Friday, January 20, 2006

The Laurel Crowned Princess-Chapter 10, 'The Phone Call'




We heard pleasant conversation.

Then I remembered that I had to call an operator in her area code because I wanted the phone call to be charged to my parent’s bill.

I don’t think I was able to dial her number on that rotary phone, either. That was sheer , having that last number rotate back around-and then a connection!

"I remember the operator was even flirting with me a little bit! It helped my confidence.”

“God, I can feel how scared I was, I can’t believe I actually did this!”

“Now Brian,” Pepaw explained, “Everytime somebody says his name, it’s kind of like your phone is ringing up there. If it keeps ringing and there’s a hang up everytime, they tend not to want to answer it.”

“Pepaw, I’m not saying it in vain.”

I was really getting into it, empathizing with just how ‘I’ felt. “Go Brian, you can do this! …I think it was her father that answered the phone.”

Wow, I looked so happy, I remembered how happy I was to talk to her that day.

“C’mon Brian, you can do this!” My grandpa was smiling, and getting into it, too, but he was totally paying attention to what we were watching, and he put his hand up to quiet me.

After about a half hour of talking to her, ‘I’ made the comment that I was going to be back in Abilene about Friday or Saturday.

“That’s funny, I don’t remember making a date?”

Go To Chapter 11

The Laurel Crowned Princess-Chapter 9, 'Oh Yeah, I was Pretty Nervous'


‘I’ was talking to Memaw, completely on edge, but trying to maintain self-composure as much as I could. Memaw was succeeding in her part to console me. That of course was her specialty, and is why I had chosen to make this call from here and not home.

‘I’ started to get up and walk to the back of the house.

“I went to your office to make this call, so I could have some privacy.”

Then in the kitchen I turned toward the bathroom.

“Oh, yeah, I was pretty nervous.”

“Let’s go in the den and wait for me,” I said.

So we did, by the pool table. Momentarily, ‘I’ walked through the den and up the steps into Pepaw’s study.

I sat there for a few moments, and we were about to go in, but then ‘I’ got up again, and went back into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Memaw had also cut some fruit for me and I took that back with me.

Then we went into the study and sat in the chairs opposite the desk to see what was about to happen.

‘I’ made a phone call on the old rotary phone in his office, and I wrote down a number.

“Oh yeah, I called the college to get her number, I forgot about that.”

“It looks like you’re drawing something on a piece of paper….”

“Oh yeah, this is sooo cool! I drew a picture of a telephone and wrote a poem about the fear that I had of making this phone call. Oh God, look at me, I’m so scared.”

Then ‘I’ picked up the receiver. “Oh God, this must be it, when I called her.”

Go To Chapter 10