An unwanted phone call

Thursday, 4 June

I arrived home this afternoon to my father standing in the foyer beckoning me with his finger. 'Janine,' he said, not amused. 'Come up here.'

I had just walked into the house and followed him up stairs to his little library on the third floor of the tower, at the back of the house. He sat down at once, turned to the computer, and brought up a .jpg picture of an instant-message conversation I had had online, late at night, a few weeks ago. I read it-- thankfully it was not long! --and my face went white. Then it went red. 'How did....'

So he told me he had got a phone call this afternoon from a police detective in Ohio. Yes-- that scared me. Then he explained further that the police detective had received the TOS complaint I had filed in response to the instant-message in question. The message was from a guy in Ohio, with a screen name that included something about a fireman, asking me for-- shall I say-- something immoral. I had reported him after about four comments-- that was all-- and the sheriff in Ohio had ended up investigating it. They wanted to know my age, because as you know I always just say 'under 18.' The police detective's point was that sometimes that's not enough to protect me.

I started to say something to my dad about that but of course he just told me to shut up a moment. His point, and the detective's point, was that in Ohio a 16-year-old can solicit and accept solicitations about sex. The guy was not guilty of a statutory crime, only a case of immorality and rudeness. Once again AOL and the rest of the world enable crudeness and victimise me.

The IM read that the guy asked me, 'How young and how nude?' That's from one of my usual rooms. Normally I don't mind this question. But of course-- as all my online friends must know by now-- I answered the first part first. I had typed, 'under 18'. The guy must have known his rights because 'under 18' didn't stop him from asking the next thing. The police officer had seen the 'under 18' that I had promptly and clearly typed and investigated it in case I were like 12 or something, you know. For a moment I almost wished I were.

My dad started to smile and pointed out two things about the message, still sitting there in small text, a .jpg file from a scan of a faxed piece of paper with the violator's screen name mostly blacked out with Sharpie marker. He said, 'There are two things that impress me about this.'

I was blushing. 'Okay....'

'The first thing is that you were polite. No baiting, no arguing, no attempting to debate a pointless point with him. You answered his question-- at least half of it-- and you asked him about what he wanted till he explained it.'

'But that's all I would ever do,' I said.

'I know,' he said, 'because you won't judge people.' He smiled at him. 'You're a good Christian, Janine. Even when you're wading among the slime of humanity. I can't fault you for that.'

I nodded. 'Okay....'

'The other thing is that, according to this, you stopped it the moment you knew what he wanted was wrong. Wrong, not only because you thought it was illegal, but because you found it offensive. And then, of course, you did your civic duty and reported it so the next girl wouldn't get hit with the same thing.'

I was nodding. 'But that's all I would never do,' I said again.

'I know.' He put out his arm and pulled me over to sit sideways upon his leg, like I used to when I was much littler. 'You're a good girl, Janine. I have always known that. And this, this right here--' he turned and poked at the screen-- 'this shows me why I don't worry about you. Because you know what to do. Because you are not... sucked-in by it all. Because you are better than them, and you uphold that.'

I nodded, still blushing but not for the same reason.

He bounced me a little on his leg like he did when I was about four. 'This is why I am very happy with you,' he said, and he squeezed me closer.

'I love you, Daddy,' I said.

'I love you too, good child. Now, go-- get off my leg before it falls asleep and you'll have to help me down the stairs.'

I laughed and got up. 'I'm sorry about the online thing,' I said.

He looked at it again. 'Yes, well.... Do try to be a little more careful. I don't mind the unclothed thing in the house, in your room, but I don't think it's so wise to advertise yourself to strangers too much.'

I nodded, standing up straight. 'No. You are right. I'm sorry, Daddy.'

He waved me away like a little gnat. 'Be gone with you. I want to email this detective back and tell him what we talked about.'

'Okay. Thank you, Daddy.'

He turned the chair round to the computer. 'Thank you, child.'

I descended the stairs and moped round to my room with the embarrassment fading and a more immodest blush of confidence, even pride, growing. 'What was that about?' asked my sister Jessy, sitting up on her bed with her own laptop, already naked as she so often is after school.

I made a smug kind of smile at her. 'Do you ever say you're naked when you're chatting online?'

She wrinkled her nose. 'Not to strangers. My friends don't ask.'

I nodded. 'Good,' I said, and went into my room... to type this.

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