Chapter Thirty-Two: Life Comes A-Knockin'

While I was in the hospital I was visited by a couple of girls I had worked with at County Stationers. One was Marina, a shy girl who worked in the Announcements Department, and Kelly, one of the floor salespeople. We talked for a little while and just before they left Kelly gave me her phone number and said I should call her when I got out. Well! It wasn't every day that a good looking girl just told me to call, so a couple of days after I got home we went out on our first date. While we seemed to hit it off OK I could never quite read her expression. She always seemed vaguely amused by my loony ramblings, but I didn't know if this was endearing to her or just confusing. She seemed to be asking herself if she might not have jumped into the deep end too soon. We had a passable physical relationship, though again I never perceived real passion in it. We seemed to be two people in dating limbo, waiting for something better or more interesting to come along. As it happened, the "more interesting" part won out.

At Jaffe's Camera I worked with the two Pauls and a woman named Merle. Merle had two daughters, Maile and Lani. I had met Maile a few times and she was a kick, vivacious and ready to party. I thought about asking her out but two things stopped me: I was already dating Kelly steadily and I was a little scared by how "out there" Maile was. She seemed like a thrash metal band to my acoustic ensemble personality. But she was fun to talk to whenever she came around. Merle told me about her other daughter, Lani, and how she danced hula, collected pictures of sunsets and helped around the house. Sounded like a nice girl. Lani came to the lab one day to visit Merle and on first sight my heart was lost. There stood the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Dark eyes and hair, with a smile that glowed from across the room. When we were introduced I was barely able to speak, though I'm sure I got a few syllables out. Then I got back to my work, my face flushed and pulse going a mile a minute. Too young for a heart attack. Was this love? Then she was gone. Whew. Man, get me a glass of water.

I was hard at the job a few weeks later when Lani came by again. I was cleaning some film racks, always a sweaty, messy job. I was kneeling on the floor, scrubbing away at some stubborn stain when Lani skipped over to me smelling all of plumeria, hunkered down by me and said: "So, when are you going to ask me out?" Oh......my........God. What did she just say? I could picture little guys in engineer overalls in my brain screaming in panic while lights flashed, alarms rang, and smoke was pouring out of every cell. "Uh. Friday?"

"You're going to ask me out on Friday or you want to go out on Friday?"

"Out on Friday." (Doing great, big guy!)

"OK"

So we went out. Had a good time. I drove her home and was a perfect gentleman, kissing her hand as we parted. Didn't want to scare this one away. Over the next couple of weeks Lani brought dinner to me from time to time down at the lab and we'd sit and talk about our lives, dreams, ambitions. I had Christmas dinner at her house, meeting her Dad, Neal. I was getting to know her and with each visit I knew we had to be together some time. That time came near New Years. It had been raining hard for several hours and I was worried that old Bessie would stall out if I drove through any deep puddles on the way back to the Strand. Lani had brought me dinner and offered to give me a ride home. We got back to my place and sat with Joe in the living room drinking beer and talking. Finally Lani said she should be getting home and I walked her back to her car. She had parked across the street from me, on the East side of Lake Rossmore. Every rainy season brought the Mother of All Puddles to Rossmore Drive. It was nearly two feet deep in the middle and about 40 feet long at its biggest. My neighbor Mike had to put sand bags by his house to keep from being flooded. He had a rowboat he used to get over to the mailbox.

We stopped at Lani's car and turned to face each other. The sky was clearing and some stars were peeking out between fast-moving clouds. I looked down into Lani's face in the moonlight and we couldn't resist any longer. She threw her arms around me and we fell into a passionate kiss. I've been to a lot of great 4th of July celebrations but none ever compared to the fireworks in my head that night. We drew apart and I said to her: "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think I love you." My brain screamed back at me "That's it, I'm outta here!" She smiled and said "Thank you." Well, uh, you're welcome I'm sure. And she was gone.

I walked back to the apartment, right through the center of Lake Rossmore, but the wet didn't affect me at all. I was, no doubt about it, smacked-over-the-head-and-that's-all in love. I went back up to where Joe was sitting and he knew something was up.

"How's it going, man?"

"Ah, OK, yeah, OK."

"Nice girl."

"Oh yeah."

"You kiss her?"

Just a smile.

"Well all right. Ed's in love."

Indeed.

What Now, Smart Guy?

I had a date planned with Kelly for that weekend. Kelly...oh, shit. Well, that's just got to end, right? How? I had never dumped a girl in my life. There was no way I was going to start something with Lani and keep Kelly on the hook. So I did the honorable thing: I told her I was sick to buy some more time. Great idea! Why face the firing squad at 5:00 if you can put it off until 5:15? She could tell something wasn't right even on the phone. "Do you want me to come over?"

"No, no, it's OK. Wouldn't want you to get it."

"Is everything all right? You sound strange."

Yeah, I'm strange all right. But not all right, OK?

"I'll talk to you later, Kelly. Bye."

No use putting it off. I met her at a restaurant a few days later and she knew what was coming the moment she saw my face. I 'fessed up that I had met somebody else and it was over for her and me. She looked at me coldly for a few seconds and said: "You're making a big mistake."

"I hope not."

She got up and walked out, and a chapter in the book of my life ended. This new one was going to be a hell of a ride.

Thirty Three: Surprise!