SPEECH IMPEDIMENT

Each morning, we stood at the bus stop

Not together, but in proximity

Day after day, week after week

I would glance at her in admiration

But I would never speak to her

There would be an occasional nod

And sometimes a smile

I would have liked to ask her out

I had almost done so many times

But my nerve would always go

So often I formed the question in my head

But the words wouldn’t come out

I always steeled myself

For the big moment, but it never happened

Then one day

When she looked particularly alluring

I thought to myself

This time will be different

This time I have rehearsed,

Though only on the cat,

This time I will do it.

So armed with a well constructed sentence

I made my move

I took a deep breath

Turned to face her,

The sentence looping through my head

Over and over

I opened my mouth to speak

But the sentence did not appear

Instead jumbled words tumbled out

From my anxiously dry mouth,
But not in the order I intended

Some words inappropriately joined together

Giving an all together different meaning

That may have caused her to be offended

It had gone better with the cat.

I just stood there

Spouting my nervous stuttering gibberish

I thought she must think me such an idiot

And fully expected her to laugh in my face

But instead, she smiled at my nervousness

And reformed the words into a sentence,

The very sentence I had rehearsed,

Spoke it back to me

And then smiling broadly, answered yes