HALF A LOAF Chapter 8 ONLY A PHONE CALL AWAY

Only a Phone Call Away
courtesy photobucket.com

 

The pressure of calling Sally was building up.  I reasoned that it was expensive and I didn’t have a lot discretionary money caused me to hesitate.

Calling from home wasn’t a very good option and I argued that she should have called me.  A letter a week just wasn’t enough contact to satisfy a man in love.  

I ran into Laney and the first thing she asked was “Did you call Sally yet”?

I didn’t want to come right out and say no, so I said, “I intend to.”

She was not willing to let it lay there so she said, “When?”

She said, “C’mon let’s go to my house.”

We got in her car and away we went. It was the first time I had been to her home and I was quite impressed with it.  Since we parked in the back we came in the rear door into the kitchen.

Her mom was giving some instructions to the house maid and when she saw me she smiled and said, "Hello mister Lon."  

 

I said, “Hello professor… I don’t believe I know your name.  Laney always calls you mom… I guess I could call you professor mom.”

She said, “Calling me mom might be getting ahead of the game a little don’t you think.”  

Turning red I said… “Maybe a little.”

She laughed and said, “My name is the same as Laney’s, Adkins; Mary Adkins.

“Well, professor Mary Adkins good morning.”

She said, “I have to get to one of my classes so help yourself to something if you are hungry.”

I said, “I would like a steak and fries please.”

She laughed and said, “It will have to be a tube steak.”  

Questioning, I said, “Tube steak?”

Laney said, “She means a weenie.”

I said, ‘Maybe next time, I just lost my appetite.”

“I’ll see you later, Laney, bye Mister Lon.”  

Laney said, “I think she likes you but be glad you aren’t in one of her classes for she is very tough on her students.  Learning isn’t an option with her.”

She then said, “Here is the phone so make that call to Sally, and I don’t want to hear some excuse, start dialing.”

I found her number in my wallet and did as she said.  After a minute a voice answered and said “Whom do you wish to converse with.”

I said, “Sally Rydal, please.”

In the back ground I could hear several girls talking as the girl who answered yelled out Sally some guy is on the phone and he wants to talk to you.

The voice in the back ground said, “Who is it, is it Ray?”

The girl answered and said, “No I would have recognized his voice.”

“Maybe it’s Len then.”

She said, “No not Len.”

The voice said, “I don’t want to talk to whoever it for it is probably one of the guys we met last night.”

Back on the line the girl said, “She don’t want to talk to you ever, don’t call back, and she hung up.”

Laney looked shocked.  After a minute she said, “Don’t pay any attention she didn’t know it was you so just call back another time.  Sorority girls have to pretend they are independent so they act that way to impress each other.”

She suggested, “Write her a letter and tell her you called her but wasn’t able to reach her this will keep the lines of communication open.”  

Laney continued, “I don’t like to tell you this but going to college is a time of discovery and experimentation so expect her to spread her wings a little and don’t worry about it. She will settle down shortly and come back to earth and sanity will return.”

I said, “I don’t know if I feel better or not at that explanation.  One thing I would like to know is how do you know so much about this since you never went away to college.”

“That is simple to answer.  I have been raised in college with my folks living on campus for many years.  Ever since I was a small girl I roamed the halls of the sorority houses.  

When my parents were out to an event I would sneak out and observed what went on at the fraternities and sororities at night. From the time I was in junior high the frats would hit on me.

They all suffer from testosterone fever and go around seeking relief.  I have seen it all from the hot love affairs to the heartbreak afterwards.  I have seen it all, that’s how I know.  I have heard every lie thought up by these college jocks and can pretty well know what they are going to say before they think it.  

Dressing down as I do keeps some of them at bay while others require a rebuke.  Being able to understand said subjects is necessary in knowing how strong the rebuke must be.”

I told her, “I usually am able to put down on paper what I want to say but in writing Sally this time I somehow feel inadequate to express my confusion.  I hate to ask you this but would you help me write to Sally?”

Laney said, “Wow, that’s asking a lot.  Writing to a guy’s girl for him seems awkward somehow.”

“I said I know and I probably shouldn’t ask you but I don’t have anyone else I could trust for if this got out I would never get over it.”

She said okay, get a pencil and paper. You can edit it and type it later.

Dear Sally,

I will attempt to tell you in words just how much I miss you.  There is no way words on paper can communicate the emotions I feel at this time.  I have many fears because of our being apart.  The main one being you will forget me and find someone else who you fall in love with.  

I find it easy to be faithful to you for all I can think of is the time when we are together again.  There is no one who can or will take your place in my heart for I love you dearly.  I hope you feel the same way I do and if you do please write me with the assurance that you do.  

New Jersey seems so far away but let me assure you my love for you reaches that far and farther.  Please write and assure me you feel the same as I do.  I wait expectantly to hear from you.

Love and kisses, Lon

Laney said, “That sounds like a non-poetic guy wrote that.  Still it expresses how you feel and isn’t encumbered by a lot of happenings around here for we want all of the focus on your feelings for her.”

To be Continued