Check Yes, No or Maybe

There are those people in your life that you will never forget, and those that have a special place in your heart. If you are lucky, those people have been with you since your childhood, and they are still with you today. I remember the first time a boy asked me to go out with him. I was in the third grade, and during our morning snack, I discovered a handwritten note in my backpack. The note goes as follows: “Will you go to the fair with me? Check yes, no or maybe.” I did not like this, and I quickly checked no before returning the note to the sender. I’m sure my immediate thoughts were, “how could I get back at this boy for asking me such a question”. My mind was churning and then, WAH-LA! I would tell on him for placing the note in my backpack. There was a strict rule against getting into others “personal items”. So at that moment I marched myself to my teacher’s desk, and I told on the boy who had asked me to the fair. This led to him pulling his yellow warning card, and not talking to me for the rest of the day. This gave me a feeling of accomplishment; revenge was on my side. Later that night after dinner, I was upstairs in my playroom, and I heard the phone ring. I heard my father’s voice coming from the living room, and then I heard him say “Chas” as he was entering the foyer and walking up the stairs. He came into the playroom, and asked, “Did you get a note asking you to go to the fair with someone today?” I was so embarrassed. As my dad explained to me that it would be acceptable if I went to the fair with a certain someone, I looked at him with my big blue eyes and said no. I remember wanting to run and hide. There was no way I was going to change my mind, so my dad returned the phone call, and made the announcement that I would not be going on the fair date. Several years later, the same boy is still in my life, and I didn’t know until he announced to Annie and Emily one night last summer that he had kept the note after all of these years.