<\/p>\nA Chance Lunch<\/i><\/h1>\n
<\/center>Sitting across the room from me was a girl. Her hair was a strange, wet-looking blonde with curls that seemed to flow, but never to lose shape. I would glance at her from time to time as she sat listening to the speaker, and I would catch her smile occasionally as she found him amusing, white teeth flashing beautifully. Her eyes were bright, and her slim form wore her clothes well.<\/p>\n
At a quarter till noon, we broke for lunch, and I slid through bored working professionals who had, like myself, been sent to this workshop by employers with pockets too deep for them to reach the bottom with their fingertips. I stepped in behind her, wondering what to say. I thought for a moment, and finally threw all my plans out the window. I simply tugged on her sleeve gently.<\/p>\n
She turned, a questioning look on her face.<\/p>\n
“Can I buy you lunch?” I asked.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I hung in space, waiting for her to answer. The tips of her lips twitched, first once, then twice, and her eyes sparkled. “Sure,” she said. “Got something in mind?”<\/p>\n
I was completely unprepared for this, but having taken the plunge into such cold water, I was at least fully awake. “Hadn’t really thought about it, actually. Where were you going originally?”<\/p>\n
“I was just going to try the hotel’s restaurant,” she said. Her eyes sparkled again. “Do you ask women to lunch often, having no place to take them?” she asked.<\/p>\n
“Well, I find it a bit presumptuous to tell a lady where we’re going before she says ‘yes’,” I responded. “Besides, I thought you’d probably say no, so I didn’t bother.”<\/p>\n
“I can take it back, if you want, and you can go eat alone,” she said, smiling.<\/p>\n
“No, I think you’re probably better company than I am alone.”<\/p>\n
Her smile grew broader. “You know, now I’m wondering what I got myself into with lunch.”<\/p>\n
“Nothing dangerous, I assure you. I’m Mike.”<\/p>\n
“Celeste. Pleasure to meet you.”<\/p>\n
“No, Celeste. At the risk of sounding clich\u00e9d, the pleasure is all mine.”<\/p>\n
We had dinner, and a very good conversation. She gave me a business card, but I returned it to her. We talked, laughed, and enjoyed our time together, but I didn’t want anything more than company, and I told her as much. What I didn’t tell her was that I enjoyed her company much more than I thought I would. She was beautiful and intelligent. It was the best lunch I’ve had in over a year.<\/p>\n
She left before I did, though, and I doubt I’ll see her again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Chance Lunch Sitting across the room from me was a girl. Her hair was a strange, wet-looking blonde with curls that seemed to flow, but never to lose shape. I would glance at her from time to time as she sat listening to the speaker, and I would catch her smile occasionally as she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"yoast_head":"\n
Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch. - Chronarchy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch. - Chronarchy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Chance Lunch Sitting across the room from me was a girl. Her hair was a strange, wet-looking blonde with curls that seemed to flow, but never to lose shape. I would glance at her from time to time as she sat listening to the speaker, and I would catch her smile occasionally as she […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chronarchy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-15T00:53:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shanna Shipley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shanna Shipley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Shanna Shipley\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9228cc73f2cc03efb00ba3169d99578b\"},\"headline\":\"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch.\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-15T00:53:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/\",\"name\":\"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch. - Chronarchy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-15T00:53:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9228cc73f2cc03efb00ba3169d99578b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Chronarchy\",\"description\":\"Rule By Time\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9228cc73f2cc03efb00ba3169d99578b\",\"name\":\"Shanna Shipley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8843b59900dc2eb94268b6f778f8892d0f2d6563f83707316d5a1476ce257f3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8843b59900dc2eb94268b6f778f8892d0f2d6563f83707316d5a1476ce257f3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8843b59900dc2eb94268b6f778f8892d0f2d6563f83707316d5a1476ce257f3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shanna Shipley\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/67.225.164.17\\\/~chronarchy\\\/author\\\/shanna\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch. - Chronarchy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch. - Chronarchy","og_description":"A Chance Lunch Sitting across the room from me was a girl. Her hair was a strange, wet-looking blonde with curls that seemed to flow, but never to lose shape. I would glance at her from time to time as she sat listening to the speaker, and I would catch her smile occasionally as she […]","og_url":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/","og_site_name":"Chronarchy","article_published_time":"2023-03-15T00:53:48+00:00","author":"Shanna Shipley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shanna Shipley","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/"},"author":{"name":"Shanna Shipley","@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/#\/schema\/person\/9228cc73f2cc03efb00ba3169d99578b"},"headline":"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch.","datePublished":"2023-03-15T00:53:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/"},"wordCount":452,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/","url":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/","name":"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch. - Chronarchy","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-15T00:53:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/#\/schema\/person\/9228cc73f2cc03efb00ba3169d99578b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/celeste-meeting-a-beautiful-woman-and-having-lunch\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Celeste, meeting a beautiful woman and having lunch."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/#website","url":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/","name":"Chronarchy","description":"Rule By Time","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/#\/schema\/person\/9228cc73f2cc03efb00ba3169d99578b","name":"Shanna Shipley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8843b59900dc2eb94268b6f778f8892d0f2d6563f83707316d5a1476ce257f3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8843b59900dc2eb94268b6f778f8892d0f2d6563f83707316d5a1476ce257f3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8843b59900dc2eb94268b6f778f8892d0f2d6563f83707316d5a1476ce257f3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shanna Shipley"},"url":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/author\/shanna\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1737,"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions\/1737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/67.225.164.17\/~chronarchy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}