Always, ALWAYS Look at the Face!

Always, ALWAYS Look at the Face!
A true-life embarrassing moment

         Tim and I had been married for a little over a month.  The spring weather had put us in the mood for a trip to the Botanical Gardens so after work one Friday evening we headed out to the electronics store to buy batteries for his camera.  As he looked at batteries I stood beside him but soon turned to investigate some interesting items in a nearby case.  Shy, and terrified to be alone, I didn't wander but my mind did.

         A week earlier we'd gone to the grocery store and I had asked Tim to leave the cart behind, walk me to the restroom, and wait for me.  "You have to get over this shyness," Tim chastised gently.

         I had swallowed hard and looked at him, scared he was going to make me walk all the way across the store by myself.  He finally gave in but insisted I should try to be a little more outgoing, unpredictable, and spontaneous.

         With those week-old words of advice echoing in my mind I turned my attention back to the present and to my husband, who was bent double looking at batteries.  I walked across behind him, dragging my hand across the seat of his tan work trousers as I went.  Reaching his other side, I draped my arm across the small of his back, leaned over beside him and whispered seductively, "Hey, baby.  You ready to go home?"

         The nervous fluttering of my heart stopped in mid-beat as, to my shock and horror, the face that turned to answer me was not that of my husband but a complete stranger!  His faded blue eyes grew as wide as mine as we stood there bent over the batteries, nose to nose, each of us realizing the other was not who we'd expected. 

         I sucked in my breath as a horrified gasp escaped my lips.  The elderly gentleman in the tan shirt and trousers resembling my husband's work clothes, stood upright and grinned at my discomfiture.  Tears streaming, I fled to the restroom so Tim wouldn't see me.  Before leaving the sanctuary of my hiding place I peered out into the showroom.  The elderly man dressed in tan was nowhere to be seen and across the rows of electronic goods I saw my husband.

         "Where did you get to?" he asked, concerned.

         I bit my lip and replied, "I had to use the restroom and didn't want to bother you."

         Tim grinned and grasped me by the shoulders.  "I'm so proud of you," he beamed.  "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

         I shook my head but my heart was still pounding.  As we approached the checkout counter we passed the older gentleman, who flashed a toothy grin and winked as if to say 'I understand exactly what you're going through.'

         Tim looked at me questioningly.  "What was that all about?" he asked, confused.

         "Oh, nothing," I began, not knowing what to say.  "We kind of, well, bumped into each other as I was heading for the restroom.  I guess he was just saying 'good-bye'."

         "Wow, I'm really impressed," Tim commended, kissing the back of my hand.  "You really are coming out of your shell."

         I gave him a shaky smile and shrugged my shoulders, but under my breath I whispered, "You have no idea."

         On March 6, 2008 Tim and I celebrated our twenty-third wedding anniversary.  To this day,  I've not breathed a word of this incident to him...of course, I've not tried to surprise him in public again, either, unless I see his face first!

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ID: 284049   (Rated: ASR) Boy, Was My Face Red  True-life embarrassing moments, large and small...most of them my own by justme