After All These Years - How It Ended
My hands trembled while punching the number on the note into my phone. It was a short note. Seventeen words and a cellular number. Long enough to make an appointment; short enough to cancel a date.He answered the phone and we exchanged a few niceties. Neither of us was ever any good at small talk. We got straight to the point. I sat back in my chair and looked out the window.
It started on a sunny Monday late in January 1970; I was about to turn 18.The schools had started about a week or two previously. It did not matter to me; I had just finished school but Tommy - he was my best friend - had another year to go. The phone rang.
It was Tommy’s oldest sister. Newly divorced and back living in her mother’s house. She wanted to know if I could help her to move something in her bedroom. I went there and she showed me to the dressing table that was to be moved but we never got as far. She was all over me and before I knew it she was undressing me and then she helped me to undress her for my hands were shaking too much.
Before I left we arranged to meet again the next morning. It went on the whole week and two days into the next week.
It ended on a Tuesday. We were very busy, partly covered by a sheet and whispering obscenities into each others ears, as she taught me, when I heard Tommy’s voice yelling from the bedroom door. He stood there in disbelieve while his face went through every shade of red and purple. His sister yelled at him to get out and he left.
We got dressed and as I was leaving he came from behind and kicked me on my butt. I lost my temper, swung around and took a pot shot at him. It caught him square on the jaw and he went down for the count. When he recovered he looked at me with venom in his eyes and said: “I hate you. I never want to see you again.”
He forgot his transistor radio in my bedroom the previous Sunday and I waited for him to fetch it so we could patch it up… he never came.
And now, after 44 years, one month and a few days he wants to see me again. We will be meeting for lunch on Thursday. His treat, he said. I last paid for the ice creams.
Comments (51)
Nice that he wants to meet you, isn't it? Probably he has got over it all long ago..
I hope it goes really well for both of you. Good luck!
I was very apprehensive at first but now that we spoke on the phone I'm looking forward to meeting him again. I'm sorry it is not sooner but he still works and his first day off will be Thursday. I cannot wait.
She may very well be. We have maintained a loose friendship through the years and spoke on the phone from time to time. We even met a few times for lunch. It was she who kept me up to date with the family news all the time. And she felt very guilty about the whole debacle and often told me how sorry she is about ruining our friendship.
Probably, and that is what puzzles me most. Why now? He knew I was living in the house that once belonged to my grandfather. He often came here with me when we were children.
Yes, I am looking forward to the reunion but don't expect too much. But he sounded warm enough on the phone.
I agree but this was not his innocent baby sister. It was a grown-up woman whom I have just met occasionally when she came to visit her mother. To me she was not very much his sister.
He was supposed to be at school and his mom and dad were at work. The house was locked. How were we to know that he would fake sickness to come home early?
Dont forget to take your transistor...
Hi all
It was stupid. I think if I had not retaliated when he kicked me it may have been forgotten. He should never have kicked me; he knew me well enough to know that I would strike back. Friend or no friend.
Although he is a few months younger he had always been a bit bigger and stronger than I. We went to a boxing gym for about 18 months and had ofter sparred against each other but he could never beat me. I have a psychological advantage over him. Besides, I think he can still remember that haymaker that put him down for the count in his mother's passage. He now lives in that house and I think that he thinks of it every time he walks past that spot. Maybe that is what took him so long.
hi Cat,
That is a big truth. The longer you wait to do something the harder it becomes and in the end you don't do it at all.
I kept the transistor radio for in case he sends for it. Later the batteries ran out but I still kept it. I chucked it away when I got married.
I'll buy him a walkman if he complains about it.
Even with that scenario in place it would not have helped. He was not going to listen to anybody.
In a way it is..and what a lovely scene, I might add. Now seriously, I understand why he was outrage, because she was older, imagine, 9 years and perhaps, he already know the rule of ehhh...criminal implications? I don't know but there are some kids that are too far ahead of what they know?
Anyways, what bothers me a little bit is that it has been so long and never had he attempt and neither you to reconnect before..This is what make it so exciting and let me tell you, I can't wait for you to share us the result..
Good day Cat. A very interesting part of your life..and thank you for the share..and say hi to my friend will you?
Take care..
lj
I'm not blaming the woman. I'm merely stating the facts as it happened. It is obvious that she planned it. I had no idea of what was to follow. I don't think I did anything that any other guy of my age would have done.
His things lead to marriage...
trust in god but lock the door of your friend's sister's room.
OR
thou shalt not lie when the door is not locked.
So that's what happened!!...after all those years...I am sure it's water under the bridge sort to speak!! Good luck and enjoy your visit...life is too short to hold grudges anyway...
Good luck with your re-union.
I still don't understand why he reacted like that. I did not try to contact him because that was his wish. What prevented him I don't know.
No, I did not marry her. Then, as you said, it would have been resolved a long time ago. And I still maintain; I did not bed her. She bedded me.
Ah no. His sister and I are friends and we have never been romantically involved since then.
Thou shalt not covet thy friends sister.
I have no grudge. I only respected his wish.
That is probably what it will be. As a child he was also a meat eater as I am. In general South Africans are meat eaters.
I can assure you he is quite anonymous in this. His name is not Tommy. Only 3 people in the entire world can tag names and faces to this story.
Have a wonderful day..best of luck.
As I said before, I was very apprehensive about this meeting but now that we have spoken on the phone I cannot wait tho speak to him again.