Plot. The assignment is to establish an MDQ (Major
Dramatic Question) and stick to it. My
question was, “Can this narrator get this girl to love him?”
“Does
anyone have a bit of paper?” asked Lucy. “I want to get rid of my gum.”
Without missing a beat, Kaitlyn said, “Give it to me.”
She took the gum, put it in her own
mouth and swallowed it.
“THIS is the girl for me,” was the thought that popped up on my Google glasses.
(Of course the Google glasses are anachronistic. It was just that that is the image that popped into my head as I was writing this.)
There were four of us in the car on the way to Chicago.
Three girls and me. What a terrific
situation! I was always on the lookout for an opportunity to meet girls. It was spring break, and we were going to
help Habitat for Humanity build some houses.
Kaitlyn’s
bright eyes and energy were never failing.
The greatest thing about her was her inherent quirkiness. She’s a ‘self-promoter’. Who could forget such a stunt? She had just
taken somebody else’s cooties AND 7 years of gum sitting in her gut.
High
maintenance? No way. Pretentious?
Never.
How could
I get her to know that I’m a fabulous guy? My muscles were there, but I was no
body-builder. I decided the best way for her to understand that I’m a up stand
up dude is to show my steadfast commitment to physical health. I needed to do exercise every day. Each
morning, I got up before everyone, and ran for 45 minutes. I had just
discovered Ultimate Frisbee, and I had my disk with me. In the afternoon,
instead of relaxing at the shelter after our work was done, I took the Frisbee
out to the park and played catch with myself. If you through it up right, it
will come down at nearly the same spot.
So while I should’ve been chit-chatting, creating those little
connections that draw people together, sharing those bits of humanity that make
us into three dimensional people, I was out by myself—of my own
choosing—yearning for the others to notice how great I am. I didn’t want to hang around and chat because
that would show that I wanted them to
notice me, that I cared about their
opinion. If I was out in the park working when they notice me, I’d show how
cool I am by not putting any effort into it. I could still pretend that they
weren’t important to me.
Back at
school, I made sure that she knew there was an Ultimate game that
Saturday. I made sure she knew I was
playing. She was late. I expected
nothing less. In fact I even doubted she would show up at all. Between points,
and often during points, I had my eye out for her. I caught the disk and gave a
short pass to one of the handlers—exactly my job. A minute later, we were some
10 meters from the end zone. I cut directly to the outside, I was open, Red
threw to me, I caught it. Score!
Simultaneously, I noticed Kaitlyn walking toward me on the side of the
field. “Oh, man! She probably saw BOTH of those catches.” I casually tossed the disk into the field for
someone else, and sauntered off to take a breather. Score one for James’s plan of looking good
without blatantly trying.
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