It was cool mid-October Saturday afternoon, and Bill walked into his dorm room just as the phone rang. He rushed over to pick it up. It was Valerie. He was sort of surprised. Why would she be calling him, and how did she get the number? He figured his roommate, Mike, must have given it to her.
Bill and Mike had decided to get a phone for the room, because they had gotten tired of having to walk down the hall, and talk on the dorm phones every time they got a phone call, but they agreed that they wouldn’t give the number out to just anyone. “Don’t be giving our number out to any goofy folks.” Mike joked. Bill just shook his head. “Man, the only goofy folks I know is you.”
Bill knew Valerie from the gospel choir he sang in. The Association of Black Collegiates Choral Ensemble, or the ABC Choir, as everyone called it. There were about forty, or fifty people in the choir. They were usually asked to sing at different churches throughout the area, and they would also give a couple of concerts on campus each year.
Bill had never thought about singing in a choir. He was a football player, or at least he had been, until he messed up his knee lifting weights the year before. The third time was the charm. No more football. Now his friend Gary, who everyone called Bird, kept telling him that he should join the choir. Bill kept putting Bird off, telling him that he had to study.
He really did have to study. He had some heavy classes that term, and Physics was kicking his butt. Finally he had decided to drop the class. He was getting a C, but since this was a class in his major, he wanted to get a least a B. He would pick it up again next term, and try to get off to a better start.
After he had dropped his Physics class, he found that he had much more time on his hands. He was walking to the dorm cafeteria with Bird, for dinner one evening, and Bird asked him what he was doing that evening. “Nothing tonight.” Bill answered. “I’m all finished studying for today.” “Good.” Bird said. “You can come to choir practice with me tonight.” Bill stood there with his mouth hanging open, trying to think up an excuse not to go. “No excuses. You already said you weren’t doing anything.” Bird said. “Practice is at 6:30, so I’ll be at your room at 6:15.” “Ok.” Bill sighed. Well, he went to practice, and found that he liked it, so he joined the choir. That was last year. Now, he was still in the choir, and he was even one of the choir officers.
Now, Valerie was a talker, and boy was she talking his ear off. They were only a month into the new school year, Bill’s senior year, and Valerie had plenty to say about her summer, about her classes, about her Kappa Sweetheart sisters, and about the choir. She went on for about 20 minutes, before she finally said that she had to go. “By the way,” Valerie said, before getting off the phone. “Do you know that new girl in the choir, Naomi?” Bill had no idea who Naomi was. It was a new year, and there were some new faces in the choir. “Well, does she ever have a crush on you.” Bill really didn’t know how to respond. “Thanks for telling me.” he said.
The next afternoon, Bill, Mike, Revie, Bling, and Todd were all in the room watching the movie, “The Warriors,” on The Movie Channel, for about the twentieth time, when the phone rang. Mike answered. He looked at Bill. “Hey Billy Dee. It’s for you. Who’s Rhonda?”
Sometimes the fellas liked to joke and call him Billy Dee, after Billy Dee Williams, the actor, who usually portrayed a smooth lady’s man in his movies. Bill was in no way a smooth lady’s man, but his middle name was Anthony, and Tony was short for Anthony, so sometimes the fellas would call him Billy T. Well, Billy T rhythms with Billy Dee, so there you have it. He would always tell them though, that Billy T couldn’t even begin to fill the shoes of Billy Dee. Not even close.
He wondered why Rhonda was calling. She was in the choir too, and she hung out with Valerie, and she was also a Kappa Sweetheart. After talking for a few minutes, she ended the call the same way Valerie did. ” Do you know Naomi in the choir? She really likes you.” Now the lightbulb started to turn on in Bill’s head.
Bird thought it was hilarious, when Bill told him about it. “Man, they’re setting you up.” He laughed. Bill realized that, but what could he do? Sometimes, you just have to let the process play out, and see what happens.
The next evening after dinner, Bill was in his room getting ready to go to the multi-purpose building to workout. “Ring.” There went the phone. Bill answered it. It was Laurie. She wasn’t in the choir, but she hung out with Valerie and Rhonda. She was a Kappa Sweetheart too. She didn’t even waste any time with small talk, but got straight to the point. “You know Naomi in the choir? She likes you.” “That’s what I’ve been hearing.” Bill answered.
The ABC Choir held practice at the little chapel in the middle of campus. There were two ways to enter the chapel. You could either go through the side door, that went right in to the sanctuary, where the choir practiced, or you could go through the front door, where you would have to go through the vestibule, and then enter the sanctuary from the back. Bill typically went through the front door and through the vestibule.
Bill sang bass/baritone, and the bass/baritones sat in the back row. They had a little friendly rivalry going on with the tenors, who they jokingly called, the T-shirt boys. You know, Tenors starts with a T, so one day Bennie started calling them the T-shirt boys, and it just sort of caught on with the rest of the bass/baritones. It was all in fun.
Practice, as usual, was fun, and very uplifting. Bill was still trying to figure out who this Naomi was, but it was sort of hard, since he was in the back row with the other basses, and all you could see were the back of people’s heads. After practice, everyone usually hung around for a little while, talking. As Bill was talking with a few different friends, he was trying to see if he could see who Naomi was. He wondered why Valerie, or Rhonda didn’t just bring her over and introduce them.
Finally he decided it was time to go. He had missed dinner, so he was going to head to Quick Trip and get a burrito, some chips, and a Mickey’s Banana Flip. He said his goodbyes, and headed to the back toward the vestibule, to go out the front door. He was still wondering who Naomi was. “Oh well. Maybe next week.”
As he headed toward the vestibule, he noticed someone standing by the front door. The person wasn’t heading out, but was just standing there. As he got closer, he noticed it was a lady. A thought came to Bill. “I know this isn’t….” He smiled to himself. He had to admit, it was a smooth little set-up. He walked up to her. “You must be Naomi.” He said, slightly grinning. She smiled. “You must be Bill.” Bill tilted his head. “Yeah, thats me.” He sighed. “It’s nice to meet you.” He said. She responded. “It’s nice to meet you too.” He stood there for a moment, looking at her. She was really pretty. “Well” He started. “Want to go for a walk?” “I’d love to.” She responded. Bill held the door open for her, and they headed out into the the crisp October evening.