I had always loved my mother's laugh. Perhaps that was why this woman on the phone started to sound interesting to me.
”Excuse me, but I can't recall your name”, I said in an excusing tone.
I could hear a smile in her voice when she told me her name: ”Darling Butts. It's Darling Butts.”
”Really?”
”Yes”, she laughed again. ”My mother had an odd sense of humour, didn't she?”
Darling Butts and I talked about this and that for some while. I forgot completely why I had called to her number in the first place. However, she was a very funny and lovely person, so before the call was over I asked her out.
”Sure”, she replied. ”If you don't mind my bald head.”
”Your bald head?” I repeated waiting to hear her laugh again.
”Yeah, I shaved it when my mother died.”
I had to give it a second thought. Maybe this Darling wasn't such a darling after all? I tried to keep the tone of my voice as polite as possible: ”I'm sorry to hear about that.”
”Oh, that was seven years ago. However, I keep shaving my head. It's like an old habit now.”
”Oh.”
It was like the whole picture of this person, to whom I was talking to, had changed. I was already thinking of an easy way to end the call when she said: ”I know that you've changed your mind about me. Look, if I had told you I was in a wheelchair or my weight was 190 lbs, then what? My voice made you imagine me as something else, right?”
I had to think quickly something smooth and so I replied: ”You're a witty girl. I'm sure we could have a good time together - even if you had only one eye or no legs at all!”
