This is just a little something I wrote a while back and found it recently. I was just experimenting with different writing styles and I liked this as it flowed easily - a quick read that doesn't involve a lot of thinking! For those who want to be lazy and just escape...
Mae Meets Rich
Mae felt out of her depth.
She yearned to be back in her comfort zone and feel in control of every
situation, a place where surprises did not exist.
Friends used to call her
Mystic Meg as she had a sixth sense ability of knowing what people would say,
their reactions to every circumstance and how the story ends. She was good and
she knew it. Mae was the one who jumped at every opportunity to be spontaneous
and care free, living life with no expectations and doing what the hell she
wanted. She was the one who went backpacking by herself to remote parts of
Kenya, who moved in with a man after a week just because he did amazing Arnie
expressions and after finally accepting her outrageous red hair, she spent a
year dying it various rainbow colours. This was all in her 20’s.
Mae’s 30’s were non
memorable with a string of mundane relationships, unexpected disappointments
and the dreaded bingo arms syndrome. It was a decade where her facial muscles
forgot how to form a smile and at the end of every sentence was a frustrated
sigh.
By the time Mae reached 40
she felt past her sell by date and was afraid of being considered a member of
mutton-dressed-as-lamb anonymous group. A week after her birthday she promptly
brought a new wardrobe, one suitable for the
confident-sexier-middle-aged-woman. Keeping a brave face during the shopping
excursion she returned the plastic smiles of the big-busted-small-waist shop
assistants. They really annoyed her and were a painful reminder of her long lost
youth.
At the end of the day Mae
had collapsed on the floor in a tearful heap. She was barely through the door
and did not hear the soft padded footsteps or see the tiger print shopping
trolley parked in the hallway.
“What’s d’matter luv?” Mum
had let herself in, again.
Mae moaned. This was one
of those moments where she regretted giving her a spare key. “Oh mum it’s
awful,” she shrieked, “my life is over, I’m now 40 and everyone knows it!”
Mum
chuckled, almost dropping her cup of tea. She bent down and gently patted Mae’s
red curls, an attempt to bring comfort whilst neatening the hairy mess. “It’ll
be ‘right luv, you’ll see.”
It wasn’t all right, the
grey cloud stayed and it was a wake up call when one day she didn’t recognise
the desperately pasty skinned woman in the bathroom mirror. That was the same
day she decided she needed to find a man and www.nicetomeet.com promised her
one.
*
It took ages getting ready
that morning, a lot longer than usual. Rich’s fashion sense was simple – only
black, grey and white clothing made it into his wardrobe – yet choosing an
outfit was difficult. After starring into his wardrobe for what seemed liked an
eternity, he closed his eyes, grabbed a top and a pair of bottoms, looked in
the mirror and was happy with his choice.
He flossed his pearly
whites until the floss turned pink, shaved his face until it was smooth as a
baby’s bottom and carefully trimmed his ear hair with experienced precision,
using pointed nail scissors. The hairs were not that long, their existence just
annoyed him. He always thought about Grandad Frank’s bush that grew from both
ears and his chest hair that blended into his beard. Rich was determined never
to be like that; he hated hair and didn’t give a monkeys if some people thought
hair equalled masculinity.
A girlfriend who – once
they became serious – after four months of casual dating decided to foolishly
initiate a conversation about changing his look. She even had the audacity to
show him a glossy women’s magazine with rugged male models and over exposed
body hair sprouting out of private places like fresh blades of grass. Rich
didn’t know what was worst, that she felt the need for a cave man or that she
was comparing him to sexy tanned men.
Rich eased his blue Fiesta
out the drive and hoped for a manic-free journey. Lately he’d gotten tried of
unsmiling faces frustrated with unmoving traffic and being on the receiving end
of road rage that always left him feeling like a battered punch bag – he hated
conflict and avoided it at every opportunity. London does that to people, makes
them unreasonable, miserable and down right rude, Rich was determined that
nothing was going to spoil his day. The pretty blond nicked named ‘Sunshine’
was waiting and willing to meet him.
*
The meeting place was a
bit unusual. The 10k fun run for people with disabilities at Hyde Park was not
Mae’s idea of a romantic hot spot. She hated Central London, the chattering
crowds, the city noise, the retching collage of unrecognisable smells, all
things she tried to avoid.
The rendezvous bench near
the finish line was damp. Mae sat down and pinned a white carnation to her
jacket collar. ‘Mister Tall’ gave no details of what he would be wearing but
thankfully Mae remembered to stuff his profile photo in her bag. He was
absolutely gorgeous, she loved his neatly designer trimmed beard and olive
complexion. She thought about how she was going to explain her changed
appearance; the photo she uploaded onto her profile was not her, hopefully he
hated blondes and would find her charming.
Mae felt like a mug. Over
an hour went by and the cabbage smelling old man next to her was not ‘Mister
Tall’. To make matters worse she felt the 40’s grey cloud creeping up on her
and she did not want to get all emotional in public. She threw the photo and
white carnation into the bin beside her. She hoped he did not receive the
messages she left on his phone, it went straight to voicemail and it was
probably switched off. Mum did warn her about meeting strange men off the ‘net’
– like she understood what the ‘net’ was – but there weren’t any warnings about
being stood up and hating it. Cabbage man smiled a toothless grin at her as she
got up; she nodded a goodbye avoiding eye contact in case he got the wrong
impression and followed her.
The eye-catching stalls
intended to support the 10k event were inviting and despite Mae’s mood she
couldn’t resist the sweet temptation of a coffee and cake. A stall towered by
huge umbrellas and cramped with comfy sofas and tables seemed a popular choice.
*
Rich was late; his journey
was a nightmare. He was unsure what was worst, that some idiot knocked a cup of
coffee over his phone when paying for petrol or the accident on the A40 that
left a lengthy trail of snail moving cars. He thought his luck had changed when
he found parking straight away but when he got to the bench where Sunshine was
meant to be – it was empty
*
Mae was so preoccupied
with eating and drinking that it took her awhile to notice the handsome man in
a wheelchair wanting to park his self at her table. He asked if anyone was
sitting here.
“Nope,
it’s all yours, let me move this from here,” replied Mae. She picked up the
rubbish from the table and chucked it away. “It’s a nice event isn’t it?” she
continued.
“Yeah,
I come here every year”.
“Do
you take part or just watch?”
“Used
to race years ago, was meant to meet someone here but it got cancelled,”
shrugged the man.
Mae
and the man continued talking until a waiter interrupted them and placed a
drink and muffin on the table.
“Here
you go Rich, just how you like it,” said the waiter.
“Thanks
mate,” turning to Mae, “sorry… I’m Rich,” laughed Rich.
“And
I’m Mae, nice to meet you,” mockingly Mae stretched out her hand towards him,
they shook hands.
“So
what brought you here Mae?”
“I
was meant to meet someone too.”
Copyright © 2014 Sonneteer Articulates (aka Traysi Matthew, Traysi Speaks)
All rights reserved. No portion of this post may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or by otherwise without the express written permission from Sonneteer Articulates (aka Traysi Matthew, Traysi Speaks)
