An Unfinished Beginning

The Old, So Old, Man and the Young, Young Woman. Chapter 1.

He didn’t know her; they had met once, briefly, at a bus stop.

He was waiting for a bus to take him to Sainsbury’s; he needed cat food and bread and she stopped and asked him for the time.

It was 10.29, a Saturday and she was on the way to the Spa.

Health Spa, not supermarket.

He didn’t know that and she didn’t say, but he watched her as she ran along the street her hair skipping in the light that passed, some days, as sun in the city where they both lived.

It was a big city, millions of people lived there but most of them remained strangers.

But.

He saw her again, across the street as he left the greengrocers one afternoon; he needed fruit but the cat had died and he was alone.

Although at the home he was among friends, they played cards and sang songs, he was among them, not with them.

And so he decided that he loved the young, young woman.

This was sudden.

Maybe he confused love and need, or the half forgotten memory of lust, but his days became full of her and he sought her out.

At the traffic lights one day he risked a good morning and doffed his hat, it’s what gentleman of his time did.

She stopped and smiled but didn’t recognise him.

Another time he was in the park, feeding birds by the lake and she was there with her dog.

The dog ran to the old man and tried to take the bread from his hand, but he was still strong enough to resist.

She came over and apologised and he said it’s ok, it’s a nice dog and she said it’s a cross breed and he asked her the dog’s name.

He didn’t dare ask her for her own. 

Then she said goodbye.

And she left.



there has been Old Beginnings and New Ends - an occasional series here in/on Bitsnbobs but this comes from Unfinished Beginnings, a separate service. Part one is here.