Snowy Sun Birds Bob, if you don't stop calling, I am gonna call the police. This is ridiculous. I will not allow this to continue. I heard Noreen on the phone. It was Bobby again. He called at least three time a week for two whole months now. I wanted to talk to him so badly. I loved him and he loved me. Our families were keeping us apart. They treated us like little kids. It was cold out now, but a couple of months ago we were at the shore for the summer. That is where we met. Each year, our family rents a bungalow at the ocean. It is a family tradition. We stay a few weeks every summer, and it's fun in the sun for everyone. This year was extra special for me, I fell in love. My name is Barbara. Everyone calls me Barb. Except Bobby, he calls me Barbie. I love it when he calls me that. It makes me feel like a beautiful little doll. I was out walking on the beach one evening after dinner, it is something I love to do. I trudge along bare foot in the sand, and just think about life. Where I've been, and where I'm going. Just pondering life in general. The waves seem to calm my mind and soul, and it is so wonderfully peaceful. This one evening, as I was kicking along through the sand, I watched as he walked toward me from the other direction. He too was barefoot, just stepping in the sand near the waters edge, it seemed, watching his footprints melt away with each step closer he took. He was mesmerized watching the water gently swirl the sand back to a smooth surface leaving no trace he had ever been there. He had no idea I was even here. We were nearly ten feet apart when he finally looked up and saw me. Our eye's met, two lonely souls getting ready to pass like ships in the night, never to see each other again. My eye's looked down to the sand, and I gazed at my feet, a bit embarrassed that he saw me starring at him. Slowly we passed step by step. I turned my head backward to see him, and he was already looking back at me. Hello he said. Hello I replied softly. Nice evening isn't it, he asked. Yes I said, it is. I turned back around and took another step. The water is as warm as the air he said. I turned back. Oh, I said, I hadn't noticed. That's because your feet are walking in the dry sand. Come closer to the edge and let the water run over your feet as you walk. It is very relaxing he said. I looked into his eye's. Something inside me was drawing me toward him. I stepped to the edge and let the end of the wave trickle over my feet and through my toes. It swirled the sand around like silk on my feet. You are right I said, it does have a relaxing feel. He was not shy. My name is Bob he said, may I ask yours? I am Barbara I replied. I've seen you walking the beach the past two evenings he said. Oh, I said, and how is it you saw me? After dinner, I sit on our porch and watch the waves. The sight and sound of them crashing on the beach relaxes me. It is a great way to unwind after the long day. Yes I suppose it is, I replied. That is why I walk. To be honest he said, I came out walking tonight, hoping to see you again and perhaps meet you. I looked up at him, meet me I asked inquisitively? Yes Barbara. The first night as I watched you, it was as if you were floating across the beach on the water. The second, I just couldn't take my eyes off of you. Something in the way you moved along had my full attention. I was imagining you were an angel, gently drifting past in the wind. I have never seen you here before. Do you live here or are you just visiting? I'm here with my family for a couple of weeks on vacation I said, and how about you? Bob smiled. I am here with my family too. They rented a house down the beach. So we are neighbors I said. I guess we are he replied back quickly. I have to be going I told him, they will be worried if I am not back soon. I understand he said. My family is full of worrywarts also. May be we could walk together tomorrow evening and chat a while. I would like that Bob I said. Please he said, my friends call me Bobby. Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow evening Bobby. Bobby smiled. That's great Barbara, I'll see you then. Bobby I said, yes Barbara he answered, my friends call me Barb. Good night Barb, he said, until we meet again. We both turned and headed for home. I laid in my bed. I couldn't stop thinking about Bobby. He was so nice. I enjoyed the short time we spent together, more than anything I could remember in a very long time. He seemed to be gentle and kind. There was just something about him that made me feel very comfortable. I didn't fall asleep until very late. My mind was running scenarios of what tomorrow would be like. In one we would be walking and then swimming together. In another we held hands and had ice cream cones. Still in another he was kissing me goodnight. Imagine that. Me, kissing some guy. I laughed at myself. I didn't say a word to anyone about Bobby when I got back. Noreen would have locked me in the house. She always thinks she knows whats best for me. No, I kept him my little secret. Bobby and I spent the next three weeks walking and talking for that one hour each night. Those scenarios by the way, all did happen. Well we didn't swim, but we did get ice cream and hold hands, and at the end of the second week he kissed me goodnight. I enjoyed his company so much. I felt happy and alive. The third week we stretched our time an extra half hour. No one seemed to notice. We had so much in common. His family like mine, was over protective of him too. It was as if we were kinder gardeners or something. We had brains in our heads, we could think for ourselves and make our own decisions. That extra half hour each night flew by. The second to the last night he looked into my eyes and said Barbie. You are my Barbie, because you're such a doll. I melted like butter on a hotplate. He held me tightly and put his lips to mine. We stood there kissing for what felt like an eternity. I was as high as a kite in love with him and he with me. Then the crash. Tomorrow night was the last night of our vacation. I had to leave. We met right after dinner,and talked. We made plans to get together after we were home. I gave him my address and phone number, and he gave me his. We kissed more that last night, then there were stars in the sky. When it came time for us to part, Bobby held me by my waist, looked deep and hard into my eyes, and said, Barbie, I love you. Immediately and without reservation, I uttered the same to him. Oh Bobby, I love you too. End part one During the long drive home I mentioned Bobby. Just as I had expected Noreen flipped. Are you crazy, she said, whats wrong with you. What would daddy say. Blah blah blah. I'm not a baby I argued, but Noreen wasn't having any of it. I closed my mouth and like many times before became quiet and just sat there. When we got home I went straight to my room. I even cried a little. Not even a day had passed, when the phone rang and Noreen answered it. It was Bobby asking for me. She yelled at him a number of times, and even hung up the phone as soon as she heard his voice. I snuck to the phone twice and called him, but I got the same treatment from his family. Time went by and I was feeling depressed. I missed him terribly. If I could just hear the sound of his voice, I know I would feel better. What is wrong with people. Standing in someone else's way of true love. Then it came. Noreen handed me a letter. It was from an old school friend that moved away. Sandra Rudi. I opened it right up. Maybe it would help take my mind off of Bobby. It started, My dearest Barbie Doll. I almost fainted. My heart jumped and skipped a beat and began working double time. It was from my Bobby. He was so smart. He had remembered the story I told him about her moving away, and he used her name on the envelope. He told me how he tried to call and how Noreen had shut him down. He had formed a plan so we could at least talk through writing letters to one another. He gave me one of his friends names, that I would use on the envelopes I sent to him. We began a campaign of letter writing. It lasted through the winter and into the spring. We couldn't wait for summer vacation, we had to see each other now. We made a plan. It was early on a Sunday morning when I slipped out the back door just after breakfast. I figured I had a couple hours before anyone noticed me missing. I hopped the bus and headed for Pittstown. Bobby also was on a bus headed there. It was halfway between our homes. When the bus pulled in to the station, I got off as fast as I could. I got there first. I hid behind a wall by the side of the building and waited. It wasn't but a few minutes when I saw my Bobby getting off his bus. I kept hidden and watched him. He was like an angel floating gently on the breeze heading to the station door. He went in. He came out a second later and looked around. I saw him wiping the tears from his eyes, and I jumped out from behind the wall like a sixteen year old prankster. Barbie he said as he burst into tears. Our arms were around each other in a flash. Bobby I cried tears also rolling down my face. We held each other tight. Never let me go I said. I won't I promise said Bobby. Are you ready he asked. I am I said. He got down on one knee and took my hand in his. He looked up at me and into my eye's. Barbara Jones, will you marry me? I will I will I said, Yes I will. Bobby slid the ring on my finger and off we went. The chapel was only two blocks away. The preacher asked if we were sure we wanted to do this? Look at us Bobby said, what do you think. The preacher began. Dearly beloved... I do, I do too. Bobby grabbed me tight and swirled me down low holding me in his arms and put his lips to mine. We kissed and kissed. The reverend finally had to cough a bit to get us to stop. We were married. Husband and wife. And there was nothing Noreen or anyone else could do about it. We spent the night at a motel right there in Pittstown. The next morning we got on a bus together, and headed to my house. Bobby thought it best that we go there first. He was my husband, and I knew he was right. They would be frantic, and loosing their minds wondering where I was. They would probably even call the police. I didn't care. Bobby and I were together, until death do us part. We walked from the bus stop to my house. When we got at the end of my street, we saw three police units, and some other cars that Bobby said looked like his families. When we got closer we saw that he was right. His family and mine, and the police were all out side arguing and crying. We walked hand in hand up the street. They must have found the letters I said. Who care's said Bobby, we are married now. I smiled. They were so busy fighting and blaming each other, that they didn't notice us. Ahem! Bobby cleared his throat. Everyone went silent. They looked, and saw us standing there together. Mom, yelled Noreen. Dad, yelled Bob's daughter. Oh my god you' re both alright. Of coarse we are alright, Bobby said, we aren't little kids no matter what you think. We are not senile either. But we are husband and wife. I grabbed him and in front of our kids and grand kids and even two great grand kids, kissed him and kissed him good. BBBUT said Noreen. But nothing I said. Meet your new daddy, this is my Bobby. And said Bobby to his family meet your new mother, this is my Barbie doll. The police canceled the Silver alert and Barb and Bob set themselves up in an apartment in an assisted living center so their kids didn't have to worry about them any more. They all lived happily ever after.