A terrible little story I can't believe I'm telling...

A little mood music from the era

Preface: I can't believe I'm going to share this little story with you. I should probably be ashamed of myself. But I'm not. There are two parts of this story but tonight you only get the first one.

As you read this story please keep the "times" in mind. This was 1975. The sexual revolution was in full swing. The only thing lethal about sex was if you got pregnant and your parents killed you. Aside from that it was a free for all. So with this in mind I will tell you a little story about a fella I dated for a short period of time.

...it was a dark and stormy night...well, it was dark...but I'm getting way ahead of myself.

(Part 1)

January 1975. Seven months after graduation. Small and dying town of 2000 or so. It didn't take long before I realized that there was no one left to date. All the guys in my social circle had left town, joined the service or gotten married (to avoid having the mothers of their impending children be killed by her parents).

So there is a serious man shortage.

Due to this dreadful situation I found myself dating a guy outside of my social circle. As it goes in nature there were various clicks. Two of these at the time were the "jocks" and the "heads". You have heard me refer to myself and my friends as "heads". Jimmy was a "jock". Mind you, he had been out of high school for almost two years but he was still a "jock". Sworn enemies in school...now we were merely mobile incubators of bored and raging adolescent hormones.

I couldn't stand Jimmy and his friends and he hated me and mine. (I know hate is a strong word but I want you to know I am quoting him when I use it.)One Friday night my friend Charlene and I were cruising and we happened to pull up next to Jimmy. Charlene was an anomaly - she could float effortlessly between the clicks so it was no surprise that Jimmy would speak to her.

There was a joke going around town about a couple that broke up and when the guy spent the money he was saving for the wedding on a new Trans Am his girl suddenly liked him again. So the joke was "buy a new car and I'll go out with you". Charlene rolled down her window and greeted Jimmy with that line and I leaned forward and jokingly said, "Hey Jimmy, you don't even have to buy a new car and I'll go out with you." He laughed and that's how it began.

Jimmy and I dated off and on for about three or four months. He worked construction was was gone each week from Sunday evening until Friday afternoon and was only home for the weekends. During this time it was generally accepted around town that I was Jimmy's girl. He ran with a group of friends and would regularly tell them "to keep an eye on his chick" during the week while he was away working. At first I detested this but somewhere along the way something weird happened. I developed a very deep friendship with two of the guys that Jimmy left in charge of me. But that's another story for another time (but trust me its a great one).

But Jimmy was Jimmy and operated in a way that best suited him. He was a very good looking and popular young man. He had a good job and a nice car. (I know, it all sounds very shallow but keep in mind we are talking about teens here)Jimmy had his pick of the town when it came to girlfriends. All of the girls he dated were young and adoring. I was very different. I was a little older than his other girlfriends (at 18 years old I was the older woman - ha ha)and lived by myself in my own little house. I enjoyed his company but he didn't really make my knees buckle so I didn't fawn over him the way he was accustomed to. Consequently, he kept a roster of eligible players to keep his game interesting. And this is what caused him to develop a bizarre but predictable routine.

He would come into town on Friday and we'd go out. We'd go to a basketball game, a movie or just cruising around town. We would have a great time and then by the end of the evening he would begin to appear troubled. As he dropped me off at my house he would always give me the same speech. It went like this: "Cara, we're getting too serious. I think we need to give it a break for a while," To which I would say "Okay - no problem". And it wasn't a problem because I just wasn't really that into him. Then on Saturday he would take out one of his two other girlfriends. Now these were younger girls who had to be home by a certain time. Inevitably I would be asleep in my bed and my phone would ring just after curfew and it would be Jimmy. He would be full of remorse and tell me that he didn't know why he treated me that way, that he didn't have as good a time with ____________ as he did with me and could he please spend Sunday with me before he left. I would say "Okay - no problem." and go back to sleep. Then we'd spend a great Sunday together laughing and having fun. As he would prepare to leave for the week to go back to work he'd make me promise to "be good to him while he was gone" (yikes - I'm nauseated even as I type)and that he was looking forward to seeing me the next weekend.

This same scenario happened week after week. Until....

Until I moved out of town without telling him I was going. How's that for "giving it break" Jimmy?