It's A Date!

This humorous short story by Sandra Beswetherick takes place at a summer fête.

- Sandra Beswetherick

DO you fancy a fling?” When the man separated himself from the boisterous cheering crowd and approached from across the playing field, Kate hadn’t been considering candidates for a gentleman friend.

Nor had she taken much care with her appearance today. Dressed in her gardening clothes – khakis, an oversized jumper and her worn trainers – she’d come to this event primarily to relax and enjoy.

So this man’s invitation was a bit . . . unexpected, to say the least.

The man, tall, lanky, a thatch of salt-and-pepper hair poking from beneath his bucket-style hat, resembled not so much a prince, in her opinion, as the scarecrow from “The Wizard Of Oz”.

His face was deeply lined and tanned as though he, like the scarecrow, spent a good deal of his time outdoors. In his blue eyes she caught a glint of mischief.

Kate arched an eyebrow at his question and the wide grin that accompanied it. She’d no intention of becoming any man’s passing fancy, something many of the men she’d dated lately seemed to have uppermost in their minds.

“Only if the fling involves that boot,” Kate answered resolutely, pointing at the wellington in his hand.

Kate was newly arrived on the dating scene. She’d been married to Andrew for over twenty years before he passed away. She would never stop missing him, not for a single day, but he would have been the first to point out that life was for living.

There had come a day in her life when she realised that being alone had turned into being lonely. Her cousin Gemma thought online dating was the way to go.

“Though you may have to kiss more than a few toads before you find your prince,” she’d cautioned.

Gemma had been lucky enough to meet her prince three years ago through online dating and was moving to Christchurch, New Zealand, to become his wife.