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My Blind Date

Right off the bat, I have to tell you that I had sworn off blind dates quite a few years ago. When I was in my late twenties, and a lot of my friends were getting married, it seemed that everyone knew the perfect girl for me. They would describe these women to me in much detail, always raising my expectations. Inevitably, upon getting to know these so called ideal mates, I would be let down.

There were a few short term relationships that were a result of my friend’s attempts at matchmaking, but even those were really doomed from the start. I just think one knows immediately upon meeting a potential lifelong partner whether or not there is even a remote chance of this being the ‘one’.

I’m thirty five years old now. I love my job as a veterinarian, which I am well compensated for. I have a few very close friends, which I believe is more than most people can say. All in all, I’d have to say I’m a pretty contented person.

I had one long term liaison lasting nearly three years with a girl who lived in London. Her business affairs brought her to my hometown, New York City, for about one week every month. We were getting quite serious, and decided that before we even began to talk about marriage, and the sacrifice one of us would be forced to make in order to be together full time, we should at least spend a full summer in each other’s company. So we rented this great house in Southampton for exactly two months, all of July and August. As it turned out, not only did we not last the planned upon two months, but by the third week we really couldn’t stand each other. Dislike would truly have been an understatement. What really upset me about the whole affair was the fact that I had so greatly misjudged her true character. If I was so off concerning her, maybe there were other areas in my life where I was similarly misguided.

So when Christine, my good friend Jack’s fiance, said that she knew the perfect girl for me, I did not dismiss the suggested hookup offhand, as I would have instinctively done in the previous few years. I didn’t even ask Christine much about her. When she gave me her phone number she just asked me to please call her, as she had already given her good friend Allison a heads up.

Our initial conversation was quite pleasant. She liked the fact that I was a veterinarian, said it was a profession that only a warmhearted person would undertake. For my part, she just sounded very sweet and down to earth over the telephone. We agreed to meet over dinner the following night at a local restaurant. She suggested we go vegetarian, to a place called The Fairy Tail. I agreed, and the date was made for seven o’clock.

The following day, I wished I had asked Christine a little bit more about Allison. I mean I’m not that hung up on looks, but there is a certain degree of homeliness that I would find unacceptable. And as the time approached for our get together, the more I realized how attracted I was to her over the phone.

The subway ride home that night was a nightmare. The train stopped twice in the pitch black darkness between stations, and by the time I finally arrived at the restaurant it was half past seven. When I told the the maitre d’ that I had reserved a table for two for seven o’clock, she smiled and told me my partner was already seated and told me to follow her.

She led me to the last table in the rear. A woman with long flowing blond hair was sitting with her back towards me. As the maitre d’ departed and I took my seat, I realized that Allison, my blind date, was, in fact, blind. She was extremely attractive, high cheek-boned and a terrific figure. She was wearing sunglasses, her cane propped up against the near wall. She looked to be in her late twenties.

“Jeremy? Is that you?”, Allison asked.

“Yes, Allison. Listen, I’m really sorry I’m so late. The train got stuck and”

“It’s all right. It’s no big deal. I like to people watch anyway”, she said, presenting me with the most beautiful giggles I had ever heard or seen.

There were more than a few occasions in the future where I would find myself wondering how I had ever survived in this world in the absence of such a radiant soul.

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