That’s That
Michael Estabrook

My first real girlfriend, the one before
the beautiful girl I married,
has turned up on Facebook recently.
(We went together for a few months
way back in high school.)
She asked to be the friend of my best friend
(and only  her acquaintance ) from way back then.
“I was surprised when I got the friend request.”
George told me.

I’m curious, I admit, to hear about her life
over the past 40 years
and am considering asking her to be my friend too
on Facebook. What harm can it be?
But to be honest, I’m not all certain
she would remember much about me.
Sure, she’d recall who I was, we dated
for about a year, even went steady until she had
a change of heart and gave me my ring back.

“I guarantee,” my wife’s nodding emphatically,
“that she remembers you,”
frustration straining her voice.
“The reason she has sent those messages to George
out of the blue, is because she knew
you would see them. She’s set out the bait for you.
She’s waiting for you to contact her.”

I think this over, sounds logical to me,
but a little far-fetched too.
Why in the world would this gal from so long ago
still be interested in me, particularly seeing
as she dumped me back then, the first time around.
But anyway, I continue the discussion with my wife,
“So I should make contact with her
say hi, see how she’s doing.
That would be OK with you, wouldn’t it?”
“No,” she responds immediately
and that’s that.

Michael Estabrook is a baby boomer who began getting his poetry published in the late 1980s. Over the years he has published 15 poetry chapbooks, his most recent entitled They Didn’t Leave Notes.  Other interests include art, music, theatre, opera, and his wife, the most beautiful woman he has ever known.

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