Life Rekindled
by
Ben Hannigan
The crowd was tight packed and rushed, Callum
felt almost crushed, like he could barely breathe. Still, he soldiered on. He
hated Christmas shopping, had since his wife died but he had promised her
towards the very end of the illness that took her that he would always
celebrate.
So he was
here preparing to head to a family Christmas event. It had been six years but
he was finally facing the rest of the world during the holidays, rather than
staring at his tv with Chinese food in his pj’s, having ordered all his presents
online so he didn’t have to speak to anyone or be forced to hear those ghastly
false expressions of glad tidings from psaltic salespeople who couldn’t give a
fuck about anyone they talked to other than for a tick on the target sheet.
He stood
searching for something for his mother. Lana usually handled all this or he did
himself slowly working his way through the list and rather quicker working
through the bottle of bourbon by the mouse pad. He finally, after what seemed
like hours of searching in a hell of baubles, tinsel and tat, found a small,
delicate, white pin that was apparanlty carved out of a whitish wood and trimmed
with, a rosewood inlay spiral.
As he
reached for the box he felt the teasing brushing motion of a woman’s hand
sliding over his. He paused almost guiltily enjoying the contact as he turned
into the touch. Almost buried into his chest by the crush of the crowd was a
small woman. Violet hair, five foot tall, bright pink eyes that were obviously
contacts, all in a package containing boobs that were probably a thirty two B
but looked huge on her frame. “Hey" he said to himself, "I’m a widower not dead."
He nodded to her and asked “You want me to delve into this bin of pins and grab
you one since I have the display one?”
She nodded
gratefully, looking flushed and harried before he bent over the edge of the bin
and delved. He was always fairly indifferent to the cold and today was no
exception. He was wearing an NFL style jersey, slightly baggy and riding up as
he bent over into the barrel showing his toned body and the swirling mix of
scars and tattoos that adorned much of his back. She stood admiring the sight
as he delved and had to be nudged to realise he had retrieved the pin.
“Sorry
just tired I guess, spaced out.”
He nodded
and waved his hand sagely “It’s this shit that does it, sends people
mental.” Laughing and enjoying the brief
moment that broke for just a second the tense nature of the Christmas shopping
combat.
Hours later
Callum was stood in the queue. N,o not the queue, this was the tertiary queue, a
sort of holding tank for the queue to the queue. Annoyed, he stood and steadily
vaped producing a cloud of water vapour which in deference to the season had a
heady odour of clove, orange peel, cinnamon and dark chocolate. Whilst being
asked by the curious about the electronic cigarette he handed out business
cards and talked about the tech whilst revelling in the hateful glares of the
evangelical ex-smokers. Whilst enjoying his vape and lazily breathing smoke
rings he was startled by a request. “Do the ship that floats through the smoke
ring.”
He laughed
and said in response “Do I look like Gandalf?” as he spoke he turned and saw
the violet haired girl in the sonic t shirt from earlier. She giggled, and that
broke the ice. They started to talk. He was twenty eight, had been married
until she got ill, he showed her the rings round his throat, his and hers. His
Elrond’s ring of power, Hers Galadrial’s. They chatted about fantasy novels and
film and television fitting comfortably in the hour they had to talk. As she
paid for her purchases she scrawled a note which had the name of a pub and a
time on it and bribed the cashier a fiver to give it to him. He checked out the
mix of clothes, cheap kids toys for friends’ kids and the other old standards
of present buying before being handed his receipt. Opening the note he read it
and was shocked into freezing outside the store entrance. “Do I go? I mean it
has been six years and she ordered me to be happy.” praying softly he waited
for a sign, what to do which way to go. As he left the shop he heard the
opening of the Christmas song that had defined his season as a married man,
almost as if it was a preordained order for him to begin moving on and looking
to the future.
Checking
the note again he headed to the pub realising if he ran through the crowds he
could just about make it. He stopped outside and took a deep breath and had a
quick vape to calm his nerves,.Stood by the pub door wondering whether he was
doing the right thing. He almost heard her voice in his ear one last time
telling him what he had told her before she died, “Be happy and live, if not for
you but for me”. That was the last push he needed to open the door. Weirdly the
pub was empty but for one person, the girl from earlier. She was sat at a table
by the lit fire watching the snow fall outside, he moved past the bar ordered a
drink and went to sit down. Over the next few hours they talked and talked,
learning each other and just exploring the exciting and the newness of meeting
someone and feeling that instant rush of attraction.
They
laughed and talked, and over the hours as the snow fell ate together and moved
closer till in the end they were hand in hand as the bell for last orders
chimed. Shrugging on their coats they were discussing where to go next when
they were faced with the choice being made for them. The new couple slowly
struggled with the door, first pulling gently then yanking harder then trying
to tap it then pull before the bloke behind the bar came to look. Even with his
help it wouldn’t shift. He turned the lights up and then they saw the true
issue. The snow had piled up to the point that the door wouldn’t budge and they
couldn’t leave.
“Well this solves that question.” Lucy giggled before turning to
the barman. “Still have a room spare for tonight?”
He nodded laughing a little
before digging out the key and grabbing a couple of bottles of beer for himself
and sorting a final drink for each of the couple.
Heading up the winding stairs
they walked together still hand in hand and Callum stood at the door awkwardly.
Lucy plucked both drinks from his hand
and returned slyly grinning before pulling him into a deep long rough kiss by
his shirt collar and dragging him through the open door, kicking the door shut
as she pushed him to the bed ravishing his mouth and running her hands across
his body.
