As I was making my way

For the final time

Through the crowd at a dance,

Resigned to leaving

Having not had a good time,

I glanced to the side

At some girls sitting

On a bench in a shadow

Behind people standing,

So that you could hardly see them sitting there

The last girl looked back at me

I slowed and held the glance

And she still looked back

I stopped and walked over to her

I said hello, she replied in kind,

And I asked her if she would mind

If I joined her --

There was a spot vacant

Next to her on the bench --

And she said that that would be fine

We exchanged names

And hers rang a bell,

Being "Toby,"

Because I had earlier in the day

Gotten a dating service sheet

About a girl named "Toby,"

Which is not a common name

She asked me if I was having a good time

And I said "Yes and no"

I explained that although it was a nice group

And a nice outdoor setting

And the music had been good

And I had met and had a good talk

With a faculty member from school,

I had been disappointed by

A girl who I found attractive

And who I thought had wanted me to approach her

Toby explained that she, too,

Was ready to call it quits

And had been let down by someone

We chatted for a few minutes --

I told her about my going back to school

And she told me a little

About her last couple of jobs.

Then, apologetically,

She excused herself for the night

Saying that she was not yet over

Her disappointment

And couldn't be good company

She touched my arm tenderly

As she got up to leave

And we both said

That we felt better

About how the evening had gone

I left shortly thereafter,

And when I got home

I looked again at the information

From the dating service

I liked what Tobey had written

I couldn't get away from

The nagging thought that

This just might possibly be

The lady who I had just befriended --

The occupational information on the sheet

Was not inconsistent with

What she had told me,

But I couldn't be sure

And anyway, what were the chances of this

Happening in a city of a million people?

The next day I called Tobey

To break the ice

On getting acquainted

And she said

"I know who you are!"

I said "From the dance last night?"

And she said "Yes."

When she had gotten home

She had opened her mail,

Which had included the fact sheet on me

When she got to the part

On artificial intelligence

She knew that it was me

She's from back East, too,

New Rochelle, New York,

Where my sister-in-law Debbie is from,

And I had thought that Tobey

Reminded me a little of Debbie

She had gotten her bachelor's

From Fairleigh Dickinson --

Where I had gotten my master's from

We've made tentative plans

To get together this weekend --

I think that we're both curious to see what

The other looks like in the light

Who knows what will happen from here?