A Butterfly Emerges

It wasn’t my fault that my parents were small people and passed their genes on to me. However, it was a curse that I was forced to live with during my formative years. Sports like basketball, football and baseball were out of the question and I felt alienated from other children my age.

My parents did pass on to me a desire to succeed and I sought recognition through non-sport pursuits such as piano, art and drama. I became quite accomplished in these areas and was a favorite of my teachers.

High school was one living hell for me as I was forced to constantly deal with taunts from bullies and the jocks. I immersed myself in my studies, particularly science, and when graduation came, I had achieved valedictorian status.

College brought further harassment from the fraternity boys and drove me deeper into my computer science studies. I graduated from State Polytech a complete nerd with exceptional computer skills. In short, I was a social misfit but in great demand in the rapid growth computer industry.

With no social life to speak of, I was willing to devote endless hours working on new technological innovations. When my patent for a new semiconductor was approved, I became an instant multi-millionaire. I had all the money that I would ever need, but no friends or social life.

There was one young woman who worked at Allied Tech who I had an interest. She was petite and quiet, like me. I finally worked up enough nerve to ask her out. She accepted and I was looking forward to my very first date.

We had a very nice dinner at a French restaurant. I impressed her by ordering en Francais. We took in a very nice production of La Boheme and things were looking up. I decided to be bold and we went to one of the new “with it” bars uptown. This proved to be a big mistake.

There was a huge line in front with menacing bouncers deciding who the beautiful people were and granting admission by their whim. We waited for what seemed an eternity before we made the head of the line. We were abruptly stopped by the bouncer.