A walk on the wild side

The sunset was beautiful on the horizon of the shores of the Caribbean. Now in their 60’s, the years had passed so quickly, and their children have flown the nest, leaving room for expansion, for the two of them to share their final wedded bliss together in paradise. This was their life, as I sat watching, through the lens of my camera.

Watching the sea, rippling its waves as blue as the ocean, beckoning, a golden color revealing the fragments from the sky and giving off a slight chill in the air. He, wrapped his arms around hers. She, under the guise of his affection, consoled with the passion and strength.

 Looking like recuperating all those years spent, with his status in the media and her artistic flair in fashion, brought the two of them together to rekindle their lost passion.

It was far beyond anything I could imagine; I would like to tell you the full story from how it all started, as I begin to focus through this lens once more. This is my story.

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It was a cold and wet December morning in the heart of New York City, the tenements was my dwelling place, my job was to get the all important story. I knew I had to change my life, one way or other before it got a hold of me, just like the rest of them. I decided to take the plunge.  I didn't know what to expect, only, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain from a story which held dear to me.  

I fed the dog and let it out, not waiting for it to come back, sure enough I didn't have the time to wait for the poor mutt, too busy for that kind of stuff. I took a swig of coffee, hesitated to hear the tail-end of the news, and decided it was time to go. 

I rushed out, walked to the side of the street where I took the Brooklyn underground. It was the same old thing, hoards of commuters, pushing and shoving, just to get a seat in the decking car. I managed to find one, sat opposite an elderly couple trying to figure out what each of them were saying, they both looked at me and smiled. I refused to smile back at them and just looked away.  They weren't important to me. I continued to look out of the window, at the speed of the train zooming in the distance shadows of each station.

I arrived at my destination, along with the rest of the commuters, pushing and shoving, again, some kind of altercation occurred, I wanted to get out of there and into the clear.

I worked at the Daily Globe in Manhattan, for almost 10 years, and it was on this day I had the usual tip off from one of my sources. It was going to be the big one, I staked my life on this job, and wanted nothing to stand in my way. 

The stage was ready for me,  I was in full gear, camera zooming at the ready, keeping an even distance, didn't want to seem too eager. It was when my view was obscured, by this fine young thing, within earshot of my taking that all important picture. 

That was the day I  met her, quite by accident, mind. It wasn’t intentional, it was just that she was asking for directions, at first, I nearly flew off the handle, until our eyes met, I couldn’t refuse her, had to be polite and it was right in the middle of my getting that important shot. Nervously, it took me a while to show her where to go to make myself free, but I was too late. At that point I dreaded going back to the office.

I didn't see her again, not for a while anyway. I reached the office, there was silence when they saw me, and standing in the middle of the floor, was Mr Jack Leoni,

“Better luck next time, Gerry. Oh what was the excuse again?”

“Give it a rest, Jack,” a voice interrupted in the distance.

It was the boss, Jane Smithers, she gave me an uneven look and continued walking,

“So you didn’t read your messages?”

“What message?”

“That's you all over, always doing your own thing, one of these days, just one of these days…”

She didn't finish as her voice trailed off towards the direction of her office.

“As I was saying, better luck next time,” Jack Leoni wanted to put in his few words to rub it in.

I left it at that and knew I couldn't stay there, and to avoid the aggravation, I gathered the rest of my things and called it day. I didn't go straight home, I went to the local café around the corner. 

Outside, walking along the sidewalk, the air was bitterly cold, people wrapped up to the brim, this was no time for strolling. Inside the café, Joe, the owner greeted me,

"What will it be...a coffee or something stronger?"

"Give me something stronger"

"There you go...a rough night?"

"Not rough...just hard luck"

"Tell me about it!"

"Well, what happened to you, Joe?"

"She didn't turn up"

"Who!"

"That one I was telling you about...you know"

"Oh, the one with the big thighs"

"The very one...I waited and waited...felt like a fool"

"Hard luck, Joe...do wanna join me?"

"Don't mind if I do...there's hardly anyone around"

I took a swig of the hard stuff and couldn't help thinking of what if...it should have been me there, receiving all of those praises. The café door opened, at first I thought it was the wind, but a young woman entered. She approached the bar and in a fine voice,

"Hello there, do you do coffee in here?"

"Sure we do...what'll it be, black or white?"

"I'll have a coffee with cream."

"No problem."

I didn't look up at first to see who was talking but continued speaking to Joe,

"So, Joe did you ring her or are you going to call it a day?"

"Not a chance...I give up...better off staying single."

"I totally agree...with me I can't help it."

As I looked up to talk to Joe, she was staring at me. I stopped talking and stared back at her. Joe wanted to hear more.

"So.. What happened!"

"Ah! nothing much...just one of those things."

I didn't finish what I was about to say, what I was about to say was, this pretty thing obscured my vision, I lost touch with my own sensitivity. The very person was sitting in my local café, I didn't know her, and wondered why she chose to be here. I got up out of my seat and haled to Joe and left the café. 

As I was walking along the sidewalk, it started to snow, the wind grew lighter, then I thought I heard shouting and looked around, and I saw her once again.

She started running towards me, holding something in her hand, I couldn't make out what it was, until she got closer,

"Excuse me, you forgot your hat."

"And you ran all that way to give this to me?"

"Well, I thought, what with the weather and everything..."

She was right, it was my favourite hat, I don't know how I could have forgotten it. She continued,

"Your friend tried to call you and I volunteered to try and catch up with you, after what you did for me."

"Thank you very much but you didn't have to."

"It was the least I could do."

As we stood watching each other, I suggested that we go to another café around the corner, this time, away from any one who knew me. I didn't know the place too well, which was even better, I ordered two white coffee's and we sat in a corner. She still couldn't help apologising and thanking me.

"You must think I'm a fool, that day, when you showed me where to go, if I hadn't bumped into you, I would not have a job"

"The world works in mysterious ways."

"How sweet of you to think like that."

"Yes, very sweet...so what do you do?"

"Oh I deal with interior design for the rich and famous."

"That's great...a good profession."

"And what about you?"

"I'm really in between jobs at the moment."

"You look like a Journalist to me."

"No, not me...I do the administration work."

I couldn't tell her the truth about myself, I never tell anyone what I really do, but I was more than captured by her beauty, the more we talked, the more she got to know a little bit more about me. As the day enfolded, it was getting late, I offered to walk her home, she accepted, even asked me into her apartment, and what an apartment. It made my place look shameful. I didn't stay, like a gentleman, I left amicably. When I reached my apartment, the first thing I did was check my answerphone, for I knew there would be repercussion from my workplace. I pressed the button, it was her, thanking me, again and would I like to join her the following week. I accepted.