"This is for Jenny"

    The above was said by the lead singer of Sniff n the Tears to introduce "Driver's Seat" as their encore when they opened for the Doobie Brothers in the late autumn of 1978. The lovely girl seated next to me, on my first date ever, was in fact named Jennifer, though I don't know if she heard him, nor if anyone ever called her Jenny. I just thought, and still think, it was the ultimate cheesy introduction to a big hit single. If he's still living and if they're still playing, no doubt he still says the same.
    I probably am not the only person who made his first date via pay phone. I don't know why it was extra hard to make that phone call from the parental manse. But for whatever reason, Evans and I went to Main Street to use the pay phones there. (It would be a semi-double-date, as Evans took out Jennifer's best friend and a sometime tennis partner of his. But we, that is, the two couples, arrived separately.) Much to my shock, she said yes.
    The passage of years thins the memories. I remember that we had a new silver '78 Impala one of the doors of which I had just dented, of course on her side. I remember what she wore (red and blue stripy blouse, memorable blue trousers) and that on the way to the show I asked her what kind of music she liked and she said Styx. Perhaps it was more than a coincidence that they were the next band playing at the Coliseum.
    I remember making a fool of myself singing along to "Black Water." I remember not having the nerve to ask for a good night kiss, nor the grace to walk her to her front door. I remember being a nuisance to her for the next year, and never getting another date with her, especially not to see Styx. (I went with brother William.) I remember bringing a small bottle of Joy (the perfume, not the dishwashing liquid) back from France for her. She was pleased, but did not noticeably fall in love with me. The whole fiasco ended finally when Ms. Wingard, who will not be further named as she, too, is married to somebody else these days, fell for me hard.
    I ran into Jennifer years later, and have seen her on Facebook more recently. She grew up to be an elementary school teacher and a wholly admirable person. And apparently, her Dorian Gray trick is going even better than my own. And what have we learned? Apparently, the best way for a lady to get and hold my attention is pretty straightforward: look Irish. Oh, and Jenny was sweet.

    [It has come to my attention that there is a high probability that "Driver's Seat" didn't exist in 1978. This triggered the memory that the band that in fact opened for the Doobie Brothers was Ambrosia. The probability is that Sniff 'n' the Tears opened for Kansas when I saw them a year later with Ms. Wingard on an actual double date, and the "This is for Jenny" line just struck me as ironic because she wasn't there, though this isn't to say I was in any way dissatisfied with my current company. So the piece becomes a discourse on the limitations of memory. Hell the whole blog is going that way.:)]