White Whale

“He’s gorgeous!” Terri stage whispers to Ellie across the conference table.

“Absolutely delicious!”  Ellie replies.

“Who are you talking about?” I lean toward both as I sit.

Terri smiles.  “The new guy at the Starbucks drive-thru.”  She turns to Ellie.  “We both saw him yesterday.”

“You should hear his voice!” Ellie clasps her hands together.  She is 80 years old and has been married since the dawn of time.

 “He must be a singer,” Terri purrs.  “I almost asked him if he was single.”  She is younger than Ellie and I and has dark, sparkling eyes.

“You should!” I say.   

Darn!  I made the mistake of bringing my own water to this meeting.  If only I had decided to get Starbucks!

The church music director walks into the room.  The three of us giggle.  He raises his eyebrow.

“Ladies?”

“We are talking about the drive-thru guy at Starbucks,” Terri says. 

“He’s a tall, cool drink of water.” Ellie winks at him.

“Let’s get started, shall we?”  He opens his notebook.  We shift into meeting mode.

I daydream about movie-star handsome men as I try to focus on task forces and communications and messaging.  What I would really like to do is communicate with the Starbucks guy.

The meeting adjourns.  I immediately scurry to the parking lot and point my car to Starbucks.  This time of the afternoon, the line is short.  I pull up expectantly to the speaker and a nice young woman’s voice greets me.  Darn!

The same very nice young woman hands me my iced tea.  I bob my head, trying to see around her to the others working.  “Do you need something else?” she asks politely.  I sigh and pull back into traffic.

“He’s not there,” I text Terri.

“I know,” she texts back, “I was behind you in line.”

I’ll try again tomorrow.   I love Starbucks and I’m determined to spot this White Whale of a handsome man.

Captain Ahab has nothing on me.

© Susan Luzader 2021