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It was cold out.    Below freezing, in fact.  Stanley and Stella lay together on the Stan’s big old couch, both in bulky sweaters.  The sofa had seen better days, but it was still comfortable. It was one of the few things that Stanley still had from the old house, when he and Stella were still married.

“So whatta ya say, Stella?” he whispered, squeezing her, hoping against hope.

Stella pulled back, and took Stan’s chin in between her hands.  She looked into his eyes.

She nodded.  “I say ‘yes’, Stanley Kowalski.  I say ‘yes’.”

Stanley let out a burst of delighted laughter.  He jumped to his feet, taking her with him.  He picked her up in his arms and swung her around.  “Thank you!” He yelled. “Thank you, thank you!”

He gently set her down. Stella said. “Hey! Let’s celebrate! Do you still have some of that Pinot Grigio from the other night?”

“Yeah, sure!”

“I’ll go get it!”  Stella kissed Stan, squealed in excited delight, and ran for the wine.

Stanley was delirious with relief.  He blew out a breath.  He looked around and scratched his head, unsure of what to do next.  He hadn’t planned anything beyond the actual moment of the proposal.

He snapped his fingers.  I’ll start a fire, we’ll cuddle up together. And I’m never letting her go. Not this time. 

He dumped some logs from the hearth into the fire pit, and looked around.  Damn.  He was out of kindling.  He’d have to improvise.  He got his lighter from the mantel, grabbed the old Sunday paper from the coffee table, and crumbled it up.  He threw it in the fire.  He watched the orange flames quickly leap up.  He added more paper, as the flames died down too quickly to ignite the wood. 

He added the funny papers, the business section, the classifieds, and finally the sports section.

Then from underneath the coffee table he saw the two manila folders, each containing a few sheets of paper. Stanley Kowalski grabbed them and tossed them both in the fire, and watched the thick paper quickly curl and blacken among the flames.

Yep.  Up in smoke.  Just like you, he silently said to Captain Briggs, wherever he was. Stanley laughed.