Safety Tidbits: 8-18

Integrity – it’s a good thing!

The war was finally over and a tall young Army officer watched the clock nervously. In just a few minutes, at six o’clock, he would see the woman who had gotten his name and written to him for the past year and a half—although they had never met.

At four minutes to six a girl passed close to him, and Lt. Blandford’s heart jumped. She was wearing a flower, but it was not the little red rose they had agreed upon. His pen pal had refused his request for her photograph. She wrote: ‘If your feelings for me are real, what I look like won’t matter.’

It was one minute to six, and once more his heart leaped. A young woman was coming toward him. Her figure was long and slim; her blond hair cascaded to her shoulders. Her eyes were blue as the sky; her lips and chin had a gentle firmness. In her pale-green suit, she walked like springtime come alive. He started toward her, not noticing that she was not wearing a rose. As she moved past, she gave a small provocative smile. ‘Going my way, soldier?’ she murmured.

Then he saw another woman—one wearing a red rose. She was walking some distance behind the girl in the green suit. She was well past her prime. Her graying hair was tucked under a worn hat. She was plump, and a red rose was pinned to a rumpled coat.

Blandford felt exceedingly drawn to the smiling girl who had passed by quickly, but he had a great longing for the woman whose spirit had touched him so deeply. She was now standing before him, and he could see that though her face was plain and pale, it was gentle and sensible. Her gray eyes exuded warmth.

Lt. Blandford greeted her warmly. He said to himself. This may not be the love of my life, but it would be a very special friendship. “I’m Lt. Blandford… and you’re Miss Maynell? I’m so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?”

The woman looked at him with a questioning smile and said, ‘I don’t know what this is all about, son, but a young lady asked me to wear this rose on my coat. She told me that if you asked me to go out with you, I should tell you she’s waiting for you in that restaurant across the street. Oh, and she will be wearing a green suit.’

You might say…”beauty is only skin deep”, or that… “he owed her for writing to him”  and either way and you would be correct. We all need to Be true to ourselves, and then, wait for life to send you some wonderful surprises!

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Thanks for the share, WK!