During the first few months of single living after I had graduated from college, I didn't have any real friends. I would hang out with the people at work from time to time, but I had a really difficult time cultivating friendships in regular social situations. I really didn't know what to do about it.
In March of 1987, I gotten to change my shift at KZZO-FM in Clovis, NM from overnights to 6pm - 12am. I always enjoyed talking to women on the request line because I knew this was my best chance of finding a girlfriend.
One night, this woman called up. Her name was Diid. She was about my age and had a couple of children by the same father, but he was out of the picture. She was living on welfare. She seemed interesting on the phone. We started with a little flirting and I was able to get her to agree to have me come over to her apartment.
Yes, I was concerned about going blindly to meet a caller because I didn't know what to expect. At the very least, I figured there was some guy out there who found her good-looking enough to have sex with her at least twice. I headed in with cautious optimism.
She lived at the apartments where a lot of the other people on welfare lived. I went to her apartment and knocked on her door. She opened the door. She had medium-length brown hair, brown eyes and freckles. She was overweight and wasn't very pretty. I didn't really have a problem with this, but when I was talking to her in person, it was more apparent that she wasn't very smart. For some reason, she sounded a lot more intelligent on the phone. Whatever it was, she never sounded intelligent on the phone again.
So we hung out in her apartment and talked for a little bit. At one point, we went down to the apartment below, where her friend Kyz lived. Kyz was also about my age. She had short curly brown hair. She had a Hispanic surname, but didn't really look Hispanic. She was actually rather attractive. She also had a child and was living on welfare.
Kyz appeared to be experiencing a bad day when I met her. She didn't even talk to me after Diid introduced us. I found out later that she thought I was another guy who was just going to use Diid up and then dump her. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.
I wasn't with Diid more than 30 minutes before going home. I kind of had this rule at the time: If I didn't spend more than 30 minutes with a woman caller after meeting them in person, that meant that I was not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with them. This was something I kept to myself. I certainly did not communicate it to those I was meeting. That didn't mean I couldn't be friends with them, I just knew they weren't going to be a girlfriend.
The next night, Diid invited me to come over to hang out with her, Kyz and Kyz' boyfriend. I didn't have anything better to do, so I went over and hung out. Kyz' boyfriend was in the Air Force. I found out she had gone to high school in Grants, NM and knew someone from my graduating class at Artesia High School who used to live there. Kyz had a older sister who lived in the next apartment over. She was also a single mother living on welfare, but I didn't have very much contact with her.
So, a pattern developed. I would go over and hang out with them just about every night. We would talk, eat and play games until about 2am. I would then go home and go to bed. Most of the time while I was there, they would have the radio on my station. One night, we decided to prank call Dod, who was working overnights at the time. After the prank was over, Kyz kept talking to him on the phone.
Dod told me that Diid and Kyz had invited him to hang out with them. He asked me what they were like. I told him Diid was overweight, but Kyz was rather attractive. I guess he went out with them to a club and Kyz was dancing with some guy. Diid told Dod that was Kyz' boyfriend. Problems erupted over this because Diid claimed she told him no such thing, but Dod insisted she did. I wasn't there, so I don't know.
At any rate, Dod was now in their circle of friends. I still hung out with them. The strange thing was that Dod and I were never with them at the same time. That was good because I really didn't want to have to deal with him outside the station.
Dod once told me he was hanging out with Kyz one afternoon at her apartment. They sort of started pushing each other, then got into a wrestling match. Pretty soon, they were having sex, which was what he had wanted the whole time. I never bothered to ask Kyz if that was true, but it looked like they never had sex again and I think he was aware that it was just a one-time thing.
One night, Diid called me at the station. She had been drinking and she let her feelings for me be known. I was completely oblivious to her liking me as a potential boyfriend, but I guess she did. She was aware that I was celibate and was upset because she knew I wasn't going to have sex with her. I didn't know what to say, because I know I didn't do anything to lead her on. I was also surprised because she hadn't tried anything to let me know that she liked me. She hadn't tried touching me or sitting next to me on a couch. If she had done as much as Biz did and touch my hair, I would figured something out. I was hoping that she would be so drunk that she would forget that she told me all that. I just know that she never brought it up again.
After a few months, I didn't hang around much with Diid and Kyz anymore. I would continue to run into Kyz because she got a job at the Walmart in the mall across the street from my house. She told me that Diid had moved away. I don't remember where she went and I don't know where she is now.
I didn't have any contact with Kyz after I'd moved to Denver. While I was living in San Diego, I came to Clovis and looked her up in the phone book. She still had the same phone number as she did before I left town. I called her up. She sounded really irritated when she answered. I said, "Hi, this is Fayd. Do you remember me?" She angrily replied "NO!" I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I won't bother you again." All of a sudden, she said, "WAIT! You mean Fayd from the radio station?" "Yep, that's me!" "Oh, I'm sorry. We've been getting calls from some guy in jail named Gabe. I thought that was who was calling."
We talked for a little bit. She had gotten married and had a couple more kids. She was working at the Excel meat packing plant in Farwell, TX. I didn't get to visit her in person that time, but the next time I came through, I was able to come over to her house. When I drove up, her husband came outside to greet me. I guess he needed to see what he was up against. I guess he figured he didn't have so much to worry about. I got to meet all her kids, two of whom I had only known as babies.
I didn't see her any more after that. A recent Google search showed that she still lived at the same address with the same phone number. I thought, "No way does she still have the same phone number after 28 years." And I was right. When I called the number, it belonged to some sort of transportation service. I don't even know if she's still in Clovis. She doesn't seem to have a Facebook account.
However, Kyz will be making a few more appearances in future posts on this blog. And they're rather unexpected. But you'll have to wait a few days for those.
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