The Story on How to Meet Boys

I am sure that every girl has a story in her background on how to meet boys, so this is mine.

The first is one of complete simplicity. Just stand on a corner: a corner of the street or in my case, the corner of the garage. As I have mentioned in my previous story, my father had a small track around the garden in which we rode the motorcycles. The garden was oval in shape with approximately 600 feet on the side and 100 feet at the ends. We had a good size garden. When my father brought teenage boys to the house for motorcycle riding lessons, my sister and I would survey the young men. When we saw one that we might be interested in, the plan was simple. We would stand at the edge of the garage, which was located at one end of the garden. We then made sure that the boy saw us and then waited. If the boy in question was also interested in us, then by the third time around the garden, he would stop riding. The first time around was to see the girl. The second time around was just to make up his mind if he would stop riding. The third time was the decision to stop riding and speak to the girl. That was it. It was quite successful and it was a great way to start a conversation.

The second way is virtually a verse from the song, “Summer Nights” from the movie, “Grease”. If you don’t remember the verse, it is: “He showed up smashing around”. My girlfriend and I had just brought identical bikinis. Of course today they would have been called 2 piece swim suit, but at that time they were quite revealing. We went to the local lake, (not too many people had swimming pools at that time), and looked for boys. One day we saw two boys who, we felt were promising, but how to meet them? The answer was again simple. We just kept swimming in front of them. This was difficult at times, because they kept changing their direction but finally they got the nerve to talk.

A third way was more dangerous, and I wouldn’t suggest it today. When I look back, I can’t believe I would have tried it, but when you are young, you feel like there is nothing that can hurt you. I was driving the family car and cruising down the streets of my home town. Cruising was a good way to meet new people. Cruising was a way of life for the young. The Beach Boys sang about it, but the movie “American Graffiti” with Ron Howard and Harrison Ford probably showed the meaning of "Cruising" the best.

Anyway, during the ride, my friends and I notice a car with the same number of boys inside, also cruising. How to get their attention was the question. Since I was driving, I had the control, but not the way of “attention getting”. While at the stop light, the girl on the passenger side simply opened the window and stuck her head out and shouted something. I don’t remember what she said, but it certainly got their attention. The next step was the controlling factor. I got in front of their car. No matter what, I couldn’t let them get pass me. This was the major objective. When the speed limit allowed or on coming traffic allowed, I would slow down. This would cause frustration on the part of the other driver and thereby keep him or they interested. When the other driver got the opportunity to pass, I would speed up. I had to make sure that they couldn’t pass me. But I had to have a destination in mind so that when we stopped, it would be a good meeting place to introduce ourselves and start a conversation. The cat and mouse game continued for about one hour. The boys were getting more daring and therefore a chance that they would get away. I stopped in front of a local hangout and of course they stopped right behind us. The first thing they would want to know is why we were driving like that. We told them that we wanted to meet them and that was that.

A most interesting way to meet boys is as follows. My girlfriend and I had nothing to do. We didn’t want to stay home but we had no idea of what to do. My father was in the hospital following a knee operation. I asked Mom for the use of the family car and she responded with the question on where we were going. My mother always asked the destination. If I had said that I just wanted to drive around, I would have never gotten the car, so I said I was going to visit Dad in the hospital. Of course I did visit dad. I was not a liar, just never told her the whole plan for the night. This was the only way to get the transportation that was needed. During the ride, my friend and I heard that a music group was playing at the local ski resort. We both wanted to see them but we only had $13.50 between us. The entry fee to the performance was $5.00 each. That left $3.50 for the evening. Since the show didn’t start till 11:30 p.m. and we got at the ski lodge at 8:30 p.m., we had 3 hours to wait with only $3.50 to spend. Since the drinks were $3.50 each and soft drinks were $1.50 each, there was only 1 choice. We had to find some boys to help spend the time and to pay for the drinks until the show.

I decided that we had to purchase a drink that looked like a drink but actually was only a soft drink. The only type of drink I could like of was “rum and coke”.
We purchased the cokes, with very little ice. This was important since the amount of ice indicated if it was a cocktail or just a coke. Then, when we met the boys, we would indicate that we had rum and coke and didn’t want to change the type of drink we were having. Now we had be find the boys since we only had $0.50 left. The lodge had the main floor with the stage, but there was a 2nd floor that overlooked the dance floor and stage. We went to the second floor and to a position where we could watch all the people below. We watched for boys who were alone. Soon it became apparent that all the boys at the lodge were taken and we have been nursing our drinks for so long, that the fizz had left the cokes. Then we noticed two boys sitting at a table close to the wall. We watch them, waiting for the girls to show up. After 15 minutes, we saw them gather something from behind the curtain; it was a bottle of booze. Since the lodge did not allow anyone bringing their own liquor, we determined they were alone. No boy, trying to impress a girl, would be caught being so cheep. They were our suckers. But how to meet them, that was the question? Suddenly I had a plan.

I told my girlfriend to put her cigarette lighter away. The dangers of smoking were unknown at this time and time smoking was considered a social function. I walked over to the two boys’ table, with 2 cigarettes in my hand. I simply asked one of the boys for a light. He lit both cigarettes for me, and I walked back to our table. I gave one cigarette to my friend and kept the other. I smiled at the boy who did me the favor and returned to the conversation with my friend. She said that it wouldn’t work and I told her just to wait, it would. I really don’t know how I knew it would work, I just did. After a few minutes, the boys did join us. We had a great evening, saw the music group we wanted to see and later had additional dates with the boys.

The last tidbit is how to you know that a boy really likes you. There is a song that states, “It is in his kiss”, but that way is not very reliable. In my experience, the kiss only tells you if the boy is interested or his intentions are on other activities. The kiss is far to deceiving. I found a better way. Announce loudly that you are going to view something, anything, but what ever you are going to view will allow you to be alone. If the boy is interested, he will follow.

My case in point, I really liked this boy but I was unsure how he felt about me. My parents were friends with his parents. Each time these friends, with their two sons visited, I was away, babysitting or something. My sister had a crush on the elder son and that was the same one that I was interested in. Since I was never home when they came over, and my sister was always raving about this boy, I thought I would never get my chance to meet him. But that was about to change that autumn. Every fall, my father would go deer hunting. The meat from his kill would help with the meat supply for the family in the winter and reduce the grocery budget. The one problem my dad always had was to the accomplishment of butchering the deer. Since his new friend was a butcher; my dad asked him if he would do the honors. He said yes, so one Saturday afternoon he arrived at the house to do the work and he brought along with his two sons. I was finally home when this boy was also at the house. I got the impression that he was interested in me when I took a sharpened knife to his father. I felt him staring at me and decided I needed a plan to find out if he was interested or if it was my imagination. I started to think of a plan, but nothing seemed to fit the situation since there was no time when either of us would be alone.

The situation was about to change when the butchering of the deer was completed. The meat was placed in large tubs located in the non-heated back room. There the meat would be kept cold until my mother had a chance to wrap it for the freezer. The butcher then came into the house to get warm along with a little socializing with my parents. Of course his two sons accompanied him and now I had my chance. I announced very loudly that I was going to view the meat. Now I ask you, what teenage girl wants to view bloody meat? Since I knew that my sisters had no desired to view the meat, this was my only chance I could think of to see this boy alone. I went in the back room and waited. Sure enough, within a minute, the boy joined me. I then knew he liked me. Just as we were starting a conversation, his little brother joined us, but the spark had been struck. This small spark became a start to a whole new life. That boy later became my husband and the father of my two children and the grandfather of five.

The lesson of this story is this: there are many ways to meet the opposite sex, but the best way is to be you.