The Storyteller

The other day, I went through my old Yahoo! emails with a fine tooth comb. The oldest email in my account, is from a high school classmate named Jennifer X. This email from her, has been sitting there, with the subject line, "RE: 1980," for over six years. She was the event co-ordinator, and her message conveyed instructions about access to our twentieth high-school re-union.

I was away on business, and unable to attend. The event was held in August of 2000, and I don't run with the same circle of classmates.

I decided to see if Jennifer's originating email account was still active, and also make a game. So, I dashed off the following email to her,

"From: "Matthew L Blaine" chillblaine2k@yahoo.com
To: "Jennifer X" jenX@xxxx.com
Cc: mlblaine@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: 1980

hi, did I miss anything baby."

And here is her subsequent reply.........

"Hi Matt-
Wow - I think you get the award for longest time to respond to an email!! Yup, you missed a great party!! We didn't do a 25th, but we will gear up to start planning a 30th soon you'll have to make that one!! Please email me your current address and phone number so we can update our records. Thank you! Jennifer."

I think you can all see where this may be going. This is an innocent flirtation that you could probably see 'coming down Broadway.'

I replied a bit later, "tee hee ... yep, I try to wait an even six years, before I start to sweat the small stuff....lol...."

And the trap is set. Notice that I have ignored her question with a gentle sidestep. All I needed was for her to revisit the subject, which she does with her follow-on, "ha, ha, ha, but we still need your address so we can mail you info about our (UGH!!) 30th! Jennifer"

And, cue hushed dramatic voices, evocative of a barbaric place and time. There is no way for me to escape the directness of her honest question, so, my final reply can only be thus....

"ok, hon, here it is:

Matthew L. Blaine

Oh! Hey, before I forget, by the way, I got a reply from Doug Werner today, also! Thank goodness for Yahoo! They ought to rename their slogan, 'From Memphis to Mali.'

I told "Vern" that I needed his help with an old sofa, tomorrow. That will be even funnier, later. Anyway, hon, here is the rest of my address. Now, I must remember to type quickly, yet accurately, for there is a kodiak bear on my trail, and my signal is fading.....

One moment, maybe I'll just put a cc address in the box, just in case all the Yahoo secure mail servers go down. One moment, please......

Ok, got it!
Matthew L. Blaine
3371 Ap

huh....? wh, what was that!??

oh no, not the bear again! time to run, sweetheart.....!"