I think, even before it started, we both knew that the third date was going to be the last. Her last comment to me made it a certainty: “I had fun tonight, but I didn’t feel any sparks.” If that isn’t a death nell, I don’t know what is.
She had mentioned ‘sparks’ in an email from the previous week. Almost immediately, I started to ruminate on what she might mean. I didn’t come to any conclusions. Instead, the chorus from “The Battle of Camp Cucamonga” kept rattling around my head.
We’re the boys from Camp Cucamonga.
Our mothers sent us here to study Nature’s ways.
We learned to make sparks by rubbing sticks together.
If we catch a girl, we’ll set the woods ablaze.
A great tune to be sure and it held an important clue for me. Sparks are not about get a big roaring fire started immediately. Sparks are something that are worked towards.
My Scouting history proves that out. Any method of fire starting that requires friction and no rapid combustibles like gas or magnesium will take a long time. Even the most effective methods can break a sweat on the brow of the fittest person. Also, it takes time and care to get a fire started. Anyways, Sparks don’t just happen when trying to make fires. Then again, we are talking about camp fires and not human passion.
We humans are quite a bit more complicated. You could have two attractive, physically fit, sexually ready and capable people set up in a bedroom that has the Best of Barry White and mood lights filling every corner, and still get no action. Something between them just wont catalyze. It’s sad, really.
The ego bruising will pass. To be honest, the feeling was mutual. I could rattle off my reasons, but it would just sound spiteful. This is one of those cases where the first person to speak is the honest one and the second person is just being petty. The odd part is that I feel like I was saved for someone else.
Last night, I woke up face down in my pillow. Just before waking up, I was dreaming of mashing lips with a pretty blonde dressed in white shirt and slacks. The blonde seemed both familiar and new to me. I do recall dreaming of her before, but it was at least a couple of years ago. I had no better idea then as I do now who this blonde is. Maybe, she represents the possibility of the right one for me. All I know is that we made sparks.