WRONG

He stood waiting at the Marina, saw her before she saw him. The lady drove around twice looking for a parking space. Maybe its an omen she thought. Go home. An angel must have been listening and prodded a truck driver to move out. She grabbed the spot. A tall, seemingly nice looking man, leaned against a post. That must be Max, one of the few who answered her ad.

As she opened her car door, the man walked slowly towards her, hesitated and offered, ‘I’m Max. Are you Edie?’ Edie offered a soft handshake. ‘Nice to meet you in person.’ Her washed denim slax were perfect for the occasion. Max had said casual and casual she was. A light blue polished cotton blouse, collar raised, a sort of cowboy straw sun hat covered most of her hair, straight bangs added to the sunny glow of her smile. Damn, she knew she passed test one. Max’s smile was broad with what looked like his own teeth. ‘I’m impressed, Edie.. One look at you and my first thought was, ‘she’s a fox!. Ready for lunch? We have a table with an ocean view for both of us, if we sit side by side? Would you mind? ‘ A negative nod sufficed.

They walked together over a small bridge almost in silence. ‘I’ve never been here before, Max. How about you?’ ‘Once or twice. After our phone talks, I thought this would be just right. ‘This is lovely. You made a good choice so far.’ Words began to flow like the long Mississippi, going from place to place. They dawdled over their Cabernets, a crispy Caesar salad tossed at the table, spicy chilled shrimp cocktails and finished off with two black coffees and a shared lime sherbet. ‘ No hurry, let’s not rush.’ But the waitress put the check on the table as soon as they had ordered the sherbet. A long line of new customers waited at the door.

‘Let’s go. How about a walk in the sun to look over the yachts, see which one we should buy?’ They walked. They talked as if they had been friends forever. ‘Know what I love to do? Read the cute names, pick out the biggest yacht that I know I can never afford and then find the smallest best kept one I might aim for some day.’ Someplace in the conversation Edie felt a bump. ‘Max Sugar’ isn’t Jewish. He’s a Southern Baptist. Didn’t he pay attention to my ad, SWWJ.no smoking? I think his fingers are too yellow. Maybe he quit.’ The new knowledge rained on her parade, hit her in the gut like a bowling ball zigging down the gutter. Everything had seemed so perfect until then. It was time to thank him for a nice afternoon, shake hands and say ‘So long.’ And that is what they did. Max waved and yelled, ‘I’ll call you.’ With only herself to hear, Edie mumbled. ‘Don’t.

At home she tossed her hat on the sofa, kicked off her shoes, unzipped her jeans, put her comfy silk robe on over her underwear and sat down to write about Max-Baptist, her feelings, good and bad. Just another page for her portfolio of blind dates. The phone rang. Frankie, Old Blue Eyes was calling her. He sang close to the mouthpiece one whole chorus of ‘Fly Me to the Moon.’ ‘Who is this?’ ‘Edie, it’s Max. Didn’t we have a great day together? How about doing it again Saturday morning? I’ll think of something special for us to do? What do you say?’ Edie was ready to say she was busy but her mouth didn’t listen. Out came, ‘Sure let me know what to wear by Friday in case I need a new formal dress.’ ‘Ha, don’t worry. We won’t go to the early show of La Boheme. Casual will be fine.’ With that sentence, Max was circumsized, no ceremony, no pain.

9 A.M. they headed to the San Diego zoo, 60 miles away and got lost twice. It was 11 when they finally got to the entrance to a new world, one Edie had only seen on T.V. One of the first areas they visited was to watch the silver backed gorillas walk around as if they owned the world. They seemed so human. They grunted, talked to each other, fed babies. Max was enchanted by Edie’s enthusiasm and sketched her riding on the back of the lord of the group. That made a big impression on her. Edie kissed Max lightly on the cheek. Like a schoolboy, he wiped it off and put it in his pocket. At noon they were lucky to find an empty sunbrella, had a small lunch with glass after glass of good, cold water. They saw as many animals as they could, many so strange she thought they were characters from Dr. Suess books. ‘We’d better head back. Traffic will be even worse leaving than coming. The good part is we won’t get lost.’

No sooner did Max start the motor than Frankie jumped out of the speaker and he harmonized with Max, 2 full choruses, ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin.’ Max tried to take Edie’s hand but she pulled away. ‘Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road, Please.’ At her house, he got out of the car to open her door for her and as it closed he gave her a tiny hug and a tinier kiss on the cheek. No complaint. No rebuff. Instead he sang,’ You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me.’ A wave, a blown kiss and he was gone.

Original love poems, funny one act plays dropped into her foyer almost every day. Edie didn’t put any more ads in the paper, even though she knew something was missing. There was little cuddling, no mention, no action towards the bedroom. Knowing Edie better than she knew herself, he wasn’t going to destroy what was building up.

Max fit easily into Edie’s country club lifestyle. Her friends adored him, asked him to sing at parties, play golf, have a beer. The other side of the coin became evident. Max took Edie to spend an evening or two with his buddies, their girlfriends, a few wives. She was uncomfortable with the beer drinking, loud voices, foul language, dirty talk. Edie did her best to join in but the girdle was strangling her. The writing on the wall was more and more clear. The words were dripping tears.

No question, Max loved her deeply. No question her passion, her wall of defense was crumbling to dust. The dust was turning into a mountain with no snow on top. Edie could not exchange her world for Max’s. She could never be his mistress or his wife. Her heritage still bound her to what she had almost lost. Her heart could not be her guide. It would surely lead to disaster sooner or later. Let him go. Make him go. Edie broke his heart and took a huge chunk out of her own. She closed her mind tightly to his pleading, to his singing. Tore up his poetry unread. With no choice, Max left.

Six months later, Edie answered the phone and heard Max singing soulfully with Frankie, ‘Blues in the Night.’ At the end of the chorus, Max said softly, ‘I loved you, Edie. I still love you.’ She didn’t even have time to reply when she heard a loud noise and the phone went dead.

Two days later by chance, Edie saw a small news bit in the Sat. Sun.‘Max Sugar, well known, Sinatra mimic, found dead in his apartment. His gun was still in his hand. The case is being investigated.