- probably a mom
The summer of 1997 was not a bad one for me, I was young and not-bad looking. And dressing the way I used to just made it easier to be spotted or stalked. Thankfully, the last one only happened once. However, I used to be investigated by my brother's friends more than a handful of times.
"Does she have a boyfriend?" seemed to be the common question my brother heard all the time.
Tired of being asked by his former boss (a boy 5 years older than my brother who had a fleet of public transportation buses and had a family with "means") about my relationship status he decided to say "I don't know man, why don't you ask yourself?" which he later regretted after basically invited him to keep asking further questions.
One afternoon I got approached by my brother, who was acting as a messenger, and asked me if I wanted to go out on a date with his boss. I didn't reacted to it since I wasn't really interested. So I said no.
Two days later, my brother asked me again but this time he came with a gift - it was a box of chocolates and a flower. I looked at it and felt flattered, but I said no again. My brother just felt the urge to get this over with so he would stopped being a yo-yo.
By the end of the week my brother came to me, but this time his boss was waiting for him at the corner of the block. I guess he figured if I could glance through the window and look at him that perhaps his appearance would make me change my mind. But no, it didn't work. I said no again and my brother passed his information along.
Then my mom approached me and said to me "are you crazy?, a rich man is courting you for this long and you say no over and over?"
"I'm not into him, mom" I said.
"You need to give him a chance, besides, he might be able to show you the world. You know, like taking you to fancy restaurants or places." She said it to me with a spark in her face.
I sighed. I started thinking that perhaps I was being so hard on him and that I should, at least, give him the courtesy of a date in return to all his attention. Minutes later I told my brother to tell his boss to pick me up the next day at 6pm.
The next day arrived and I was not at all nervous about this. I got ready and of course my mom told me that I needed to polish my look more and also to say that my visitor arrived. When I looked through the window I saw this good looking red mustang parked in front of the house and the guy standing right by it. He was holding a bunch of red roses.
He was nervous. He trembled as he spoke to me every single sentence. I felt bad (and somehow empowered by it) and I tried to be easygoing to minimize this reaction. He took me to dinner and then to a movie right after. When he dropped me off by the house he confessed to me that I made him very happy by accepting his invitation, especially after he found out I was enrolled in University and he was not.
As time progressed he tried to give me a good night kiss, but I was quick to confess that I did not see anything coming out of our date; that perhaps remaining as friends was a better choice. He was sad and slightly mad. "I saw a fortune teller", he said later , "and said to me that your dad would separate us". I immediately labelled him, really, come'on. He insisted a lot in giving him a chance to proof me wrong. He insisted. And so did I. The answer was clear, NO.
My mom later asked me about my date with this rich uneducated boy. I just answered to her that I tried a fancy doughnut for dessert, to which she quickly replied I was stupid for my poor dinner choices. My mom couldn't comprehend why money and status wasn't in my best interest. I couldn't really answer her why either, it was just my gut feeling.
Days later my dad was at the front porch with my brother talking and enjoying the late afternoon. I joined their conversation and slowly my dad said this to me: "Your brother quit his job. His boss was physically and verbally abusing of your brother, he hit him the other day prior to your date with him, ya' know?. That's how he deals with his employees. That guy is a drug-dealer and has no good intentions. He is not good."
I didn't see that boy again after that.
Until today, I'll never forget that I followed my mom's advice and failed. But most importantly, I will never forget that that boy's future teller was right and I'm so damn happy about it.
Since that day I know that mom not always knows best. Unfortunately, that was my case.
Linking with YeahWrite #53 and Quotable Bits #15
