Speaking of Debbie Miller, while she and her family were still living in Myerstown, they had a second home in the country, a farm just outside of town where her father, a doctor, could get away and relax, at least for a Sunday.

As I recall, he was quite adamant about keeping the farm a private family place, because his medical practice kept him busy long hours during the regular week, so he wanted time to spend on the farm with as few distractions as possible.

But towards the end of our junior year, when he had decided to move the family to New York City over the summer and close down his practice, things had gotten a bit busier at our school. That was the year of the Irregulars when we were putting on daily morning shows over the PA system, and we had been planning to do the year-end assembly program. So communication with Debbie over the phone lines became ever more important, and on Sundays she was ensconced with her family at the farm.

So Debbie gave me the unlisted phone number of the farm, with instructions to use it only if absolutely necessary and to never ever ever let her father know that she had given it to me. My lips were sealed.

And as it happened, I don’t believe I ever had occasion to use it.

Whew!

I mean what if I had called the farm and Dr. Miller had answered? Was I supposed to disguise my voice? Or was I supposed to just hang up? We had never really worked out the logistics.

Then one Saturday I called their house in Myerstown and Dr. Miller answered the phone. He knew me because I had met him several times and he was always pleasant. I asked for Debbie, but she wasn’t there and he didn’t expect her back for awhile. And when she returned they were going to go to the farm for the rest of the weekend.

He was about to give me the number for the farm, when I blurted out:

“Oh, I already have it.” 

And I immediately realized my mistake.

In any case I think they were just weeks away from the move to NYC at that point, so I don’t think he was quite as concerned about privacy on the farm as he had been before.

But the moral of the story is: If you wanna keep a secret, don’t tell it to me!