He made my mother laugh and she would refer to him as “Johnny” whenever she related stories about her late night escapades with him to my aunt who lived next door.
Soon my aunt would ask my mother: “if she caught Johnny, last night?”
Was there a late night game of “tag” going on I didn’t know about?
And who was this: “Johnny”?
Finally, in the summer of my 15th year, I was officially introduced to the mysterious Johnny and we quickly became the best of friends until he left me in May, 1992.
I still carry a grudge.
I think we could have gone on for a few more years but apparently,” my Johnny” was getting tired of the same old schtick.
Looking back, I realize a girl never forgets her first and no man can ever replace that old silver fox.
He was special, you know what I mean. He was quirky, had facial tics, he was too easily frightened by wild animals who dropped in from the San Diego Zoo……would embarrass me with the way he dressed, especially in the 1970’s, far too many plaid sport jackets for my cosmopolitan tastes…….his fashion choices sometimes made him look as though he just got off a bus from Lincoln, Nebraska or some other small town in the Midwest.
I was usually true blue to him.
We met Monday thru Friday at exactly 11:30 p.m on the nose, sometimes he would be late if something huge happened like Watergate or the World Series. Near the end of our romance, he blew me off on Monday nights. I hated that, especially when he sent a substitute.
But I showed him.
I would see a chubby man by the name of Merv on Mondays or this other guy: Dick who was a “Yalie” and wanted to talk about what was “really going on in Vietnam” or whatever……. with Bill Buckley and Norman Mailer…..YUCK!!!!!
But I always came back to John and he always took me back but first I would have to listen to his silly jokes and double entendres for the first fifteen minutes. I couldn’t say a word. It was all about him. I would usually groan at the jokes but soon I would be laughing along with him.
He had certain qualities about him that I can’t seem to find in other men. Certainly not Dave and definitely not Jay. I mean I have been known to down a few late at night but I could never get that drunk to do Leno.
A few years ago, my aunt really got into Jimmy Kimmel, I tried but too much of a smartass for me.
Lately. I have been watching another ” Jimmy” but I think he is way too young for me and he is always singing and I find it really annoying and he isn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.
None of them can replace Johnny for me.
Maybe it was the kind way he engaged with old and ordinary people, how he let others upstage him or even set the joke up for his friends.
How he would talk about the stars with Carl Sagan or how he would let his favorite singer: Joe Williams sing me to sleep with a sad song.
In the last year of my mother’s life, she fell for Arsenio. He is a nice guy but he can’t seem to keep a job.
The last time I saw Johnny was on May 22nd, 1992.
It was time to let go.
These were the last words to spoke to me:
“I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope when I find something that I want to do and I think you would like and come back, that you’ll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night.”
I never saw him again after that night.
However, I have come to believe you can fall in love again.
And there is this new guy who told me he would see me in September, his name is Stephen and he seems to have it all going on……
I think I shall give him a chance.
Who knows!
I just might find true love again.
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