Every Pair of Swim Trunks Needs a Beer Opener Attached (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by yours truly.      

Please feel free to use some of the prompts, none of them, or all of them as you see fit.  The point is to get the creative juices flowing in whatever manner your muse leads you.

This week's prompts are:

suppress

ballet

hero

warrant

partner

pressure

and / or 

treasure map

bus stop

egg roll

full moon

garden gnome

trash can

Charlotte/Mother Owl has chosen luminous bright red as the color/colour of the month, which may also be used as a prompt.   https://krydderuglen.blogspot.com

He was nervous, which was to be expected.  She'd agreed to a date and now he was hoping he could impress her.  He'd heard the first date is very important, in fact he'd probably blown it out of all proportion in his mind, but trying to tell himself this did not help.

Neither did asking his father.  "Dad, can you give me some advice about girls?" he'd said, to which his father responded, "Son, the female of the species is a TREASURE MAP I've never had the pleasure of being able to properly decipher."

He showed up to take her out in the family's aging but still respectable car.  It was old enough that it still had a manual transmission although automatic was starting to become the norm.  On his way up to the steps at the side of the porch, he cocked his head to look at the FULL MOON and tripped over a GARDEN GNOME, almost landing up against the TRASH CAN on the side of the porch near the stairs.  He hoped his lack of coordination hadn't been seen from the house.

Her father's grin told him his hope was a vain one but her father did have the good grace not to mention it.  He'd been young once, too, and going out for the first time with a girl he'd just met.

Because her father had been young once, though, he felt he had WARRANT to SUPPRESS any ideas about them having too good a time and being out too late.

"Welcome, young man!" he said.  "Come in, come in.  Dalton, right?  It's good to see you.  Shelly Ann will be down in a moment.  I want you both to remember her curfew is ten pm, okay?"

"Yes, sir, understood," he managed to respond, his voice sounding odd in his ears.

Luckily, she walked into the room at that moment and said, "Yes, Daddy, we'll be back on time.  If I have to, there's a BUS STOP on almost every corner, remember?"

Her eyes danced with a bit of the sense of mischief which had attracted Dalton to her in the first place, and her father laughed.  "It shouldn't come down to that.  Should it, Dalton?"

"No, sir, I would certainly hope not."

"You kids have fun," he said as they left.

"I hope you like Chinese food," Dalton stated as he pulled the car out into the street.

"I've never had any," she said, "but I've heard about there being a new restaurant in town that serves it.  I've been wanting to try it, but Daddy says it would probably give him indigestion.  He's married to his steak and potatoes as much as to Mama, at least that's what Mama says."

"My older brother went, and brought home something called an EGG ROLL.  We all tried one, and it was good, so I thought it would be fun to go there."

"Sounds great!" she said, and her enthusiasm encouraged him, easing some of the PRESSURE he'd been feeling.

They had a wonderful time at the restaurant, being truly impressed by how exotic it felt.   Neither had ever been exposed to Chinese music, artwork or decor, and they were a little awestruck by the menu.  The waitress, being used to Westerners with no previous exposure to the cuisine, guided them through ordering and then brought them hot towels for wiping their hands before serving their food.

"When in Rome," Dalton had said, picking his up and using it as he'd seen the people at the next table do a few minutes before.

"Or China," she added with a grin, and he'd laughed.  He found her surprisingly easy to talk to as they ate their way through egg rolls, hot soup, and other delights.

The fortune cookies had been a surprise, and Dalton took heart from the message in his.  "Good luck is coming your way!" it had proclaimed, and he certainly hoped it was.

After dinner, they'd walked for a while in the nearby park, but as it approached her curfew made their way back to his car to be sure to have plenty of time to get her home.

Then the disaster struck, his car wouldn't start.

"Oh, no, not tonight of all nights!" he thought, although he tried to pass off the first failed attempt as just a fluke, and hoped he wouldn't start blushing.  His face had the most embarrassing habit of turning Luminous Bright Red at the worst times.

A couple of more tries and there was no denying it.  Sometimes the old car needed to be given a good push from behind while popping the clutch to get it started.  Visions of the joke she'd made about the bus earlier began to flash in his head as he wondered if it would come down to that.  He fought his rising panic.

She asked what was wrong, and he told her about the car's occasional cantankerous moments.  "It would pick tonight," he said, shaking his head.  Then he asked, "Do you know how to drive?  I could get out and push, and you could pop the clutch and start it..."

"Daddy hasn't taught me yet," she said, "not a stick, anyway.  Mama wanted the new automatic when we got the family car, and he wants me to get better at driving before he teaches me the manual transmission on his truck."

"I'll have to go in the restaurant and ask if anyone could..."

"I'll give it a push!"

He looked at her and realized she was serious.

"Shelly Ann, I couldn't ask you to..."

"You're not asking, I'm offering," she said, opening the door and heading to the back of the vehicle.

"What do you need me to do?"

He looked at her in her heels and nice dress and shook his head.  If she'd been in BALLET flats and some of those slacks girls sometimes wore these days, he could understand, but this!

He showed her what to do and got in the driver's seat.  "Now!" he said and she pushed the car, which started up with no trouble once it was rolling.

Leaving it running, he got out to open her door and let her in the car, and they proceeded on their way.  They were quiet most of the way to her house.

Finally, as they were pulling onto her block, Dalton said, "Some HERO Prince Charming I turned out to be, huh?  Making my beautiful date push the car to get it started?  I'm so sorry about...are you laughing?"

"Of course, I'm laughing!  Who says I'm looking for a hero or Prince Charming?  I'm looking for a friend to have a nice evening with, not a PARTNER for the rest of my life, although it could turn into that someday.  I had a wonderful time tonight, even if your car was a bit cantankerous.  Let's not spoil it, okay?"

"Then you'll go out with me again?" he asked incredulously.

"Call me tomorrow and find out," she smiled at him as she got out of the car and headed toward the front door, which her father opened and waved at him.

"Yes, I'm going to call you tomorrow," he said to himself as he pulled away from the curb.  "Any girl with that much grit is the one I want to marry!"

(Yes, she pushed the car in heels and a dress, and yes, he vowed to marry her because he said he liked a woman with such grit.  They've been together over 50 years.  The rest of the details i made up, i have no idea what their first date was really like.)

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Today is:

Baba Au Rhum Day -- of course, on rum day, bake some cake with the stuff!

Bratwurst Day

Children's Day -- Paraguay

Daimonji Bonfire -- Mt. Nyoigadake, Kyoto, Japan (spectacular bonfires in the shapes of word pictures on the mountains surrounding the city)

Elvis Presley Day -- can you believe he's been gone 46 years?

Festival of the Minstrels -- Tutbury Castle, UK (middle ages; celebrated with great pomp, as the Duke of Lancaster had decreed that they each year elect a new king of the minstrels)

Fete de l'Independance -- Gabon (National Day)

Harmonic Convergence Day -- modern followers of Maya and Aztec calendars

Joe Miller's Joke Day -- anniversary of the death of English comic actor Joseph Miller in 1738

Madonna del Voto Day -- Siena, Italy (a/k/a Palio dell'Assunta, 2nd of the traditional yearly horse races)

National Airborne Day -- US (honors all Airborne Military)

National Medical Dosimetrist's Day -- American Association of Medical Dosimetrists (medical radiation safety experts) 

National Tell a Joke Day -- seems internet generated, but probably related to Joe Miller Joke Day

National Rum Day

Remember What Your Spouse Wore the First Time You Met Day -- internet generated and dangerous!

Restoration of the Republic -- Dominican Republic

Roller Coaster Day -- the first one was patented this day in 1898

Samvatsari -- Jain (final and most important day of the Paryushana Parva, the day focused on forgiveness)

Shahenshahi -- DD, DN, GJ, MH, India (Parsi New Year)

St. Roch's Day (Patron of bachelors, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids, surgeons, tile makers; of over 20 cities in Italy as well as Istanbul, Turkey; for relief from pestilence; against cholera, diseased cattle, epidemics, knee problems, plague [Black Death], skin diseases and rashes) 

St. Stephen of Hungary's Day (Patron of bricklayers, kings, masons, stonecutters; Hungary; against the death of children)

Surveillance Day -- formerly Wave at the Surveillance Cameras Day, go ahead and make the lives of those monitoring your every move a little less boring and more pleasant by giving a little wave when you know you are being watched   

Xicolatada -- Palau-de-Cerdagne, France (hot chocolate festival)*

Anniversary Today:

Sean Penn marries Madonna, 1985

Paul Simon marries Carrie Fisher, 1983

Gioachino Antonio Rossini marries Olympe Pélissier, 1846

Birthdays Today:

Seth Peterson, 1970

Steve Carell, 1963

Laura Innes, 1960

Timothy Hutton, 1960

Angela Bassett, 1958

Madonna, 1958

Jeff Perry, 1955

James Cameron, 1954

Kathie Lee Gifford, 1953

Reginald VelJohnson, 1952

Leslie Ann Warren, 1946

Julie Newmar, 1935

Eydie Gorme, 1932

Frank Gifford, 1930

Ann Blyth, 1928

Fess Parker, 1925

Menachem Begin, 1913

George Meany, 1894

T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia), 1888

Bernarr Macfadden, 1868

Amos Alonzo Stagg, 1862

Hongxi Emperor of China, 1378

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Siegfried"(Opera, WWV 86C), 1876

Today in History:

Henry VIII defeats the French at the Battle of Guinegate/Battle of the Spurs, forcing the French to retreat, 1513

Jack Broughton formulates the earliest code of rules for boxing, 1743

Chang and Eng Bunker, the original "Siamese" twins, arrive in Boston to be exhibited, 1829

U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1858

Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami which followed a magnitude 8.5 earthquake, 1868

Gold is discovered in the Klondike, at Bonanza Creek, 1896

Edwin Prescott patents the roller coaster, 1898

In Valparaiso, Chile, an 8.6 earthquake followed by fire destroys the city and kills 20,000, 1906

The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks, 1930

Democrats nominate Adlai E. Stevenson as presidential candidate, 1956

Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft, 1960

A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market, 1989

For only 2nd time Stanley Cup leaves North America (heads to Russia), 1997

In England, two men who created a Facebook site to incite violence during the riots are sentenced to four years imprisonment, 2011

The world's first floating dairy farm opens in Merwehaven Harbour, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with 40 cows milked by robots, 2018

The first official water shortage is declared at Lake Mead, the major reservoir on the Colorado River, 2021

*Yes, they celebrate a hot chocolate festival in the summer.  It all started when the 15th of August was a feast day on which the locals always drank a bit much, and the chocolatier of the town claimed his brew was a good remedy the day after.  The original festival on the 15th has ceased, but the hot chocolate is brewed to this day, served at 11am promptly.