Sample Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8
Anna

In the fall of 1989, I entered college at the University of California at Berkeley, more popularly known as “Cal”. In French class my freshman year on my first a day of college, a beautiful Korean-American woman named Anna Choo sat next to me. That first day of classes, Anna wore a dark blue cardigan over a white blouse. She also wore a long dark brown skirt. Her high cheekbones highlighted her beautiful brown eyes, and her long shiny black hair cascaded down past her shoulders.

“Hi, Ken,” said this beautiful woman before during, or after French class every day the first week I attended Cal.

She knows I exist, I eventually realized. So I devised an experiment that, in my mind at least, would determine whether or not this beautiful woman liked me, as a friend or otherwise. I noticed that Anna sat next to me every day in French class. I decided to sit in an out of the way desk where I did not usually sit. If she sat next to me, then she loves me. If she didn’t sit next to me, then she loves me not. Such formed the logic behind my experiment.

One day in French class, I sat at an out of the way desk, where I didn’t usually sit. I made sure the desk next to mine was unoccupied. Sure enough, in walked Anna, and she sat next to me. She loves me! At least she loved me like she loved a younger brother or worse, as a friend.

After my successful experiment, Anna and I every day after French class would walk from Dwinelle Hall, where French was held, to our next classes in the eastern part of the Berkeley campus, opposite San Francisco Bay. We would engage in heart to heart conversations during our walks. We’d talk about our hopes and dreams. Anna, a college senior then, told me she wanted to attend law school after graduation that school year. At the time, I still was confused about what my major would be I told Anna wanted to major in either science or engineering, probably physics. Every day, Anna and I took our walks after French class.

Finally toward the end of the fall semester of 1989, I asked Ana, “Do you want to keep in touch after this semester?”

“Yes”, said Anna. We then exchanged telephone numbers.

One day. Anna suggested we bought sandwiches and eat them on the steps of the sprawling Sproul Hall, where many famous Berkeley protests took place, particularly in the 1960s. Anna looked gorgeous that day, wearing her hoop earrings. We went to a small deli in Southside Berkeley and bought sandwiches. We walked back to campus through Sproul Plaza and sat on the steps of Sproul Hall, which reminded me of the White House. Such low key dates became common in our relationship. Yet, we were only friends, and we would never become more, as much as I liked Anna.

Certainly, I wanted her to be my girlfriend but I knew nothing of the mechanics of dating and relationships. First of all, I didn’t know for sure how Anna felt about me. I did ask her out from time to time, but guess in a woman’s mind, going out with a man who isn’t her boyfriend, fiancé, or husband is not a date. Yet, I did invite Anna to a convert with the Cal Band’s concert band. Although I marched with the Cal Band during marching season during the fall, I didn’t play my trombone in the concert band during the spring semester of 1990. Still, many of my friends in the concert band would be performing one night that semester. I thought the concert was the perfect event to which to bring Anna.

I wore my finest white dress shirt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. “Were you in the Army?” Anna asked me. She noticed how my dress shoes shined.

“I got these shoes from high school marching band,” I said to her. My shoes actually came from the Navy Exchange near 32nd Street Naval Base in San Diego, California. Sailors wore them as part of their uniforms. As a retired Navy man, my father would take me to the naval facilities in San Diego, such as the Navy Exchange, a retail store for Navy personnel, retirees, and their families. Since most of my fellow high school band members came from Navy families when I lived in San Diego, most bought the shiny black Navy shoes for their marching band uniforms.

Many of my Cal Band friends performed in the concert for the concert band. Anna’s eyelids became heavy, I noticed during the performance. She dozed during the concert. Apparently, band music didn’t interest her. I just liked being with her. Sitting with her in the auditorium was Heaven. After the concert, we walked to the Band Rehearsal Hall (BRH), for the after concert reception. Anna and I stayed long enough for my friends to have a good look at her. I walked her home up Bancroft Way to International House, where Anna lived. After we said goodbye for the night, I returned to BRH where my friends teased me.

“Who is she?” asked Heather Cecchetini, the piccolo player.

“She’s cute,” said Gerald Villegas, the snare drummer.

As much as I enjoyed the attention my Cal Band friends game me I had to tell them that Anna and I were just friends. That didn’t stop me from inviting Anna to events. In the fall semester of 1989, I had earned straight A’s on my first report card at Cal. The university awarded the freshmen with the top 100 grade point averages Edward Frank Kraft Scholarships. The university would hold an awards reception with lunch. I invited Anna to the reception for the Kraft scholarship.

Anna graciously accepted. Shortly after Anna accepted my invitation, my parents called me and said they were coming to Berkeley from San Diego. The university had invited them to the scholarship reception, as they had invited the parents of all the other scholarship winners. I explained to Anna I couldn’t bring her anymore to the reception.

“You have to buy me dinner now,” she teased me when I told her the news in person. Anna and I did have dinner after the scholarship reception. On her birthday, we dined at a restaurant near the Berkeley campus. For a birthday present, I gave her a book titled How To College, a satire on college life.

“Now that you’re graduating soon, I want you to remember your college years,” I said to Anna. In gratitude, she embraced me.

“Thank you, Ken,” she said.

We then went to a movie theatre on University Avenue in downtown Berkeley. There, we watched “Joe Versus The Volcano”, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I felt so much joy that year I knew Anna.

She wasn’t my girlfriend, but I had never gone out with a girl all though junior high school and high school in San Diego. The girls I knew during my teens ignored me. Only in college did I finally go out with women.

At one of our dinners, Anna and I went to Kip’s, a restaurant on Southside Berkeley across from the Cal campus. Anna and I had pepperoni pizza. It was very greasy so Anna blotted out the grease with paper napkins. Then she looked into my eyes.

“I’m seeing someone,” Anna said to me.

We had never defined our relationship. In my experience, every woman I knew just wanted to be friends, no matter how I felt about her. Anna was no exception, but rather the rule. Any woman who would see me, outside the context of work or school merely wanted a male friend, but not a boyfriend, at least not me.

Anna and I went our separate ways. In the spring of 1990, Anna graduated from Cal with a B.A. in political science. I went on to study physics, and I would over the next few years meet more women like Anna who would their marks on my heart.