Short Story

A Date Starts on the Net

True to Jhay’s habit, he checked in that night to the TTC chat and all of a sudden a girl wrote to him.  As it turned out she only wrote to him because she liked his name.  He used the nickname Porkopyo and she speaks Italian.  At that moment neither one of them suspected what will become of this simple conversation.  They "spoke" until 5 a.m.

The following morning and during that time he have drawn a picture of himself on the Paint program - you can imagine how that turned out. 

During the conversation he found out that she was to go to the amusement park with her girlfriend the following day and they agreed that they would meet there.  He went there the next day with his buddy, but for some reason they never showed. 

Evening came and he signed in to TTC.  He told her what had happened and there were profuse apologies that she did not expect them to really go there, etc.  They ended up speaking until 5 a.m. the next morning again. 

By morning he felt as though he have known her for weeks or months.  She gave him her phone number and he was totally enchanted.  He has never before met anyone like this from the internet.  By the time they've agreed to meet, he has also heard her voice.  Although, initially he was not able to utter a word, they ended up having an hour and a half conversation on the phone.  Things were beginning to get more exciting.  They  talked about finally meeting in person and agreed that they would do it Friday afternoon.

Naturally, they were exchanging e-mail on a daily basis and during the week both of them succeeded in scanning a photo of ourselves and sending to the other.  Even this did not prove to be discouraging, on the contrary.  They could hardly wait for Friday to come around.  Finally the big day arrived, Makati at 2:30 p.m.  And they saw each other for the first time in person without the help of any modern technology tools.  It was a tingling feeling!  They sat out to discover for their selves the bench, sat in a salad bar with great atmosphere and virtually without stopping they've laughed and talked.  Finally, they went to, what is standard fare at a time like this, a movie, but before that we made room for an ice-cream.  After an afternoon like this it was understood that he would walk her home.  If they had precise plans for the day it could not have gone better!  Late at night they continued their date on the net, and the next day they saw each other again.  They still had a wonderful time being together and none of the magic from the day before had disappeared, although by the time they said good-bye that evening it appeared that Sheila was somewhat hesitant not being really sure what she wanted.  By this time he was hopeful and later that night on the chat he was able to favorably influence her.  Monday rolled around and there were the telephone calls again.  Saturday night came and it appeared that for a while their lives would continue on the same track.  It had been over two months ago that they got together and he don't think either one of them had regretted it, rather they get along well and are happy together.

“Sometimes I think about how the world has changed.  You don't even have to be physically present in order to meet someone.  Another positive aspect is that one can not make snap judgments about someone they meet based on appearance, because sometimes you could be writing to someone for months before actually meeting them in person.”