THE BABY VISIT - PART TWO

This visit with The Baby was inspired by her cat, Philo. On her night table, The Baby keeps a glass of water. While sleeping, she didn’t want the cat to knock it over, so she moved the glass to the floor. Yesterday morning, she woke up to the sound of her cell phone’s muffled alarm. The cat had pushed the phone off the night table, with a direct hit below, and into the glass of water on the floor. Sometimes, if it wasn’t for shit luck, The Baby would have no luck at all. I couldn’t keep from laughing.

I received a text message from Ma Bell telling me the contract was fulfilled and these two phones can be exchanged. Last week, The Boy and I went to exchange his cell phone, and he jumped at the chance. The Baby, never liking any change, dragged her feet, wanting to keep her old reliable phone. Never mind she only had a car charger, it went off unexpectedly and was severely beaten up. The cat must have overheard the conversation last week, when we were all at The Baby’s home.

During the cell phone excursion, the second long conversation we had today, was about feminine versus masculine. This was the fun conversation between us. : ) All men show femininity and all women show masculinity, in different ways, at different times.

The way we were both dressed was normal, so we thought. The Baby had brown jeans and lavender dress shirt, hair pulled back in a pony tail, and sandals. I had blue jeans, black tank, denim shirt with my company logo and sandals, hair also in ponytail. No makeup, just wanting to exchange her phone at the AT&T store. There is a time when all women dress a little butch, er, more masculine. Maybe the correct word would be casual. We were on a mission of a new cell phone. The Baby needs a cell phone because of her active life. I need her to have a cell phone, so I can make my “needy” calls, making sure she’s alright. There is a time for sensuality and lipstick, and there is a time for sensibility and Chapstick. This was definitely one of the latter days.

Most people don’t think men care what they are wearing or what they look like. They will tell you there is no reason to dress, but it is more important to be comfortable. Bull shit! Every attractive man The Baby and I have met looks and smells good. Good looking men want to be attractive to the females around them. In the animal kingdom, we all know too well it is the male of the species that is the prettiest. Human females know this and use makeup, hair goop, nail polish and literally anything that uplifts, to look more attractive. Men do care, but it’s just they don’t have to put as much time into it.

I had a red plaid shirt once, but according to The Baby, I was to get rid of it and never purchase anything plaid again. I didn’t realize it was a faux pas until she told me. When I owned this shirt, it was when I was a single mother when the kids were younger. The house was a fixer upper, and she enlightened me with a common scenario of me being at a Home Depot while wearing the shirt. In her own honest way, she told me it looked too masculine on me. I am normally not concerned with what people would think of a shirt I am wearing, but I’ve not purchased plaid since.

Women apparently have to be cautious, because people do make their own opinions and conclusions. However, masculinity is associated with being strong, independent and having self worth in your occupation or career. If a women shows these traits, she’s just a bitch. On the other hand, men have to be cautious too, because showing too much femininity shows others a sign of weakness, instability, or being gay. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

The question is how many masculine traits should a woman have and how many feminine traits should a man have? When is enough enough? It all depends on the individual person, because sexuality plays a part of our human behavior. Whatever society has made it out to be has certainly changed since the June and Ward Cleaver days, although I think June was strong when she was insistent with Ward, Wally or The Beaver. If I knew June today, I wouldn’t fuck with her, with her pearls or in a plaid shirt.

When speaking, women tend to get louder to get their point across. Sometimes, we’re not sure if our mate is listening, so we repeat and get louder. Please forgive us when we drink, because then, the decibels go up even more. It just doesn’t matter which sex we are speaking to when this happens, and can not be seen as masculine or feminine - just a little obnoxious.

Men must show their feminine side, no matter how little or deep it lies. If they didn’t, we both decided they would never get laid. Both The Baby and I have noticed over the years, when a man is speaking to another man, his voice lowers, usually about a half an octave down. When a man is challenged by either sex, the same thing happens. They make a more feminine sounding voice and it comes up a half an octave when the supplier of their hoochie coochie calls or walks into the room.

I need these good times with The Baby and the closeness we share with each other. We were two observant people in sync today. Before she left, I slipped her some cash, some candy I had bought for her, and homemade jelly I made from the mulberries from her yard. By the end of the afternoon, she finally got her replacement cell phone, and went back to her home, her cat and her life. I miss her already.