A Sinister Man or a Romantic Man?

A Sinister Man or a Romantic Man?  A Saturn Herald Short Story.

He couldn’t believe their interest in this ‘girl’,  In many ways she was so normal.  She was single – which is ‘normal’ (ish)/ and a mother of grown children – and had become a grandmother while he had been employed to investigate her. There are lots of single women out there, so really that part of her identity wasn’t an issue.  The most soul-suffusing element of her rubbish – which he had to go through on a regular basis, on behalf of “the council”, was her discarded prayers – carefully hand written, and scrunched into a ball and thrown in the refuse bag. Usually there was also a used tea- light candle in the bag, presumably burnt out while she said her heavenly  prayer to its light. Her prayers  asked God to protect her and her family, and thanked him for his goodness to her, and one more thing – she always asked God for guidance on how she should best spend her life and days – should she help the homeless,  for example, was a regular request to God for which she required guidance.  She also asked God to please bring a good and loving man into her life with whom she was compatible.  Unthinkingly, she had scrunched up her prayers and placed them with her discarded items, with little notion that they would ever be read by anyone else.  But someone, somewhere had made a suggestion that she was involved in something illegal – hence his little job – to include her refuse in his daily search for clues about her ‘operations’.  Absolutely nothing had come of it!

Her scrunched-up prayers had commanded his time.  He found himself thinking about them and the way she must have grabbed a few minutes to write out what she wanted to say – and then gone through the ritual of the lighted candle and the saying of them to God.  He imagined her creative and comely hands clasped as she read out her prayers then ‘religiously’ condemned them to the waste basket afterwards. He wondered why she didn’t keep them all in a folder – such was the possible transience of her life that this option didn’t occur to her. They were beautifully written – and on quality paper…..

Other things in her waste bag which occupied his thoughts  were receipts from restaurants.  She had quite a few friends and ate out regularly with them.  She seemed to like South American, Chinese and Indian.  Then there were the cinema tickets – a film about once a week, and then theatre  – once a month or so. He did indeed  have a personal profile of this woman that would look good on a dating website, and wondered to himself why she was still doggedly single all the time he had been employed to go through her rubbish – for more than one year.  Had someone been cruel to her in her past?

Then the job stopped. Suddenly.  He was told that she was no longer a suspect in the case.  His personal work had helped to show that she was guilty of nothing.  No fraud, no drugs, no crime of any kind.  He felt like a saint and he asked himself why he felt that way.  Well, it was having the personal access to an innocent woman – someone whom he was going to miss tremendously.  He had never met her, but he knew her name, date of birth, address and lots of other information.  He tried to carry on without her, but he found it difficult.

Then he found out his live-in girlfriend, Cheryl, of two years, was cheating on him.  It was simple enough.  He saw her kissing a man outside a pub when he was driving home

after a late shift.  He didn’t stop the car to confront her, deciding to talk to her when she came back.  But she phoned him. “Hi Brian, I’m out of town with my friend, Barbara, and I’ve decided to stay at hers.  We went out in Kent.  See you tomorrow.”   Well, he knew that wasn’t true, and she was living in his flat, so the next day he told her it was over between them, and she moved out.

Before long he was trawling the websites to find a new girlfriend.  And suddenly – he saw a name and a profile  that he recognised.   His ‘Angel amongst the rubbish’ was there, large as life, and looking stunning, advertising herself as fortyish, single, creative and romantic.  Looking for a sensitive (well they all want someone sensitive!)  humorous, loyal and  handsome partner.  As he homed-in on her details, he took a large gulp of his wine, and began to pen his reply.  He had to keep his occupation very shady – police investigator would not attract many ladies!  He took another gulp and settled for “reporter – freelance”, and then changed it to “freelance writer”.  Yes, that seemed good!  He continued to let his Angel amongst the rubbish know that he was single – recently out of a two-year relationship and liked South American, Indian and Chinese cuisine and was a keen cinemagoer, with an occasional taste for theatre!  He was confident he would have her hooked! He pressed the send button, and then, thinking about his Angel’s prayers, brushed his teeth and got ready for bed.  But sleep would not come – he was going to have a date with his Angel and he was too excited to let slumber overtake him!! But when sleep did come, he dreamt of her creative and comely hands clasped round his head and planting kisses on his face. The prayers were somewhere in the dream but not the main part of it.

In the morning, he rushed to his computer before work to see if he had a reply.  His Angel had said she was interested in a meeting.  Wow!  Now it was just a case of setting something up.  He ruminated on the thought of how she must never find out about his real job, but on the other hand, he knew it wouldn’t really matter if somehow  she eventually  did, because she had been in the clear from the very start!  What about meeting in Church on a Sunday morning, then going for a lunch at a local pub or restaurant?  He suggested All Souls, Langham Place at the Sunday morning service, and thought this would appeal greatly to her.  He was an occasional churchgoer himself – though very occasional. He didn’t know anyone at that church, so it was a good neutral  meeting point to see if they would hit it off together.  Sure enough, the reply came through and their first date was set! God was not only looking out for her and answering her prayers, but bringing him into the plan!  It was so exciting!

She arrived as planned and they met outside the church.  He kissed her on both cheeks, holding her hand gently, and noticed that her hands were as he had imagined – creative and comely.  She had a sweet and very slightly lemony- musky scent.  Her hair was beautifully combed and shiny, and her outfit was modest but attractive – a flowing skirt, just to the knees, flat sandals with beads and baubles on them and an open blouse over a well-fitting T shirt top. He wore an open necked shirt with a jacket and his best trousers, carrying an umbrella in case of rain. They found a good place in the church and the service began.  It surprised him immensely when the sermon was preached.  The Minister was on her hobby horse about love and how it happened to you in the most amazing ways and places.  For all those people who were looking for love, never give up and never think there won’t be opportunities presented in the most unusual of situations where  you were least expecting it, she urged.  The chemistry between two people will always surface – at work, at lunch, on a bench in the park, at a bus stop, as well as for example, at Church.  Then it is within your power to decide how to deal with that chemistry and if you decide to go ahead and start a relationship, then plan to make it loving, giving, prosperous and happy, never leaving God out of your day to day dealings with your partner, especially thanking God for your union together.

The ‘Angel of the rubbish’ squeezed his hand and looked into his eyes, and he knew at that moment that she was heaven sent.  They would eat afterwards – South American, Chinese or Indian, walk and talk in the park, then maybe see a movie,  and all the love for her that had welled up inside him since he had been on her case would be channelled into making her secure and happy and focussed.  He had had an ‘off and on’ relationship with God, but now, deep down, he knew that somehow, God was guiding both him and her in the most mysterious possible of ways, to be together – friends and lovers. He bent to his knees on the cushion, clasped his strong hands together and thanked God for bringing them together.  As soon as he opened his eyes again, he found her looking at him – an innocent charm embracing her face, with the look of an Angel.

And if she ever found out that he had been on her case for a year – well, he would pray to God that this would be accepted and forgiven. Perhaps he needed to leave a few scrunched-up prayers of his own in the waste basket and take a long shower when she started coming to stay with him overnight – but would she ever read them?  He could leave them surreptitiously on his desk?  It was now in the hands of the Gods, but he and his Angel seemed to be truly made for each other, and time would tell about his good feeling, and the happiest day of his life so far.  He smiled at her, took her hand, and they headed out of the Church for their first meal together.

by Penny Nair Price