This is Not America
Dear Dr Feel-good,
You know that your name should be hyphenated, right? Just thought I'd mention it, I know how much the ladies love it when I correct their punctuation.
Was today better than yesterday? I half expected to log on to find (another) drunken midnight e-mail. I'm assuming the lack of one to be a good sign?!
Just remember, 'This is Not America...' today this is...let me think...today this is France - Flavigny-sur-Ozerain to be exact. A village in the north-east situated on a rocky spur, surrounded by three streams: the Ozerain, the Recluse (brilliant name, huh?) and the Verpant.
Imagine that you are waking up in a room flanked by grey stone walls, and through the open window the breeze that flutters the white linen curtains carries the bitterness of coffee – freshly ground and hot as the air.
Imagine eating warm butter croissants on your balcony over looking the village – no more hurry and bustle of Michigan City, instead the languid dawdling of balding Frenchmen with moustaches on their way to the local chocolaterie to buy handmade chocolates for a beautiful woman...you?
Let me know how you get on,
Capt. America
She smiled as she powered off the tablet. 'Yes', she murmured under her breath. Yes that was enough.
She drew in a breath, and exhaled slowly. She would reply later, after her shift.
The first message had appeared just days after her arrival in Saugatuck, Michigan. A brief message from a man from somewhere in Holby, a brief, tenuous link to 'home', that she somehow found herself clinging on to.
They had no need for personal details, he was Captain America, she was Dr Feel Good, in this strange world of online 'dating'. They knew nothing of each other except their vague location, and yet that was enough.
His first message had been short, a quick shot at gaining her attention:
To: Dr Feel Good
From: Captain America
A doctor tells a pharmacist, "Give me some prepared tablets of acetylsalicylic acid."
"Do you mean aspirin?" asks the pharmacist.
The doctor slaps his forehead. "That's it!" he says. "I can never remember the name."
To: Captain America
From: Dr Feel Good
Was that an attempt at a joke?
Was all she had written in response, and he had replied almost instantly despite the time difference.
In the weeks that followed it was the early morning messages from him that had got her through the each long day. She was home sick and he made every effort he could to put these beautiful images into her head, and she would find that she would repeat it to herself under her breath throughout her day...This is not America, this is Australia, Berlin, a beach in Thailand that he had forgotten the name of...
She was lonely, there was no denying that. She missed her flat, her friends...Max...sometimes she missed him so much that she could barely breathe, and yet she couldn't find it within herself to contact him, not yet. Maybe when the loneliness had dissipated, and the fear and slug of jet lag had waned...
-.-
This was an idea that came to me after watching Zoe's last episode. The story will be loosely based on the film You've Got Mail.
Please let me know by reviewing if you would like to read more! :)
xxx