NOT electrician tools, but car mechanic tools instead.

It's not quite apparent how she knew that, but she knew it.

Then Harry landed at the side of a bright red Mustang, 1965, with a hood like the European cars (that open from the back of the hood instead of the front like American automobiles.)

The British call them 'bonnets' not 'hoods' like the Americans.

And then he leaned over and started tinkering with the engine and Sally definitely woke up by then and all she could see of him was his backside. He never spoke a word to her.

She was not cleaving with him, nor was she about to. It was not a mid-summer nights dream, more like a wintery dream.