Mrs Keno, Revisited

I had only one more memorable incident with the Kenos before I moved out. It came at Spring Break. I had, by then, begun to date. A lot. Of course, in those days, "dating" meant going out as a couple for an evening's public entertainment. If anything happened in private, it wasn't covered by the term, "dating."

So, when I say that I had seven dates with seven different boys over an eight day break, I mean that I saw all the movies nominated for Oscars that year, and that's all I mean.

Mrs Keno was sure that something "not nice" must be going on--after all, her daughter never had seven dates with seven different boys over an eight day period, in fact, her daughter's idea of dating consisted of sitting next to a boy at the youth club. If she sat next to the same boy two weeks in a row, they were going steady. Did I mention that she was still going to the YOUTH GROUP at 31?

Mrs Keno wrote to my mother. In those days, one didn't call long distance unless someone were on their deathbed, and the situation wasn't quite that serious. What sent Mrs Keno totally over the edge was that one of the boys I went out with was from Trinidad. There were a lot of international students at that university.

I was a bit nervous, as I had not dated much in high school, and the subject of my developing into a social butterfly had never come up. I needn't have worried. Mom came through, in spades.

She CALLED Mrs Keno! And told her, in no uncertain terms, that my social life was none of her business.

It was then (not when she left me at the University without a place to stay) that I realized that Mom really thought that I had grown up.

She was wrong, but I appreciated the vote of confidence!