Hi all.
This is a piece I dug out from a few years ago. Just trying to get opinions, crit etc as to whether it's worth pursuing. Thanks in advance to anyone good enough to give some feedback.
Wilhelmina glided down the road as if on air. Roller skates had been a good idea. She skidded to a halt outside Debenhams to check her
appearance in the highly reflective window. 'Oh, bugger,' she thought, as she noticed her long, blonde-flecked hair had flicked completely out of control and her silky summer dress now sported two large sweat patches under the arms. How she wished she'd chosen sleeveless.
'Ambrocio can't possibly see me like this,' she panicked, remembering she'd read somewhere that Greeks don't sweat unless they get a tax return..
She skated into Debenhams, spinning to a halt at 'cosmetics.'
"Excuse me, dear. You can't come in here with those on." The assistant was a heavily made-up, matronly looking woman in her sixties. She had a definite 'section leader' air about her. Wilhelmina thought she might be a transvestite.
"Oh, please help me. I'm in a terrible hurry - it's...it's a TV programme. Yes - you know, like Anneka Rice, years ago, where she has to do certain things for a reward at the end. There are hidden cameras everywhere. Quick! I need a sleeveless - summer - silky dress. Quick!"
The transvestite looked hesitant.
"You'll be on the telly," said Wilhelmina, willing her into action. That worked.
"Come with me, dear," the transvestite said, rolling Wilhelmina towards the escalator.
"Mind your skates on...". Too late, Wilomena slipped as metal ground metal, the escalator relentlessly taking her upwards on her back, legs askew.
The transvestite acted with lightening reactions, pulling Wilhelmina into an upright position, praying they wouldn't cut the dramatic rescue out of the film.
Both Wilhelmina and her skates hadn't suffered too much damage. She'd lost a bit of rubber but she still had her bearings. It didn't take long to find a suitable sleeveless - summer-silky dress, which the transvestite gifted to her while glancing around hoping the cameras had caught her generosity.
"Where exactly is the camera man, dear?"
"Oh, they're very discreet," cooed Wilhelmina as she skidded towards the lift with a wave. Wilhelmina wondered why there was a wave on the lift as she checked her newly adorned reflection, leaving a very confused transvestite clutching an empty hanger.
"Very nice," she thought, "Ambrocio won't be able to resist me."
Meanwhile, Ambrocio was pacing up and down impatiently underneath the old oak tree in the leafy campus grounds.
'Where has that ice-cream man got to?', he thought, in a Greek accent.
Just then, a willowy Wilhelmina glided up the campus path towards the old oak tree.
"Ah, Ambrocio, fancy bumping into you again," she smiled, knocking him against the bark.
"Hello. It's... Wilhelmina, isn't it?"
"Yes, you remembered.
"How could I forget?"
He glanced at Wilhelmina's skates.
"I see you're wearing skates". He said, oozing Greek sex appeal and yoghurt from the corners of his mouth.
"Yes. I just cannot travel on the tube. It's my claustrophobia brought on by...well I won't go into that now."
They exchanged simmering looks until...'Ding, dong, ding, dong', The ice-cream man arrived.
"Would you like one?" Ambrocio offered, easing himself off the tree."Yes, mint choc-chip, please," said Wilomena, dribbling. "But I don't seem to have any money on me."
"Allow me," replied Ambrocio, generously. "I've just had a yoghurt, but I think I could manage an ice-cream, just so you're not licking alone."
"How blissful," thought Wilhelmina. "Two people in love, enjoying the June sunshine in the leafy campus under the old oak tree."
Ambrocio had chosen lemon and lime flavour because it reminded him of home.
"Did you choose lemon and lime flavour because it reminds you of home, Ambrocio?"
"Yes," he replied, curling his tongue around the cornet. "Why did you choose mint choc chip?."
"Because...," she replied, sucking the ice-cream from the end of the cornet, "I like it."
"Oh," said Ambrocio, regarding Wilhelmina with a faintly bemused look. "You're really quite a complicated girl, aren't you?
She didn't answer. She hadn't fully understood the question.
They finished their ice-creams in silence, maintaining eye contact.
Eventually, Ambrocio ran his olive fingers through Wilomena's hair. She hoped the smell of olives wouldn't linger.
"You have beautiful hair," he enthused.
"I know, but I keep having to flick it back into place," she responded, despondently.
"There, there. Put your head in my lap and relax. I'll pick out those little pieces of rubber for you."
"I was thinking," said Wilhelmina, wiping the remnants of ice-cream from her mouth on his trousers, "How strange that I happened to be at the old oak tree yesterday in your lunch break and then again today."
"Yes," replied Ambrocio, "Life is a mystery. Fate is a mystery. People are a mystery. History is a mystery.
"Oh, Ambrocio. You are so mysterious. Will I ever understand you."
"I'm working on my accent." Ambrocio was joking. "I'm joking," he teased, "But don't assume you will ever unravel fully the human brain, my sweet one, as it is full of unanswered questions and questions that can never be answered and answers for which there are no questions."
Ambrocio's English was broken, but with time and patience, she knew she could fix it. "Oh, Ambrocio, you're so intuitive. Do you believe in love at first sight?"
"Yes, of course. For instance, the first time I saw a vindaloo, I loved the deep, rich colours - the textures, the aroma. I loved it even more when I tasted it."
"Did you?"
"Yes, but I didn't love it the next day. You see how transient love can be. That which we embrace, relish and take to our hearts can soon turn into a pile of old ...memories."
"Yes," said Wilomena, "I think I am beginning to understand."
"But you would know this, surely, being a student of the human mind yourself."
"Oh, I think you may have misunderstood, Ambrocio. It's animals I'm into - dogs, cats, horses, guinea pigs - that type of thing."
"Really! Animal psychology - an unusual subject to choose."
"Not when you've been let down as badly as I have by humans...but I won't go into that now ...
Oh, look!" She cried, suddenly animated. "You see that three-legged dog approaching us!"
"The brown one?"
"Yes, the brown, three-legged dog. You see, that dog has worked out that it's back leg will need to go twice as fast as the two front legs in order to propel itself forward. Marvellous, isn't it? And you will also notice it approaches the tree from the correct side."
The dog pissed up the old oak tree. A small rivulet trickled by their feet as the dog sniffed them both, attracted by the lingering smell of ice-cream and
Vindaloo. He dribbled and shook his head before hopping off towards the rubbish bins.
Ambrocio wiped the dog -spit off Wilhelmina's hair absent-mindedly. "So, my sweet, what did bring you to the university yesterday and, strangely, today?
Wilhelmina thought quickly, which was unusual. She couldn't possibly tell him she used the campus grounds as a short cut to her probation officer.
"Oh, I often use the campus grounds as a short cut to the library," she lied.
Ambrocio saw something in her eyes he didn't like. "Hold still," he said, holding her head and gently wiping the gunk from her eyes with his thumbs. "There, that's better. You must be a heavy sleeper," he said, rolling the gunk into little balls and flicking them at the dog.
"I'm so embarrassed. I've always suffered from eye-gunk. It's a legacy from my days in the children's home. But I won't go into that now..."
"Can I see you tonight." Ambrocio's lips were almost touching Wilhelmina's. You couldn't get a fag-paper between them.
"Not tonight, Ambrocio, I'm washing my hair."
Again she lied. She would definitely wash her hair, but there was also something else she needed to do tonight.
He kissed her, prodding his tongue deeply as if searching for a lump of mint-choc-chip.
"When then?" he asked, chewing on something he'd retrived that wasn't minty.
"Soon, Ambrocio, very soon." She skated off, excited by thoughts of what was to come in her head, and vague flavours of Vindaloo in her mouth.
To be continued... (maybe!)
