Note: this is part III, part I is here and part II is here.

I knocked on her door right at 11:30 and was greeted by a cheery “hi, come in”.

She had that disarming, radiant smile that seemed to dominate her face. Her mouth was a full one; I thought about what it would be like to kiss it.

She was wearing a red t and jeans; stuff she had just bought at Target.

“I am looking forward to the film”, she said. “I like Maher’s stuff; I sometimes watch his show.”

“You get HBO”, I asked?

“Yes”, she said. “You?”

“No, but I’ve seen various clips on youtube. I am mostly an Maddow/Olberman kind of guy.”

“That’s balanced cable news”, she laughed.

“Hey, I used to watch Zakaria’s Foreign Exchange!”, I responded.

“Oh, have you read his book Future of Freedom?”, she asked?

“About half of it”, I responded. Then I hit the busy part of the semester and then the election came along. I did get the parts about the need for liberal democracy and how that can’t take root unless certain economic conditons are met”, I replied.

“Do you believe that?”, she asked.

She then remembered that her key had slid off the nightstand and fell betweehn the stand and the bed.

She bent over to see where it was and then pick it up.

I’ve always noticed body motions; some women bend at the knees and keep a relatively straight upper body; they tuck their rear ends in when they stoop.

Others bend from the waist keeping a relatively high butt and straight knees.

Brenda had one of those utterly charming “bend the knees and bend from the waist” bend-overs; the butt went out and back and the chest dropped beneath the knees; both the chest and thighs parallel to the floor.

Every fiber in the seat of her pants was challenged; the rear seem and the pockets formed a sort of denim face, smiling at me.

She found it, turned around with that “not quite a frown, not quite a smile, but a “I knew that you were looking…I don’t mind but I don’t want you to know that I don’t mind” type of expressions.

Since the theater was about a 10 minute walk away (if that) from our motel, we walked, even though the area was not that pedestrian friendly.

She said “you know, people might walk more if local governments took sidewalks a bit more seriously”. I agreed and mentioned that one often risked life and limb to walk in my hometown, especially during the winter when the city plowed up snow on the sidewalks.

She responded “much of the employment problems for the economic underclasses stems from simple transportation problems; it is often impossible to get to where the jobs are.”

“You sound a bit like Julius Wilson”, I said. He spoke at our university and I read his book When Work Disappears.

“Obama seemed to apply what he said in that work”, Brenda said. “Obama spoke to the problems that affect many Americans; Wilson said that African Americans were, more or less, like the canary in the mine”, she said.

“Yep”, I said.

We made it into the theater and sat toward the back; there weren’t all that many people here. We looked at each other and gave the old “what do you expect in the Bible belt” look.

Of course, I did get engaged in Religious and Maher’s antics; still I was completely aware of who I was sitting next to. I wasn’t forward enough to extend my arm and she wasn’t forward enough to lean into my shoulder, though I was conscious of the times our legs touched.

Afterward, I asked her what she thought. “It was ok”, she said, “but Maher focused mostly on the extremes and on fundamentalism. I agree with Sam Harris that moderate religion does more damage that people think.”

I responded: “Don’t you think that techniques like prayer, meditation and yoga have secular value?”

“Of course”, she said, “so long as they are used for personal growth and people are sure that there is no attempt to invoke a supernatural entity. What is harmful is people discounting most miracles but having some sort of “ration of miracles” that they believe in.”

“Fundamentalism offends reason, Atheism offends piousness, and liberal religion offends both”, I joked.

“Agreed”, she said.

And so the conversation went.

We settled in a booth at Ruby Tuesday and I so wanted people to think that we were “together” as more than friends. I got that little “chest swell” of pride when the waitress addressed us as a couple.

As we walked back, Brenda mentioned that she might retire to her room to read for a bit; I mentioned that I’d watch the rest of the West Virginia-North Carolina bowl game on television.

As we got to the motel I joked: “hey, if you are sore from your workout this morning, I am willing to give a back rub.” It took something out of me to say that.

She responded: “sore from that little walk? Are you kidding me?”, she said with a laugh. I kind of sighed with resignation…

“I suppose that there is always the five fingered loser date and the fantasy story”, I thought.

As she closed the door she said “ok, we need to get an early start tomorrow; say 10 am? We have to return the car and get to the airport.”

I said “right.”

She said: “I’ve got your number…I’ll call you when, er…if I want that backrub.”

“Ok”, I said. As I hugged her, I so wanted to drop my hands.

She hugged me and I trooped back to my room.

The game itself was an exciting affair; I picked it up at halftime and West Virginia won a thriller.

As the gun sounded…..my phone rang.

Yes, I had her number and I had programmed “Ode to Joy” for her number.

There was the ring….it was “Ode to Joy”….my heart fluttered….

“Hi, it’s Brenda”.

“Hi Brenda”.

“Did you enjoy the game?”, she asked.

“Yes….”, I said.

“My neck is a bit tight…is that offer for a neck rub still good?”, she asked.

“Maybe”, I said (who was I kidding???)

“Maybe”, she asked?

“I don’t want to be thought of as easy”, I joked.

“Well”, she joked?

“I’ll be there in a few”, I said….

End of Part III.

Go to Part IV (conclusion)