Sugar and Flower substances

It was the middle of spring on the outskirts of Romania, 1839. Everything was prepared, for the all important proposal. Gemmy, wanted this for so long, that she could not help repeating her order for the meal for two. The table was set, napkins neatly folded on either side, a jug of water in the centre of the table.

The room was dimly lit with an old fashioned oil lamp; it was felt it gave an authentic feel, and perched on the stove was brewing up a concoction of the finest coffee imported from the Middle East. It was his favourite, or so she thought and she knew the time to be exactly right when he would arrive.

She was as excited as the blossom falling from the trees in mid bloom and prepared every tiny little detail of the hand-crafted table lamps, everything had to be perfect for this particular date. The lights were already dimly lit, with a hint of the moonlight coming from outside.

She shuddered as she heard the knock on the door, he walked casually in, removing his wide-brimmed hat as an acknowledgement to her. They both sat opposite each other within the dimly lit room, she, looking at him, he looking at her as they waited for the meal to be cooked.

It was customary to have pure still coffee, sweetened with sugar and liqueur, more like a good luck ritual. She did this, taking from off the stove the already brewed substance. As she walked towards him, smiling her angelic smile, and pouring the contents in to two mini cups, pouring the mixture until it foamed.   As she went to find the sugar, for she had forgot to put it onto the table.

She was already in the larder fishing around for the tub which held the sugar and noticed it was clean with nothing in it, thinking to her self, this was not a good sign, not to have any sugar in the house at all. She tried to disguise her attention, smiling an eclectically smile at him.   

How could I have overlooked this? She thought again, knowing the ritual needed to be fulfilled to complete the task.

She left the room to try to figure out what to. She could hear him stirring and decided to peep in to have a look at what he was doing. Just like a tamed mammal obeying orders, this is where he stayed until she came out in the open a second time. She looked at him, he looked back at her and he smiled,

Anything the matter

No

 Then she went back into the other room.

It was quiet where she lay, thinking about the possibility of what was to become of her. She daren’t go out to him, instead, she sneaked out on the prospect of retrieving some sugar to make her dream come true.

You see, all of this was in a dream she had a few nights back and the day she went to the local apothecary who advised her of the meaning of the dream and how it was imperative that she had sugar on the table. This is the one thing she did not remember to check.

The second half of her dream was too atrocious to mention, which involved not having the sugar, which came to the final conclusion, she didn’t really like sugar at all, which was one of the reasons why it wasn’t on her list to do. She tried to reconcile what could be done to win the love of her life, so she tiptoed out side to look for him, the person with all the answers.

Meanwhile, inside where he waited for her to come out, he was feeling quite restless but decided to be a gentleman and wait.   He lit his pipe. He had hoped that movement would stir once the puff of smoke lingered around the room. Still there was no a sound, just the tiny patters of the rats in the basement, sauntering along.

He got up and walked towards the door, as he tried to listen making certain not to seem like an eavesdropper, he tried to listen to any kind of sound, but there was none. He walked back to the table, sat down and waited patiently for her.

He had finished smoking his pipe and decided to open the window; it had been over an hour and still no sign of her. Looking out of the window, seeing the locals mingling, hovering trying to keep warm, selling their carts of goods and that is when he saw her there, haggling with one of the buyers. He tried to open the window but could not shift the latch, and he began to wonder why.

He sat down and waited, in the hope to be fed with some innocent explanation on why she had to sneak out. At this point, he became bewildered, all of this was his dream from the night before, but he was one person inclined not to follow the dream but to live for the moment. He was also told to decline the meeting by the same apothecary as it was the wrong time to unite with her.

If you wait you will win her your dreams

This he found hard to believe in a spiritual source determining his fate.

Outside she was feeling cold and hungry but daren’t go in with out the stuff to be fulfilled; she was intent on solving the sacred matter which would bound the souls of men and women. That substance was sacred; they called it the white stuff, or better known as Sugar.

She held the brown bag package delicately in the palm of her hands and went back in side the house.  As she saw him standing in the corner, she gave him another smile and headed towards the kitchen to prepare the substance. She came out moments later with a small white beaker and placed it on the table, then reheated the coffee, until it boiled over, and then, while all of this was going on, he looked at her and said,

This is not going to work

She turned back to him,

 If we just get this part over and done with, I know it would be fine

He stared into her bold blue eyes, and it was his turn to make the oil lamp brighter and gave a wide smile,

 It is not going to work because I don’t like coffee

 She smiled to her self and hesitated before giving him a response,

I don’t like sugar, I always try to avoid it as much as possible, but when he said I had to do it I thought for a moment maybe he could be right

They both sat down at the table, going through the ritual, the coffee being poured slowly, staring into each others eyes, smiling, and both took a lump of the Sugar and dipped it into the coffee until it melted. The meal was cold which they put to one side, and began stirring simultaneously.

Shall we do this?

 All that was said.