A much better dinner companion

Tonight I had a much better dinner companion. I picked up my friends son and took him to the same place I went last night. We sat in the same waiter's section and he teased me a bit about have a better dinner companion tonight.

We picked up the fixings for ice cream sundays and I introduced him to the world of Frank Capra. We watched one of Capra's best Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

I was watching him out of the corner of my eye to see his reaction to the movie. I had a hard time suppressing my laughter. He had that OH NO a BLACK AND WHITE movie look. He settled himself in to take a nap while the movie played. He was so sure he was going to hate it.

The only problem is he didn't hate it. He got into it. He was asking questions about when the movie was made and if that is really what DC looks like. He was so engrossed in the movie that when the pace of the movie picks up near the end he sat up and leaned in closer.

I asked him when it was over what he thought and he confessed that he intended to look like he was watching it but that he figured he would fall asleep and hope that I wouldn't notice. He said that he was willing to sit through it because he loves me but was really sure he was going to hate it. He also said he was glad that he gave it a chance because it was a good movie. He is now interested in seeing some other movies made by Capra. I have corrupted another young mind. :-)

The Safty Call

Last night I re-learned the value of a safety phone call. I was invited out to dinner by an older man that I thought was a gentleman. He comes into the store all the time and likes to hang around and talk. He tells a good story and is very funny. He seemed lonely and I know what that feels like. I felt a bit sorry for him. I talked to a couple of friends before accepting the dinner invite and the gentleman said casual friendly dinner. As one friend said "What can one dinner hurt?"

I was nervous about going and I picked a restaurant where I knew one of the waiters and asked to be seated in his section. I also told a friend where I was going and set up the safety call. My friend agreed that this was a circumstance where a safety call was indeed in order and agreed.

It didn't take long for the night to turn sour. A few minutes after we had arrived he turned the conversation to sex. I tried to change the topic That did not work so I plainly stated that I am a Christian and I do not believe in sex outside of marriage.

The conversation changed for a few minutes and then turned back to sex. He told me that he has had a vasectomy just before turning the topic to his third marriage and the down fall of it. He has a daughter my age and his second wife was her best friend.

Needless to say I was very uncomfortable at this point. I had intended an act of kindness and the type of kindness I had to offer was not what he was looking for. I excused myself to the ladies room and called my safety call. I didn't want to be mean or rude so I asked her to wait 10 minutes and call me. Instead of the prearranged time. I asked her to give me a good reason that I had to leave.

Her daughter called me and we where two actors playing a part. It was sort of funny she explained the story that the two of them cooked up and I played along. There was a medical emergency in the family and she needed me to get to them ASAP. I said I really needed to go and ran from the restaurant.

Most women are raised to be submissive to men. We are raised to respect our elders and to be polite at all costs. Over coming that training can be rather difficult. We don't want to be rude and we don't want to hurt or disappoint. Some times we just want to be nice. Women can't just be nice and if we are we have to be cautious too.

I have been told by a male friend of mine to take him at face value. Some thing I have a hard time doing because of so many lessons like this one. What this man said and what his intentions where are two very different things. He said one thing yesterday morning that sort of set wrong with me and the little alarm in the back of my head started to ring.

I haven't used a safety call in years. In fact the last time I did was the first time I went to the friends house that told me to take him at face value. Obviously this was long before that conversation. I was going to a strange mans house to watch Enterprise with him and one of his buddies. It's funny the daughter that called me last night was the same person who I set that safety call up with. That night everything worked out just fine and I was really glad I took the risk and went. Last night welll I am glad I still took the risk but I am even happier that I set up the call.