of the office, he was hoping for a quick gust of wind so her dress would fly up Marilyn Monroe style and show off her lovely long toned legs.
“Good Afternoon Mila, I have something for you,” he said grinning, happy to see her again as she stepped into the car.
“Is it a fixed vehicle with no bill?” Mila asked optimistically.
“Nup, you needed a fuel dump so you owe us for a tank of fuel which was $60 plus $40 labour, so it’s a clean one hundred dollars all up,” he stated.
“And why did I need a fuel dump?” Mila asked.
“There were some contaminants in the fuel line and it was affecting the fuel quality and performance of the engine – maybe from a bad batch of fuel at the bowser? Any-who, it’s all sorted now and your car won’t be farting black shit as you drive up the road,” Marley replied.
“Whatever, as long as it’s fixed,” said Mila, relieved her brand new car was not the lemon she feared it might be.
“So, here is the something I have for you that I was talking about,” Marley said. He passed her twelve envelopes, the first one had the word ‘Invoice’ in bold letters and the rest of them were numbered consecutively from one to eleven.
“How many invoices do I need?” Mila asked in surprise.
“Oh, only the top one is an invoice,” he said, waiting for her to open the other eleven.
“What?”
“Just open them up in numerical order and say what you see on the page.”
“What’s going on?” She had no idea of what was happening but she was loving it, absolutely loving every single moment of it.
“Just say what you see,” he repeated.
Opening the envelope marked with a one, she pulled out a piece of paper. It was a printout of a photo of an eye, one of Marley’s eyes, opened wide.
“Eye?” Mila asked with a strange look on her face.
“Correct!...Next,” Marley said, happy his idea seemed to be working.
The next page had a photo of a nose under an armpit, with the letter S on it crossed out.
“What? Smelling an Armpit?”
“Noooo, think about it. What does an armpit do?” Marley prompted her.
“STINK!” Mila said with disgust.
“Correct, but only half correct, what else is on the page?”
“An S, crossed out,” Mila said looking at him, then blurting out, “TINK!”
“Correct!” Marley said smiling. “Next envelope.”
This was the most daring photo. It showed a man’s rear, facing a toilet, with his legs apart, with a stream of liquid in between the man’s legs. Mind you, the man’s trousers were still on and the liquid was clear water.
“Yuck,” said Mila, shrieking and playfully punching Marley in the arm.
“Incorrect and it’s not really yuck, my duds aren’t down, it’s just a clue, and might I say, a nice shot of my arse!”
“Pee!” she said.
“Close....rhymes with,” he hinted.
“Wee?” she cringed.
“Yes! Correct. Next Envelope.” Marley was rubbing his hands together in pure delight.
The next photo was a set of traffic lights with the red and amber colours crossed out.
“Green?” she asked, puzzled.
“What’s green mean?” he asked.
“GO!”
“Correct, next.”
Marley had taken a photo of the Welcome to Townsville sign but only showed the first two letters “TO” so that was a give away.
A fishing hook was featured in the next photo.
“Fishing?” she said, proud of herself…
Until he said, “Nope, next guess?” Egging her on, he gave her another hint by speaking Pirate, “Argggh, me ardies, I’m Captain......?”
“Hook!” she exclaimed.
“Yes!” Marley said.
The next page showed a carton with an arrow with the words THIS WAY crossed out and UP left over.
“UP,” she squealed.
The next photo was of a 40 speed restriction sign without the 0. Another give away.
“FOUR!” she said tearing open the next envelope without the need for confirmation.
It was a picture of a standard hot meal served for dinner, meat and three veg. “MEAL or DINNER?” Mila questioned.
“Dinner,” Marley confirmed. “Next!”
On the next page was written 1 + 1 = _um
“Sum?” she said, not sure if she was correct.
“YES!” he said.
The page inside the last envelope showed two pictures, one was the sun on the top of the page and the other was the moon on the bottom of the page. NIGHT was written in the same section of page as the moon and was crossed out and DAY was the only word left to read out.
“DAY!” said Mila, proud that she made her way through all the puzzles.
“Now read them all out in order so you can make a sentence,” Marley asked politely.
Mila gathered the pages and turned them over one by one. “EYE, TINK, WEE, GO, 2, HOOK, UP, 4, DINNER, SUM, DAY.”
“Yes! I’d love to!” Marley replied, cheekily answering the question he had created for Mila.
“I can’t Marley, you know why!” Mila said, head down towards her chest, sticking to her guns.
“Sum Day, when you can, when you aren’t in a relationship, okay?” Marley clarified softly.
“Here’s my number, keep it with the pages from the envelopes. If you ever want to catch up, just send me a photo of your thumb in the thumbs up position to my mobile. Okay! And I’ll give you a call. Until then, I will only pester you if I see you out and about. Howzat sound?” he said calmly and genuinely.
“Okay. Okay, Thank you. That sounds like a plan,” Mila agreed.
Marley started up the car and drove back to his work so that Mila could pay her invoice and pick up her car. There was no awkward silence after the paper proposal. It was not Marley’s style to be short of words or charisma.
“Do you have anything planned for the weekend? How long have you lived in Townsville? What sort of movies do you like to go watch?” he rattled off one question after the other. The conversation flowed so freely between them that they arrived back at the dealership in no time and were again standing at the same desk where they had first met. “Super to meet you Mila. Take care,” Marley said when she had finished settling the bill and was about to walk away.
“You too Marley, you too,” Mila said genuinely. Sunnies in one hand, her paper request for a date in the other and her eyes smiling, she turned away and walked out to her car. After stashing all the paperwork Marley had given her in the glove box, Mila drove home.
As she drove, the unexpected events of the day were food for thought. The man she was seeing, Jake, worked out of town on a mine site for fourteen days at a time was only back for seven and he didn’t have half the communication skills Marley seemed to possess. When she got home, Mila checked her calendar and saw that Jake was due to fly back in eight days. Their relationship was only in the beginning stages but it seemed to be held in a time warp for longer than