This story is for my dear friend, Jenny.
“What a lover’s heart knows let no man’s
brain dispute” Aberjhani,
Many, many moons ago, when I found myself back on
the singles shelf, a divorced mother sharing a new home with my toddler and two
emerging aliens (teenagers) and a food-challenged guide dog, life was so full
it was hard to imagine ever needing to be part of a loving relationship ever
again…I just stopped looking at the barometer of love which only seemed to
forecast stormy new relationships.
Where were all the nice guys? None on my radar…
So I got on with life – making friendships with
wonderful women and being taken out on fun and interesting outings with my dad
and my young son. The aliens I left behind in the house, forever hopeful they
would be tidying up their messes…
Every now and then, purely for my own
entertainment, I would glance at the classifieds in the local paper to read the
‘Male seeking Female’ section. Some of the entries were hilarious, others shamefully
honest – others boring, but there were a few interesting ones too. Oh, but I
wouldn’t go as far as to answer one of these blatant ads… No, no…not me: that
was not my style.
Hmm, this guy sounds nice!
And before I really knew what I was doing – I had
answered his ad! Several pleasant phone conversations later, it was time to
meet, the relationship barometer was looking sunny for a change…
My friend, Sue, ran a café in the main street of
Mornington so for me, as a vision-impaired single, that was the perfect place
to meet my new beau. Sue would simply use her eyes to judge any dodgy body
language radiating from this unsuspecting male…she and I had schemed a plan to
talk about the weather in his presence to steer me either closer towards him or
further apart, depending on his ‘performance’ in the café!
If she thought he looked like a nice guy – ah, the
weather had been particularly lovely that week…but if he showed ANY signs of
dodginess or had dishonest eyes, her steer clear message would be delivered unequivocally:
“The weather is not that great today, is it, Maribel?”
What did Sue’s barometer read on that day in the
café as the guy took his seat on the opposite side of his nervous suitor? – Showers?
Sunshine?
Well, actually, I could tell by our conversation
he was a nice guy, so sunshine was a possibility but not a probability. There
was no spark of attraction, just pleasant conversation and mutual high
expectations freed us from any future meetings.
As Sue wiped down our table, she smiled at me “Not
bad weather today, hey?”
I winked at her and we ordered lunch…
And the moral of this story is…..
“We're so dependent on what is before us that we
discount our intuition. Yet if one dismisses instinct, how can one understand
or believe in a world that exists beyond one's sight?” Megan Chance
PS. For those who know my dear Harry, this was not
the guy in the café that day…our serendipitous meeting is another story!
© Maribel
Steel 2012
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