Forever Always

After a less than adventurous day in the office it was now time for Gemma Irwin to ride the train home, then catch a bus to her little town and walk back to the little unit she rented to rest with her feet up before beginning the whole mind numbing process again the next day.The suburbs flew past her window as she gazed at the people on the train. So many despondent lack lustre people all fused into their computers, texting on the phone but mostly unaware of everything around them except for the digital device in their hands and it was like this day after day.

Suddenly over the loud speaker in the roof of the train came a computer generated voice saying...

‘LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WE WOULD KINDLY LIKE YOU TO EXIT THE TRAIN AT THE NEXT STOP AS WE HAVE DETECTED SOME DAMAGE THAT NEEDS REPAIRS. BUSES HAVE BEEN ORGANISED FOR YOU AND WILL ARRIVE AT THE STATION IN 30 MINUTES.’

‘WE ARE SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.’

Collectively the entire train groaned its disapproval at the completion of the message and there was a mad hurried grab for bags and belongings then everyone was standing ready to disembark at the next approaching railway station. Once the train had come to a complete stop the doors opened and everyone inside the broken train including Gemma poured out into the station then directly across the road and into all the coffee shops to talk quite angrily about the service and missed connections they all had to endure.

Gemma just walked across the main road, ordered her take away coffee and decided to stretch her legs and to also have a browse of the local shops. This was something she never did because of the time it took to get to work and home. The coffee was hot and helped relieve the tension she felt at being stopped on her journey homeward. The shops were predictable in their content and basically this was an exercise in time wasting waiting for the first of several buses to get her closer to home.

As Gemma shuffled her way along the sidewalk only stopping to look at something that caught her eye,she noticed a very clean window that belonged to a book store and mixed antique shop. She looked at her wristwatch and saw that she had time to have a look inside so she put her coffee in the rubbish bin close by and opened the door to the shop. Instantly she was taken by the smell that lingered in the air. It was a mixture of old paper, musty clothing and sage incense.

Gemma walked amongst everything that was on offer. There was old hand sown dolls, old cigarette boxes, mirrors encrusted with shells, necklaces made with the teeth from a sharks, porcupine fish, inflated and dried. She stopped to chuckle at a 5 piece band playing tiny musical instruments on a piece of driftwood that were all frogs. On closer inspection she could see that the frogs were real and that had been stuffed and varnished.

There were other objects of delight and interest claiming her instant attention; there were quaint twisted candlesticks in the shape of snakes, a teapot fashioned like a china duck, out of whose open beak the tea was supposed to come. And there was a carved sandal-wood box packed tight with aromatic cotton-wool, and between the layers of cotton-wool were little brass figures, hump-necked bulls and peacocks and goblins, delightful to see and handle. Less promising in appearance was a smallbook with a plain brown leather cover with gold writing that presented itself to her gaze.

There was something in the title that pulled at her heartstrings. She picked it up and the book fell open to expose beautiful handwriting that took two looks to really understand what was being written. It appeared to Gemma to be a diary of sorts with dates long gone and she guessed the author had been dead for a number of years...but there was something that she liked about it ...so she bought it. There was a pleasant exchange between the shop owner and Gemma but out of the corner of her eye she saw the first bus pull up so she bid the owner farewell, put her new book in her bag and scrambled to get into the first bus.

Gemma put her bag between her knees and sat down waiting for the bus to commence its journey. As soon as the bus lurched off on its journey Gemma looked down between her knees at her bag and saw the leather neck of the book and its title. Again she could hardly wait to start reading it once she got home and had some dinner, shower and got comfy in bed to see what it was about. There was a part of her that thought it might end up a bit boring if she couldn’t understand it but then her heart spoke to her...

‘How could a beautiful book such as this be boring with such an alluring title...Forever Always.’

She could hardly wait to start it......

As soon as Gemma got home she set about clearing the breakfast dishes she’d left and making herself some dinner, then it was off to have a shower and wash the city off her body and put some comfy and cozy pyjamas on. It was now time to kick back, relax and have a read.

Reading was like an escape from reality for Gemma. When she picked up any book and started reading, she got so sucked into it that she forgot any of her surroundings. Her imagination took over and she was free to fantasise about whatever she wanted without worrying that people would judge her. It’s like she can create a little world in her mind and imagine what the characters would look like and how they act. It’s crazy how much something as casual as reading can leave such an impact on you.

Now that she was comfortable she reached into her bag that was beside her bed and retrieved the new purchase and just looked at it for a minute. She tilted it towards her nose and sniffed it. It had that old leathery smell about it. She took a sip of the drink on her bed side table then opened the cover and began to read…