SUN STORIES:..."When She Was Good"...OK, What Is Real Love?...Well, It Never Actually Stays...More Like A Good, Cold Beer...There's Only So Much In The Bottle...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...I fell for her the way a bird falls for a birdhouse; she was as comfortable in the heat as in the rain. That was 10 years ago, and who knows where Isabelle is these days?

My loves have been plenty, some to be remembered and most to be forgotten.

Isabelle Cruz came to me when I was between women. Perhaps it happened because both of us were out looking for fun, there on the island off the Texas Coast.

My idea was for a nice long weekend of relaxing at the beachfront hotel bar, up in my room with that balcony facing the storied Gulf of Mexico and evenings with the funseekers at the bar.

We were midway through a piano bar singalong of Mickey Gilley's "Stand By Me" when I spotted sexy Isabelle ambling in with the full panache of a woman who knows she's beautiful. Grace, that's what I saw in her. A full command of grace. I thought her hair was the essence of a $700 pillow, there looking as if it would welcome me at the precise moment of love later that night, which happened up in her room.

Isabelle said she thought I looked like fun and like the British rocker Cliff Richard. I said I was fun to the second power and then, "...Who is Cliff Richard?" She threw her head and flowing hair back, like a javelin thrower, and laughed beautifully, no effort in other words. The night segued into a three-day weekend escapade before Isabelle told me she was due at work in the morning with AeroMexico Airlines, which employed her as a stewardess.

I never saw her again.

Three, four, five times I booked flights on AeroMexico in the ensuing months and never came close to getting any info on her whereabouts. So, what's all this lying rot people say about love, real love, insisting on staying? Love doesn't stay, no matter what anyone tells you.

It's more like a beer to be tasted and enjoyed, knowing there is only so much in the bottle...

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