Don't Date a Political Junkie

I had a delightful invitation to have dinner alone with an unmarried gentlemen last night. This came about when I attended a birthday dinner party for a neighbor two weeks ago and this charming man, new to the group, sat with me at the dinner table. Later, after coffee, he asked if I would like to go out to dinner with him soon. "Yes," I said, "that would be very nice." I didn't think any more about it until Thursday evening when he called and we made a date for Friday evening to have dinner on the Bay for fresh fish.

I socialize a lot with the political groups here and am always in attendance when our symphony plays as well as our chamber music group. It is rare to find me out of this element and as the evening was approaching I began to wonder what on earth we could find to talk about. No politics, I thought. This is not that kind of an evening. To remind myself not to discuss the elections, I wore a pretty garnet ring that I had been given years ago. This would flag me to shut up on any political subject that would pop into my mind. I even wore heels and a dress just so my evening wouldn't be comfortable.

Over a glass of wine, we chatted about how beautiful the bay looked with all the ships tied to the piers. (During the day, these fishing boats were filthy and smelly but under the moonlight, well they changed into something beautiful.)

A delicious salad followed and still everything proceeded smoothly. "This is easy." I thought. An old friend appeared at our moonlit table and asked me quietly how I was going to vote on propositions 30 and 31. I introduced this intruder to my date, told him "No. on both." And waited for a reaction......He returned to his table and I waved at a group that I have known for years as the basic rightwing of Central California.

Our freshly caught rock cod was served with great flourish, the candles were lit, I traded my wine glass for a cup of coffee, smiled and waited for my date so say something nice. I don't remember just what happened next but if you have ever been in a crowded dining room and all of a sudden a complete silence can be heard (or not heard) and my own voice was heard "You are a What?" Everyone stared at me and I realized I had asked this terrible question. The people in the next table started laughing and said, "Poor Sandy, he must be a Democrat."

Okay, I am a social misfit! I honestly knew this before, but thought I could bluff out just one evening in public. The evening ended better than I thought it would. We walked around the pier and then he brought me home. He parked in my driveway and walked me to my front door. He asked "Do you have your key?" and being a little nervous I asked "to what?" "The door" he said. My answer was a classic me "If I locked it no one could get in." When I got inside, my neighbor had brought in my evening paper and someone had used my computer and left a thank you note on the keyboard. Hey, that's the way I live. I got a very nice hug and he whispered in my ear "May I stay?" Hell, he was starting to sound like Charlie Rangel and that put me off. I shook my head no; I thanked him and walked him to the door. He looked at me and asked, "Could I stay if I were a Republican?" For some reason I thought that was funny. But being the only one laughing, I showed him out.

I locked the door, removed my dress and high heels and got into my old flannel gown and sat down to answer my email and join the discussion boards where I felt right at home. It's nice to be among my junkie friends once more. I wont to out to play until after all the primaries are over may not venture out until after November.

Published in the February 19, 2000 issue of Ether Zone. Copyright © 2000 Ether Zone Online. Reposting permitted with this message intact.