a story of adultery and debauchery... sort of

Sometimes things are funny but we don't really realize the significance of their hilarity until the moment has passed...long ago.
I'm not sure why this memory hit me last night as I was laying down to sleep and why I never paid much attention to this moment when it came. All I know is that I realized that a very classic moment had passed in my life and I forgot about it so quickly that I failed to tell anyone about it, therefore missing out on weeks of giggling and joking around about what could possibly be the only fabulous, scandalous thing that will ever happen to me.
I've never been one to attract much scandal, but here it was, on a head on collision with me and I must now pass on my story to you people.

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It was the summer of.... well, let's forget the math for now... it was a few summers ago. I was 17 and I was working as a camp counselor for the summer. On the last day of camp, all of my girls asked me for my phone number so they could keep in touch. Now, I like kids, don't get me wrong, and I had a great summer with all of them because they were absolutely hilarious, but well, the summer is short lived and I have a life the get to when its over that does not involve nightly conversations with nine year old girls who just want to talk about spongebob or whatever was the fad a few summers ago. So I quickly jotted down on a few pieces of paper the number for the phone line at my house that is rarely ever used and passed it around to the girls, adding a couple of XOXOs at the bottom.

That was that and the summer was quickly over. I entered my first year of college and catapulted into fall mode, which included many new outfits of the brown and pink colours and lots and lots of coffee. Once night I was taking a break from my studies so I could catch an episode of Degrassi (thats right... just because I graduated high school doesn't mean I have to stop watching canadian teen drama about it) when the phone rang on the second line. I didn't feel like answering it, but the ringing was so persistent that I caved, just so it would shutup. I sighed and said hello. On the other end was the ackward voice of a man who seemed unsure... of what? Well, we'll soon find out.

"Hi, is Stephanie there?" he asked. I said hello and asked him what he wanted, wondering what would cause a mysterious man to call my house on the unlisted line. He then proceeded to tell me his name and ask me if I knew him. I was baffled and replied that I had no idea. Then, as he muffled the phone, I heard him say to someone in the background, "See, I told you. She doesn't know who I am, and I don't know who she is". After some bickering on the other end, the woman he was talking to gets on the phone and starts shooting questions at me, the accusation in her voice hitting me like a BB gun in the knuckle. It seems as though a paper was found in the man's office with my name and number on it, followed by some XOXOs.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I have no idea what you are talking about. I'm 17 and I don't give my number out to strange men," I said, trying to convince her that I was innocent. But she wouldn't let up. "Then how did your number find its way into my house?" I did not have an answer for that. I thought for a moment and asked her what her name was, once more. She told me and it hit me suddenly. Where had I heard that name before?

"Do you by any chance have a daughter named Samantha?" I asked. The woman told me that Samantha was her niece. I started to laugh and told her that I was Samantha's counselor at camp this summer and that the paper with the number on it was meant for her. It turns out that Samantha had spent the summer with her aunt and uncle and must have left the number behind when she packed up and returned to Newfoundland.

The story ends here. The wife was embarrassed and I was annoyed that I missed the last ten minutes of what had started out as a really dramatic episode of Degrassi. I shrugged it off and went back to my homework and until now forgot that this moment had happened. It only occured to me now that this event could have drastically changed two peoples' lives. Imagine the drama that went on before the phone call was made to me and the harsh words exchanged. What if the husband decided he could no longer live with the woman who could not trust him? I wonder now if this couple is still together, deciding to laugh off the silly incident, or if the drama put too harsh a strain on their marriage and they succumbed to the alienation.

Why had I been involved in the closest thing to a scandal that will ever reach me and I failed to alert anybody. I had the chance to delight my friends with such fabulous gossip and I didn't. I would have been a star. A STAR! I would have been the talk of the day, amongst my 17 year old gal pals. Instead, I continued to listen to their stories, not realized that I had valuable information.

Dolt much?