Back when I was knee high to a short duck my folks moved to small town USA. We started attending the morning services of a small country church. Every single service there were two women who sat in the same seats every service. They were mother and daughter. The daughter had never married and was considered an old maid.
I was young and dumb and ask mom what an old maid was.
Mom said that it was a woman who had never married. I found out later on as I grew older that the daughter was still a virgin. I just could not see how this lady could be a virgin.
Polly wasn't a beautiful woman but neither was she ugly. She was a woman a man would be proud to have on his arm. She had beautiful auburn hair, green eyes, and very kissable pouty lips. She stood about five-foot-five and weighed 130 lbs at the most.
When I turned eighteen I had been working on the farm and had built my body up to where I had started developing some muscles in my arms. I had grown to an even six foot and weighed about one-hundred-seventy-five pounds. I had brown hair, brown eyes and had developed a cowboy style dress code. Western shirts with jeans, boots and a hat. I drove an old chevy pickup that was still in good shape.
I had, numerous times, told my parents that Polly was going to be my wife. They would just chuckle and go on.
One Saturday I bought a big bouquet of flowers and headed straight for Miss Polly. When I pulled up to her house, she was sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair enjoying a summer breeze.
I walked up to the front porch and handed Miss Polly the flowers.
"Good afternoon Miss Polly. These flowers are for you. I was hoping if you didn't mind I'd like to take you to lunch and enjoy an afternoon together."
"Lord have mercy Calvin. I'm almost old enough to be your mother." Polly said. "Come on in and let's put these flowers in some water."
"I have admired you for a while now and am now old enough Miss Polly. I would be right proud to be your man."
"There is nothing in this world I would enjoy more than having a strapping young man as yourself to want to be with me but, you need a young woman your own age."
"Miss Polly, can we maybe sit and talk some and just see what might come about."
"OK Calvin. Let me get us some lemonade and we can sit out on the porch in the swing."
As Miss Polly prepared two glasses of lemonade I went out and sat in the porch swing. Miss Polly joined me a few minutes later. As we sat we talked about church and the town and talked a little about ourselves. I told her some funny stories and she told a few herself.
For the next few weeks I would go visit Polly and take her flowers. We would sit in the porch swing and talk and drink lemonade. I finally asked Polly, "Polly, would it be OK if I held your hand. You don't have to if you would rather not."
For a moment she did nothing but then she reached over and placed her hand in mine. Afterwards she leaned over and gave me a soft kiss on my lips.
"Calvin. People will not understand. People can be cruel Calvin. Cruel and mean. If people know of a relationship like this they will refuse to accept it."
"Tomorrow I am going to sit with you in church. You are now my girl. And I will allow no one to speak bad of you. Will you be my girl Miss Polly."
That day Polly became my girl. I was eighteen and Polly was thirty-six. From that moment on I sat with Polly during every service. We enjoyed dinners together and she would even cook for me and we would sit on the front porch and watch the sunset and drink lemonade.
One evening as we sat in the porch swing Polly asked me if I had ever made love to a woman. I told her I never had. She took my hand in hers and asked if she could be my first.
I said, "Polly, there is nothing in this world that could stop me from wanting you. I have wanted to make love to you as far back as I can remember. But only if it is what you truly want to do."
