Saturday, August 18, 2007

I'll bite...

David McMahon, over at authorblog, poses this question: What would you say to the first person who dumped you?
Wow. Had to think back there... waaayyyy back....
I first met Keren H. in primary school, when we were ten or so. We went our separate ways, she to West Craven High School, I to Ermysted's Grammar School. I didn't see her again for three more years, until I was walking home from the bus stop after school, and saw her waving at me from the front window of her house - I didn't even know she lived there!
Those last three years had been very good to her; she had filled out quite nicely, I remember noticing...
I smiled at her and waved back, and continued on my merry way. At fourteen, I had had very little experience with members of the fairer sex, and attending an all-boys high school didn't help much (didn't hinder too much as I got a little older, either, but that's a story for another time...).
A couple of days later, my sister (four years my junior) passed me a note from Keren, via her brother (they attended the same primary school), asking me out on a date!
I was jazzed! This little hottie had asked me on a date! Obviously, I had to accept!
I met her later that week, we talked, and things seemed great. We ended the meeting with my very first French kiss! I gotta tell you, I was on cloud nine...
We arranged to meet up the next Saturday, and we took the bus into Colne, a town nearby (we lived in Barnoldswick at the time).
It was a very awkward date, I didn't know what to say or do, and wound up not saying a whole lot - way different from our first meetup. I bought her a brooch that she was admiring at the market, because I knew you were suppose to do nice things, but I was basically clueless.
By the time we got to the bus ride home, Keren apparently couldn't stand it any more, and got off the bus at the top of town, preferring to walk the rest of the way home rather than ride with me. It was that bad and awkward.
I got home and was devastated. I didn't know what I'd done wrong, didn't know how to fix it and was just miserable for the next couple of days. I never saw her again.
I did hear about her a year or so down the road, when she started dating a guy in the year above me at my school - Steevo - who smugly informed me that I had been the absolute most boring date she'd ever had. Stick it in and twist, why dontcha! I was more pissed at Steevo than Keren, though - he was a royal prat.
So, at fourteen, obviously I had a long way to go as far as being a success with the ladies...
As for what I'd say to her today?
Oh, I don't know; I wish her well wherever she is. I don't have any hard feelings about the situation - I'm really chuckling as I write this, thinking how awkward and fumbling I was way back then. All part of the learning curve... I at least learned how NOT to act on a first date, after all...
So, Keren H., wherever you are; best wishes, and I hope life has turned out as well for you as it has for me.

6 comments:

david mcmahon said...

G'day Kevin,

It's been a long time since I visited your blog. Your writing on this post sure touched a chord - but can I just say one thing as feedback?

If at age fourteen you were perceptive enough and generous enough to buy her something she admired, I cannot understand why she got off the bus early.

She should have recognised a boy in touch with reality, blessed with a generous spirit and willing to learn the value of communicating with kindred souls.

Mate, if those attributes have stuck with you through the rest of your life, then your wife and your children are millionaires in terms of emotional fulfilment.

Good luck and do keep in touch.

Keep smiling

David

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

David has said it all, my friend! Gee, at her age, I used to be grateful if I didn't have to also pay for HIS bus fare on the ride home! (Grin.)

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

Loved your memories...you should do more!

FHB said...

That was great! Loved reading that. We are brothers in geekdom. You should write more of that stuff, as Mushy said.

Kevin said...

David - thanks for the kind words, but I really was clueless back then..:)
SWS - yup-having her pay my bus fare would have been the icing on the cake. Even back then, in my near total ignorance of the fairer sex, I knew better than that:)
Mushy - thanks for the kind words.. I'll put up some posts about my school days or some such pretty soon. I've really been enjoying your memoirs - one of my biggest regrets in life is not having served.
FHB - right there with you man! :) I was incredibly shy and awkward around the ladies in the earlier part of my youth...

phlegmfatale said...

Cute story!