Chapter 1
Charlie sat at his computer, reading his latest message. He hadn’t owned a computer before, but his two sons and daughter bought him one for his sixty-seventh birthday and talked him into joining Facebook. That way they can all talk to each other and he wouldn’t feel so lonely, they said, as if loneliness can be solved by a bit of plastic that can't talk back to you.
Charlie was smart though and quickly mastered it, so much so that he found a couples site, guaranteed to find your soul mate. He poured through the site and was amazed at all the good looking women and men and wondered why they hadn’t found each other but then a piece of mischief started forming in his mind. Basically, he was bored.
He decided to create a false identity and see what happened. He found a photograph of a construction worker. He was dressed in work shorts, boots and hard hat. His bare muscular chest glistened with sweat as he swung off the edge of some scaffolding. Perfect, he thought. He was made twenty four years old and his name became Grant. He liked surfing, motor bikes and fast cars. So as not to make him too masculine he also liked reading, walks in the moonlight and cooking. Thus he bated the hook and cast his line.
He got many bites and he settled on a slim blonde, blue eyed woman of twenty two who also liked reading, walking in the moonlight and cooking. She also liked partying, night clubs and dancing. He sent out a poke and was surprised when she almost immediately replied with a “Hi”.
The conversation progressed to an exchange of names, she was called Harriet and other personnel details. In passing, he mentioned he liked night clubs as well and then she stumped him by asking what was his favourite night club. Charlie hadn’t been to a nightclub since his deceased wife’s fortieth birthday and so began the hard tedious work of corroborating his lies and the Internet was invaluable.
The chatter between them grew into something more intimate and gradually their came pronouncements of love and desire and very soon Charlie realised he was falling in love with this blonde haired girl. Unfortunately when you reach sixty seven years of age you become something of a realist and Charlie understood this was never going to work since it was based on lies and that he was old enough to be her grandfather. He realised the time had arrived when he read the message on the screen.
“My darling Grant
I miss you, my body misses you. I ache for you and want to wake up beside you. I often dream of meeting you, of skipping away for a night by the beach.
I love you
Harriet”
He stared at this message. He couldn’t do it any more. It was tearing at his heart but he couldn’t bring himself to just end it. At least he would try to see her, from a distance.
He sent a message.
“My love,
I yearn for you also. I think it is time to meet, To hold hands and talk about the future.
I love you
Grant”
Half an hour later the answer came back.
“One pm on Friday at the Roasted Bean coffee shop.”
Was all it said.
The woman who sent it, Harriet, aka Ann-Marie, laboured over that sentence. It had to end, she thought, and they couldn’t meet. He would discover his beloved Harriet was a sixty five year old widow. The resulting scene would be humiliating for everyone. She felt regret at getting involved in this but she was so lonely.
She had been using the couples site for some time but she had always used her genuine profile but she got so discouraged with the lack of response. She would try contacting men of her own age, there wasn’t very many of them and nobody wanted to talk to her. In a fit of self pity she created Harriet and almost immediately was contacted. She picked Grant but it was hard work trying to keep the lies up but she felt if was worth it as Grant woke the fire in her that she had long thought dead.
She stared at the screen again. She should just end it now but she couldn’t, she had to see him. She would keep her distance, hide and just look. He would be disappointed but at least that was better than being disillusioned. She pushed the send button.
Harriet arrived at the coffee shop ten minutes early. It was very full with the lunch time business crowd, out for their Gluten free sandwich or spinach roll and latte. Ann-Marie found a table just vacated by a busy couple and sipped her coffee and started looking around nervously. Charlie arrived ten minutes after one pm. His eyes searched for somewhere to sit but the place was full of aspiring young people and he had no desire to share a table with any of the them when he spied Ann-Marie.
“Excuse me” he said, “could I share the table? ”
Ann-Marie nodded her head not taking much notice of Charlie. Both elderly people then ignored each other as they scanned the thronging crowd looking for their lover.
Gradually the lunchtime crowd thinned to a few people and Charlie had come to the sad conclusion that he was stood up. Suddenly he became aware of the lady opposite him and he realised there were tears running from her eyes. She looked very sad.
“Excuse me,” he said, “are you ok?”
“Yes yes,” said Ann-Marie, “just a touch of conjunctivitis. It will pass when I get out of here”
Looking at the woman he said, “Why don’t we grab another cup of coffee and some cakes and have them in the park together. ”
Ann-Marie was taken aback but as she didn’t want to be alone at the moment she agreed.
They sat in the park and talked. They talked about themselves, their deceased partners, their children and grandchildren, especially Ann-Marie’s newest granddaughter. They talked about the past holidays and the mischief their children had got up to. The talked about their aches and pains and stays in hospital. They talked about everything but neither mentioned anything about why they were in the coffee shop. Both individual realised they had never talked like this to their online lovers.
Suddenly Ann-Marie said, “My goodness look at the time. I must be going.”
She stood up. Charlie stood up also and feeling like a sixteen year old asking a girl for a date, he nervously asked, “Can I have your phone number so I might speak to you again.”
With all the excitement and nervousness of a sixteen year old girl Ann-Marie gave him the number and as the both went off in opposite directions they both thought that this was a much better way than tapping on a keyboard and staring at an image on the screen.
The end
PS Nether one of them ever touched or mentioned the couples site ever again
