Sarah was an office romance, something I'd always avoided. Too many complications, too much drama, too much... well you get the idea. But with Sarah there were a couple of other things; first, we didn't work anywhere near each other. She was in Statistics on the 12th floor; I was with Contracts on the 7th. I'd see her in the lobby occasionally, and in the cafeteria now and then, lunching with girlfriends. And sometimes, when a new contract came up, she'd sit in on some of the drafting meetings, where she always seemed well-prepared and on top of things.
Under normal circumstances it would never have occurred to me to try to hit on her or even get better acquainted. She was a blue-eyed blonde but had none of the pizzaz usually implied by that description. Her face was ordinary, she was pretty much flat-chested, with a body best described as frumpy, no waist, and big legs.
But there was one characteristic that superseded all others: Sarah has only one arm.
Her right arm was amputated at the shoulder. There is no real stump, just a bit of a bulge where the arm was attached, with a little smiley-faced stitch track; it appeared that the surgeon had used the upper part of the arm to cover the empty space, giving her shoulders a more symmetrical appearance. Word was that a motorcycle wreck had done the deed, back when she was in college.
Best I could tell from our minimal interface, she wasn't the least bit sensitive about it and always wore what can only be described as normal business attire. At meetings we'd both attended she usually wore a pantsuit, with the armless sleeve of the jacket just emptily flopping around. Sometimes, I guess if it got too bothersome, she'd tuck the end of it into a pocket. Other times I'd seen her -- in the elevator, in the cafeteria -- she was always neatly dressed in a skirt, hose and heels, and blouses of various sleeve lengths, empty on the right side, of course, and sometimes even sleeveless, completely exposing the armless shoulder.
I never saw her with a prosthetic arm, or any type of concealment. Her appearance was always (that I saw, anyway) of a typical downtown businesswoman, with no allowance for her special feature -- a feature which for me was a huge turn-on.
Finally, I could put it off no longer; I had to try for a date, or at least an acquaintance. Some time went by with no real opportunity, but then, a break: one day I found myself behind her in the cafeteria line, and she was alone!
We greeted and chatted amiably as we collected our respective lunches. At the checkout I saw my chance, and asked if I could carry her tray. Now it was obvious that she was perfectly capable of carrying her own tray, but she smiled and said, "Sure, that'd be nice." I found an empty table, set both trays down and arranged the dishes.
She proved to be a perfectly charming lunch companion. We talked, laughed, discussed our respective work situations -- an ordinary meeting of office workers having lunch together. We explored our respective backgrounds -- she was from Midland, her dad was in the "awl bidness," she had a younger brother and an older sister, and she'd gone to the University of Texas in Austin, graduating with a degree in math. She'd had a relationship with a guy at UT, but it was over... There was no discussion of her one-armed condition; she had no apparent difficulty with anything related to eating lunch, and she asked for no help.
By the time we finished I'd asked her to have a drink with me after work, and she'd accepted. We agreed to meet in the bar in the lobby of the building. It was a Thursday, so we figured it wouldn't be too mobbed by the normal after-work happy-hour crowd. I got there first, hoping my anxiousness wouldn't be too obvious, and she appeared just at the agreed time.
After we'd ordered and settled in to a table toward the back, we continued with our lunchtime chat. But then after a brief silence she said, "You haven't asked me about my arm."
Well.
I didn't know quite how to respond; finally, I said, "No, I figured if you wanted me to know anything about it you'd tell me, but..."
She laughed, and said, "Okay, usually when I meet a new guy there is usually one of two responses. First, he wants to know all about it. What happened to you, how old were you, why don't you use an artificial arm, and so on. And the other is, just ignoring it. Both are kind of uncomfortable, and I've found that just charging headlong into it and getting it out of the way is usually the better approach."
I nodded, saying nothing, letting her continue.
"And sometimes," she went on, "there is a different response. I discovered early on that some guys are really turned on by the idea of a one-armed girl, and the missing arm is a big fucking deal for them. Sometimes I don't find out about that until later -- until it becomes a problem."
Now I really didn't know how to proceed. But she went on, "Of course I'm not going to be able to change any of that. I'm not going to grow a new arm, and the guy isn't going to lose any of his attitude, so the simple answer is just to find out which one of these situations I'm dealing with. So, getting it out in the open, which one are you?"
I was beginning to get a red face, but I wanted to hear her out. With a bit of a grin she continued, "Just a guess here, but I think you are option number three. You think a one-armed girl is especially attractive -- and sexy."
At this point I had to laugh. "Geez," I said, "Is it that obvious?"
Fortunately, and to my great relief, she laughed too. "No, I've met far worse! But just to be clear, I don't think it's bad. In fact, I've always thought it was a fair trade-off. A one-armed girl isn't exactly prime dating stock, and I'm not exactly Marilyn Monroe, so if having one arm is a plus for somebody, believe me, I'll take it!" Another laugh.
Well, that was the ice-breaker, and there was no further awkwardness. I readily admitted that I thought a one-armed girl was a particularly sexy creature, and she agreed that she'd have me explain it -- to the extent I could -- when the opportunity arose. I suggested dinner the following evening, and she agreed.