Blind date

For all the exercises we've done, today was the first time we've used first person. Since we are taking quotes from books, there is no reason not to. When we started doing these exercises, we were in a café and would use someone walking by as a trigger. Then when we did the exercises with Skype we tried finding a photo. A line from a book works best. This was from Seaside by Scarlett Thomas.

Thank you for dinner, I said. My grandmother’s dictate to always be polite won out over reality. I didn’t want to thank him at all.

Okay, the food had been good but then baked stuffed lobster is my favourite meal and I’m too cheap to order it when I’m paying. And I wouldn’t have had he not insisted because almost as soon as I picked up the menu I knew this blind date was going absolutely nowhere.

Why?

They say women talk a lot. He barely took a breath between sentences talking about his job, his last 22 golf games, which is only a slight exaggeration, his dog, his car. He didn’t ask one question about me. I had finished most of my main course before he even took a bite.

At least it’s only one evening wasted.

 *****

I hope she likes me he thought. I gave her enough information about myself. She had to know I earn a good salary and I’m a great athlete. And she has to be impressed with my Porsche, a classic. And when I described how I polished the car with turtle wax each Saturday morning, I hope she realized that I take care of things in my life.

Of course, the fact that she did agree to the lobster makes me wonder if she’s a spendthrift. When she said how much she loved it, what else could I do but encourage her to order it. She didn’t have to, but she did enjoy it.

 

She eats awfully fast. She was almost done before I even got started.

I doubt if I’ll ask her out again, although I’m sure she’ll be disappointed.