AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's a very short story that popped into my head today. And, I know, I should be working on An old story. Sorry…
Barbara sat down cross-legged on her bed, a pencil in one hand and in the other a list she had written ten years ago now, on her thirtieth birthday.
THINGS TO DO BEFORE I TURN 40
'Time to see if you've wasted your time, Babs,' she mumbled.
1/ HAVE MY OWN HOME
Done!, she wrote next to that first entry.
It's not a big house, but it's mine.
2/ BECOME A DI
Seriously compromised.
For the moment I'm just happy I've not been sacked yet.
3/ HAVE ONE TRUE FRIEND
That one's a success!
I have two of them!, she wrote happily thinking about Tommy and Winston.
4/ QUIT SMOKING
Does e-cigarette count?
5/ VISIT ITALY
I went to Tuscany.
For work, she added in her head but no on the paper.
6/ MAKE A PARACHUTE JUMP
Not done but Tommy let me fly his plane once.
Which was perhaps even better.
7/ LOSE 20 POUNDS
I put on 17!
No comment…
8/ Go and see an opera
Not done but working with Tommy has more than fulfilled my curiosity. After spending the last 8 years listening to operas in his car or in his house, now I know.
Probably more than is safe for my sanity...
9/ HAVE A CHILD
I have Winnie! :-)
And that's already a lot of work.
10/…
She chewed on her pencil as she considered the last point. It was a tricky one, a late addition she had made about seven years ago. Perhaps she'd better put it on her things-to-do-before-I'm-50 list. She glanced at her alarm clock. 11:17 pm. In less than one hour she'd be 40.
'Oh, sod it!' she swore, 'I missed too many opportunities already.'
She grabbed her mobile phone and texted a short message she read and re-read several times.
'YOLO, old girl!', she thought and she hit the Send button.
She waited anxiously for an answer.
At 11:30, she jumped when her phone beeped. A message…With shaking hands she unlocked her mobile but it was only a text from Winston who was teasing her about her last moments as a thirtyish woman. He had been pestering her all day. She ignored it superbly.
At 11:50, she had still received no answer and by now she was certain she had made a fool of herself again. She would have to rack her brains hard and find an excuse for her text message or the next decade would be a lot harder than this one, which has not been an easy ride.
A couple of minutes before midnight, someone knocked on her door.
Sure it was Winston who had come to celebrate her birthday she opened without taking a look outside first.
It wasn't Winston.
Two strong hands cupped her head and hungry lips captured hers.
'And I, you,' Tommy whispered between two kisses.
With his foot he kicked the door closed, and still kissing they staggered to her bed on which they tumbled.
Her alarm clock rung.
'What's that?', Tommy asked.
'It's officially my birthday; I'm forty.'
'Happy birthday, Barbara,' he said.
When his hands got under the tee-shirt she used as a pyjamas top she knew this would be the best birthday she had ever have.
On her bedside table, laid her list.
It said: 10/ Tell Tommy I love him.
