24 Years Ago . . . (pt. 1)

24 years ago - - July 10, 1984. That date fell on a Tuesday that year. It was my roommate's birthday, and she wanted to go out and celebrate. I volunteered as designated driver, for many reasons - - I had to go to work early the next day, so I didn't need to be drinking anything stronger that soda; also, my roommate had just gotten a new car, and neither of us felt like she needed to be taking any chances with it after celebrating her special day.

So out we went. First to our favorite hang-out, Lock, Stock & Barrel, a pub near the College campus. It was kind of a quiet night, but there was a nice crowd, and lots of friends to hang with.

But then my roomie got bored. She wanted to go to the Arch Lounge. *sigh* The LAST place I wanted to be that night was the Arch! I tried my best to talk her out of it, but it was no use - - it was HER birthday, and she wanted to go to the Arch, and she wanted to go NOW . . . pretty please?

*sigh*

Okay - - so we were off to the Arch.

As we walked into the place, I scoped it out as usual - - it was pretty quiet in there (it was a TUESDAY NIGHT, after all), there was a local band playing that I knew pretty well, and there didn't seem to be any obvious axe murderers loitering around, so I settled into an empty seat at the bar to listen to the band while my roomie found a group of her friends to sit with.

As I was sitting there, sipping a Diet Coke and listening to the band play, the man next to me struck up a conversation. He seemed nice enough, and I was bored just sitting there waiting for roomie, so we started chatting. During the course of the conversation, he started asking for my phone number, but I shut that down, saying that it was unlisted, and it was going to stay that way. He accepted that, but still kept his hand in, hoping I would relent and give him the number, but he was not successful.

Finally, my dear roomie came up and told me that she was going to stay with the other group, and that they had promised to get her home safely. She knew I had to go to work early, so she thought that might be the best thing for her to do. Which was fine, because I was tired, and just wanted to go home at that point.

The man I had been chatting with walked me out to my vehicle, and made one more attempt to get my phone number; he said he really wanted to talk to me some more, that he had really enjoyed getting to know me a little bit. Again, the answer was no.

He then swtiched tactics - - would I at least agree to meet him on Saturday, at a place of my choosing, and at least give him a chance to get to know me a little better? I said yes, but it was just mainly to get him to LEAVE ME ALONE so that I could go home - - I was tired, and morning was coming up fast. So I told him when, and where, and got in my truck and went home.

I had NO intentions of meeting him on Saturday, and I didn't. In fact, I took my son to St. Louis for a weekend of Zoo time and baseball game fun.

I thought that was the end of it, but apparently I had underestimated that man . . .

More to follow.