Having Hope

“Howdy stranger,” she said as she entered the stacks beside him.

He immediately turned and his face lit up when he recognized her.  “Howdy to you too.  Are you going to give me a tour today?  This is the first time I’ve had a chance to come back since we met.  Have you missed me?”

“Absolutely.  Been lost without you.  I’ve increased my number of visits just so I wouldn’t miss you,” Hope responded and returned his smile.  She kept her eyes trained on his so he’d know she wasn’t telling the truth.  It wasn’t was it?  “I thought I’d be a friend and warn you that you have an audience again.  You planning on another demonstration today because if you are, I can sell tickets and let the crowd know when and where to meet you for the show.  Then they can get on with the rest of their business while they wait.”

“You noticed huh?” he asked as he slipped his eyes in the general direction of the women in waiting.

“Who could miss it?  Or you for that matter.  Here I was, minding my own business when I hear all this commotion around me and being a curious sort, I had to investigate.  But then I knew.  You walked by and I had my answers.  Quickest investigation yet.”

“What are your conclusions?” he asked as he crossed his arms across his chest and waited intently, as if what she had to say would make a tremendous difference.

Hope took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts.  She held up each of her fingers as she shared her results, “Well, first of all, you have a presence that’s hard to miss.  Not just your height, mind you, and while that is definitely something to behold, it’s only one factor.  Next, you have this really sexy hair.  The jet-black color is not easily duplicated.  I’d like to investigate it further, but from my point of view, it looks natural.  I don’t think it came from a bottle.  The little wisps of gray along the temples rule out a dye job, unless you have a really great stylist that is.  The curls are an added bonus I must say. 

“Third, it just has to be a sin to have a tan like that.  But, a tan by itself would be nothing without the underlying muscle tone to emphasize it.”  The muscle tone earned a finger of its own. “You have to do something besides ride a bike.  Now the bike work could explain the bulging thighs, the defined calves and the tight butt, but there must be some weight work to have those biceps.”  She took a quick breath before continuing.  Hope noticed that at each point, he took a look at himself as if to connect her descriptions with his view of himself. 

She made sure she kept the descriptions limited to what she saw today, and did not include anything she remembered, or had imagined.

“Then there are the eyes.  Obviously you’ve noticed them before.  Deep, dark, brown.  Penetrating.  It’s as if you can see into the soul.  Even when you don’t want to, it feels like you can and you do.  Shall I continue?” She stopped to take a breath of air.

“There’s more?”

“Lots,” she answered with a nod of her head.