It was my son's 21'st birthday, and we were out bar crawling. San Diego has a great downtown district called 'The Gasslamp". It's filled with bars and sidewalk cafe's for five blocks square.
My son and I were sitting in one of them, having a triple IPA beer each. One of the other things about San Diego is their love for craft beer.
"What about her?" I asked my son.
"I'd give her a five, maybe a six." he replied.
"But she's drop dead gorgeous." I objected.
"Dad, she looks like a teeny bopper." He said. "I don't care how good she looks. I can't get past her immature, self-centered attitude."
"You're a wiser man than I was at your age." I said, "But, what age woman are you looking for?" I asked him.
"I want a woman like mom." he replied without hesitation, "She's kind and warm and I can trust her."
"But Tom," I questioned, "Your mother is 48. Certainly you're not looking for women that old?"
"Dad, I don't care about the age. But, I want what I want." he said straightforwardly.
"Son, when are you going to let go of what happened?" I asked him. He'd been terribly embarrassed when he was turned down for the prom, by a girl he thought was warm and kind and trustworthy. Not only that, but the word about the turn down had gone around on SnapChat. I guess all the girls had been making fun of him. But, he was 21 now, That was three years ago. I'd taken him to the Gasslamp because according to all sources, that was where the 'babes' hung out. I gave up.
"It's getting late, what say we have a final beer somewhere quiet and then call it?" I asked him.
"Fine by me." he said, downing the last of his beer.
I paid the bill and we walked off around the corner. A block away, I spotted a sign advertising an Irish Pub.
"That looks promising." I said pointing to the sign.
Since we were in an Irish pub, I ordered myself a Jameson's. Tom junior had a beer. We found a booth at the back, where we could survey the place. There were the usual three or four men, nursing their beers and watching T.V. Two other booths held couples, but there was one booth with three girls, all shooting Tequilla.
"What about them?" Indicating the table with the three girls. "They seem to be having a good time. Maybe they'd let us join them."
"Give it up, dad. They are so totally childish." he replied, trying to shut me down. "I want someone mature."
"Son, people do grow up. They probably don't act at all the way you say in normal life. They're partying tonight and have probably already had too many Tequilla's. Even a mature woman will act silly with enough drinks in her. Do you want a mature who doesn't drink, or what?" I argued with him, though I knew my argument was weak. Those girls really were acting like little children.
"I don't care if she drinks, but if she drinks so much that she acts like those girls, I wouldn't want to be with her. I want a woman like... her.", he said pointing to the front door.
A woman was just coming in the door. She looked a lot like my wife in the face, but with a trimmer body. After Martha had born our son and younger daughter, she'd kind of let her figure go. She looked to be in her late thirties or early forties.
This woman wasn't much on top - either that, or I couldn't tell, because of the loose long sleeved pull-over sweater she was wearing (it gets cool when the fog rolls in), but the shorts she wore (a standard in SD), were a skimpy, high on the thigh number, showing off a fine behind - mature or otherwise. She did wear bangs (unlike my wife) which made her look younger still, so maybe she was older than my estimate.
She came in and sat in a booth by herself. That's a good sign, I thought unconsciously. A single woman in a booth alone, always turns my eye.
"OK. So go talk to her." I said.
"Dad!" he protested, "I can't do that. Whenever I try to talk to a girl, I get all tongue tied. I can't even talk. My brain freezes."
"Even with a mature woman like your mom?" I asked.
He just nodded emphatically.
"Everyone gets stage fright." I said. "Just picture the person you're talking to as being naked. That's what actors and public speakers do."
"Dad. If you make me talk to her, I swear, I'm running away." he protested vehemently.
I gave in again. "All right. Sounds more serious than I thought. If I go and invite her over, and if she accepts, will you talk to her then?"
"Well sure," he said. "Once you've broken the ice, I can talk. But, you're still gonna stay here, aren't ya? I need help with keeping the conversation going, too."
"I'll see what I can do." I told him, getting up and heading for the woman's booth.
"Excuse me," I said to her. "My name's Tom Short, and my son, sitting in that booth over there, is Tom junior. I was wondering if you could help me out?
"What do you need?" she asked.
"Well, It's my son, actually." I replied, "See, he's terribly, terribly shy. I've been trying to get him to talk to girls his own age all night, but he says he only feels comfortable talking with older women, and frankly, I think he has trouble even doing that. Would you mind coming and talking to him for a little bit? He just turned 21 and it's his birthday. I'd be happy to buy your drinks, if you do."
She sized me up. "First, my name is Margaret," she said holding out her hand.
"Pleased to meet you." I said.
"Second, I'm not sure what good it will do. But since there's no one else interesting in here, and since you're buying. Sure, I'll join you." she said, sliding out of the booth.
"Mind if I try some top shelf stuff?" She asked. "They're kind of pricy."
"Margaret, If you can get my kid at least a little way out of his shell, I'll buy you the whole bottle." I said emphatically. "Regardless, I'm sure you'll do better than you know, and I will be ever so grateful to you."
"How grateful?" she asked, "You're a pretty good looking man, yourself. I was actually out tonight hoping to meet someone like you."
"I'm sorry. I'm married." I said, showing her my wedding ring.
"Damn." was all she said.
"You really know how to boost a guy's ego, though." I said, trying to smooth things over.
By now, we'd reached the booth.
"Son, this is Margaret..." I started.
"Hall", she finished for me.
"This is Margaret Hall. Margaret, this is my son, Tom Junior Simmons." I finished the introductions.
"Pleased to meet you m'am.", my son replied, shaking her hand.
"My! And so polite, too." Margaret answered.
"What can I get you?" I interrupted.