Girl With A Pearl Earring In The Sandwich Shop

I only popped in for a sandwich. It was lunchtime. My stomach was gurgling.
I didn't see her until I went up to the counter.
Then they hit me. Her green eyes hit me. Green eyes framed in a face Vermeer couldn't have done justice to.
I think my jaw dropped. I couldn't speak.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
Rabbit in headlights. "Yes. Yes, uh, yes... I'll have a, uh, Mexican tuna in, uh, a granary bap, please."
How smooth is that? How bloody-James-Bond-smooth is that?
"And a Ribena," I added, because I'm the new Cary Grant.
Earth swallow me.

Date

We wandered over the park, talking.

The sun was up and not a lonely cloud in the sky.

We turned a corner and were dazzled by a display of flowers,

Next to the lake, near the trees, all swaying in the breeze.

I looked at her, I looked at the flowers, she was good company

But there was no spark, they out-sparkled her.

Later, at home on my sofa, I thought back to the park,

I remembered the bloom and smiled.

But my heart didn't with pleasure fill, bliss of solitude my arse.

Boom-De-Boom-Boom

She was walking down the street and turning heads.
She had long dark hair, wore a summer dress and had a distinctive gait. Actually, you know, gait is not the right word for it, not by a long shot. She had a way of walking that was just boom-de-boom-boom.
She was walking down the street and turning heads and going boom-de-boom-boom.
I watched the guys stare, I watched the girls stare, I think even the pigeons stopped and stared.
Then one of those street cleaning vehicles came along, you know, the little ones with the twirling brushes at the front. It came along sucking up cigarette butts and sweet wrappers. The driver saw the boom-de-boom-boom. He slowed up. He whistled to catch her attention.
He whistled at her because maybe, just maybe, she would turn, see him in his street cleaning vehicle and jump in and they would ride off down the street together, sucking up cigarette butts and sweet wrappers, and go boom-de-boom-boom into the sunset.
She didn't turn.
It's a shame because, you know, that would've been a great thing to write about.

It's All About Risk Management

"I didn't picture myself here," he said.
We were in a pub, it was a quick drink after work. But he wasn't talking about the venue, he had just turned 40, he was talking about the bigger picture.
"You know what I mean?" he continued, "I didn't think I'd be here, doing this."
"Where did you think you'd be?" I asked.
"I don't know, upper management, running my own company, a millionaire..."
"There's still time for you to do that."
"No, there isn't, not any more. And I have children, the most important thing now is making sure they are all right."
We stared at the table and drank our beers.
"What about you?" He said. "You don't have any kids, you can still take risks..."
"Yeah... Yeah, I can." I looked at my watch. "Sorry, I'd better go, I need to get to Tesco's before it closes."

Today, Nothing Happened

Date

I was sitting across the table from her. She had blue eyes and a shy smile.
"He just spilled his guts out on the table," she was telling me. "It was our first date and he just told me everything..."
It was our first date and she was telling me everything about her date with this guy. I felt like I was on a date with him.
He had told her about the problems in his previous relationships, about the problems in his family, about the problems with his job.
He had a lot of problems.
My problem was I didn't want to date him. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to date her either.
She had blue eyes and a shy smile but there were three of us in the relationship.