Dear Prudence

I was given the challenge Well in truth it was a bet And the bet was to get a date With Prudence the librarian Whose coldness was legend It would be a tall order But I picked up the gauntlet And headed to the library I walked up to the desk And there she stood She was short in stature But imposing nonetheless Her countenance was severe Thick chestnut hair Pulled back off severely off her face Her make up would best be described As minimalist And she peered at me Over thick framed spectacles She wore a chunky beige sweater Two sizes too big which hid her shape And a dark pleated skirt, knee length Over thick black wool tights And the not unattractive legs Terminated into sensible shoes I tried small talk But she was not receptive Her demeanor was positively frosty Every enquiry she batted back to me in the negative But despite everything There was something about her that I liked Something intangible curiously she was not my type in any way, but still there was something So I decided to persevere But because I wanted to Not because I had to So firstly I paid off on the bet I wasn’t doing it for a stupid bet But because of that intangible something An itch I couldn’t scratch kind of thing Realizing small talk would get me nowhere I thought I would try a different tack And converse with her on her own terms I had to engage her intellect So each day I would go to the library And ask her to recommend a book Which we could then discuss each day And each day she thawed a little Then I posed her questions, History, Geography, the arts I found her to be both knowledgeable and interesting And I found that I was becoming interested In the subjects we were discussing And looked forward to our time together As each day she thawed a little more I wanted to have more Than just the few precious hours at the library But I didn’t want to undo what I had achieved Upset the status quo And refrigerate her again Then at the end of one particular day Prudence asked me “Would you like to go for a coffee?” I was speechless but nodded in the affirmative Later she told me She fell for me because I engaged her mind And valued her for what was between her ears And not what was between her legs Or inside her sweater