This story popped into my head tonight. I've literally never told anyone this story. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it for decades until tonight.
The year was 1991. I was 19 years old, single, and calling a party line. I mostly just called it to talk when I was bored, but if a girl happened to be on there who sounded good, I would start a conversation with her, and eventually ask for her phone number if things were going well.
On this particular night, I heard a new voice on the line. Her name was Tara. She said she was 18, and had the best voice I had ever heard. I'm not kidding. I was smart enough by then to know that a voice often doesn't correlate with looks, but Tara's voice was so hot that it was tough to keep that cautionary thought in my head.
Even better, Tara showed instant interest in me. She practically threw herself at me right away. I didn't have to do any work at all with this one. She was instantly interested, and really wanted to talk to me privately.
I called her up, and at first we made small talk. She told me that she was a fashion model, and had most recently appeared in the magazine FHM. She even told me the exact issue she was in, though it was months old and not easily accessible.
Obviously there was no easy way to send pictures in 1991, so people just described themselves. Her description, if it was accurate, matched the voice. She said she was 5'7", 120 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes, and big tits.
Could this really be true?
Even at age 19, I was a skeptic. I had obvious questions in my mind. Why did a girl like this need to resort to calling party lines to meet guys? Why was she so aggressive in trying to get to talk to me? Shouldn't she have a huge choice of men in her life to choose from?
Rather than quietly wonder this to myself, I asked her these questions.
"Because I'm so tired of men only being interested in me for my looks," Tara answered. "I thought maybe on the party line, where people can't see me, I could find a good guy who liked me for who I am first, and what I look like second."
That seemed like a reasonable answer, but I was still somewhat skeptical. I asked her why she was so focused upon me, and so quickly.
"I liked your voice, and you just seem really cool, really nice, really down to earth," she said. "You're the type of guy I've been looking to meet all of this time. I'm just really glad I found you."
I still wasn't convinced, but I wasn't ready to throw this away. What if it was true? What if I really did stumble upon a super-hot fashion model who retreated to the seedy world of party lines when she got tired of men in real life treating her like a sex object?
Still, I proceeded with caution. I talked to her for an hour or so each day. After not too long, she dropped the pleasantries and started attempting to talk dirty to me. I should have been turned on by this, but I just felt.... weird. Like something wasn't right. She kept wanting me to jerk off on the phone and talk really dirty to her. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had done it before, but those situations weren't weird. This one was. I didn't want to outright reject her, but something just felt "off" here, and I didn't want to go there.
Tara also swore that I was the only guy she was talking to from the party line, and that I was her only interest. She kept repeating that I was the guy she had always been looking for, and she didn't have a need to be talking to anyone else.
Every time she tried to talk dirty to me, I would change the subject. After about a week of talking to her, she finally got frustrated with this, and I could tell I was about to lose her. The 19-year-old horndog in me didn't want to let this happen, so one night I just let her talk dirty, while sitting there and saying nothing. I wasn't even turned on by it, because I was SO suspicious of this whole thing. But I just let her do her thing, I sat there silent, she had her orgasm, and surprisingly that seemed to satisfy her for the moment.
The next day, we were on the phone, and I was discussing some guy on the party line who had been threatening me.
"Are you scared?", she asked. "I heard him on there. The whole thing sounds really frightening."
"Nah," I confidently responded. "People talk shit like that all the time on there. It's no big deal. But this guy is getting really persistent. I think I know someone who has his phone number. That's all I need. Once I get his number, I can get all of his info, then I'm sure he will back down at that point."
Her calm, sexy voice suddenly turned to panic.
"Wait... are you a hacker? Todd, are you really a hacker?", she asked.
"Well, I kind of am, but... don't worry. I only use it against people like that guy. Someone like you, who I like, I would never...."
"No... I can't do this. I didn't know you're a hacker! I can't talk to you anymore!"
"Tara, wait!", I pleaded. "Seriously, it's nothing to worry about! I promise... I'm not going to look anything up about you. You can tell me everything at your own pace. I don't do things like..."
"Please, leave me alone. Don't ever call me again," she told me in a voice that sounded it was coming through tears. "I can't do this. Just please... stop calling me and forget I exist."
With that, she hung up.
I thought to myself, "So........ what the fuck just happened here?"
I gathered my thoughts. Clearly she was hiding something, and hearing that I was a hacker spooked her. She must have been worried that I would figure out some disturbing lie or secret she was hiding.
Of course, this wasn't the first time I encountered a phony on the party line, and I was too suspicious the whole way to ever become emotionally invested in her. I shrugged it off and didn't really care too much.
But there was more to the story. Much, much, more.
And I was about to be thrust front-and-center into the middle of it.
END PART 1