“Everything,” said Carter dreamily, reliving the moment in his mind. “But not just about her. All of a sudden it was like time had stopped, and I became aware of all these things I never bothered to notice before. How sweet the grass smelled, and how soft it was. How warm the sun felt on my face, and how colorful the uniforms of the players and the clothes of all the people on the sidelines looked. And how beautiful the sky and the clouds were, and how the trees swayed in the wind. It was like everything suddenly came into sharp focus. And Elena was right there in the middle of it all.”

“What did she look like?”

“How can I describe her?” sighed Carter. “She was the most beautiful girl I ever met. She had this long wavy hair like strands of gold, and her face was like the one in that famous painting you see all the time of the girl standing inside the clam shell.You know the one I’m talking about?”

“The Birth of Venus,” said Rosa. “I’ve seen it. But I believe it’s more like a scallop shell.”

“Whatever,” said Carter with a dismissive wave of his own. “It’s a shell. Anyway, she looked at me and smiled, and all of a sudden I forgot about the match and the guys running down the field and the pain in my gut. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It was like nothing else in the world mattered to me anymore except her.”

“Hmm, I would say that you got hit by the thunderbolt,” chuckled Rosa. “It happens.”

“Yeah? Well, that wasn’t all I got hit with.Two seconds later the ball came bouncing back my way and I was right back in the thick of it. I got whacked but good. But you know, I played the rest of the match in a fog, not feeling a thing. Everywhere I ran on the field I kept looking back to see if she was still there, you know, to make sure I hadn’t just imagined her.”

“And then what happened?”

“The match ended and she was gone,” said Carter. “I figured she must have been a mirage, but then I saw her again a little while later on the other side of the field. I couldn’t help myself, so I just walked straight across the field—right where another match was going on—because I had to talk with her.”

Rosa gave a little laugh and turned back to his desk. He started to sift through the remaining papers stacked there, stuffing those he wished to take with him into a leather satchel. “And how did that first encounter go?” he asked over his shoulder.