Page 43 of Autumn in Sycamore Park
‘So I’ll see you in the park for yoga at sunrise?’
‘I’ll be there with my leotard on,’ Tom said.
Jennifer was about to respond when she noticed someone wearing a bright green t-shirt moving through the crowd in her direction.
‘Oh my god, hide me,’ she said, leaning behind Tom.
‘What?’
‘That guy over there, he’s from my school.’
‘In the green t-shirt? He’s a bit young to be in here, isn’t he?’
‘Yeah, that’s him. Don’t let him see me, please.’
Rick, cocksure and full of swagger, moved through the crowd with a smug pout on his face. As he got closer, Jennifer peaked out from behind Tom’s shoulder to see that Rick’s t-shirt was actually threaded with green fairy lights that flickered as he walked. She ducked out of sight as he got closer, and for a moment thought he had seen her. Then, glancing up, she saw he had stopped at the next table, where two attractive women in their mid-thirties were chatting over glasses of wine.
‘Excuse me, ladies,’ Rick said. ‘The hue of your attire suggests you could be swayed. I’d like to make a suggestion.’
‘Is this guy for real?’ Tom whispered to Jennifer, who was still cowering behind him. He wore an amused smirk as he watched Rick’s move on the women.
‘Just don’t let him see me,’ Jennifer hissed.
‘So, the sad fact is this,’ Rick said, looking from one of the women to the other, as they both gazed up at him like mothers watching a child performing in a school play. ‘And I’m pretty sure you’ll feel for me when I say this … but I can’t really choose between you. I’m equally bewitched. In order to solve this problem, I think you should play rock, paper, scissors. The winner gets to come home with me, while the loser unfortunately will have to wait for another time. In the unfortunate event that it’s a draw, I guess I’ll just have to take you both home.’
The two women laughed. Jennifer cringed, for a moment fearing they had been taken in by Rick’s schoolboy charm. Then one of them shook her head and said, ‘I’m sorry, but I have RSI.’
‘You have what?’
‘RSI.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Repetitive strain injury. It puts me at an unfair advantage, and I’d hate to miss out on such an opportunity purely by default.’
‘How’d you end up with that?’
‘I’m a secretary. I work for the school board, typing up school reports. How many A grades did you get?’
‘What … I—’
The other cupped a hand around her ear. ‘Isn’t that your mother calling?’
Rick spun around, looking towards the dancefloor. ‘What? Where?’
The two women closed ranks, moving to face each other, and Rick, after a brief pout in their direction, headed off to try his luck elsewhere.
‘Wow, that was close,’ Jennifer said. ‘That’s Rick. He sits next to me at work, more’s the pity. Fancies himself as a ladykiller. I hope Angela keeps her head down. Looks like she’s getting some attention.’
Jennifer stared. Halfway across the dancefloor, Angela was bopping and jiving to some obscure eighties disco track. Close by, an older man was doing a pretty good frog-in-a-blender impression. Every time he caught Angela’s gaze, she burst out laughing.
‘It gets worse,’ Jennifer said. ‘Are there any sinkholes around here I can jump into?’
‘You don’t know that guy, do you?’
Jennifer cringed and nodded. ‘Yeah, I do. He’s the headmaster of Brentwell Primary, Greg Downton. My boss.’
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