"Linda?...this is Archie."
"Oh Archie, I'm so glad you called."
"How about lunch?" I asked.
"Archie that sounds great. You have my work address, right?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Meet me in front of the building at 11:30. OK?" She asked.
"See you then." I said.
It was a pleasant day, sunny but not too warm. I stood in front of the building watching the doors. Linda emerged, a vision of loveliness. She took my breath away. She had on a short light blue dress, pantyhose and flimsy little slides.
She took my arm as I offered it to her. "Hi." She said. "I'm so glad you called. There's a little deli up the street, we can just beat the lunch crowd."
"Great... You look marvelous." I said in my Fernando Lamas accent.
Linda giggled and said, "Thank you, Fernando."
"You don't know who he is, do you?" I asked.
"I watch a lot of old movies and late night TV." She replied.
"Wow, we're birds of a feather." I said.
"More than you know my friend," She said. "More than you know."
We entered the deli, and she led us all the way to the back. We sat at a corner table opposite each other. I felt a stocking foot run up my leg, under my pants. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes Linda was looking at me, and smiling.
"That's your appetizer. What are you having for lunch?" She asked.
"I think I'll have more of the same." I said. And she did it again!
"If I was thirty years younger...," I said.
"I told you, I'm not the marrying kind. You'll see. I'm really quite a wicked girl. You'll have the best of me without the burden of marriage." She said.
"Wow, that's quite a revelation." I said, dumbfounded.
"Archie...I don't know what it is, but I feel that I've known you all my life. And that you know all my secrets. And for the first time in my life I feel totally at ease and uninhibited to express my desires, and myself. And that you know and understand what those desires are. I think we will make a great pair." She said.
"That's quite a speech." I said. "It's true, I do know and understand your desires, but how did you know?" I asked.
"When we first met in the bus station...when I first looked at you, I didn't realize it at the time, but it was like a dream. Your whole life flashed in my mind, and I instantly knew, and identified with everything about you." She said.
"I had something like that happen to me once." I said. "I was waiting in line at a drugstore to pick up a prescription. There was a young lady sitting on a bench with a child on her lap. I couldn't help notice her because she had on a skirt, pantyhose, and loafers. Every once in a while she would lift her feet up on her toes, popping her shoes off. Then she would bounce the child on her knees all the while lifting her feet out of her shoes as she bounced. I don't know if she noticed me or not, but I couldn't take my eyes off her feet. Her husband was standing close to her all the time, almost like he was being over protective. Sometime later, I happened to be thinking about her, (those kinds of scenes are forever burned into my memory), and I realized I knew that she was leading a miserable life. I don't know how I knew this, but her husband was extremely jealous and he was keeping her a virtual prisoner, by not letting her go out of the house alone. It was like a whole movie playing in my mind."
The waitress came and took our orders.
"You see?" She said. "We are of like minds."
Linda had her legs crossed and she kept brushing her foot on, and in between my legs, like a kid with a new toy. I was in nylon heaven.
"What are you thinking?" She asked.
"I'm thinking I died and went to nylon heaven." I said, "But you knew that didn't you?"
She sealed her lips in a grin, and just nodded her head.
"What is this all about?" She asked. "Have you given it much thought?"
"I've given it a great deal of thought." I said. "Extra Sensory Perception. Those thoughts or scenes that we perceive outside of our normal senses. Everyone has this ability, but we're not always aware of it, or we're too busy to pay attention to it. Like the girl in the drugstore. I didn't know that couple from Adam. How could I have known all that stuff about them? And it was years later that I thought about the girl, and all that stuff came to mind."
"Could you have imagined it?" She asked.
"I suppose I could have imagined it." I said. "But if we dismiss all of these things as imagination then how are we to discern perception when it occurs? We must keep an open mind and allow ourselves to accept the unexplained."
"Wow, you are deep! I knew it." She said. "I was only being devil's advocate."
"That's OK." I said. "Challenging someone's beliefs only serves to reinforce their conviction if those beliefs are genuine."
"Can we continue this tonight?" She asked. "You are a fascinating man, and I would like to be 'fascinated' some more."
"By all means. Your place or mine?" I Joked.
"Would you like to follow me back to work?" She joked back as we left the deli.
"With those shoes on, I would like to follow you everywhere." I said.
Linda reached into her purse and produced another card. "This is my address and home phone number. Call me when you get near the building, and I'll guide you to the right box."
"What time?" I asked.
"Sevenish." She said.
"What can I bring?" I asked. "What kind of wine do you like?"
"Cabernet." She said. "No snacks, I never snack."
"Me neither." I said.
"See! What did I tell you? This is uncanny!"
"Weird." I added.
"You just wait till tonight mister, you're in for a real treat." Then she put her lips to my ear and whispered. "I'm gonna blow your mind."
