Something to gain - a short story

 Debbie was sitting in her cosy patchwork armchair, in her cosy nook of the living room, a frame of botanical watercolour paintings on the walls around her, and a cup of steaming tea on the small mahogany table beside her. The clock on the mantelpiece read 11 o’clock and she was nestling in to read the latest U3A magazine, as she would every Sunday morning. She picked up her cup and took a tentative sip but decided it was still too hot to drink, so she carefully set it back on her coaster, covering the image of a kingfisher perched on a branch. 

 

She opened her magazine to the point she reached last week, marked with a neatly folded corner, and began to peruse the readers’ letters. She always enjoyed reading the various opinions of readers; which ranged from outrage to marvel and everything in between. 

 

After finishing the letters she turned the page she saw the personal adverts section. Normally she would skip past these but for some reason, perhaps out of bored curiosity, this particular Sunday she decided to read them. 

 

The adverts for accommodation in hotter climates conjured a fantasy in her mind of sitting on a hot, sunny beach, a cocktail in hand and waves lapping at her toes. A few moments later the sound of a lawnmower starting up outside snapped her back to reality, and felt a lurch of disappointment to have swapped sand and cocktails for cushions and tea. A rejuvenating sip of her lovely hot, and now not too hot, tea dusted off the remainders of her disappointment, and she returned her attention to the magazine. 

 

She browsed through the adverts seeking companionship with lazy attention and the occasional good-natured chuckle. After taking a big gulp of tea she moved on to the next submission, and what she read caught her focus so fiercely she almost choked on her tea: 

 

“Male, 74 years Divorced for several years. Seeking female companion for LTR.

Interested in history, reading, the countryside, most forms of music and much more. Honest and genuine. But please don’t take my word. Why not see for yourself? There’s nothing to lose and possibly something to gain.”

 

Something about those words, so carefully chosen, drew her in and made her want to know more. While she certainly did share this stranger’s interests, it was the boldness and originality of the challenge he included that intrigued her and made her want to find out if there was truly something to gain. 

 

In that moment she shrugged these thoughts off as silliness, but the words followed her into the rest of the day and wiggled their way into her brain, firmly planting themselves and refusing to budge. As she ate her dinner alone in front of  the TV that night, the words “possibly something to gain” were echoing around her head. 

 

It had been 5 years since her beloved husband John had passed. She did her best to convince herself otherwise, but in truth she was lonely without him. He had brought a light and warmth to the home that she attempted to replicate with lamps and soft furnishings, but her attempts always fell short. She had never considered attempting to find a new companion; the ghost of John had been taking too much space for that. However, if she was honest with herself, time had been quietly clearing room for a while now. 

 

She woke up the next day with a determined resolution. She would respond to that man. Before she could convince herself otherwise she penned her response:

“Dear anonymous writer of a personal ad, 

I am a widow of 5 years who adores reading, would enjoy talking with you about history, and looks forward to exploring the countryside with you. I value honesty and I found your proposition intriguing. It seems we share many common interests, would you wish to meet with me and see if we could offer companionship to each other?

Warm regards, Debbie”

 

After sliding this letter into an envelope, she quickly wrote the PO box and affixed a stamp. As soon as this was complete, not allowing for any hesitation, she put on her boots and coat and walked purposefully to the postbox at the end of the road. Watching the envelope slip out of view she experienced a momentary panic. But after taking a deep breath, she managed convince herself she didn’t need to see if her arm could fit through the postbox window to retrieve the letter, and instead felt a budding excitement at what might occur.