Sort of dampens the mood.Sort of dampens the mood. "We are tearing up the Blockbuster card." Ben said firmly as he shut the bedroom door. "I am really getting tired of them watching movies until one a.m., even on a Friday." He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it in the direction of my reading chair by the window. "Oh, come on." I picked up his shirt and put it in the laundry hamper. "It's summer. They're supposed to be completely worthless and lazy, it's their vacation." I kissed him and walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Ben followed me in and stood behind me, his arms encircling my waist. "Yeah," he said softly, "but we both know how you are about... spectators." He nuzzled my neck. I laughed and toothpaste dribbled down my lip. "Well, I'm an old woman now, and you have to make allowances for me. I just don't perform well with an audience, seen or unseen." I rinsed out my mouth and turned around in his arms. "Besides, who is it that always says "shhhh!" in my ear? Huh? Huh?" "Well." Ben coughed a bit, a wry look settling on his face as he turned me around to face the mirror again. "Be that as it may... but if you're an old woman, you sure don't look it, now do you?" He smiled at my reflection. I smiled back, but my eyes stayed on the woman in the mirror. I looked pretty much like I always had, ever since I was a kid. Round face, dark brown hair, the big brown eyes which I had always said were my best feature; now those eyes looked even bigger because of the dark circles under them at times, but all in all the same face I had looked at for the last forty years. I didn't feel as if some momentous change had overcome me the morning of my fortieth year, and I doubted one ever would. I would just go on being me, more or less. "At least my hair is going silver instead of grey." I plucked one from my hairline and handed it to Ben. "Here, you can have this back." "Huh?" He said, holding the strand in his fingers. "Well, you gave it to me in the first place. |