The Lovely Chocolate Mob - By Richard J. Bennett Page 0,41
became enamored with her; she could have done much better than me, but I figured she liked me because I was older and nice to her, or at least I tried to be. Things were good.”
Miss Planter stopped writing. She looked up from her notepad. She was reading me.
“Anyway, after a few months of this, the next step, or so I thought, again, was marriage. Since graduation was coming up soon, and I was sure to get an engineering job, I thought it would be a good time for matrimony. It was time to pop the question.”
Miss Planter was drawn in now.
“I had saved and bought an engagement ring, the kind of thing girls liked, a nice-looking ring, too. It wasn’t very expensive, but was doable. It was just a temporary ring anyway, until it would be replaced by the real, wedding ring.”
Miss Planter was nodding.
“So I waited until the right time to spring it on her. I was really going to take her some place special, have a nice dinner in a classy joint, and slip her the ring. She’d say yes, and then we’d start making plans for our wedding and honeymoon and life. I’d let her make all the plans for the wedding, of course, because women like doing that kind of thing, and I’d just stay out of the way and watch and maybe help where I could.” I looked at Miss Planter here. “Kind of surprising that I at least knew that much about women at the time. Or I thought I did. Maybe I was doing too much thinking; what do you think?”
“So what happened? Miss Planter asked, anxious to hear more of the romance.
“I blew it,” I said. “I waited too long. Helen, as beautiful as she was, became a target for other fellows who were around. One fellow caught her eye, and in a matter of a few weeks, she dropped me like a hot potato.”
“Who was this fellow?”
“His name was Franklin Burke, a pre-med student. Rich, flashy, good-looking, dressed well, didn’t need to work while at school so he had all the time in the world to woo Helen. And a frat boy.”
“You didn’t belong to a fraternity?” asked Miss Planter.
“No, I didn’t. I was approached, but was too busy and the Greek stuff really didn’t appeal to me. Besides, I’m really a boring and routine kind of guy.”
“You keep saying that. What makes you think that?”
“Because I am!” I admitted, wondering how others didn’t see this. “I like the routine, and routines are boring for other people.”
“So, how did you take being dropped by Helen? How did you find out?”
“I found out about Helen’s interest in Franklin from other people. It’s kind of strange, but when other people see your girl with a different fellow on or around campus, it’s as though they have a moral obligation to tell you. So I was told that she’d been seen with another guy, while I was at work. I later asked her about it, and she said she liked Franklin and they were going to start dating, which left me out of the romantic equation.”
“How did you react to that?” asked Miss Planter, matter-of-factly. Maybe she already knew.
“Poorly.” I said. “I cried. I couldn’t stop crying. She meant more to me than she probably should have. Or else, it hurt me more than it probably should have. It hurt for a long time.”
“How long?”
I waited a moment. “What year is it?”
Miss Planter smiled. “I’m glad to see you can joke about this.”
“Well, “ I said. “After the initial shock, and after years of trying to deal with it, it’s better to joke than to cry about something you can’t do anything about.”
“What was it like for you, Mr. Owen?” asked Miss Planter. “The overall experience, I mean.”
“It’s like someone you loved died, only she’s not really dead, she’s up and about and running around with some other fellow, kissing and hugging some other guy when she used to …” I stopped here.
Miss Planter’s face became serious. “Is that why you never married?”
“I’m sure it was a factor.” I said. “It’s as though a switch was turned to “off,” if you can understand that.”
“I understand that. It’s not uncommon to see in this business.”
“Is that healthy, Miss Planter?”
“Dealing with it is healthy. People deal with emotional shock in different ways. There’s no one way.”
“In your opinion, do you think I’m healthy in this regard?”
“I don’t have an opinion here. I’m merely an observer.”