You hear a lot of people say how much it sucks being single on Valentine's Day. Even worse, being a single male that works as a flower shop delivery person on Valentine's Day. I may have been able to agree with that idea in the past, that is, until the day that changed my life forever.
To summarize what made that fateful day even occur in my life, here is a quick background. I am a 23 year old college student in my second semester of a business graduate program. I currently hold a two semester internship at a high profile advertising agency in Downtown Chicago. Though the company pays nothing for intern employment, they do foot the tuition bill with a promise of hiring me full time upon graduation. As you can imagine, however, the books, supplies and cost of college living can be quite expensive, even without the worry of the cost of actually going. Therefore, on top of the twenty or so hours at the agency, twenty hours of class time and the many hours needed for home studying each week, I still always had to find time to make some money. Luckily for me, I have an aunt and uncle that own one of the largest flower/gift delivery services in all of Chicago.
In the past, I would work for my aunt and uncle during all the busy seasons, just to help them out. Now they were returning the favor by letting me make deliveries whenever I had free time, just to put some cash in my pockets. When I worked in the past, I usually had a special someone in my life, so it never really bothered me to have to deliver all these gifts of love and joy to different women around the city.
This year was a little different though. I was single on V-Day for the first time in several years. I convinced myself that the reason I wasn't in any sort of relationship was because I didn't have time for one, and truly I didn't. I'm not arrogant, but I like to think I am an attractive guy. 5'10, slightly toned complexion, dark brown hair, green eyes, athletic build, and a decent fashion sense. I'm certainly no stud, but I like to maintain a respectable appearance.
Being alone on Valentine's Day did make me feel a little bit strange and out of place. My self esteem wasn't low or anything, I just felt like I was missing out on something. With every delivery I made that day, my heart would begin to race with each beautiful woman that I would make a delivery to. At first, I felt as though each woman was flirting with me a bit, but then I would come to the realization that they were just excited over the gift they just received from their husband, boyfriend, lover or secret admirer.
It was just around 2:30pm when I arrived at the location of my last delivery, before I had to go back to my apartment to get ready for my class that evening. I headed into the lobby of the large skyscraper carrying my messenger bag, a large two dozen bouquet of roses and a rather larger white teddy bear. Without checking the delivery slip, I told the security guard I had a delivery for a Mrs. Peterson on the 25th floor. He saw I had my hands full, so simply he directed me to the bank of express elevators that took you straight to floors 20-35.
Once I got to the 25th floor, I exited the elevator and approached the receptionist's desk in the middle of the office. When I said that I had a delivery for Mrs. Peterson, the look of confusion on the woman's face was understood when I looked at the delivery slip and saw that the delivery was to go to the 15th floor. A very stupid, yet simple mistake for a delivery person, however, the best mistake I ever made in my life.
A little embarrassed by my mistake, I apologized and returned to the elevator. Once I stepped back into the elevator to push the button for the 15th floor, I realized that I would have to go all the way back down to the lobby and use the other bank of elevators that take you to floors 2-19. I pressed my body into the corner of the elevator against the wall of dark tinted mirrors. As I lowered my head, I began to shake it back and forth with a slight bit of shame. Then I let out a soft chuckle, realizing it was a simple mistake and only a minor setback on my day. Suddenly, the elevator slowed and I heard the ding, as it stopped at the 21st floor. When the doors opened, in walked the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen on this earth.
As she entered, she smiled brightly at me, then turn to stand on the opposite side of the elevator. She was about 5'5, long dark brown hair, a stunning body and the face of an angel. A very clichΓ© thing to say, yet 100% true. She had a large heart shaped box of chocolates in her hands, so my first thought was to check for an engagement or wedding ring, but there was none. She was professionally dressed; black skirt, dark stockings, high heels and a gray overcoat, which made me believe she was heading home for the day.
I suddenly felt like more of an idiot for screwing up the delivery, thinking I could maybe have been able to strike up a conversation and offer to give her a ride home or something. But no, I had to make this stupid delivery. Then I thought, wait a minute, if I never screwed up in the first place, I probably would have never even seen her. I felt quite silly standing there with all these gifts for some other woman, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to at least try talking to her.
I took a deep breath, and simply said in a deep, manly, yet corny voice, "Hello there. How are you this afternoon? Happy Valentine's Day."
She continued to look straight ahead with no reaction at all. I figured she probably had a serious boyfriend and figured what's the point of even talking to me.
I wasn't going to give up without a fight though, so I pointed towards the box in her hands and said, "Pretty big box of chocolates, eh?"
I felt like an idiot saying that, but at least this time she turned toward me and smiled. Still no verbal reply, so I couldn't stop there.
"So, going home already? It's only like 2:30 or so. Must be nice." I uttered with a silly grin. But again, no reply whatsoever. This time I felt a bit defeated.
Then, the lights in the elevator flickered and we came to a slow stop. I knew that there was no way we had reached the lobby already, so I looked towards her to see how she might react. She let out a big sigh, crossed her arms around the box and her chest, and began to impatiently tap her foot on the floor.
After a few minutes of mostly silence, with the exception of her tapping foot, she finally turned to me and said, "What do you think happened?"
The sound of her voice kind of threw me off at first. Not in a bad way, but because it was very unique. My first thought was that she had an foreign accent. Then she spoke again, "This is why I hate taking elevators. Especially in a tall building like this. One of my biggest fears coming true right before some stranger's eyes."
Before she could even finish, it hit me like a ton of bricks. The uniqueness of her voice was a slight speech impediment, and the animated use of her hands while she spoke had me to believe that she was deaf.
I had to think quit without making myself look like an idiot. I thought about trying to use my hands to communicate, but then realized that was a bad idea considering I didn't know a lick of sign language. Then, without further hesitation, I reached into my messenger bag and pulled out one of my school tablets and a pen.
I quickly wrote on a piece of paper; HI, I'M TOM. DON'T WORRY, EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.
She seemed very impressed by my quick thinking and a huge smile returned to her face as she said, "That was very nice of you to write that down for me. But I want you to know I can read lips, if you talk slow and clear."
The more I heard her voice, the less strange is sounded to me. Her dialect sounded much like the famous deaf actress Marlee Matlin, however, the pitch of her voice was very soft and sweet.
My heart was racing, and my head was in a fog. I'm not even sure what I was saying to her, but obviously, I began to ramble too much. She put one finger to her lips and said, "Shhh. Maybe you should use the pen and paper."