Boobala Darling’s Long-Awaited Proposal – Part 2 of 3 – A Short Story
Boobala is finally on the cruise he’s wanted to take his whole life, but it hasn’t been going so well so far. She has been humiliated by the Captain and aggravated by other guests. However, in part 2, her cruise takes a surprising turn.
As Boobala gorges on food, a tall, skinny gentleman named Irving Levy walks into the dining room. He is assisted by his quad cane. Irving, a wealthy retired stockbroker in his sixties, is known to the Captain because of the many trips he takes aboard the Empress Carinthia, but since his total hip replacement surgery and extensive physical therapy, he hadn’t been able to travel as much. Recently. , until now. Grateful that the worst is over, he still uses his quad staff for support for the time being. Dressed in a flashy multi-striped shirt with a bow tie, plaid pants, and ridiculous suspenders, he sees Boobala sitting alone. He crawls over to her table.
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” she asks in a polite voice.
Boobala gets mad because she didn’t really want him or anyone at her table. She sarcastically replies, “Do you see a reservation sign?”
“Why not?” Irving stammers, taken aback by his response.
Boobala looks at Irving, amused by his outfit, though she has to admit it’s cute. He is meticulously groomed. His gray hair looks refreshingly healthy. He has a clean-shaven face and a thin mustache. He likes the sound of his voice and the smell of his cologne.
Not bad, not bad for an old man, he thinks.
“So what are you waiting for, go ahead and park your Tuchis.”
Irving pulls out the chair and sits at the table with Boobala. “Thank you, thank you,” says Irving.
Boobala yells at him, “Okay, stop saying thank you. You’re giving me a headache.”
Irving turns to Boobala and introduces himself, “My name is Irving Levy. May I ask what yours is?”
“Boobala Finkenberg, darling.”
“Honey, that’s not a Jewish name, is it?” Irving asks.
Boobala gets angry at his many questions. She snaps at him with a sharp tone in her voice “Vat, are you writing a book? You ask me about my private life. Don’t I know you? My husband was English and he was a bum. He beat me and made me My life was very unhappy “It was a loveless marriage of seventeen years. Because he couldn’t hold down a job, we ended up living with his Uncle Jake for our entire marriage. We lived through bad times where even a penny was considered money. I worked, and he stole my paychecks for gambling. Harry died of a heart attack at 36 because he owed money to a loan shark who was going to slice him up. I should have listened to my mother, she didn’t like me, but I was so young and so in love that I ran off with him. My parents were very rich, they had a fancy clothing business in Brooklyn, but they disinherited me when I ran off with Harry. Guess what, I didn’t even pay for this trip, I earned it. There you go, my whole life In a nutshell! Boobala quickly puts his hand to the into her mouth, shocked at what she just said to a complete stranger. It glides like oil on water. She felt embarrassed, wishing the ground would open up and she would swallow her. She hoped the ladies at the other table hadn’t heard. What was it about this man that made her feel so comfortable instantly that she told him her entire life?
Irving looked at Boobala with compassion and adoring eyes, “The world is beautiful Boobala, but it’s the people that make it ugly.” He was mesmerized by this feisty woman. For the first time in many years, he believed that he was in love. His hazel eyes sparkled as he continued talking to Boobala.
‘What a lovely smile,’ he thought, looking at her face. ‘Nice dental work. At least her breath doesn’t smell bad, and there’s no hair coming out of her ears and nose.’
“I see you are a good Jewish woman. Do you speak Yiddish?” Irving asked.
“How can you know I’m a Jew?
Irving points to his chest: “You have a button on it that says, ‘Kiss me, I’m Jewish,’ and it’s written all over it.” Boobala looks at his chest and smiles as he remembers Myrtle putting the button on him. He could still hear Myrtle giggling and saying, “Boobala here, an attention getter. It’ll be a great conversation starter to help you meet someone. Mazel Tov!” she had said as she hugged her beloved friend to say goodbye to her.
Irving continued: “Also, you remind me of my ‘Libe Mameleh.'” (Yiddish term: beloved mother). She takes out a large handkerchief and wipes away her tears and blows her nose, putting the handkerchief back in her pocket.
After clearing her throat, she asks, “Tell me, are you remarried?
Boobala replies curtly as usual. “Would you be here alone, if you were married?”
“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I was just trying to make small talk.” he he replied.
Boobala, now irritated, continues to enjoy her food. She suddenly pauses for a moment to let out a burp and says to Irving, “Pass me a roll and the salt shaker please, and wipe your chin, you’re drooling.”
After he finishes, he abruptly gets up and leaves the dining area to return to his stateroom, stopping to buy a ticket for the land cruise. Irving, on the other hand, is so enamored with Cupid’s arrow that he follows it like a lost puppy. Boobala stops by the photographers’ section to admire the pictures taken as passengers boarded the Empress Carinthia. She recalls her ordeal and exclaims, “They didn’t even take a picture of me. I don’t see her here.”
She turns around and sees Irving behind her. ‘No way on earth can he be my Prince Charming. Those outfits and the quad cane have got to go. She is starting to get angry and constantly avoids him to the point of being rude. No matter how much they insult him, he always comes back to her by dragging her feet.
Every day they met in the dining room. Boobala began to let her guard down and warm up to him as they got to know each other better. She was beginning to hope that he would show up. She really started to like it. Irving actually had a great sense of humor, which Boobala instantly adored. He was mesmerized by his smile. He was a man in love and she was the woman he wanted to marry. He would wait for the night of the Captain to propose marriage.
Wow, what happens next. Will Boobala accept Irving as her Prince Charming? Has Boobala found true love? Will Boobala finally have a fairy tale ending to his troubled life? You can only find out by reading part 3.