Do you remember back in junior high school when, all of a sudden, girls were no longer the bearers of cooties but were objects of attraction and longing? My epiphany was a girl named Janet Pell, but she was known as Jan. She had dark hair and bright blue eyes that were mesmerizing to me. To me she was beauty personified...I loved this girl despite hardly knowing her. As we aged Jan managed to get more and more beautiful as her body developed and my longing increased. For my part, I was a gawky and slightly tubby lad with no idea how to talk to girls, especially one I admired as much as Jan. I interacted with her as I did the other kids in my classes and she was always nice.
In the 8th grade we had various fun events like 'dress-up day' and 'slave day' that were excuses to be whimsical. 'Slave day' was a day when you would select a partner of the opposite sex who would be your 'slave' (doing your bidding without complaint) during the morning and then your 'master' in the afternoon. For whatever reason (and I still have no clue how it happened!), Jan chose me to be her partner for the day. I was the master in the morning and was totally agog that the object of my desire was mine to command. I didn't want to blow it with her so I didn't really make her do much as I was happy to be in her presence all day. In the afternoon when Jan was the master she made me carry her, piggy-back, to all of her classes. I, of course, was in ecstasy as I was able to touch her all day.
When we entered high school, life changed because Jan's family moved from the area...she was no longer there. The next year my family moved too and soon Jan was a fading memory. I would see her picture periodically when I would look at our junior high yearbook and would wonder where she was and hoped that her life had been a happy one.
As you have probably surmised, we did encounter each other very many years after our idyllic childhood years. I was employed by one of the major airlines and was assigned to work in baggage service. My job was to collect information from passengers whose luggage failed to arrive, enter that information into the computer system, check the computer for clues as to where the missing baggage may have gone and then forward the delayed luggage to the customer upon its arrival. Understandably, most people are irritated when their luggage doesn't arrive so you don't, generally, catch people at their best in this situation. I was on the morning shift and was dealing with a handful of people off our first arrival of the day. All of the customers were from a flight that had a very tight connection in the hub so they all understood why their bags were late.
The last person in line was a lovely woman with dark hair and strikingly blue eyes who was pleasant in her demeanor despite standing in line for 20 minutes. I asked for her name so I could pull up her ticket information in order to begin filling in her delayed bag claim. When she said Janet Pell I stopped typing and looked at her more closely.
"Did you, by chance, go to junior high at Roman Hills school?" I asked.
Jan looked up sharply and looked at me intently and said, "Yes I did. Oh, my god! Are you Jimmy Hart?"
I smiled in disbelief that she knew my name! "Yes I am! I can't believe you know my name let alone recognize me! I haven't seen you in, what, 25 years?"
Jan smiled, "At least 25 years! How have you been?"
"I've been well, and you?"
"I've been grand! We should get together while I'm in town."
"I can bring your bag to your hotel when I get off work and then perhaps we could talk and maybe have dinner?"
Jan thought for a minute and then said, "What time do you get off work? I have a meeting at noon and it will, probably, go until 2:30 or 3:00pm."
"My shift ends at 3:30. What hotel are you staying in?"
"I'm at the Excelsior downtown, do you know it?"
"Yeah, my condo is about 3 blocks away. I'll come to your hotel at 4:00 and will wait for you in the lobby if your meeting hasn't finished."
"I can't wait!" Jan replied.
I took down all of the information I needed for her baggage claim and then we said our goodbyes. I was in a state of euphoria knowing I was going to spend the evening with this woman whom I had adored all of those years ago. Since the day was slow and all the work in baggage service was caught up I asked for and got permission to leave early for the day. I caught the light rail from the airport to the downtown area and made the 4 block walk to my condo with Jan's bag in tow. It was a lovely summer afternoon which made the walk very nice. When I got home I shed my uniform, took a shower and then dressed in my casual clothes. I made it to Jan's hotel five minutes early and went to the front desk to ask for Jan's room. The concierge called up to her room and when he was satisfied that I was the person Jan was expecting directed me to room 1503.
Moments after I knocked on her door it swung open and I was engulfed in a bear hug. I could feel Jan's ample bosom pressing into my chest as we hugged so I hugged her back with equal gusto. When Jan broke the hug, she held me at arm's length and looked into my eyes with a bright smile. "Come in and have a seat" Jan beckoned.
Her hotel room was a suite of rooms with a small sitting room and a bedroom. There was a small settee and an armchair next to a small coffee table along with a TV, desk and small refrigerator in the sitting room. I sat on the settee and Jan took the chair. She offered me a drink from the 'minibar' that was the refrigerator. She grabbed a small bottle of white wine for herself and I had a beer.
"Don't worry, my company will pay for this." Jan said. "I have been thinking about you and our days at Roman Hills all day since the airport! Do you remember when we were partners for 'slave day'? I had to beg you to have me do things. Were you afraid I was going to break or something?"
I laughed and said, "Something like that! I was in total awe that you chose me to be your partner! Here I was, this geeky kid who had no clue about girls, asked to partner with prettiest girl in our class, if not the school! I was in way over my head! You've probably deduced it by now, I had a huge crush on you in those days."
