I/Tulpa: the Seven Year Girl

chapter 8

"Oh, I wouldn't do that! I really wouldn't."

Have you experienced a hurricane and the only thing you could think of is how it inconvenienced your life? Jon was sorting those sorts of feelings as he was led through the course of his date, blindfolded, feeling guilty about how the hurricane was influencing him when it was influencing a million other people. And this wasn't even a real hurricane, but he had that much misplaced guilt. He tried to make a Star Wars Joke, 'with the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed...."

"Jon," Paul interrupted him. "Your eyes can fool you. Don't trust them."

"Seriously, this girl must be hideous," Jon said.

"Did you see Paula? Did she look hideous?" Paul asked.

"No," Jon said. "But sometimes attractive girls like to surround themselves with unattractive girls, so that they're more likely to get hit on, even though that usually back fires and the unattractive girls gets hit on, because the best one is generally assumed out of anyone's leagues, which aggravates the self-worth of the attractive girl, and then she goes to her good looking girlfriends to be comforted, but they were just using her to make them look better so they can get hit on, and there's no end to this vicious cycle of wanting to be wanted around the wrong people, and so you aim low, hoping to get deflected high... OMG, why I am letting you lead me?! If I feel sticky popcorn under my feet I am so going to take this mask off."

"Paul! Come in," Paula said, her voice consistent with the voice on the phone earlier. "And you must be Jon."

"I must be," Jon said. "I can't see so I am not really sure."

Paula giggled.

"Don't encourage him by laughing," Paul whispered. "He thinks he's funny."

"Aww," Paula said. "A girl should always laugh at her guys jokes."

"Wait wait wait," Paul said. "You don't just laugh at my jokes just to make me feel good, do you?"

"Oh, honey, I think you're very funny," Paula said, scratching under his chin.

Paul let out one of his annoying laugh sounds. Paula took Jon by the hand and led him to a couch and deposited him next to his date, mindful not to let him hit the coffee table. Paula guided Jon and Violet's hands so that they met.

"Jon, this is Violet. Violet, Jon," Paula said.

"Nice to meet you," Violet said.

"Thank you," Jon said. "You have a very nice voice."

"Oh, thank you, but I am sure you think that about all the girls," Violet said.

"Actually, yeah, sorry," Jon admitted.

If he could have seen her face, he might have realized he had hurt her feelings with his honesty.

"You ever asked someone out over the phone just based on their voice?" Paula asked.

"Oh, yeah," Jon said.

"How did it work out?" Violet asked, with just the slightest touch of anxiety, but only if you were looking for it.

"Oh, well, at first it was a way to get telemarketers to ban my number, so I would really escalate things fast, but I got such a good reputation of being bad, everyone was calling me to get off, and, so a few dates happened, and, well, no one ever looks like I imagine, but generally it was hit or miss in terms of overall levels of attractiveness," Jon said.