Simple Affair

Saturday morning, I woke up in my mom and dad’s camper. They have one of those goose neck trailers that has all the comforts of home. I am snuggled beneath the sheets on the pull-out couch in the living room area. Dad is up and is already outside. I can see him just outside my window, and the coffee machine is on and gurgling as it is brewing, the smell of a medium blend fills the air. I lay there in bed for a few minutes and grabbed my phone.
I open Twitter and see notifications of new followers. I send them each a message thanking them for following and providing a link to my book.
I follow, copy, and paste messages on that site, not knowing what would come out of a conversation with a complete stranger. I received a message back saying, “Hi there, thanks for following me back. You sure are popular. I write too. Here are my links, here are my websites, and I am also on Wattpad.” He sends a flurry of messages, sharing his links and websites.
I politely respond, “No problem, happy to connect with someone who shares the same interests.”
He replies, "I am so proud of my work, and I hope you enjoy what I posted on Wattpad.”
I contemplate checking out his links, but I wonder if I have the time to commit to another book right now. I sit up and reply, “Your book sounds interesting, but I don’t have Wattpad. I’ll have to download it once I'm home.”
He responds, "Oh, how are you enjoying the weekend?”
I pause and consider how much I should reveal. After taking a moment to look at his sites and verify his identity as an author with a decent biography, I decided to share a bit more. “I am spending the weekend up at camp with my parents.”
He replies, "Oh, that must be nice. I used to live up north, not far from you, Rochester.”
It seems he noticed my location from my biography. I answer, “Oh yes, I would be a few hours north of Rochester. So, I see that you live in Texas? P.S. Cowboys are yummy, just saying.” I’m not sure why I wrote that, but out there now.
He responds, "Yep, been here for five years, but really I’m a Yankee. I miss it, the seasons.”
I reply, “I love warm temperatures. You’re lucky to not have to deal with snow.”
He writes, “I admit the warm weather is nice, but I miss living up north.”
I continue the conversation, “Have you seen the picture on my feed from last winter? All that snow. I can’t stand cleaning the driveway.”
He answers, "Yes, I guess that would be the not so fun part.”
I want to wrap up the conversation, but I don’t want to sound too curt. Feeling hungry, I write, “It is right around breakfast time. I’m going to step away to eat. I’ll have to get Wattpad to read your work, and I’ll get to it soon. Have a great day, and thanks for the chat.”
I send the message and shortly after, he responds, “I’ll take a look at your book too. Thank you and enjoy your weekend up at camp. Bye.”
I put my phone down not thinking anything more. Mom is in the kitchen putting breakfast together.
She asks, "So were you looking at your book sales again?"
I stretch and say, "No just sending out messages to my new followers, that's all." I get out of the pull-out bed to join her in the kitchen, putting some bread in the toaster and I make a glass of chocolate milk. We eat, I go for a walk with mom down the dirt road. We return and relax, eat lunch then go to the beach to read, sunbathe, swim and then dinnertime arrives and soon we are into the later hours of the night. The day was a good one and by the next day I hate to say it, but the person that I had been talking to on Twitter I had already forgotten his name. I forgot about the promise I made to look at his work and download Wattpad. I forgot. I didn't mean to, it's just with family here social media takes a back seat to reality.