Authors Note: So this is my first fic, review please! They might make me smile. Like Dwangela... sniffs and looks out into the distance Anyway, this story is what I would have liked to have happened this summer. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I really don't own anything. I mean, I haven't even got pants to sue off. For realsies. ;)
Ring for a Monkey
Dwight has had the ring for a while. Actually, he has had since him and Angela's first "date", or what he considers to be a date. He had Mose dig it out of the barn loft the following morning. It had been his mother's, and her mother's before that, and her mother's before that, and so on, but because Dwight had only brothers, the ring was discarded by his father when his mother passed away. Dwight carries the ring around with him always, because even though Angela doesn't hit everything on his checklist, he is willing to make an exception for her.
One morning after driving her to church (he doesn't mind so much anymore), he decides that today is the day. He has Mose create a clearing behind the farmhouse-far from the place he outran a black pepper snake. Dwight prepares a beet-less picnic because he knows that Angela detests beets, even though she pretends to enjoy them for his sake. He spreads a blanket and thoroughly douses it with bug spray and Bear-be-Gone, because there is no precaution he would not take to protect his defenseless monkey. He knows she doesn't approve of his taste in music, so he has Mose play his accordion behind a particularly large tree. That way he can watch out for bears, because he doesn't completely trust the Bear-be-Gone spray, since Jim sold it to him, and it smells like spray paint.
He picks her up from church, and she senses his nervousness. When asked, he replies that Mose was bitten by a rabid squirrel, and he was just worried. He knows it is a bad lie, but he never did do well under her gaze. Thankfully, she drops the subject. But when he leads her to the clearing under the pretense of showing her the latest modification he made to the plow, she stops; she just stands there, looking at him as if waiting for him to say something. He stammers something about the plow, and then she finally relents and rounds the corner of the farmhouse. He follows, and they stand together on the blanket. Angela asks about the paint smell, and he quickly replaces the drenched blanket. Mose would just have to be extra vigilant. He begins to unpack the picnic, and she is clearly pleased with him
He drops the ring in the potato salad, and she pretends not to notice. He is so nervous he almost leaves, but he manages to get the words out. She says yes of course, but did you really doubt that I wanted to marry you? He doesn't answer, just slips the ring on her finger.
From behind his tree, Mose smiled.