The Blind Date

by All4Eyes

“What if he’s married? What if the picture he sent me is bogus and he’s really an 800-pound mountain of lard? What if he’s a serial killer?” these and dozens of other questions ran through Shannon’s mind as she prepared for her first face-to-face meeting with Kyle Martin. They met on an on-line dating site last winter and had been emailing and instant messaging with each other almost daily ever since. Then the day came when they felt they could go no further without seeing each other in person, so they decided to meet for lunch one Saturday at a nice little seafood place in a small coastal village a short drive from each of their respective hometowns. Shannon wasn’t worried about living up to her picture, though. Vain as it was, even she had to admit she looked stunning, with her tall, slender body dressed in a sleeveless, beige silk dress with super short skirt to show off her long, shapely legs. She had creamy smooth skin, smooth, glossy, shoulder-length hair the colour of new copper pennies, and a beautiful face with high cheekbones, full lips, a straight nose and startlingly bright blue eyes that had long, upturned lashes. “Not that anyone could tell behind these stupid coke-bottles,” she thought glumly. “Why did I have to agree to meet Kyle at the height of allergy season when I can’t stand my contacts? It is SO not fair that the thicker and uglier your glasses are the blinder you are without them!”

When she arrived at the restaurant Shannon was greeted by a waitress named Carla, to whom she showed her printed-out picture of Kyle and asked, “Could you tell me if this man has arrived yet?” “Yes, ma’am, he’s at a table over in back, shall I take you to him?” “Hmm” thought Shannon “Maybe this could work after all.” To Carla she said, “Yes, please” as she carefully removed her glasses, put them in her purse and gently took the waitress’ arm. Carla took Shannon to a small table. “Is this the lady you were waiting for?” Carla asked Kyle. “Would her name be Shannon Price?” he asked smilingly. “Why, yes it would” Shannon answered and sat down. The waitress handed them their menus and said “Are you ready to order now or do you need some time?” “Shannon, you’ve been here before, what do you recommend?” “Hmm, let’s see” she said, as she pretended to read the menu. There was no way she could actually read it, at least not without bringing it so close to her face she’d be stared at. She had been there a few times, but the last time was several months ago, so she had to wrack her brains to remember what they served. Last time she was here she ordered a plain, dry fillet of sole and a salad, since she was dieting, but Kyle would want something more than that, she was sure and she was really hungry today herself. She knew he’d like the Surf ‘n’ Turf Special, but it was rather costly and he was the sort of man who wouldn’t hear of a lady paying her own bill on a date and she knew he wasn’t made of money, so she couldn’t order that. Then she thought of the perfect thing, filling but not to expensive. “How about fish ‘n’ chips?” “That sounds great! I love English food!” said Kyle.

After Carla left with their order, Shannon looked at Kyle. Well, he wasn’t a mountain of lard, that much she could tell. He appeared to be about average size. The only other thing she could tell was that he was white-literally. He had very fair skin and light blond hair and was wearing a white shirt, so to Shannon he looked like a man-sized white blob. His picture showed him to have blue eyes as well, not bright like Shannon’s but a softer colour, closer to gray, but at the moment Shannon couldn’t tell anything about his eyes. As they ate, they talked about all the usual things dating people talk about-movies, books, music, their families. Shannon had just finished telling Kyle about her family, so he began “Well, my parents did things the old-fashioned way, grew up next to each other, went together all through school and married straight out of high school. My Mom is great, she’s a really kind person, great cook, all of that. But my Dad’s pretty special, too. You see, my Mom has congenital myopia, so she has to wear these really thick glasses and she doesn’t see too well even with them. Like I said, she’s still a wonderful lady, but it takes a certain kind of man to see past her eyes to who she really is.” “Wow, I can’t imagine having such poor vision that even with glasses you can’t see well.” “I can’t either, but Mom seems to deal with it pretty well. My sister has congenital myopia also, but she can see OK with her glasses.” Well, this gave Shannon something to think about.

“How about we go sit outside for awhile?” she asked. “There’s a lovely view of the river here.” “Sure” and the white blob rose. She reached out and took his hand and waited for him to lead her along. When a few moments passed and he didn’t move, she thought, “Oh, no, now I’m going to have to try to navigate. Good thing I have been here before.” She did her best to navigate from memory, as blind people do, and managed to get them to the benches lined up along the outside of the restaurant. As he continued talking about his mother and sister and how wonderful they were, Shannon thought, “Well, it’s not like he hasn’t seen this before. If anyone can understand, he should.” “Kyle, I have to show you something.” “OK” he answered and he heard keys jangling and papers rustling as she fumbled through her purse. Putting on her glasses, she realised he was every bit as handsome as his picture, but he looked somewhat puzzled with a narrow-eyed frown. “It’s nice to know I’m not the first girl you’ve seen this way. But I imagine they look different on an unfamiliar face.” He reached out and gently stroked her beautiful face, touching her thick glasses as he went. “Oh, I know, they’re horribly thick, aren’t they?” Suddenly he smiled. “You won’t think so in a minute” he said, as he pulled out of his pocket a pair of glasses almost twice as thick as hers and put them on. “I’m afraid I have inherited my mother’s eyes, also. I was trying to get up the nerve to tell you. A lot of girls want nothing more to do with me once they see these things, so I always wear contacts on dates, but the pollen count has been so high lately that if I so much as think about putting them in my eyes start burning. I had no idea you were hiding the same thing. How strong are yours, if you don’t mind my asking?” “Minus 12” she answered numbly, in shock. “Mine are –20.” Then the humour of the situation hit and she laughed “And I thought I had bad eyes! How on earth did you manage today?” “It wasn’t easy. First, I had to be sure I arrived early so I could get myself seated and get my glasses off before you saw me. Then I had to tell the waitress to keep watch for you, since I wouldn’t be able to see you coming. I had you suggest something so I didn’t have to read the menu, then when you suggested we go outside, I let you lead me out. Now I realise you were probably waiting on me!” “I guess it was just another case of the blind leading the blind!” Shannon laughed. They married soon after and lived happily (and contact lens free) ever after.

Written by All4Eyes in April 2006

Uploaded by Bobby in May 2006