A Dash of Spring (Details)

citation: The Third Level, 1957

alias: None

teaser: None

summary: Don't you wish real life was like it should be, like it is in stories, the narrator asks? Take Louise Huppflet and Ralph Schultz, for example. They both read a story titled Recipe for Love:

There is a vacant bus seat next to a beautiful girl. A young man sits beside her. He notices she is working on a crossword puzzle; specifically, a seven letter word meaning Favorite: a minion. He leans close to her, and says Darling.

They both laugh at the double meaning. The girl accepts the young man's dinner invitation, asking he pick her up at her apartment.

He arrives at her door dripping wet from rain. When he offers to hail them a cab, she invites him in, promising they will have a quiet evening of crepes suzettes around the fireplace.

Ralph throws the magazine across the room, disappointed real life doesn't match such stories.

The next day, Ralph gets on the same bus Louise Huppfelt is riding. He sits next to her, noticing she is working on a crossword puzzle. She's looking for a five letter word, beginning with H, having to do with bees. He suggests Hives.

Louise is offended, thinking he means she has hives. When he tries to explain, she's critical, and gets off the bus.

Ralph's discouraged with the outcome. He imagines other, more productive things he could have said, and her possible responses. Louise too, regretted her response, thinking she could have been more cooperative.

Both Louise and Ralph are depressed being alone. Neither can forget their chance encounter. They eventually find themselves on the same bus together.

Louise writes in the margin of her newspaper, Favorite, a minion, to which Ralph responds correctly, Darling. They get off the bus and go to Louise's apartment, recreating the story they read, this time, matching their circumstances.

words: 3,694

genre: Romance

similar: Something in a Cloud

people: Unnamed narrator, Louise Huppfelt, Ralph Shultz

places: New York (NY): East Twenty-sixth Street, Fortieth Street, Fifth Avenue

comments: Forthcoming