Club Foyer>Rainwear Vignettes>A Capital Affair
He sat in the Capital’s airport, taking in the passing parade, and waiting for his colleagues to arrive so they could share a mini-bus into the city for their two day meeting. She walked tentatively in his direction, glancing nervously from the arrival/departure monitor to the boarding pass clutched in her gloved hand. Nothing much unusual about that for a busy terminal one would think, but on a mild spring morning, when other commuters and travellers carried jackets or coats over their arms, this well groomed, early middle-aged women wore a classic British raincoat, tightly belted and buckled with the top button fastened, and the hem halfway down her calf length boots.
His heart leapt as she chose the seat next to him, and they exchanged shy glances. He liked to spend his waiting time at the airport guessing fellow travellers’ destinations and reasons for travelling – the business people and civil servants were easy, the briefcases and suits a dead giveaway – but she had only a clutch purse, and didn’t show the travel weary signs of international flight. He longed to complement her on her turnout, but not knowing what the response would be, he couldn’t bring himself to; and by now his throat was so dry with excitement that the words would have come out like a strangled mutter, so he buried himself in his newspaper with the odd covert glance toward his neighbour.
All too soon there was a boarding call for a provincial airport, and she swept away – was that an enigmatic glance from the departure gate back to where she had been sitting? Could she tell the effect she had on him? Was the nervous disposition about flying, or was there another tightly wrapped reason? It seemed strange to him that someone so securely attired should appear so diffident.
Over a decade later he still ponders that fleeting encounter with the mysterious woman, did that wonderful coat hide some special mystery, or nothing at all? Was it covering a secret only she would ever know, or was someone awaiting her arrival at her destination who would be fortunate enough to share it with her, could they be in for a special surprise?
K.M.
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