As Monty Python would say "And now for something completely different!" I am a firm believer in continually stretching myself so, not content with being up to our necks in book writing projects (with another new idea bubbling away for whenever the good lord sees fit to add an extra couple of days to the week!) I thought I'd try my hand at fiction.
This story was inspired by a real life discovery that I made in a ladies loo (see photo at the end) - when I saw the items I just knew there had to be a story behind them and as there's no chance I'll ever discover the real sequence of events which led to them being there, I thought I'd make up my own. Hope you like it.
Everyone's a Winner
Laura licked the doughnut sugar from the corner of her mouth
as a small blob of jam crept down her chin.
“You missed a bit” laughed Emily, pointing to her own chin
to show where it was.
Laura picked up the napkin from the table and wiped her
chin.
“Other side”
Laura tried again, this time clearing the offending jammy
blob. “That’ll teach me, I really shouldn’t have had that. Heaven knows how many Slimming World Syns
there were in it!”
“Who cares?” said Emily, poring over the map “We’ve got
another 2 miles ahead of us and that’s on top of the 8 we’ve already done” She
fiddled around with the string on the top of her well packed rucksack, gently
pressing her neatly folded top down inside so it didn’t catch on the
toggle. She leaned the rucksack against
the table leg then tidied their plates away onto the empty tray and wiped the
crumbs off the table with her napkin.
Laura peered out through the steamed up windows of the cafe
into the slow drizzle of the late afternoon, the mist from the windows
indistinguishable from the clouds beyond.
She pulled her chair in to let someone squeeze past “Why do they always
cram the tables so close together?” she muttered “I’ve barely got room to
breathe here!”
Emily smirked. “You putting your waterproofs back on?”
“Nah, too hot. Well,
maybe the top, but not the legs. How
hilly is the next section?”
“All flat” replied Emily.
Laura sighed, screwing up her nose as she peered out of the
window again. “How about we just give it
5 more minutes to see if it clears up?”
Emily clenched her jaw with irritation and wondered why Laura
had agreed to come on the hike when all she’d done was complain about the
weather. She’d been in an odd mood all
morning. She watched as Laura tipped
half the contents of her rucksack onto the floor of the cafe and rummaged
through them looking for a hair band.
Locating one she slipped it on, pushing her loose blonde hair back off
her face. “That’s better” she smiled,
haphazardly stuffing the contents back in and pulling the lid down tight. “Damn!
Forgot my hat!” she muttered before repeating the entire process again.
Emily thought back to the networking event where they’d met
just 2 weeks earlier. They’d really
clicked and had kept in touch with texts and messages since then. Their shared love of hiking led Emily to
suggest a 10 mile yomp around Derwent Water; it had been glorious weather when
they planned it but today was the first dismal day in ages.
Glancing at the floor she noticed a small box half under Laura’s
chair. “You missed something” she said,
using her foot to slide it closer before bending to pick it up. She handed it over to Laura. Clear Blue
Pregnancy Testing Kit. “Anything you
want to tell me?” asked Emily, smiling.
Laura’s face flushed.
They’d only known each other such a short time. Emily reached over and put her hand on Laura’s
arm. “Honestly, just blurt it out, I
promise you can trust me.”
Laura hesitated, biting her lower lip and searching Emily’s
face for some sign of reassurance.
“Well, it’s like this” she finally began. “We’ve been trying for kids for a little
while and I think I may actually be pregnant, except now it’s finally real I am
absolutely terrified. I haven’t even
told Pete. I bought the test before I
met you in Keswick earlier, but I’m too scared to use it. I’m scared I might be pregnant and equally
scared that I might not be; does that make any sense at all?”
“Sort of a Schrödinger’s baby scenario?” said Emily.
Laura laughed “Exactly; if I don’t take the test then I am
both pregnant and not pregnant at the same time.”
“What are you scared of?” asked Emily, her hand still
resting on Laura’s arm and her hazel eyes never leaving her face.
“Everything” blurted Laura “I just don’t feel grown up
enough to look after a baby. I’ve killed
every houseplant I’ve ever owned!”
“Babies are different” said Emily reassuringly “For a start
you can’t leave them on windowsills unattended and I’m pretty sure you need to
water them more than once a week.”
They both laughed.
“Seriously though” she continued “You can do this; millions of women have done it before you and there
will be loads of people around to support you – Pete, your family, the nurses,
your friends, me.”
“I know, I’m being silly”
“Not silly at all, this is the biggest change you’ll ever
make in your life. Of course you’ll be
nervous, but you’ve got this; whatever the result of that test you’ll cope just
fine.”
Laura smiled and put her hand on top of Emily’s. “Thank you.
I just need to take a deep breath and pull myself together.”
“Tell you what” said Emily “When we get back to Keswick
we’ll nip to the public loos in Booth’s and do it. I’ll be right outside the whole time.”
“Deal”
As they trudged their way back into Keswick they talked
about a million different things and none of them were baby related. Crossing the bridge back into town Laura
stopped again.
“I can’t do this. I
am so scared!”
“Wait there 2 minutes” said Emily, disappearing off into the
nearby CoOp. She emerged soon after
clutching a small bottle of Shiraz and a scratch card.
“This is for Dutch courage” she said, waving the wine bottle
“and this” waving the scratch card “is to give me something to do while you’re
in there.”
Giggling like naughty school children they drank the wine
straight from the bottle and raced to Booth’s before Laura changed her mind
again.
“Right” said Emily “In you go. I’ll wait out here and see how many millions
I’ve won.”
Laura disappeared into the cubicle while Emily dug 2p out of
her purse and started on her scratch card.
“You ok?”she called through
“Yup, just got to wait 2 minutes now”
“Can you remember the Countdown music?” They both began giggling and humming together,
finishing with a flourishing “did-di, did-di, diddly bum!”
“Well?” asked Emily
“Negative” said Laura, opening the cubicle door
“Same here; it would seem that we are neither pregnant nor
millionaires. How are you feeling?”
“I’m OK actually” said Laura, her voice muffled in Emily’s
shoulder as she gave her a big hug.
“Thanks for being there.”
“No worries” smiled Emily “What shall I do with these?” They looked around for a bin, but there was
none.
“There’s a sanitary bin next to the loo” said Laura “It’s
not perfect but we may as well just leave them there.”
“Fair enough” said Emily, placing the lottery ticket, the
empty wine bottle and the pregnancy test on top of the bin next to the toilet.
“I think after all that we deserve a larger glass of wine;
the Dog and Gun do great food too – you in?”
“Definitely” smiled Laura as they made their way outside and
the first rays of weak sunshine finally broke through the clouds.
