All through high school in Phoenix, Susan was my buddy. We were on the swim team together; we had many of the same interests; we worked on the yearbook together and the high school newspaper. She had almost broken my back with her short, stout, muscular body a dozen times when she straddled my shoulders and we played chicken with other couples in the pool. She could be bent back into the water and then raise up, oblivious to how her weight and the water was trying to snap me in half. We were teenage, opposite-sex friends in the best, most wholesome ways. She did not date but listened to my dating woes.
Business had been good to me after college. Just twelve years after high school, I was an upper level administrative manager at a large electronics company. I was transferred in, to run a large group of mostly females and resolve some manual to computer accounting conversions. There was Susan, a respected accounting clerk, just half an open bay away, not in my department, still single and as strong and sexy as ever. I recognized her instantly. I noticed her looking at me a few times, trying to place me. I grew after high school. I am four inches taller; I'm not a geek anymore; laser radial keratotomy surgery got rid of my thick glasses; I dress in suits now; my hair is short now: my complexion cleared up; and I exude confidence now. Most confusing of all, I was no longer "Jimbo," now I was William Haroldson.
She brought her lunch and often ate alone or in a small group. She was startled when I left my lunch partners waiting while I walked over to her. "Susan? Are you Susan Batton from Deer Valley High?"
Her eyes were still trying to place me, "Yes, I'm Susan."
"You probably don't remember your old swim team member from so many years ago. You called me "Jimbo" back then and we spent a lot of time working on school projects."
She extended her hand courteously but her mind was trying to process all the change she saw before her.
"Susan, I would really enjoy having lunch with you and catching up for old time's sake. Please, send me a company email and tell me, if you will go to lunch with me one day. I want to hear all about what you have been doing for the last twelve years."
She was too stunned to respond and I had to rush off, but she did send me an email the next day, expressing her surprise and agreeing to lunch with a day's notice so she would not bring hers from home.
We swapped a few emails. In her second, she wrote, "Been pretty down for a few months. My girlfriend of three years and I broke up." That explained a lot. It was not the reason that I had canceled our lunch date twice, however.
I sent her an email, "You have been very understanding; I owe you. Bring a friend if you want on Saturday about seven, we'll visit inside until it cools-off and then cook out by the apartment pool. We'll swim -- only if you want to get beat in a race or two - and do some serious catching up. I promise, under no circumstances, will I cancel."
Susan and her friend, Ellen, were right on time. Each had a bundle with a towel and swim suits. They toured the large apartment and marveled at its furnishings.
"I wish I could take credit for everything. I think my place is just as nice but this is a company supplied apartment and it comes with all the trimmings. I'm on a two year contract, so I did not have to move anything from New York."
Ellen spoke up, "I work in the building over from you and Susan. We have all wondered who the young whiz kid was that they were bringing in to fix the computer mess."
"Why do you say, "Young?" The entire electronics industry is young."
"Have you looked at our execs? Not one is under 50."
"Now that you mention it, I did notice that we're the exception."
"You being young, single, an "ace," well dressed, polished and not too bad to look at, has really got the single women buzzing."
"I think that was a compliment. For that I thank you, but you should ask Susan, in private, what I looked and acted like in high school."
Susan snickered and I added, "I would like it if you did not laugh and agree so readily. How about shrimp, fruit and vegetable grilled Shish kabobs on rice for the main course, served with a nice Chardonnay?"
It was still too hot, even in the shade, to go outside. We had a few munchies and champagne to loosen our tongues. Conversation was civilized and predictable for an hour. When I opened our second bottle, Ellen seemed to have had a couple of drinks before arriving and seemed to be on an assigned fact finding mission.
"So, Will, you ever been married?"
"No, work too much and too serious. I can keep a lady interested for a few months but then she wants more time than I have been able to give. At that point, she runs away to find a more fun and politically correct man. Why do you ask?"
"Lots of the girls are sizing up the new guy."
"It's not me they're interested in, they like the power. I hear it is an aphrodisiac. Still, I can use all the help I can get. The ones I pick, seem to be taken, more preoccupied with work than me, into women, have five kids already or they're drug addicts."
Susan had been quiet since she had arrived. Now she offered, "Maybe you are doing something wrong."
"Like what?"
"You know, things, like kissing, being interested in them and taking your time."
"Well, I know that I am interested in them and take my time pleasing them. Which one of you is the best kisser?"
Ellen was anxious to answer, "I am."
"No argument from you Susan?"
"She is pretty good."
"Okay, Ellen, maybe you can give me some pointers and evaluate my talent."
"I'll have to think about that."
