First Kiss

The first kiss I think I ever saw was on "The Edge of Night."

At first, you may be thinking, how can you see a kiss on television instead of in front of you? I guess that never did occur to me, because at the time, I was unable to have a comparison between a real kiss and a televised one.

I grew up in a culture where kissing and public displays of affection were not as common. So when I came here, I do remember the kids' shows with the affectionate peck on the forehead or one on the cheek. I had never seen a kiss on the lips.

I think the first kiss I saw was of April and Draper. They were the darlings of the show, unless you count Calvin and Starr. There were also random scenes with other stars, especially whenever the cad, Eliot was about.

After I had actually seen a kiss, I began wondering just what it was.

Why were their lips touching?

Should they be doing that?

Were the lips stuck together? Were they able to separate again?

What if they got icky spit on each other? Or cooties or something?
(The kids were obsessed with "cootie" talk back then...)

(People at school had been talking about lips getting stuck on icicles and
metal objects outside in the winter and even at home in the refrigerator...)

How could the couple breathe in that condition?

I kept quiet about it, and thought that it was a one time thing, and then it would not surface again.

Later, I got tired of seeing it in random points, not only on the show, but in other programs.

I finally got flabbergasted and asked my dad about it.

"What are they doing?" (some random sitcom in the evening)

He said, they are just doing something.

I didn't feel as if that was a complete answer.
Why don't you and Mom kiss like that?
Why doesn't anyone we know kiss like that?


I was too scared to ask anyone about it and wondered if I had to perform this action
at some random point too in this new country of ours. I felt afraid.

It looked difficult.

Then something happened to Draper and when he was taken away, Logan kissed April, and the way they kissed was entirely different from April and Draper. That was the first french kiss I saw, unless they were holding their breath. I became irate and thought that Logan should not be doing that to April.

Whatever they were doing, it eventually stopped all dialogue, and then I couldn't see what happened to the people in trouble in front of the judge. I also couldn't wait for the kissing to be over, so I could find out who killed who, and where were all the missing people..

The show began to annoy me, because of the kissing, and I still didn't catch on that this was a soap opera.

Once I mentioned I was watching EON at school, and one of the kids said,
"Oooooooh, I'm going to tell!!!!!" She sing - songed that I was watching a soap opera.

Then I vaguely remember someone saying that maybe I shouldn't be watching that. I wondered why they said that. I was home alone, and no one said that I shouldn't watch anything before.

During the year, I found out what kissing was. Some girls were talking about the Hardy Boys and Sean Cassidy. Then they said they practiced kissing Sean by kissing their pillows. These were older girls, but we listened with glee.

"See," the fifteen - year - old laughed, giving the pillow a hug and a kiss.

"Is it hard to do?"

"No, not when you practice..like this."

I added that I saw kissing on tv to feel as if I fit in into the conversation.

All they did was talk about Sean Cassidy, giggling all the while.

I hadn't yet watched that show or seen him.

I felt worried that everyone wanted to kiss him and felt a little protective over him. Then I wrote about him in a journal.

"I love you, Sean Cassidy." (meaning that I hoped no one tackled him like a pillow and kissed him like the girls...)

My brother found the journal and blabbed to everyone.

I felt thoroughly embarrassed.

Anyway, after that, I skipped all the kissing parts on the Edge of Night.

I got up to make PBJ sandwiches or made hot chocolate instead.