Fantasy Musings

As an athlete in a non-contact sport like track, I never envisioned being hospitalized for an athletic injury. But, still…here I am…having had a fairly significant ankle operation today after a nasty spill running as part of the track team…and the doc said I needed at least one night of observation before he would consider sending me home. So…I guess I have to make the best of it. It sure wasn’t what I would have preferred to be doing on a Friday night.

Truth is…I wasn’t feeling so bad. I don’t know "how it’s always been", but my parents tell me that pain drugs are a lot better than they used to be. All I know is that I’m feeling rather pleasant at the moment. Only thing is that I feel pretty sleepy…and I keep dozing off. But, they take good care of you here. Well, they’re taking good care of me, at least. I don’t know why all the nurses and aides are so hot in this wing. I don’t think it’s just the medicine. But they really look great…and they seem to enjoy smiling at me and asking if there’s anything else they can do to make me more comfortable. (more…)

After his long day of visiting area junior high schools, Jeff Stephens returned to the high school and sat down to catch up on work in his office. He’d been at his desk for about 15 minutes when he received an IM alert. He answered and saw immediately who was calling.

One of the girls from the Junior Highs he had visited earlier in the day was at home and obviously in her bedroom (her webcam was on, and from the pink bedspread to the boy band posters, he knew she couldn’t be anywhere else). He knew instantly who it was…the younger sister of one of his students at the high school. Her parents were both huge celebs. Dad was a rock star and Mom was a fashion model. Even at 14, you could see that this young one had her mother’s looks. With a webcam and microphone at both ends, they were able to see and speak to each other right away (and, of course, there was no paper trail):

"Hi Ella. Can I help you?"

No one really understood it. Jeff Stephens was a remarkable teacher…or at least, so said the grades of the students in his classroom. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. Top-rated test scores in the nation. He was moderately well-paid, but with his track record…why would he he stay at the MV Regional High School, located on the East Coast, and attended by the children of the rich and famous? There were bigger schools (MVRHS served about 800 students annually in grades 9-12), MUCH bigger salary/benefit packages, private schools, even consulting other teachers on how to teach better. So why would he stay? It would have been understandable if he had been bug-eyed over the celebrity parents…certainly hangers-on are not rare in the "celebri-sphere"…but he treated them like he would any other parent. Courteous and professional. Nothing more. So…why?

But he, himself, was tight-lipped on the subject. He was asked many times by other teachers, parents, students…even reporters. He always replied that he was simply content where he was. And that was that. Or was it?

Chat rooms have changed a lot recently since the biggest chat provider of them all shut down their teen chat rooms. And teens, of course, are the ones who chat the most. A lot more chatting now happens on instant messengers…but those are lousy ways to meet people. So people meet wherever they can (usually, in rather unpleasant environments, where girls are treated like pieces of meat…or worse), and then they meet up again on instant messengers to continue the conversation…but now, with the ability to trade pictures, watch each other’s webcam and even talk thru microphones to each other.

But at the same time, shows like Dateline have both parents and kids really wired about security. We’ve all heard the stories about girls going out to meet men for sex, and the bad results that sometimes come of it. This has also put a major damper on conversation, and most kids are warned about how much personal info they can give out online. This can make for rather boring, stilted conversation…because who we are, what we do, where we live, who we’re related to, what we do with our spare time and what we’re really passionate about are all vital to who we are as people. Because of this, the most popular kind of online communication for "good girls" has become the RP, or roleplay. This allows the person at each end of the line to indulge their fantasy and imagination by creating a scenario and walking it out…like a part in a play…and the person who starts gets to set the tone. Usually it’s the girl…and she can start with a relatively platonic situation…but since she’s at the controls, if the guy is able to capture her imagination…whether through humor, romance, imagination or whatever other means, she’s more likely to open herself to his attempts at online passion (aka "cybersex").

Every since they were very little girls, Kirsten and Keisha were inseparable. Kirsten, my daughter, was blonde-haired and blue-eyed and cute as the day is long. And now, in her teens, I was well-aware that she was every guy’s wet dream. She was a cheerleader, and active in many school and social activities.

Keisha was our next-door neighbor. She was African-American, with a beautiful milk-chocolatey complexion and a truly beautiful face. We’re talking full-on fashion model beautiful. Only one problem: She was painfully shy. No one really knew why that was. Maybe she’d grow out of it someday. Maybe not.

When they were very young, the girls would be over at each other’s house almost every weekend for sleepovers. They had so much fun…never really fought. I think, mostly, they were just so different, that they were really entertained by each other, and just didn’t need to fight. When Keisha was over at our house for a sleepover, Kirsten and I would continue our nightly ritual before bedtime. I’d lay down beside her and pretend to fall asleep. And then I’d start playing finger games with her…two or three of my fingers would pop up and be like a little animated character. No words were spoken, but I found a way to communicate with her. And there was lots of nose-stealing and tickling and leg and bottom pinching…that kind of stuff. And when Keisha was there, she played along and had a lot of fun.

I wasn’t raised to be mean to girls. But a guy can only take so much.

Cindy and I were H.S. seniors and had been assigned to work together on a project. She’d been on vacation for a week before the assignment was due…and that meant we had a lot of last-minute stuff to get done over that weekend. Her dad worked at this little radio station located in the middle of a farm field. There was a small building there with the studios, plus a little mobile home beside it for the station offices. But this was the weekend, and only the guy on the air was there…and he was out in the building. The office had a heavy-duty copy machine, and her dad figured it would be cheaper for us to do our work there than go to Kinko’s. And, what the heck…we were both 18. It wasn’t like we needed any major oversight. At least, it seemed like we shouldn’t.

Cindy was cute. Blonde, attractive, sparkly personality, and glasses. But, you know how it is. Someone either catches your interest, or they don’t. She didn’t interest me. I had a girlfriend, anyway. I just wasn’t looking. Plus…I knew how much we had to get done that day. So I didn’t have anything else on my mind…except getting done and getting home to watch some college basketball that afternoon.