Episode #3.

Following PB’s shocking statement in my driveway, we kept in touch.  I graduated with the class of ’77 and left the farm for Michigan State University.  PB was in school at Asbury College in Kentucky.  The distance grew farther, but our hearts started growing closer.

Because he was a poor college student, and I was a less poor college student, we devised a system for making those long distance phone calls.  It went like this:

The phone would ring in my dorm room.

I would answer it.

The operator would say, “Person-to-person call for Betty.”

I would say, “Betty is not here right now.”

The operator would say, “Thank you.  The caller will try back later.”

Click.

Then I would call PB.

If my dad wondered about the hefty phone bills and long list of calls to KY, he never said anything.  Bless him.