Tina

Here is a phone conversation I had this morning:

ME: Hello?

GUY: Uh...Tina?

ME: This is Deana.

GUY: Uh...TEE-na? Or DEE-na?

ME: DEE-na. With a "D."

GUY: (confused silence) Do you live in Cabot?

ME: No.

GUY: I might have the wrong number. See, there's this singles' hook-up service...

ME: (interrupting because I did not want to hear the rest of that) ...then that would definitely not be me.

GUY: Oh.

After hanging up, I noticed the name that showed up with the guy's phone number on my Caller ID. It is "Cheryl." So who is Cheryl? And does Cheryl know about Tina?

So I figure one of a few scenarios is going on here.

1) The guy is married to Cheryl and using her phone to line up dates through a dating service.

2) The guy is Cheryl's son and using her phone to line up dates through a dating service.

3) The guy was married to Cheryl for many years, but, after a long and courageous battle with some dreaded disease, Cheryl passed away -- leaving The Guy a bereaved widower who is now, cautiously and timidly, and with Cheryl's name still on his phone because he can't bring himself to change it -- creeping back out into the dating arena. It took all the gumption he had to join a dating service and then call Tina, and he got me instead.

That third possibility is the main reason I didn't call back demanding to know who Cheryl was and if she knew about Tina. I'm also not into making strangers mad at me who have access to my phone number.