Kenyan Sunset
The summer had been long and very hot; now the break was
over and autumn was nearing. The change in seasons would soon bring welcome
relief from the heat. Tara Longwood was ready for school to start again. She
looked forward to welcoming her new crop of third graders back to school from
summer vacation.
Loren
Williams saw Tara at a skating rink during the summer, and as the weeks passed,
he finally found the nerve to call her at her home one evening. “Hello,” she
said as she answered the telephone.
“Yes, is
this Tara Longwood I’m speaking with?” he had asked, noticeably nervous as his
voice quivered.
“Yes, this
is Tara Longwood, and who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” she boldly
asked.
“I’m Loren
Williams, you know, the one who saw you at the skating rink a few months ago.
I’m that same person.”
“Well now,
just how would I know what persons saw me at the skating rink? I didn’t ask all
the people there if they saw me, you know. This means that I have no idea who I
have the pleasure of speaking with right now, do I sir?” she teased, knowing
full well exactly who was on the other end of the line.
“I’m the
one who asked you if you would skate with me,” he informed her.
“Sir,
several young men asked me to skate with them. How would I ever know which one
you might be?” she teased again.
“I’m the
guy you turned down. Maybe if you saw me you could remember. Could we meet for
coffee or something? I’m sure you’d recognize me if you could see me again.”
“I turned
several boys down. I do not skate with just anyone who might ask, and I have
never in my life had a drink of coffee, nor do I ever intend to have a drink of
that horrible liquid. Do you yourself drink that dark liquid that surely must
coat your intestines and make them as black as the drink itself?” she inquired.
“Well, yes,
a little, sometimes, but not very often,” Loren lied. “It kind of gets me going
in the mornings, if you know what I mean.”
“I surely
think that is pure hogwash. That’s a pure old lie of a tale if I ever heard
one. There is no way that coffee can get you going, unless of course, you mean
your bladder. It is a figment of your imagination that makes you even think
such drivel could be true. But perhaps you didn’t know this fact, so I guess I
could overlook it this one time,” she told him.
“Gosh,
thanks a lot, Tara,” he said.
“Sir, if it
pleases you, I would request that you call me by my proper name of Miss
Longwood, at least until I can verify that you are not an ax murderer or some
other type of hardened criminal who could be out looking for an easy victim.”
“Sure, Ta…I
mean Miss Longwood, but I’m not looking for a victim,” he assured.
“Then pray
tell, just exactly what are you looking for? That’s what I need to know if this
conversation is to go much further.”
“Well, uh,
uh, I was looking to…looking for a nice girl in this town to ask out for a
movie or something,” he stuttered.
“Or
something? Just exactly what should I take that to mean? That sounds as if it
could be sinful, or something even worse. I’ll have no part of that. Just what
do you take me for?”
“No ma’am,
that’s not what I meant at all, I ju….”
“I’m afraid
this conversation is at an end, sir. I will not allow a strange man to talk
sinfully to me like you are doing. I must say this conversation has concluded,”
Tara said. She clanked the receiver onto the phone base while Loren attempted
to sputter something.
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