We Are People Here. We Are Not Numbers - Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate)

In the infancy of our relationship

When we were almost exclusively hanging out

Together with friends

Cathy and I went to ST John's apple fest

It was held every fall in the parking lot of the Catholic Church

I had attended as a youth

Converting the quarter mile of parish grounds into a second rate carnival

Full of cheap thrills and poorly maintained rides

We meandered through the crowds

Like tourists

Eventually ending up at the pirate ship at the far end of the fair

A mechanical boat that rose into the sky

Then swooped back down in the other direction like a swallow diving for insects

Cathy was nervous and began to fidget refusing to get in line

Before our friends and I talked her into going

When the ride started

Any romantic idea I had of holding hands or an embrace

Was quickly abandoned when I saw the white knuckled grip on the safety rail

Like she feared for her life