Chapter 4
Much to Virginia's surprise, when she called the number on the business card, she found that they were located in a suite in the Pan Am Building. Most of the computer-dating services were nothing more than answering-service numbers for some little group working out of a hole-in-the-wall on the upper East Side. They told her to come on up whenever it was convenient for her. Being a person who did not believe in wasting time once her mind was made up, Virginia was on her way within the hour.
The offices weren't overly large, but they were well and tastefully furnished. She scored that as a mental plus for them.
They were professional, very smoothly organized. She was given a questionnaire. It included many of the questions she'd seen on the free hand-outs from other dating services and a few new ones.
Like the one about her vital statistics. Without hesitating, she wrote: 36-23-35.
Most unusual were the group of questions under the special heading:
THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ARE OPTIONAL AND DEPEND ONLY UPON YOUR PERSONAL PREFERENCES FOR THE EXTENT OF THE MATCHING SERVICE WE WILL PROVIDE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS BE REVEALED TO ANY PROSPECTIVE MATCH NOR WILL THEY BE ACCESSIBLE TO ANY EMPLOYEE OF THIS SERVICE WITHOUT A BONAFIDE NEED TO KNOW.
She read through the questions a couple of times, thinking about it. They were all concerned with her sexual proclivities. What it came down to, she decided, was whether or not she wanted to have the advantages of computer matching for her sexual needs.
She finally decided she did.
She read through the questions one more time, carefully, and then began to answer them. Each was a multiple-answer question, allowing for various stages of enthusiasm in response.
1=ALMOST ALWAYS 2=USUALLY
3=SOMEWHAT 4-OCCASIONALLY
5-NEVER
1 2 3 4 5
I CONSIDER MYSELF
UNINHIBITED X
I CONSIDER MYSELF
MULTI-ORGASMIC X
I CONSIDER MYSELF A GOOD SEX PART-NER X
I EXPECT MY PAR TNER TO BE SENSITIVE.
TO MY SEXUAL
NEEDS X
THE SIZE OF A MAN'S GENITALS IS IMPOR-.
TANT TO ME X
I LIKE MY PARTNER
TO TAKE THE LEAD X
I ENJOY USING SEX
AIDS X I CONSIDER MYSELF
1 2 3 4 5
BISEXUAL X
I ENJOY THREESOMES WITH ANOTHER WOMAN X
I ENJOY THREESOMES
WITH TWO MEN X
I ENJOY GROUP SEX
(WITH MORE THAN
TWO PARTNERS) X
I ENJOY"SWINGING" X
I ENJOY ORAL SEX X
I ENJOY ANAL SEX X
I ENJOY "WATER SPORTS" X
I ENJOY MILD S/M X
I ENJOY MILD B/D X
IF I DON'T COME WITH MY PARTNER, I AM
DISAPPOINTED X
IF I DO NOT PLEASE MY PARTNER, HE
SHOULD TELL ME X
EROTIC FILMS AND BOOKS TURN ME ON X
Virginia finished checking off the boxes, then reread it. For a moment, she was unsure of what she was doing.
But then she decided she had nothing to lose. She could not possibly do worse than she had with the guys she met in the bars. And the odds were she'd do a little bit better. She went back to the receptionist and handed her the questionnaire. She was glad the girl at the desk wasn't the talkative type.
"When would you like to start taking introductory calls?" the girl asked.
Virginia thought for a moment. Then: "Anytime, I guess. How long does it take?"
"You could get your first call today. That's one of the advantages of high-speed computers. Will you be home today?"
"Around four-thirty to five-thirty. I don't know about the rest of the day. Why?"
"We'll call you with your first match today."
Virginia said that was fine, paid her fee five dollars introductory and two dollars for the first match-up and then left.
She spent most of the afternoon shopping for groceries and taking care of other household needs.
She made a point to be home between four-thirty and five-thirty just in case someone called.
By twenty after five, she'd pretty much resigned herself to another night of bar-hopping. At exactly five-thirty, she got her first call:
His name was Jeff.