Retrospect: Ginny

Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor reflects about an arcade acquaintance.

Ginny was a few years older than I was, and certainly more popular. She must have been in high school, although she never talked about it. She was pleasantly talkative – she just never mentioned school.

I met Ginny one night when I was alone at the arcade, playing a game. She stood next it, watched me for about a minute, then commented that I was “pretty good.” She talked about the level I was on, and problems that could happen. I cleared the level.

Ginny asked me where I went to school, then started talking about a blouse she was saving for. “I’ve got it on layaway,” she explained. Then she told me about a party she was invited to happening in a couple of weeks.

Ginny talked about her mother – who had a new boyfriend (“but he’s a nice guy”), her job, and her own boyfriend. She just talked about day-to-day stuff about them: things they were hoping for, problems they were trying to solve, etc. Eventually my game ended, then it was her turn. I stood beside and watched her play as she continued talking.

I had Ginny to myself that night, but was soon to learn that would be rare. Next time I saw her, she was playing our game, a girl her own age standing next to her. They were chatting quickly. I hung back.

Therefore, although Ginny was a friendly acquaintance, we seldom talked because she typically had a line-up of people vying for her attention. She became part of the landscape.

Ginny was a busy, happy person, with a wide social net. I didn’t know too many other kids like her. I suspect part of the reason her life was so open and mobile was that her parents were divorced. Then and there, divorce remained rare, so she was ahead of the curve.

I liked Ginny’s optimism and the window she gave me into a completely different world. Yet, we never saw each other outside that arcade. Perhaps it was as if, to each other, we were just part of it, like characters who only exist in a video game.