The best thing about cafes is all the peoplewatching you can do. Sitting there I glanced at folk, watching their mannerisms imagining their lives.
A man entered the cafe. A woman caught the door behind him on the way in so that it wouldn’t swing into her.
The man chose a seat. Before the woman could settle into a seat herself, he said “I’ll have one of those muffins and a cappuccino.” pointing at the cabinet. The woman ordered, the woman paid.
What a beautiful dress she’s wearing I thought. It swished as she walked over to her table. She sat and I could see how she tried to initiate conversation with the man. The man already had his phone out. Head down, his cap cutting off any attempts she made at communication.
Honestly, why bother with a loser like that, I thought to myself. I looked at him a little closer. He really hadn’t made much effort- shirt, board shorts, thongs.
He must’ve felt me looking at him. He jerked his head upwards. And I found myself staring straight into the eyes of my once childhood sweetheart.
trigger warning
“I’m gonna do it. I have nothing left to live for”
……. dddddddd…….. He’d hung up.
Suzy paused, holding the phone in her hand away from her ear. She could still hear the faint tone emanating from the receiver. She felt numb, she felt numb because she will never know. Never know if he lived, never know if he got the help he needed, never know if she could have helped him, saved him.
She replaced the handset and as she did she closed her eyes and sent thoughts and prayers to him, the stranger, hoping he would be alright.
He stepped into a new world of magic and mystery. He still had the looking glass in his hand from when he’d stepped through the looking glass. What a colourful wonderful world of eccentricity. Little fat blueberries as tall as his knee came wobbling over. They really were very blue - such sad faces one was even crying.
He asked them why they were so sad but they carried on past without a second glance.
“Because they’re blue berries, silly, that’s why.” Said a most beautiful young woman in a gorgeous ball gown.
“You look so beautiful. What a beautiful dress!” He said. And she twirled then followed with a curtsy. I’m on my way to the ballroom. Would you like to come? You do have to be careful not to get hit. Tennis balls aren’t quite as bad as baseballs though.”
The control room had been evacuated. Jill had heard the evacuation warnings blaring through the sound system at The Global Protection Agency but had thought “Probably just a drill.” She hadn’t investigated further.
She was focused on her research work that had been due the previous day and wanted to submit her findings as she had found much of her work under the scrutiny of the head scientist- under scrutiny! Can you believe it! - Her - Dr Jill Maynard PhD research scientist runner up to the Nobel prize - and all for being a bit late in providing her research findings…. Well quite a bit late really but nevermind that. You can’t rush genius!
Jill grew tired of the research work in front of her and thought a coffee was in order. She meandered over to the kitchen. It was quiet. Too quiet. Maybe the others were still outside lining up for the roll call.
Coffee in hand, she went back to her desk. She minimised the research on her computer and started playing a game collecting tokens and matching icons.
Jill didn’t bother passing by where the main control panel was situated. She would have seen the screen with the huge meteor coming towards earth and she would have immediately known to push the oversized red button. But instead she had no inkling of her imminent death. She and the rest of life on earth died instantly.
She pulled her shopping trolley over to the side of the aisle and did something she wouldn’t usually do. She rolled her sleeves up her frail bony arms, which in turn revealed one of her tattoos. It had just been so hot and although she had hoped the supermarket would have been cooler than outside, the heat was still quite unbearable.
It wasn’t long til she was accosted by a shopper. “Oh yeah, still rocking it! Awesome tatoo!” The shopper thrust her own elbows towards her.
She struggled to focus with her impaired sight finally able to make out the names Skylar and Tylar scrawled in oversized italics across the forearms.
The shopper thought she needed to provide more explanation “They’re my children’s names they mean so much to me.” She continued in this vein sharing the true meaning behind the images on her body with her new found friend united by their tatts. At one point the shopper proudly pulled down her tshirt just enough to show the top of her cleavage. There was a dog, almost leaping from the top of one breast to another. Beside it was a date. “Aw when my poor Dotty passed, I just knew I had to have her on my body in remembrance.” The shopper only drew breath after she said she had other tattoos in private places but that they were too personal to talk about.
After an awkward pause the shopper said “What’s the meaning behind yours?”
“It doesn’t mean anything. It’s a mark of regret. It’s youth imprinted on my body. And just like my youth, it cannot be changed. I can’t just rub it out. It’s there. Forever. “ She silently passed by the shopper’s trolley with her own, not looking back.
