girlfiend

I remember once when I was in grade school my mom dropped me off at Radnor Rolls (a roller skating rink) for a birthday party. But it was the wrong day, or the wrong weekend or something and I didn’t know anyone there. I decided I had to call home to get someone to pick me up only I didn’t have any change to use the pay phone. Of course now, as an adult, I’m sure I just could have asked to use the phone and they would have called my parents for me, but at the time it didn’t even occur to me to ask.

I was only seven or eight and I read constantly. My world view was influenced and confused by the sheer volume of kids and young adult novels I read. In my pocket I had a dollar bill and needed change. I thought for sure the price of a pay phone call was a dime, probably because that was the cost of a phone call in a book. The guy who gave me change looked at me like I was nuts for needing a dime. Every single game and machine in the place ran on quarters. I went to make my phone call and was surprised that a dime wasn’t enough.

Eventually my mom came back and picked me up. I think I was there alone for a couple of hours, too afraid to do anything but get change for the phone and call home, clutching the birthday present all the while.