Uncle Teddy's Romance

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Let's face it, there are hundreds of stories about the meeting of the genders by all manner of means, some accidental, some contrived and some by pure chance. Well, the meeting between my Uncle Teddy and Doris was certainly contrived but interesting nonetheless.

Uncle Teddy went overseas to fight for his country when he wasn't much more than a boy. Dad said he came back like a grown man trapped in a boy's body. My conversations with him were awkward as he seemed immersed in his own thoughts for much of the time. I guess a twelve-year-old niece didn't figure much in his worried mind. Dad tried to explain why his brother was so preoccupied but I wasn't quite old enough to understand what trauma did to people. Dad said Teddy had missed out on his growing-up years in a natural way and life in civvy street was very difficult for him.

Uncle Teddy had been home for a few months when, seemingly overnight, he underwent a dramatic change. Blue eyes, so like my Dad's, shone with a newfound brightness, an animated smile lifted the melancholy mood from his mouth and suddenly he looked like a young man again. He bought new clothes and we never again saw him looking downcast or untidy.

Shoes became his passion; he loved their lightness instead of the heavy Army boots he'd worn for so long. Each time we saw him it seemed he wore yet another pair of new shoes.

Uncle Teddy lived with my grandparents and on a visit one day I noticed a shoe box on the table.
I wondered what this pair would be like and being incredibly inquisitive (and alone in the room) I opened the lid. I could hardly believe what I saw! The box was chock-full of shoe-laces. There must have been a hundred pairs or more, though I never actually counted them. Why on earth would anybody want so many shoe laces? I didn't dwell on the situation and promptly forgot all about it. I forgot about it, that is, until Uncle Teddy married Auntie Doris. That was when Dad told me story of the shoe laces.

When Teddy bought his first pair of new shoes Auntie Doris was working in the shop. Teddy thought she was absolutely the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Her hair was the flame-red colour that we think only appears from an artist's brush or a bottle! Too red to be real, but it was real alright! Her azure-blue eyes set off the pale, delicate skin that accompanied such colouring and he immediately fell in love with her.

Being an extremely shy young man he didn't quite know how to approach this vision of beauty and ask her go out with him. So every day for weeks on end he went into the shop and brought a pair of shoe laces. Doris never questioned his purchases - she was delighted to see this pleasant chap every day. 'Delighted' is putting it mildly! Well, eventually, when the shoe box was full to overflowing Teddy whipped up the courage to ask Doris if she would go to the cinema with him. Doris had waited patiently for such an invitation and accepted without hesitation, just as she accepted his proposal of marriage not long afterwards.

Love at first sight - absolutely! Teddy and Doris had a long, full and happy life together, strengthened and tied together by a box of shoelaces!

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