LesleyLu5: No way I’m doing THAT!

 “No way I’m doing that!” she said with a huff as she stomped her foot on the ground.

Lane gave her the best puppy dog eyes he could manage and turned toward her,

“Come on, Elyse, you can do it, I do it every day, easy peasy!”

“Yes, but you have years of experience. Sure you have explained how you do it, and I’ve seen you do it a number of times since we’ve been together. However, you have given me one real tutorial and I don’t have that much confidence here, Lane.”

“Okay, fair enough Elyse, but I thought you wanted some insight to my world, and this is a quick way into it, you know.”

“Nice, pun there Lane, but not on my own. Not here, it is too busy for me to try that here by myself.”

“Aww, come on Elyse, please?”

“As I said Lane, no way I’m doing that! Unless you let me cheat.”

He sighed as he  thought a minute and came up with a compromise.

“Fine. I am not going to let you cheat, but I have an idea that is sort of a compromise, but I still would  you to give it a try later on a more quiet street some other time. We can do more practice, on quiet streets, but eventually, I want you to give it a try on your own. It would mean so much to me. Please?”

Elyse shifted her position as she sighed and answered him. “Okay, Lane, you can be quite persuasive, I’m leaning towards trying it, but what is the compromise you have to offer me today.”

“Okay, here’s the deal. You wear the blindfold, and I will lead us across the street. You will tell me when you think it is safe to cross and I will lead us at that time. Of course, if I don’t think it is safe I will make the executive decision not to cross  the road.”

“Lane, I accept your compromise. Can I tell you how absolutely bonkers I think you are for doing this? Do you trust me to make that decision?”

“Elyse, I trust you for so many things in our daily life, I don’t think this  a stretch for me. I need you to trust my judgement of you and your capabilities.”

“Okay.”

Elyse put her blindfold on, and Lane reached up to her face to verify she had it on, which elicited a nervous giggle. He smiled to himself, assured that it was in place. He swiped his cane across the sidewalk to verify their starting position and made sure they were lined up with the street he wanted to cross. It wasn’t the busiest street, but still, there was a steady stream of traffic. While it would seem that the traffic would make it difficult to decide when to cross the road; it actually had the effect of making it more obvious which direction traffic was flowing. In the end, this flow of traffic would make it easier to decide when it was safe to cross.

“Elyse, are you ready?” Lane asked.

“Nope, but here we go anyway.” she answered, truthfully.

“Elyse, just focus, and we will be fine, I trust you. If it makes you feel better, I am listening too. You will be fine.”

She let out a nervous laugh. “If you say so…”

Elyse turned her head from side to side as she tried to judge when it would be safe to cross.

She finally felt that the moment had arrived. With her heart beating in her chest, she said: “Okay, let’s cross now.” She half expected to have Lane sit there and override her, but  he started forward with her hand in a near death grip, attached tightly to his arm, just above the elbow.

As they crossed the road, Lane turned toward Elyse and with a hint of pride in his voice he told her,“You got this babe, I told you!”

When they got to the other side, Elyse pulled off the blindfold, gave Lane a kiss and said, “I’m sorry hon, I love you, but there is no way I’m doing THAT again!”

Lane turned toward her, reached out, made contact with her arm, trailed up her arm to her shoulder where he leaned in, gave her a peck on the cheek and slyly whispered: “You will, and maybe next time, you’ll take the lead.”