She had not received this type of treatment while she was married and now these chatters were polite and well mannered.
I don't mind if some of these conversations are boring, at least these chatters are polite and treat me with respect, she thought to herself.
Teacher was the first to ask Donna out for lunch.
"I am planning a trip to Schenectady, New York in two weeks and perhaps the two of us could meet for lunch somewhere," he suggested.
Although Donna had chatted on numerous occasions she was still reluctant to meet a stranger right now. Although they had chatted for about a week he was still a stranger as far as she was concerned.
"I'll let you know. It's hard for me to make plans ahead like that right now," she said rather apologetically.
"I understand. Anyway you have a couple of weeks to think about it," Teacher politely replied.
One night while Donna was getting ready for bed, she heard what sounded like someone walking on her back porch. It alarmed her because the back of her house faced a wooded area. She felt certain she had locked the screened back door, but now she wasn't so sure. She stood there frozen in her tracks listening for any sound. Then she heard it again only this time it grew louder. What or whoever it was made no attempt to be quiet.
The house was completely dark. The only weapon she had was a hammer she kept under the bed. She wasn't sure she could actually use it on someone, but still it gave her some feeling of security. She quietly reached under the bed and grabbed the hammer. It was times like these Donna would love to have a man around the house, but in reality it was only her right now and who or whatever was on her back porch. She slowly groped along the walls in the dark until she came to the kitchen door that led out onto the back porch. She found the light switch to the back porch. She silently felt the safety latch on the back door to make sure it was locked. Thank God it was. If it was an intruder then she thought if she turned the light on it would scare whoever was out there and they would flee. If not, the back door was still locked and she would call the police immediately.
She took a deep breath and counted to three. Then she quickly turned the back porch light on. She was relieved to discover it was only a large raccoon that had gotten into a garbage bag. It frightened the raccoon and it fled back into the woods. Donna wasted no time in locking the back screen door. From now on Donna vowed to make sure her screen door was locked before it got dark.