Chapter 1: The Meeting
Tina lay in her bed, feeling great despair. Was this going to be her life? Awkward, alone and totally clueless. She had one escape, the world her words unlocked in her poetry offerings. She definitely did not want her mother's life as her own. Her mother was not from this city. Far from her family, she had done what she thought was best for her young daughter. Her mother had visited Jonneston on her vacation and ended up staying for twenty odd years. Falling pregnant out of wedlock was unacceptable in her heyday. When my father presented himself as her knight in shining armour, even though she saw him for exactly what he was, an insecure man wrapped in tin foil. She had accepted the rescue attempt and joined him on the journey. Now, three children later she was living in captivity. Tina shook herself in an attempt to rid her mind of the useless musings. At the age of nineteen, she still had no idea which direction her life would take. Tina had enjoyed her schooling career. Facts and functions and equations never changed on you, never turned away from you. Then her mother fell ill and was diagnosed with a condition that affected the clamps of her heart. Her whole world changed then. She was taken out of school in grade 12 to nurse her mother to health after her corrective surgery. That was two years ago and thank goodness, her mother had recovered. Tina and her mother had always been extremely close. Her mother was a very strong, vibrant and independent women despite the cards life had dealt her. I will be happy if ii could just be half the woman she is, thought Tina.
"Tina! Tina!"
Her mother's voice broke through her reverie.
"Coming, mom!", yelled Tina in reply as she made her way to the kitchen. The aroma of cooking stew met her as she turned the corner into the kitchen.
"There you are. Go to the shop for me. I did not know that we were low on rice", said her mother as she turned to reach for her purse. Tina took the money and shoved it into her jean pocket. She walked into the bathroom and checked her face and hair in the mirror. She smoothed her favourite black Slipknot t-shirt, straightened her sneakers laces, and left for the shop.
Her friend Becca was behind the counter today. Oh yes, it is Saturday, thought Tina.
"Hey, Becks.", greeted Tina.
"Hi Tina. You have been scarce."
"Yeah, I know. Sorry I haven't been around that much lately. My mother has been having off days."
"It's cool. Is she ok now?", asked Becca.
"Yes, she's up and about. Shocker⌠she's cooking up a storm again. She sent me for a bag of rice, make it a 1kg."
"Wanna hang out later? Maybe watch some movies, I will organize the snacks?", coaxed Becca.
Tina scrounged up her face in thought.
"Come on, think of it as a well needed break," said Becca.
"Hey you, how 'sit stranger?", greeted Becca's brother, Abe excitedly as he strode in behind the counter followed by a woman dressed in jeans, biker boots black t-shirt and black leather jacket. Her black hair was cut short just above the ear and fell into a sleek middle path. Tina's eyes locked with hers and for some reason she struggled to break the contact.
"You two haven't met. Tina this is my friend Danika," said Abe.
She extended her hand over the counter too Tina.
"It's Danny," she corrected Abe fixing him with a long suffering look. Tina's heart started pounding in her ears as she placed her hand in Danny's. Tingles spread up her hand right through to her elbow. Tina abruptly broke contact and took an involuntary step back.
"I've got to go. My mother is waiting on the rice," said Tina facing Becca.
Becca smiled curiously and exchanged the monies for the rice.
"Say you will come," urged Becca.
"I will message you," replied Tina as she turned and made her way back home. What the hell..?, thought Tina lost in thought. She missed the oncoming pole by mere inches. Tina handed the rice to her mother and escaped to her room. The picture of Danny kept popping up in her mind and her strange reaction to her. She never reacted that way to anyone before.