Sometimes, things just don’t go like you plan, but still turn out better than you could have hoped for. He really meant to take her out to a restaurant for dinner, and then a movie, but it just didn’t work out like that.
He had first met Squirrel, well, her actual name was Cathy, but everyone called her Squirrel. She was a really good dancer, and there was this song by the Dramatics that had come out a few years earlier, that started out, “My name is Squirrel. Best shaker in the world.” She didn’t like the nickname, but it just sort of stuck with her. Now, even her family called her Squirrel.
Well, they had first met at this youth retreat from church. Well actually, it was a lock-in. You know, where they lock you in the church all night, and you play different games, and have different activities, plus they feed you too.
There were about three or four different churches. She went to St. Paul Baptist Church. The two of them kept sort of checking each other out all night, but they never got close enough where he could actually say something to her. Finally, at breakfast, he was able to talk to her a little bit. She lived on the other side of town from him, and went to Highland High School. She was a senior, just like him. “Man, she sure is pretty.” He thought to himself. He wanted to ask her for her phone number, but before he could work up the courage, her friends pulled her away, and his friends pulled him away. Well, that was that. The Lock-In ended, and he went back to his everyday life.
He would think about her from time to time, and kick himself for not having been bold enough to just go ahead and ask for her number. Well he graduated from high school, and would be going away for college in the fall. He had been working at Burger King during the school year, but got a job for the summer at Montgomery Wards, or Monkey Wards as some people called it. It was more money. He was working in the Warehouse, and he liked it.
A couple of weeks after he started, he went out on the sales floor, just to the a look at some jeans. Why not. He would get an employee’s discount. Well, he walked by the Jewelry section, and guess who was there? When she looked up and saw him, a smile crossed her face. Well, he made sure that he got her phone number this time, and he asked her right then and there if she would go out with him. He felt like doing a back flip when she said yes.
The evening of their date, he stopped at her house to pick her up. He was driving his dad’s ’69 Chevrolet Belair. She introduced him to her mom, and younger sister. He could see where Squirrel got her looks. Her mom was beautiful, as her younger sister was also. He sat down on the couch while she finished getting ready. He heard a bunch of siren outside. They sounded sort of close, but he was too anxious about the date, to pay much attention to them.
After about 20 minutes, an a whole lot more sirens later, Squirrel was ready to go. She looked beautiful. She was wearing a nice skirt, a necklace, and a ribbon in her hair. Wow! As they walked outside, they saw that there was a huge fire down at the end of the block. The whole block was sectioned off at both ends, and there was a large crowd milling around looking at the fire. There was no way that they were leaving out of there anytime soon. “Wow!” He said. “We’re trapped.” “Well, if we’re going to be trapped,” Squirrel said through a smile. “At least I’m trapped with you.” He liked that. “Yeah”, he thought. “I like that.”
Well, they sat down on the front steps, to wait for everything to clear up. They sat there and talked, and talked, and talked. They talked about everything. She was so easy to talk to. Finally with the fire now out, and with the street being partially opened up, they still sat and talked. As the sun started to sink in the sky, they still sat there and talked.
Squirrel’s mom came to the door. “You two still out here? Do you want something to eat?” They both realized it was probably too late to try and catch their movie, and neither one of them really felt like going out to a restaurant now. As they went in to eat, he thought that this date could not have gone any better. Squirrel’s mom could cook, and as they ate, her mom brought out a bunch of family photos to show him. Squirrel was a little embarrassed, but she was a good sport about it.
As he finally left for home, he was thinking that this was the best date he ever been on. They were going to do something the next day, and she even invited him to go to church with her on Sunday. It just goes to show that even when your best plans fall apart, sometimes things end up just fine.