Satori'

I have a story, which is basically about two people who lived next door to each other when they were young, and meet up again. The guy had a crush on the girl, but she doesn’t remember him.

And…I need a title for it, so any ideas?

You can read it here, under this Read More.

It had been raining since Tuesday, and showed no signs of stopping, so they stood underneath the corrugated iron overhang as they waited for a taxi. Dave watched the movement of John’s mouth and tried to look interested, though the words were lost in the static of the rain hitting the covering above them. People rushed past them with briefcases and grim expressions. A car drove past, sending a spray arcing over the curb. John gestured to the lobby door, and Dave followed him inside. His shoes squeaked on the marble effect floor.

“That’s better, ain’t it? Blimmin’ cold out there.  As I was saying, this girl is amazing. Brains and beauty, you know what I mean? Sure makes me life easier. Gotta have some brains to work in a law firm, ain’t ya, but she’s just – Well, speak of the devil!” John lifted his arm, waving in a way that Dave wasn’t sure was entirely appropriate in any setting, let alone in the lobby of a law firm. Dave looked in the direction of John’s gaze, where a young woman had exited the lift. “Look who it is! Katherine!”

The woman shot a nervous glance around the almost empty lobby. A plump receptionist looked back with narrowed eyes. John continued to wave, and Katherine approached them. “Afternoon, John,” she said.

He couldn’t say what it was that made him sure it was her. He would never have imagined her here, dressed in a business suit and a polite smile. In all the times he’d allowed his mind to wander to his childhood acquaintance, or as his fingertips had smudged the surfaces of the photographs of them together, he had imagined her somewhere bigger, somewhere better than the humdrum hometown she had claimed to hate. 

                “This is Dave Bird,” John said. “Dave, this is the lovely lady I was telling you about –”

“Kat Johnson,” he said. “Nice to see you.”

She extended a hand for him to shake. “It’s Katherine, actually.”

“Kat, don’t stay out too late, ok?” her mother had said. “I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Bird don’t want David out too late either.”

“Whatever,” Kat said.

“I mean it, Katherine.”

He waited at the end of the path. Rather than listening to their exchange, he focused on their small garden gate. There was a small bronze plaque fixed to it which claimed ‘Home Sweet Home’ in cursive letters. Despite seeing it hundreds of times before, he read it again, keeping his eyes on it.

“Fine. I’ll be back by midnight, ok?” she said. “Can I go now?”

“Be back by eleven.”

“Eleven, ok, whatever. I’m leaving now.” Kat pulled the door shut with a force that made the small window rattle. She vaulted the gate, her hands already busy searching for the packet of cigarettes she kept hidden in the bottom of her bag. She smiled when she found it, and shook one out of the packet. “Come on, Birdy boy. Looks like I’m stuck with you.”

Dressed in a black business suit, she didn’t resemble the free spirited next door neighbour from his youth, but he could see the familiar features of the teenage girl that he had admired. He tried to place her into his memories: memories of them standing together in the dark street, slightly down from the houses where their anxious parents waited with the porch lights on. He remembered her directing him to stand next to her and block the view from her parents’ window, in case prying eyes caught the tell-tale light of her cigarette. He did it, even though he knew it wasn’t possible to see. He himself had spent nights searching for the firefly glow from his own bedroom window as she waited for the rumble of a friend’s car engine, the signal of the start of an adventure.

 “Smoking’s bad for your health, you know.”

She took a long drag from her cigarette, and tipped her head back as she exhaled. “So is pissing me off, but it doesn’t stop you, does it?”

He dropped his gaze to his shoes, and they both watched as he kicked at a pebble. It bounced across the pavement, and in to the road.

“Where you going tonight?”

                “Dunno.” She blew a stream of smoke towards him. “Nothing to do here anyways.”

He raised one shoulder in a sort of shrug. “What do you normally do?”

“Just stuff.”

“Like what?”

She sighed and turned to look down the empty road for a car they both knew wasn’t there. “Just stuff, Birdy.”

“Katherine’s the real brains of the operation, ain’t ya?” John laughed, filling in the spaces between them. “Always working, that one. Always working.”

 She smiled at him, before casting her eyes over to the door. “You exaggerate, John.”

“So modest! Ain’t she, Dave? She shouldn’t be so shy, should she?”

“Well, thank you,” she said. “I’d love to stay and chat but I really must go…”

Dave watched as she took another step towards the door. He wondered how well John actually knew her. Shy would never be a word that he would use to describe his Kat.

“You wouldn’t understand anyway. You’re just a kid.”

“I’m not a kid, you know,” he said. “I’m only, like, a year and a half younger than you.”

She dropped the remains of her cigarette in to the gutter. A single curl of smoke rose from it, before she crushed it under the toe of her boot.

”Look, I’m just sucking up to my parents by letting you hang out with me. They think you’ll be a good influence or whatever.” She glanced over her shoulder as another car roared past the entrance to the road. “I don’t have to…to babysit you.”

“You should come with us, Katherine. We were just gonna go for lunch, weren’t we, Dave?”

She shifted her weight from to her other foot and straightened her blouse. “I’m afraid I don’t have time. I’m meeting someone in town.”

“We’ll share a taxi, then. Least we can do. Look, here’s one now, see.”

“That’s very kind of you –” she said.

“Sorted, then. You two stay here, yeah, and I’ll go get us that taxi.”

“I can go,” he said, now watching his feet as if they were putting on a show. “You don’t…you don’t have to hang out with me.”

She shrugged and checked the time on her phone. “Like I said, my parents –” They both turned at the sound of another car engine. This time, it turned in to the road. “Gotta go. My friends are here.”

The headlights of the car lit up the road, sending their shadows crawling across the front garden of Mrs. Peter’s house. Their positions made it seem like the black figures were holding hands.

“Turn your lights off,” she said to the driver, “Wait ‘til we’re out of the street.”  The lights clicked off, and their shadows were swallowed by the evening.

As John left, Dave found himself searching for more hints of the Kat he remembered. Her face was thinner now, and her eyes were hidden behind black rimmed glasses. She seemed to have lost the easy grace that she once held. But these were subtle differences, side effects of growing older.  Her nose was still slightly crooked from when she’d fallen, riding a bike for the first time. The same scar from her first fight curved across her eyebrow.

“Hey,” he said. “We should really, like, get together at some point to catch up.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “But I’m not sure –”

“It’s alright if you’re busy. I could just…like, give you my number or something, and you could…call me if…when you’ve got some time? If that’s alright.” he said. “Reminisce about old times or something. I used to have the biggest crush on you, you know.”

“Oh, that’s…well. Dave, was it?”

“Yeah. Dave Bird?”

“I’m really sorry, Dave. But…well…do I know you?”

“Kat?” he said.

“What, Birdy?” she said. “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to call you a baby, but I gotta go.”

“That’s not it. I just think…” He pulled on the cuff of his jumper. “Never mind.”

“Whatever. Don’t mess this up, alright? If anyone asks, we was just, I dunno, at the cinema or something.”

“Yeah, ok.”

She pulled open the back door, letting light and music spill out on to the pavement. He saw her lean forward to say something to the driver, or to change the song on the radio, as they pulled away from the curb and drove off. He had waited for the headlights to come on at the end of the street, and wondered if he’d ever have the courage to tell her how much he liked her.

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