visual triggers;

lenny bit his lip, exasperated, as he frantically looked around. millions of thoughts raced through his mind, thoughts of what had happened earlier, thoughts of what is going to happen next, and thoughts of what was happening then.

where had he left it? he was so sure he had it in his pocket the whole time. he had planned everything nicely and things were going according to everything he had thought of. but of all things that had to go wrong, it HAD to be the most important part.

lenny felt through his pocket again, as his eyes darted left and right, scanning the beach for hopefully a glint of the silvery metal of the thing he was looking for.

lenny closed his eyes, and gritted his teeth, feeling as though he was about to burst. he put his hands to his head, and massaged his temples.

everything went well, he picked shirley up, and he was not late. he was making her laugh, she was comfortable with him, she was letting her guard down. they lay out the mats, had a nice aglio olio that he cooked on the small paraffin stove that he brought with him, she sipped from the beer bottle while he just stared at her (he wanted champagne, but lenny was a poor man). they walked on the beach, and admired the beautiful sunset.

shirley had played with lenny, which ended up with them rolling around in the sand. lenny remembered how uncomfortable he felt when he realized the sand in his shorts. then they went back, they lay down together and he looks deep into her eyes and says to her, “hey, i’ve got something for you,” and reaches into his pocket.

shit. it was not there.

lenny opened his eyes, and muttered an obscenity.

shit. it was not there.

it kept replaying in his mind, the shock, the denial, the hope that it was a dream he would wake up from, but no, life was screwing with him once again.

shit. it was not there.

“uh, i need to go to the beach for a while, alone. okay?” he had said.

lenny sat down, and held his head in his hands. was it really important?

shirley once told him, shouted at him more like, that he cared too much about the minor things, and missing the picture. that he was so often caught up in the act of doing, that he forgot why he was doing it. perhaps she was right.

it was his love for her that was important right?

he clenched his fists and stood up, he took one last longing look around the beach, and then started to trod back towards shirley, when he stepped on something extremely hard.

lenny’s yell echoed across the shore, and he hopped on one foot, clutching the other. lenny fell on his butt on the sand.

“oh, god, len! are you okay?” shirley’s voice came from behind him. he turned and saw her running towards him.

“uh, yeah, i’m fine.” lenny said.
“you sure?” shirley asked, taking his foot in her hands.

“uh yeah, yeah yeah.”

shirley looked up at him, and as lenny looked into her eyes, he realized this was it.

“shirley, can i ask you something?” lenny whispered.

shirley nodded.

“i love you. will you marry me?”

“yes.” shirley whispered back. “i love you too.”

lenny smiled.

as they stood up and got ready to leave, lenny glanced at the floor, looking for the thing he stepped on.

something glinted in his eye, and he bent down to look at it. brushing the sand of it, his eyes widened at the sight.

it was the ring.

“honey, what exactly did you step on?” shirley asked from the mats.

lenny smiled as he put the ring back on the ground, and covered it with sand.

“nothing, dear. let’s go home.”