"That's not true. I am as ugly as a chicken with no feathers," she said, putting the daisy in her hair. "Don't say that! You are as pretty as the sun. Now please hurry up. We have to go dancing!"
Manuel is working in his garden when he hears a passing broadcast for a dance that evening. It makes his day and sends him off to ask Manuela to go to the dance. She has every excuse in the book for not going. Each time she makes a critical statement about herself and how she looks, Manuel counters with a compliment.
He provides a cumulative collection of flattery:
"I'm going to put mascara on my eyelashes.
They are as stubby as a little fly's feet."
"Don't say that! You are as pretty as the sun
with your starry, sad eyes.
And your short eyelashes are like new- mown grass.
Now please hurry up. We have to go dancing."
As he continues to implore her to join him at the dance, while also sharing all the love he feels for her, Manuela begins to preen and prepare with gusto. She really does appreciate his attention and the constant pleas for her to join him. No matter what she says, he continues to add to the list of things that make her so special to him.
Finally, she has primped and preened enough that she is ready for the dance. What joy! She pins a daisy on his jacket, and offers a compliment of her own - the perfect ending to a story of grandparents we rarely see. It has only to do with two elderly people enamored of each other, and showing it in every way. Truly lovely!
The art created to enhance this story is a perfect fit. There is much fun in the details. Readers will be delighted to follow the two as they prepare for their evening, the joy they feel when they are together, and their memories of early times in their long marriage.
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