The Halloween surprise

One day I was visiting with my friend, Tim, and his wife, Sally, and I asked them how they met. Tim looked at Sally, and an embarrassed grin spread across his face.

“Maybe I should let Sally tell the story,” he said.

Sally laughed, “I’d be happy to. You see, when we were in high school, Tim and my twin brother, David, were best friends. The problem is, I kind of liked Tim, but he didn’t even know I existed.”

“That’s not totally true,” Tim said. “I knew you were David’s sister. I’ll admit I didn’t pay much attention beyond that, but I did know you were his sister.”

“Did you even know my name?” Sally asked.

Tim shrugged. “I didn’t need to. I just called you ‘David’s sister.’”

“Anyway,” Sally continued, “a Halloween party was coming up, and I really wanted to go, especially since I knew Tim would be there. I asked David if he could give me a ride, and he told me he was going with Tim. I begged to go, and he finally said he was sure it would be OK if I didn’t bug them or say anything. So, to be funny, I decided that I would go as a mime so I couldn’t say anything.

“Halloween was on a Saturday that year. Tim was scheduled to pick David up at about six o’clock. But earlier in the day, David came down with a bad case of the flu and could hardly get out of bed. I didn’t know if I was still going to be able to go to the party or not. And to add to that, David told me he had forgotten to ask Tim if I could catch a ride. David said he was too sick to call Tim and cancel, so I could just ask Tim for a ride when he came.”

“But she didn’t,” Tim interjected.

“I’m getting there,” Sally said. “Realizing Tim didn’t know I was planning on going and that he also didn’t realize David wasn’t, I decided to have a little fun. I stuffed my shoulders and tried to make myself look as masculine as I could. I also really put on the mime paint to hide my looks. When Tim came, I went out to the car, and when he said something to me, I signaled that I was a mime.”

“Yeah,” Tim chimed in, “and she totally pretended that she was David.”

“I was a bit annoyed that Tim couldn’t tell I was a girl,” Sally said. “Even as much as I worked to look like a boy, I still expected he would eventually realize I was, but he never did. And then, all night, all he talked about was how annoying girls were. Oh, he would talk a little about this cute girl or that cute girl, but mostly he just said they were annoying.”

“And to make matters worse,” Tim added, “still pretending she was David, she asked what I thought of his sister.”

“And after he talked all about how annoying I was,” Sally said, “I felt like slapping his face. But instead, I just ignored him the rest of the night.”

“And I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with David,” Tim said. “Obviously, he wasn’t going to speak to me if he was a mime, but I was sure he was giving me the cold shoulder. I took Sally home, still thinking she was David, and she got out, slammed the car door and went into the house. I didn’t figure it all out until the next day when David thanked me for giving Sally a ride to the party.”

“Then what did you do?” I asked.

“He brought me some flowers and an apology note for being such a jerk,” Sally replied.

“And when I handed them to her,” Tim said, “I suddenly realized how pretty she was, and it all moved forward from there.”

“Yes,” Sally said. “But when I’m mad at him, I just dress up as a mime so he’ll get it.”

Tim laughed. “Yes, and that’s when I know I need to get some flowers and apologize.”

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