A short story
Thalia balanced the heavy bags
in her hands. Doing the groceries while she was visiting home was the least she
could do to help her mother. She was starting on her way home when a woman
stood in front of her and beamed a smile: „Hi, do you remember me?“
Thalia stopped and looked at
the stranger, who was not a stranger after all. Sandy blond hair cut in
a pageboy fashion and blue eyes, upturned nose. The developing triple chin was
news, but a memory still bubbled up. „Kati?“ she tried.
„I thought you wouldn’t
recognize me at all, it’s been many years, after all,“ the woman replied. If
she tried to smile any wider, Thalia thought, her face would rip across. Yes,
of course, Kati. A schoolmate from grammar school. Never been much of
a friend to her. In fact, Thalia didn’t have many friends as a child. She
would have been called an outsider, if such words had been in use back
then.
„You visiting? Whatcha doing
now?“
„I live abroad, in France,“
Thalia started reluctantly. „I’m at the university, writing my doctoral
thesis.“
„Oh, wow, still studying?“
Thalia just nodded. She didn’t feel like explaining the difference between
being a student and an aspiring academic. Kati seemed satisfied. „So no
husband or kids yet?“
„No, thank you. I’m just
enjoying life as it is, and my freedom.“
The flash of pity that shot
through Kati’s eyes was too well known to Thalia. It was the customary reaction
when she told people that at her age her ambitions were aimed at freedom and a career and not at
domestic bliss. It was as if time had stopped a long time ago in this part
of the world and a „spinster“ was still a part of people’s mental
vocabulary, although no one would use it in speech nowadays.
„You’re a nurse, aren’t
you?“ Thalia tried to remember scraps of information she knew about her former
mates.
„Yes, although now I’m on
maternity leave,“ Kati puffed up her buxom chest. „We moved back to my mum’s
house. Why don’t you come for coffee sometime?“
„Uh-uh. You’ve got ... how many
children? Two, is that right?“ Thalia asked, trying to change topics.
„Yes, yea, it’s three,
actually.“
„Three?“ Oh
gosh, three children. That’s one chin for each child, Thalia
thought to herself.
„Yes. I married after
high-school and I couldn’t conceive for five years, so we were really
desperate. We even tried artificial insemination but it didn’t work.“ The words
poured from Kati’s mouth like a spring shower and Thalia wondered why she
was being fed so much private information she wasn’t interested in. Probably
there was no reason at all, she just happened to be someone who still didn’t
know the facts of Kati’s exciting life.
Her former mate went on
without a break. She got pregnant after five years, went on to have a second
and a third child and now she has been on maternity leave for years and
still has got one and half left.
Kati was 33 now, like Thalia.
She used to be a moderately pretty girl with the great advantage of early budding breasts
and straight, honey-blond hair. As Thalia remembered, she had one peculiar skill:
because of her extremely long tongue she could touch the underneath part of her chin
(she only had one back then) and the joke went she could also pick her nose. She
was the most popular girl in the class.
Kati‘s breasts were still large,
larger even than in her girlhood, swollen and stretched from maternal
delights. The fat that usually hugs female bottoms and hips seemed to have
crawled upwards to her belly and created a comfortable pillow for her
slightly sagging bosom. The result was hips still relatively narrow and a figure
tapering downwards, which didn’t look flattering at all, combined with the increased bulk of her upper body. The fashionable tight jeans and open leather
jacket accentuated this upturned conical shape even more. Thalia snapped out of her
thoughts. Her companion had been asking her something.
„I’m sorry, can you
repeat that?“
Kati blinked several
times and then fixed her gaze. Her eyes were still bright blue. „So...I have
plenty of time. My mum helps me out with the kids so um...won’t you come for
coffee sometime?“
Thalia groaned inwardly. While
she was sorting some of her old school time doodles earlier, she has found a drawing
of Kati, who was depicted wearing a fashionable ponytail, with her head turned
haughtily upwards. One of her legs, which was stretched forward, was
being kissed by another girl. A pair of girls were drawn next to them,
whispering to each other with a frightened look on their faces, preparing
to be next to prostrate themselves in front of their friend-slash-boss. Kati, the queen
of school. Or of their class, anyway. She was pointing to a lone figure:
Thalia drew herself standing aside with arms crossed on her chest and
a bubble attached to her mouth, containig a single word: „No.“
Thalia remembered this scene
and smiled. „Well, perhaps next week. I’m staying here until next week-end.“
„Then it’s settled. Please
come, I insist.“
„Yes, I’ll try,“ she said evasively. „I don’t
know when though.“
„Oh it doesn’t matter which
day, just drop in some afternoon, just for a coffee, ok?“
„Yes, I will do that,
next week.“ Thalia shifted her weight
from one leg to the other and faked another smile. „I’ll be on my way now.
It was nice to meet you, Kati.“
„It was so nice to chat with you,“
she answered and crushed her in a hug that Thalia couldn’t return, her
hands full of groceries, although it didn’t seem to disturb Kati. „See
you soon.“
„See you,“ Thalia replied.
As she walked away, Kati
called out to her once again: „Just come for a coffee, ok?“
