First Kiss #2 - A Real Kiss

First Kiss #2 was my first real kiss. I was 14 and on the receiving end. I thought it was my reward for helping some kids on a strange Halloween night. Later I wondered if it was punishment for something! After re-stocking the soda and beer in my grandma’s store, I headed for the nearby sub-division to meet up with friends.

As I neared the the subdivision, I heard a commotion near one of the houses. I rounded the corner of the house and saw four boys huddled together. Then I saw a man with a shiny revolver. He pointed it at me briefly, but then aimed it back at them. I walked over next to him and faced the kids (like he and I were on the same side). I asked him what happened. He explained that someone had egged his mom’s house—and he was tired of her getting harassed! Just as I had done with a policeman during a campout, I introduced myself and told the man my grandmother ran the little store down the road (everyone knew her). I told him I had talked with his mom many times in the store, she was a nice lady (she wasn’t), and I was really sorry that happened to her (I was).

Then I turned to Andy, one of the accused:

Me: Andy, did you and your friends throw the eggs?
Andy: No!
Me: Do you know who did?
Andy: We saw guys running that way just before we got here.
Me: Okay, you two go look for the other guys and see if you can get names. You two help Mr. Wilson clean the egg off his mom’s house.

Mr. Wilson put his gun away (and apologized to me???) and they all did what I told them to do. It was weird! That’s when I realized if you act confident, sometimes people will cooperate. It all happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to get nervous. But I felt a little shaky when I went looking for my friends. That’s when I encountered the girl who was about to kiss me. I had recently been talking with her on the bus and in school. We were becoming friends. Just friends!

She was dressed like a sexy flapper and wanted to tell me something. She said her family was moving out of state at the end of the week, that she knew we were just friends, but she wanted to kiss me good-bye. Then she laid one on me! It was something. In the back of my mind I was thinking, “Just friends? Who said anything about just friends?” LOL, but I didn’t say anything about that. I just gave her a hug & walked her home.

I said something about punishment, didn’t I? How could a nice experience like that possibly be a punishment? Well, my little friend who came out under-dressed on Halloween had mono. Mononucleosis! By Thanksgiving I developed pneumonia and found out I had mono too--and an enlarged spleen. I didn’t go to school almost the entire month of December.

That “first” kiss almost killed me! LOL!