Writers Note and Prologue
This is the first chapter of another story from my life. This chapter is short, but this is just the beginning of a story that spans almost thirty years and takes eleven chapters to tell. The names have been changed, but the places and dates are close to when and where things happened.
There will be some things that I will be writing about later on in the story that I am sure that a lot of folks will have a hard time believing that they happened. There were a more than a few times that I had a hard time believing it myself that they were happening but they did.
I've had a few comments from my previous stories wondering how I can remember things from so long ago and in such detail. For reasons that I will disclose later in the story, almost all of this was written down in a notebook, not too long after the early events happened and I have continued to keep notes about things that have occurred that were in some way related to this story. I know it sounds a little on the mysterious side, but all will be revealed in time. But a lot of what happened with her is burned so deeply in my memory that I will never forget those times.
While there is a lot of sex, this is first and foremost a story of love. A very powerful and wonderful love. And yes, going back through my early writings and putting them on the computer has been both full of joy as well as pain.
As always, I do appreciate all comments.
T
*
It's not the quantity, it is the quality that really matters.
My name is Tony. Almost thirty years ago, I met a woman who would change my life forever.
I met Katie for the first time on November 11, 1980. It was a Tuesday, pretty much like any other day. I was twenty-seven, single, and was managing a small electronics store in a shopping center in Bethlehem PA. She came in the store that day around lunchtime looking to buy a stereo system for her house. She was without a doubt, a very beautiful woman. She was slender in build and her hair was dark brown and came down to a little below her shoulders. Her eyes were also brown. She was wearing a woman's business suit which consisted of a dark blue wool skirt, matching jacket and a fancy beige colored blouse. I guessed that her age was around mine, which as it turned out, was pretty close. Just out of habit, I took a quick look at her left hand for a wedding or engagement ring, but there was none.
I asked her a few questions to get a feel for her budget and the types of music that she listened to. I put together a system that I felt would work for her and priced it out. She told me that that she had just started shopping for one, but she would get back to me. She was really friendly and easy to talk to. There was this sparkle in her eyes as I talked to her, but I didn't pay too much attention to it that day as I was more interested in making the sale. I never was a go for the throat sales type. I had learned that just being friendly and non-aggressive worked pretty well for me. I gave her one of our catalogs and introduced myself.
I said, "by the way, I am Tony if you have any questions."
She replied, "hi Tony, I am Katie," with this great big smile and we shook hands.
She left the store but came back at 5:30 PM and had a system picked out. She had upgraded the speakers and tape deck from what I had suggested but that was fine. I had everything in stock and she paid in cash, much to my surprise. I offered to show her how to hook everything up on my display system, but she said she could figure it out. I helped her load the boxes in her car and off she went. I had a part time employee that usually worked on Tuesday nights but he had called off sick that day, so I worked the store that from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Not that I had anything better to do with my time at that point in my life.
Katie called around 8:00 PM. The sweet sounding voice at the end of the phone just said, "help?"
At first I didn't recognize who it was, but she said who it was, and told me what was and what wasn't working. So, in between the few customers that I had the rest of that evening, I talked her step by step through about hooking everything up correctly. After it was all done, she apologized for not letting me show her at the store and I said, that it wasn't a problem. She thanked me again and the call ended. It was pretty good sale dollar wise, so I didn't mind spending the time to make sure that things worked right. Things happened like that all the time. The next day around lunchtime she came back in the store.
I was finishing up with another customer but I looked over to her and asked, "more problems?"
She smiled and shook her head no. After the other customer left, she said, "I just wanted to thank you for being so patient with me last night."
I shrugged my shoulders and said, "it's part of the job. And at least you didn't start off screaming that it was piece of shit."
Katie laughed and said, "no. I work in sales too, so I have a pretty good idea of what you go through here." Then she asked me, "do you want to go out for a drink tonight?"
To say I was stunned was an understatement. Women never asked me out and for such a good-looking lady as her to do so, well I didn't know what to think. But somehow I managed to fumble the word "yes" out of my mouth.
There was a small club down at the other end of the shopping center that ran bands on weekends but was pretty quiet during the week, so we agreed to meet there. I told her that I had to work until 9:00 PM again but that was okay with her.
She gave me this look. I didn't know what it was about, but there was something special about it. She said with a sparkle in her eyes, "It's a date then."
Another customer came into the store and she left at the same time. Needless to say, 9:00 PM could not come fast enough. Katie was seated at the bar when I walked in, but we moved to a table in the back so we could talk. There was a light crowd in there, music was playing on the jukebox, but it wasn't too noisy. She had changed out of her suit into a simple yellow blouse and dark blue skirt and she had a light tan jacket with her as well.
After we got seated and I ordered a beer, she said, "you looked really stunned when I asked out."
I replied, "this is the first time that it has ever happened. Usually I do the asking and usually I get shot down."
She said, "I don't know why. You seem like a really nice guy."
I just shrugged my shoulders. I always had a hard time trying to ask women out. I had a lot of fear of rejection, mainly because I got rejected a lot. She could see I was uncomfortable talking about it, so the conversation moved onto lighter topics. I asked her how old she was and she said twenty-eight and I told her that I was twenty-seven. We talked about our jobs. She was a sales representative for a medical supply company. She would go to doctor's offices, made sure that they had all of their supplies, kept them up to date on what was new, and other stuff like that. She said it was more of a customer service job than a real sales job but she earned a commission based on how much they ordered. She had started with them soon after she graduated college and had done pretty well at it.
I asked her what her degree was in and she laughed and said, "English literature and poetry"
I laughed and said, "sounds like a promising start to a career as a waitress."
Katie laughed and replied, "yes. It was looking like that for a little while but I got lucky and found this job."
She asked what my degree was in and I said, "music. Bachelors and a Masters degree."
She said, "well that must help with selling stereos."
"Not really," I said, "I was planning on going on for my Doctorate so I could get a teaching job, but I seem to have gotten caught up in working instead. Plus I don't really have the money for it and I don't want any more loans."
She nodded and said, "I still owe a little, but not too much."
We kept on talking and it was strange. There was something about her that went far beyond just how beautiful she was. I was having these feelings that I didn't understand. It had been a while since I had last had a relationship and I knew better than to fall in love with every girl I went out with, but listening to her and talking to her was lighting a fire in places that hadn't been touched in a long time.
I told her about working at the store and some of the war stories about some of the goofy customers I had there and at the store where I did my manager training at. Like the one kid who had bought a pack of fuses for his car stereo, came right back, bought another pack, then came back again and asked for a refund on both packs because they were defective.
I asked him, "defective?'
He said, "yes. Every one I put in blew right away."
I said "it's not the fuses. You have short someplace that you need to get fixed."
The kid asked, "maybe I should get bigger fuse?"