A call of the
innocence
That was what it was
When the fifteen year
old me
Picked up the phone
To call Theresa
Flaherty
My palms were so
sweaty
I could barely hold
the phone
Whereas my mouth was
so dry
I doubted I could
speak
But I dialled the
number
And I eventually got
it right
On the third attempt
And then it seemed
To ring for an eternity
But then it was
answered
“Hello” the sweet
voice said
“Theresa?” I croaked
“Yes” she replied
sweetly
“It’s Paul” I said
“from school”
I don’t know why I added
the last bit
“Oh hi Paul” she said
And I tried to gauge
if it was
A despairing “oh hi Paul”
Or a pleasantly
surprised one
But as I had never
asked
A girl out before
I had no benchmark for
it
So a few minutes
passed
Of nervous small talk
Interspersed with
awkward silences
As the heart in my
chest pounded
And beat like an eagles wing
While my head throbbed
And my stomach
Was a flutter of
butterflies
As I approached the
reason for my call
And the question I had
for her
Which I had been
rehearsing all week
But it vanished from
my mind
So in the end I rather
abruptly blurted out
“Will you go to the
pictures with me?”
“Oh” she exclaimed
with surprise
And added “Yes I’d
love to”
My heart was doing
cartwheels of delight
But I had to try to
remain calm
“That’s great” I
responded and hung up
And so ended a call of
innocence,
And then I cursed myself
for being an idiot
So I rang Theresa
again five minutes later
To discuss the date,
place and time
And so began our first
passion