A Chance Meeting: A Masked Moment in Time

I was sitting down to eat at a local restaurant when an attractive woman wearing a multi-colored mask approached my table…

“Scuze me, may I sit here? she asks with a smile.

(By the way, a covid mask may or may not stop a virus, but it certainly cannot hide a radiant smile). 

Dave: “Sure, make yourself at home,” I reply cheerfully. 

I too had a mask on. The restaurant required one except of course while eating. I had finished eating and it can get creepy from patrons and management if you aren’t doing the Lone Ranger thing, so I put my jet-blue mask back on. 

The woman sits down, sets down her iced latte, and looks at me turning a tad red. 

Masks don’t hide blushing either, btw. 

“My name is Anna. I know this is rather forward of me, but aren’t you Dave Worthen?”

I look at this woman who I’ve never met before. She’s wearing a white blouse with a peach and yellow scarf wrapped loosely around her neck.She looks every bit Danish to me, even though I am still going through my learning curve. Her blonde hair and blue eyes were somewhat of a giveaway, but what the heck. 

I’m relatively new here, so I have no idea what this is about. 

But I have to be honest. She was bewitching. And if she isn’t from Immigration, I’m all in. 

Dave: “Dang! How could you tell with my Decepticon 95 Covid Mask?!"

Anna: (laughing!) “Well, you know I wasn’t sure but even with the mask you look like your pictures.”

Dave: “Pictures? Are you from Immigration? I got my covid-19 test to come here. I don’t have the cooties.”

Anna: (laughing again!) “No, I’m not from Immigration. And I’ve seen your pictures and some of your videos on Facebook.”

Dave: “Wow, you picked me out of a city of 5 million. We must have been destined to meet.” 

Now she’s really blushing!

Anna: “Well, I had an appointment cancel nearby so I thought I would stop at this cafe and have a latte before I walked back home. When I saw you sitting here, I couldn’t believe it was you. So, I had to ask.” 

Dave: “Well, you hit the jackpot. It is me. I’m just taking in a bit of site-seeing while I’m here.”

Anna: “And what are you doing here besides site-seeing?”

Dave: “I’m looking for a wife.”

Anna sets her latte down and swear-to-god she just about spit through her mask if she didn’t catch herself. 

Anna: “Come again?! What did you just say?”

Dave: “Sorry. It’s these dang masks. It’s like auto-correct on my iPhone. I type fuck and it types duck.” 

“I said I’m here enjoying my life,” as I look at her dead in the eye and try to suppress my smile even with my mask on. 

Anna looks back at me for about a billionth of a second because she believes me for about that long. 

But even her color coordinated multi-colored mask couldn’t hide her incredulous grin like I was trying to pull a fast one on her.

Anna: “That’s not what you said!” she blurted out with a cute laugh. 

Several heads turned in our direction to see what the excitement was all about.

I love excitement! I love the turned heads!  And everyone had their masks on too! I felt like I was on the set of some Stanley Kubrik movie.

Dave: “Really?” I smiled. “What did you think I said?”

Anna was blushing again. She knew it. It looked good on her though. Red is the major color in the Danish flag. She had on rich dark blue slacks. Look damn near patriotic with her white blouse. 

Anna took a moment and looked at me. The sides of her mask started to broaden ever so slightly as she was smiling. She knew I was bull baiting her. And damn...she liked it!

Anna: “You said, ‘I’m looking for a wife.’ I heard it distinctly, mask or no mask.”

Dave: “Busted!”

Anna picks up her iced latte, lowers her mask slightly, and takes a long sip. She’s pondering. Like she can’t believe what she’s just heard and has to have a good hit of caffeine to make sure she doesn’t miss another word as she probes further.

Anna: “You’re not kidding are you?”

Dave: “No, I’m not. I decided that I’m just going to put it out there as the truth because that’s how I live. I’ve done the online dating scene. I’ve met some fabulous women, but you know, if you just get down to the truth of things and just say your truth, it’s easier to make it happen. Like coming to Copenhagen, you know. I just said it, and here I am.”

Anna: “Wow, I love this!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard a guy come right out and just say it like that. It seems...so...surreal.”

Dave: “Yeah. I thought that all my earlier attempts were just this long runway with ‘now I’m supposed to do this’ or ‘now I’m supposed to say that,’ and really, many of those ideas didn’t belong to me. That’s just the ‘now I'm supposed to’s’ society instills in all of us when you set out to find a partner.”

Anna set her latte down again. This time she was clearly trying to collect herself. She was looking at me with this kind of “Who is this guy?” look.

Anna: “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t expecting you to say that, and yet, I find myself enormously thrilled you did and I don’t know why?”

Dave: “The truth can really be quite liberating when you just say it directly. It catches people off guard as we’re all going along this time track clickety-clack and all of sudden I don’t go clickety.

Anna starts laughing out loud now!

Anna: “This is just crazy. I feel like I’ve just gone out of my head. I thought you were going to say something about the business you are doing here, you know?”

Dave: “I could have. Because I am doing some business here. But then that’s what I’m supposed to say, and I’m sure it wouldn’t have created the Danish red blush you now have and your girlish-like enthusiasm,” as I smiled right through my mask as big as day.

Anna is now looking away and looking back at me and looking away. She is giggling and trying not to giggle and keep a straight face even with her mask on. She takes another sip of her latte.

Anna: “So...tell me...I mean...how are you going about finding your wife? She’s not going to magically appear out of nowhere here in a remote cafe in Osterbro.”

Dave: “What? You don’t believe in magic?” I mean I just met you out of nowhere, right?

Anna: “You’re a funny man. You’re just like your seminars. You actually do believe in magic don’t you?”

Dave: “Of course. And it’s not the airy-fairy twinkle dust magic. I believe one-hundred percent in the magic of the human spirit. Like you here. I mean, you tell me, how is it you found me in all the thousands of cafes in Copenhagen, and that I’m actually in Copenhagen. What do you call this, Anna?”

She blushes again. I like her. A woman that just shows her emotions even though she can’t do a dang thing about her blushing!

Anna sits back in her chair, crosses her arms like she’s trying to figure out just who the hell I am, and then speaks.

Anna: “I don’t know, I mean I see your point. I just never looked at life like that. Not that I don’t believe in magic, but, you know, I don’t know, you seem so insouciant about it. Like you really believe it could happen. It’s so different. But you know, I find it refreshing. I am a bit taken aback by all of this to be honest.”

Dave: “If you don’t believe it can happen then you have your own counter-postulate working against you. And trust me. I’m not some head-in-the-clouds Peter Pan devotee. Everything I’ve learned in my life is that my intentions and postulates are the actual woof and warp of what are the best of a being’s abilities. So, what, we postulate or mock- up something and people look at us like we’re on Ecstasy or something, right? Like you can’t just mock up meeting your future wife or husband, right? You have to go online. Fill out a ridiculous “I like riding horses” and “I like canoeing” questionnaire and then post pictures that are mostly posed, with some biographical information like you would a job resume. And god forbid don’t put your weight on there, right?”

Anna starts busting up! She’s laughing out loud and practically everyone in the restaurant is looking over at us. A waiter stops and looks at her and then at me, and I nod. One of those “Everything’s just fine” nods and he smiles and goes about his business.

Anna: “You really tell the truth about things don’t you?!

Dave: “I try to. But it is true, isn’t it?”

Anna is wiping the tears from her eyes.

Anna: “Yes, unfortunately it’s very true. But let me ask you something. Even with magic, there’s some practicality in that postulate isn’t there, I mean, it has to somehow take into consideration the real world, right?”

Dave: "Yes, you are exactly right. A postulate works as well as it approximates the existing reality. It would not be so easy to mock up a Polar Bear stopping by to see me. But mocking up a beautiful Danish woman, while I’m actually in Denmark, doesn’t seem so far fetched, does it?”

Anna is beyond blushing now. 

Anna: “You’re flirting with me now aren’t you?”

Dave: “Now? I started when you asked if you could sit down with me here.”

Anna: “You’re not what I expected and then more than I expected.”

Dave: “You’re flirting with me now?” (I smile under my mask)

Anna: “Honestly, I didn’t know whether you were in a relationship. You don’t talk about it on Facebook. But once you said you were looking for a wife, all bets were off!”

Now I’m laughing out loud. 

Anna: “Okay, so I’ll get right down to it. I’m curious. We’ve both obviously been in relationships and they didn’t work out for whatever reason, right? So what is it you’re looking for in a woman?”

Dave: “Wow, getting right down to it. I love this!”

Anna: “And don’t try your wazzle-dazzle  your way out of this and try to get me off track.”

Dave: “Wazzle dazzle?!” I laugh. I love that!"

Anna: “You know what I’m talking about!”

Dave: “Well, okay, I can tell practically everything I need to know about a woman from her smile. So, if you want this to go any further you’ll have to strip down.”

Anna: “Scuze me?!” 

Dave: “Sorry. My writer’s mind took over. Lower your mask if you will...please.”

Anna looks at me like we’re now playing poker. Like does she really want to show me her hand? 

She’s taking her time with this. She’s now gaming me too. I know it! 

Dang. She’s still staring me down. But she’s smiling under her mask and she’s trying not too.

And then she creates the best effect ever. 

She starts by slowly removing her scarf around her neck like it’s some kind strip-tease. She’s totally gaming me! Her scarf is off. She then goes to unbutton one of her blouse buttons and doesn’t-----and moves her hands up to behind her head to remove her mask. What a tease!

And now she reaches with both hands behind her ears and slowly, and I mean super-slowly takes the elastic bands off and then holds her mask in suspension in front of her face.

And I’m just trying not to lose it! 

And I can see she’s smiling like there’s no tomorrow because she’s creating this whole thing to game me. 

I sit there transfixed. She could have just removed it and that would be that. And before she took it off completely, I spoke.

Dave: “I’ve had a few women take off their clothes and lingerie in front of me, but none, none, as seductively as you have with your mask!” as I smile broadly. 

And with that, Anna dropped her mask like she had undone her bra and just let go. She didn't put it down nicely. She didn’t hold onto it.

She just dropped it like a towel she’d had wrapped around her after stepping out of the shower. 

And then her smile swear-to-god filled every inch of space between her and I. 

And I just admired her. All of her. All of her from the moment we met to the questions to this last little dance with me. 

She was beaming.

Me too.

I have to say that just about everything that you and I know that is the spiritual quality in another comes through in a person’s smile. People say it’s the eyes, and sure, these are all portals where a being shines through.

But a smile? It communicates so much. It’s like you’ve been kissed without your lips meeting. It’s like they’ve handed you their heart and it makes you smile.

Which is exactly what I was doing.

Dave: “Wow. You have a beautiful smile, Anna.”

Anna: “Thank you, Dave. Now it’s your turn.”

I laughed out loud! Of course she’d ask this. 

Dave: “Okay, but I’m afraid I can’t out do your little pretend strip tease so I’ll just take it off without much ado.”

Anna: “I’m waiting…”

I reached up and removed the elastic bands from my mask and decided I couldn’t not have some theatrics so with a flourish I flung my mask over my head and it landed in the bush behind our table.

Anna started laughing and quickly realized we were back to being two normal people doing what normal people do, pre-mask era, and we were just enjoying being there with each other with no mask. 

There is something to say when all your life you meet another with no mask, then you start wearing a mask as mandated by a restaurant or cafe, and then you take it off. It’s almost like a miniature act of rebellion. I knew we both felt it. 

Anna didn’t say anything so I spoke.

Dave: So? 

Anna: “I can’t say anything,” her smile broadening. 

Dave: “You like the Lone Ranger Dave, better?”

Anna giggles.

Anna: “No...I’m just kind of stuck for words.” 

Dave: “You? Stuck for words? I don’t think so. I think you have something you want to say but there’s the risk in saying it that makes those butterflies in your stomach do dive bombs”

Anna: “Dave...How do you know so much? How is it you can perceive exactly what’s happening to me?”

Dave: “I’m Batman.”

Anna starts laughing and by now the people in the restaurant are done eating and just sipping their drinks and putting an ear to our daytime soap drama over here. Funny how you can tell when other people are pretending to ignore you but practically all of their hearing attention units are on you.

Anna: “No, really, how can you tell?”

Dave: “I told you. I believe in magic. The real kind. Like what’s happening with you right now.” 

Anna: “You don’t leave a girl any way out, do you?”

Dave: “What do you mean?”

Anna: “I mean...something is happening here I wasn’t expecting. You’ve somehow hit something in me emotionally.  I’m not sure what it is but it’s taken over since we started chatting here.”

Dave: “What’s your best guess? If you just let go of the reins on your heart and you just spoke what you’re feeling, what would you want to say?”

Anna took a long, long look at me. And then all of a sudden a small tear formed under her right eye and as she smiled the tear disappeared as it traveled slowly down her face.

Anna: “I...I...I don’t know. I mean there’s a joy I haven’t felt in a long time. And here I am tearing up in a public place with a man I just met and I…I...I don’t know. This is all so unexpected, but I feel a sense of relief. Like I’m talking to someone that’s really real and I don’t know, I just have never felt this free to just be here and communicate.”

Dave: “It’s the mask. When I wear it, it does that to women.”

Anna picked up her scarf and threw it at me!

Anna: “It’s not the mask and you know it. It’s you.”

Dave: “Hmmmm...it’s me. Okay, is there more from the universe of butterflies you haven’t said?”

Anna: “I’m not going to say it.”

Anna blushes the reddest blush she has all morning. And she knows it.

Dave: “Okay. I understand. I’m not one to be pushy. Well, management is staring at us like we’d better put our masks back on before they kick us out of here. If you're going to say anything now’s the time.”

Anna glanced over at the manager standing behind the register looking right back at her, with a grimace. Anna looked back at me with a bit of “Noooooo...not yet” look on her face.

I went to retrieve my mask laying on top of the bush behind us and came back to our table. I glanced over at the manager dude and nodded and began putting my mask back on. He nodded in appreciation. I have heard stories of owners being fined $500 if they are caught with staff or patrons without their masks on. I get it.

Anna looked at me like something was ending she didn’t want to end.

She looked back at the manager and he put his hands up in a gesture, of “Please?” and Anna looked back at me.

She picked up her mask and slowly brought it up to her face.

I had my mask back on completely. It did feel like we had just escaped a concentration camp by cutting through the fence at midnight, enjoying the freedom under the moon, and now all of a sudden we had to get back to this crazy mask-life.

Anna was taking her time.

She put one of the elastic bands behind her left ear. She looked straight ahead at me. Now she had tears streaming down her face on both sides. She just looked straight at me and before she put her mask on completely, she spoke.

Anna: “Dave Worthen. I think I’m falling in love with you.”

And with that she put her elastic behind her right ear, adjusted her mask and looked straight ahead at me. Her tears continued streaming down her face.

We both just sat there taking in what just happened. 

I was speechless. 

Anna then spoke.

Anna: “I cannot thank you enough for this afternoon. But I must go.”

And with that Anna stood up and gathered her sweater.

I stood up and I walked over to her side of the table and reached right over and gave her a full hug for several seconds. She hugged me back like she did not want to let go.

Dave: “So, you believe in magic now, Anna?" I asked in a soft whisper.

Anna nodded her head, reached over, lowered her mask, and kissed me gently on my cheek.

Anna: “Yes...Yes, I do.” 

And with that, Anna walked down the street and about one-hundred meters away, turned and just stood and looked back at me. 

I stood at the restaurant and looked back. My heart was pounding against my chest. 

She then waved and I waved and then in the blink of an eye...she disappeared into the crowd. 

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