Voted Most Likely to Succeed with Killer

I had taken precautions, but I had been sick and on antibiotics which contradicted the birth control pill.  I did not want to have children, especially at nineteen. And I didn’t want to have children with a “boy” who was not loyal.  I didn’t call my Mother.  Most girls would have reached out to theirs, but mine made it very clear one day that she did not care and to not call her if I was in trouble.

I took care of this on my own.  Neal went bowling with the guys and life moved on for me. Our lease was about to expire, but I came home one day from work to find that he had moved out and taken many things that belonged to me long before I had met him.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage this new arrangement, but I had no choice.  I went home and asked my parents if I could move back home.  I didn’t see any other means for me to make ends meet without taking on another job.

My Mother told me that I could move back but the rules that I had to abide by were more strict than when I lived at home as  a teen-ager.  I’d be damned if I was going to let this woman control me once again.  I was almost twenty years old!

I stayed in my apartment.  I had gotten a new job six months prior at Michigan Mutual as a Claims Service Representative.  I handled multi-line insurance claims and assisted the outside field adjusters.  I loved claim work.  The pay was a little better than Auto-Owners, but I was still working at the rink.

One of the field adjusters name was Killer.  He was married with a daughter and I admired how he just adored his wife and little girl who he referred to as Worm. Killer was in his mid-thirties and drove a salmon colored Cadillac and had a leather coat that was a popular amber color back in the day.  He dressed well and he was so funny.

He used to tease me about being voted most popular to succeed with Killer on a tropical island.  It was all in play, but today, it would land him in a world of trouble for sexual harassment. He used to tell me that I was better than a one night stand, referring to my living arrangement with Neal.  I guess he was right, I just didn’t know it at the time.

Killer’s wife died unexpectedly December 27, 1979. I was dealing with my own grief at the time. He took one month off from work to handle his business. His first day back to work was at the end of January.  There were several of us in the break room for lunch. He and three others played cards every day for lunch and breaks.  He started to tease me again about being voted the most popular girl to succeed with Killer on a tropical island and mentioned the one night stand comment again.  It was too fresh of a wound for me to roll with these punches and I got up and left the break room.

He did not know what had happened in his absence, but his card playing pals filled him in. We were scheduled to work our Saturday that week, he and I were on the schedule.  We worked half a day for insured’s who wanted to pay their premium or file a claim.

I sat at my desk doing my work. Killer came from the back office and sat at the receptionist desk.  He apologized for being so insensitive and told me he didn’t know what had happened while he was out on bereavement. As the noon hour approached, he asked me if I’d like to go get a cup of coffee after work.

I didn’t drink coffee.  Never even tried it, but, I was going to choke this down if I died trying. We met at a shop in Frandor shopping center.  The exact name of the shop escapes me, but it had something to do with Gourmet.  I believe I used to refer to it as the Galloping Gourmet, but they had a small coffee bar in there years before Starbucks was introduced.

Killer ordered two coffees.  He didn’t ask me what I wanted to drink, he just ordered.  When the drinks were presented, he realized I did not drink coffee, I drank Pepsi.  He doctored up my coffee.  I tried drinking it black, but it was horrible.  My Mother used to drink this by the pot fulls, no wonder she was the way she was!  This stuff would peel rust off a tanker truck! He poured milk and sugar into it, but still I could not stomach this. 

We had an enjoyable chat about our situations and life in general.  As we neared the end of our cup of coffee, he asked me if I would consider dinner one evening.  He was thirty five years old and in a month he’d be thirty six.  I was two months from turning twenty, what was I thinking when I accepted and suggested he come to my home for dinner.  I would make steaks!

He said he hadn’t been on a date in years and didn’t know what to bring.  I thought it was funny.  He had been married to his wife for about eight years and both had been married before?  Why would he think he needed to bring anything to dinner?

The next evening he showed up for dinner with a bag of potato chips!