From The Male Room – The Calamity Of Choices

From The Male Room

The Calamity Of Choices

by Vince Kendricks

It was the day before my birthday, and for the first time since my divorce, I was faced with a dilemma.  The one thing about being married is that you never have to figure out who you’re spending special days with.  At that moment, I had more prospects than I could handle.

Diana called the night before and asked what I wanted for my birthday.  I knew that was her subtle way of letting me know she expected to spend the day with me.  However, I had been seeing her for almost two months, and unfortunately, I was bored already.

I told her not to buy me anything because I knew I wouldn’t be seeing her.  But she insisted, and I pretended to have another call on hold.  An hour later, Lila called (whom I’d just met three weeks before) and offered to take me out to dinner.  I thanked her for the offer, as I pretended to have previous plans with “college buddies here for a reunion.”  She was nice.  But not someone I wanted to spend my birthday with.  I also understood it was a typical female move to organize my time, by faking an act of kindness.  Then Norelle called to remind me she had plans for us which included “dinner”.  Norelle and I had been together a while, and sometimes I enjoyed her…..and sometimes I didn’t.  She was too demanding and hard to please.

She was ready to get married and was an expert in dropping what I call, “tie the knot hints” which always succeeded in shortening the evening for me.  I grunted a vague response and promised to call her back.  I turned my phone off and sat quietly in the darkness.  I needed to think.  I was currently seeing three women.  No! Four.  (I’d forgotten about Eva).  Eva was sort of on the fringes because we didn’t date that often.  She seemed to understand that I was not ready to be serious, and she wasn’t pushing me to be.  I liked her and I loved to hear her laugh.  I enjoyed her confidence because she never appeared uncomfortable, like the others, when my phone rang off the hook.

However, she had gotten very angry a couple of weeks ago when I got my dates mixed up and accidentally stood her up.  I didn’t realize what I’d done until the next day when I listened to my voicemail.  It was the first time I heard a perturbed sound in her voice.

Unlike the others, Eva was the most exciting, though she wouldn’t sleep with me!  And because of that, I was never pressed to spend time with her.  However, she stayed on my mind more than anyone.

I hadn’t spoken to her since that unfortunate incident.  (She told me to never call her again)  But I longed to hear her voice.  I expected her to get over it and forgive me.  The more I thought about it the more I realized how much I missed her.  Suddenly, I knew who I wanted to spend my birthday with.  I picked up the phone and dialed her number.  A guy answered and I hung up.  I decided to spend my birthday alone.