I reached the store exactly at 3. The woman at the counter showed me a door at the side of the store. I knocked and entered. A man in mid-thirties was sitting behind a table. He rose and came towards me as I entered.
"Rob. Rob Jonas," he shook my hand. "Pleased to meet you."
I just smiled and sat on a chair drawn by him. He took his seat as well. I silently took out the DVDs from my handbag and put them on the table. For some reason I found it difficult to look up to him.
"You can keep them longer if you want," said Rob. "However, I would be much obliged if you tell me your real name."
I knew this would come. I had also decided that I should tell him my name. He had already seen me and already knew a lot of private stuff about me.
"Evelyn," I replied, looking at the table.
"Evelyn." He tasted the name on his tongue. "Only Evelyn?"
"Evelyn Dalehood."
"Thank you! Now Mrs. Dalehood..."
"Please call me Evelyn." I stopped him on his track. I simply did not want to be called by Alec's name here. Whatever I am doing here, it is me and myself who was involved in it. It was me, the individual me and not the wife of Alec Dalehood. His name should not be dragged in this connection.
The smile on his face was all too understanding. Then he took out a piece of paper from a drawer and I saw it was the form I was asked to fill on the first day. He wrote my name on it. Then said,
"Now may we have the address?" I sat there undecided. He said, "We could send films directly to your place, you know."
Oh, anyway they could find my address! I pulled the form towards me and wrote it down. As I looked at the now almost filled up form I suddenly saw what was amiss. That day I had the feeling that it was incomplete. Now I could see it. There was no field for gender. The person was not asked to write male or female. That could mean only one thing.
"This," I showed him the form, "this is only for women. You do not give it to the guys."
"True. Very true."
"Why only women?"
"Not only women, but women of your age group," he said. "Between 32 to 35, to be precise."
"Being married is also a criteria, I guess."
"Sure it is!" he said. "So you see...Evelyn...you fit the bill perfectly."
Yes I could see that clearly. I was bang in the middle of their target group. But before I could say anything, he had moved on,
"What do you do for a living, Evelyn?"
"I run a bookstore. There is a café too."
"I see. So you have people reading books in front of you whole day."
"I wish!" I said with feeling. "The café is always full of students. They always come in pairs and have only one thing in mind. If you know what I mean."