I'm White. He's Not.

"Oh, boy; just great!" I told myself this afternoon, as I looked at my sunburned reflection.

I'm reminded of a time, long ago - when the shade of our skin was one of a few times color defined Rudy and I.

We made plans to spend the day at Huntington Beach, in Orange County, California. We gathered a few what we thought of as necessary items to enjoy the day: a radio, towels, an ice chest full of snacks and drinks, magazines, and baby oil.

Baby oil?! Seriously, baby oil?!

Well, I'm telling you, at the time it made perfect sense; a quick way to color the skin.

A BIG MISTAKE, to say the least.

For me, anyway.

You see, Rudy has lovely brown skin. I am glow-stick white.

There we were, slathering that oil on, all over our exposed skin. Both of us looking nice and shiny. Feeling satisfied, we horizontally positioned ourselves, side-by-side, each on our own colorful towel; relaxing, to the point of snoozing under that hot sun.

Rudy noticed I was turning pink, said as much, but let the issue go when I said, "Oh, it's okay. I'm fine. I'm getting a tan!"

As mid-afternoon approached, in the heat of the blazing sun shining brightly in my eyes, it was hard to tell if I managed more than a slight coloring. I felt I should continue to sunbath; just a bit more sun, a bit more color but it was time to leave. We were hot, and tired.

We stopped at a mini-mart on our way home. A cold ICEE, Cocoa-Cola flavor, please!, was in order. As I stepped out of the car, my skin - especially behind my knees - hurt; just a slight irritation.

My reflection spoke to me from the glass of the store window. "Oh, wow, you did get some color - definitely!"

I looked towards Rudy and noted that he had tanned nicely. He looked all chocolatey-brown; not milk-chocolate but rather dark-chocolate, like Hershey's Special Dark. He was looking good, real good!

Cold drink in hand, I eased myself back into the car. I could feel the sun soaking in, doing its job of coloring me.

Ah, what a soon-to-be joke!

When we returned home I asked Rudy if he wanted to go to the pool, to cool off before we headed to our little abode, our own personal space. "Sounds good to me," he said with interest.

The pool was somewhat crowded with other residents living in the apartment complex. The water felt good, soothing. It seemed people didn't want to look our way, but they did. "Hum, am I looking good with some sun on my lilly-whites, or what?" I modestly questioned under my breath.

Or what? was the answer to my ridiculous thought!

30, maybe forty, minutes later, when we entered our place I immediately walked to the bathroom to shower off the day's debris. "Oh. My. Gosh!" I sort-of yelled as I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. "I am so red! My face looks like a fried tomato!"

"You are red. Really red." Mr. Good-Looking-Dark-Chocolate-Brown casually stated. "Seriously red."

I'm Red. He's Not.