A Rule to Follow: A Short Story

My name is Susan Michaels and I would like to relate an experience that happened to me when I was a college senior at Whitemanor College back in 1956. From that experience I have always acted accordingly to prevent it from ever happening again.

Whitemanor is a small liberal arts college that has always fielded wonderful men and women’s tennis teams. In May of 1956 both the men and women’s teams were invited to play in a regional tournament in New York City. We were housed in a small boutique hotel in midtown Manhattan. The squads of four female and four male team players were housed on the 10th floor of the hotel with each of the squads housed in a large two-bedroom suite.

I had a very serious boyfriend on the men’s tennis team. His name was Henry Jacobs, and he and I had dated for over two years and it was serious enough for us to think that maybe, just maybe, someday we would be married. He had visited my house to meet my parents and I had visited his house to meet his parents. That’s how serious we were getting.

Remember this is in the 1950s and no birth control pills had been discovered yet so romance was confined to hugging and kissing and maybe a little petting but nothing more as we both lived in dorms on the campus and no autos were permitted on campus. Making out and getting a little more romantic was very difficult to do.

On the Saturday morning of the beginning of the tournament schedule, we – the eight players and the coach – had breakfast together in the hotel’s large dining room. I suddenly got up to retrieve something I had accidentally left in the room. I excused myself and walked to the elevator.

Imagine my surprise when no sooner had I entered the women’s suite then there was a knock at the door. Henry came in and said to me, “Now is our chance for both of us to lose our virginity.”

I was shocked, but smiled and thought, well, we are planning to get married someday soon. Henry showed me that he had purchased “that” packet of protection and I confessed to myself that maybe he was right.

So we quickly got undressed and headed for one of the two bedrooms. After a few hugs and kisses and “are you all right” and a few weak smiles by me, Henry was ready to plunge in when the suite door opened. From outside the bedroom we heard “Maid service. I’m here to clean the room.”

The speed in which we quickly got off the bed, got dressed and walked out of the bedroom should have made the Guiness Book of Records if such a record were available to record.

It took another two years before Henry and I lost our virginity together on our wedding night. But this time there was a sign on the outside of the hotel door saying “Do Not Disturb” and the inside of the room was double locked, and there was also a chair under the handle of the door. And after we had children we always made sure our bedroom door was locked.

Albert Zimbler is a 92-year-old author of six humor short story books on Amazon and he also teaches senior improv. Click here to see his Amazon author profile.