Rachel

Not able to sleep Tomas studied the sleeping girl by his side, trying to work out in his head what had just happened. Thinking back to the previous night and the student union bar he smiled as he remembered the events which had unfolded and in his reverie he never noticed Rachel opening her eyes until she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. “We shouldn’t be doing this” she whispered in his ear. 

“You’re telling me, you’re my girlfriend’s best friend! I always knew you wanted to break us up but I never knew why until last night.”

“No that’s not why” Rachel shook her head vehemently “I never wanted this to happen. I just don’t think that you’re good for Claire. Ever since she met you she’s been changing, she’s even stopped going to church.”

“You can’t blame me for that. Just because I don’t believe there’s some all knowing being up there looking over us doesn’t mean Claire has to believe that too. They’re my beliefs, she can make up her own mind.”

“What about tonight? Will you let her make up her own mind about what we did?”

“What do you think?” Tomas looked into Rachel’s eyes trying to determine what she was thinking. “Are you?”

Rachel shook her head “of course not. Not because of you though I just don’t want to lose a good friend.” Swinging her legs over the side of the bed Rachel picked up her jeans and started to put them on. “I better be going, I’ve got church tomorrow.”

Despite knowing it was wrong Tomas couldn’t help smiling as he watched Rachel getting dressed. “I hope I’m going to be making an appearance in your next confessional.”

Buttoning up her blouse, Rachel looked back at the boy she used to hate for ruining her best friend’s life and sighed as she thought back to the arguments they’d had the night before. “I’ve got to, I might have enjoyed what we did but I still have to ask for forgiveness.”

“And that will make it all right will it? Just because you let some middle aged vicar jack off to your indiscretions everything’s going to be OK between you and him upstairs as long as you do the right amount of Hail Marys?”

“You know that’s not how it works and I have to confess or how else am I to be forgiven?”

“But are you sorry about what we did? Shouldn’t that be the most important thing about forgiveness?” Sitting up Tomas looked at Rachel, “I mean is it forgiveness just to say a few words? Surely you have to mean them as well!” In front of him Rachel continued buttoning up her blouse and feeling angry at the silence Tomas continued. “I know we’re never going to but shouldn’t we be asking forgiveness from Claire? Surely she’s the only one who can grant us absolution.”

“I know she is but are you going to tell her?”

“Of course I’m not but I still feel guilty. I love Claire I really do but I’m not man enough to admit to her my mistakes. Sometimes I wish I could but I’m too scared I’d lose her.”

Rachel never knew why she did it but leant across the bed and kissed him softly on the lips, “you know maybe Claire isn’t the fool I thought she was going out with you.” Tomas pushed forward hoping to rekindle the passion of the previous night but Rachel simply smiled before standing up and walking out of the door.

Rachel and Tomas sinned again and again even after Tomas had broken up with Claire and sometimes Rachel even confessed everything to that middle aged priest yet neither of them ever found out whether they had been forgiven. Tomas thinks he never will.

An Interesting Question

Are we the last to know?

The first seeds that are sowed,

Are our thoughts ever heard?

Or are they just words?

An interesting question!

Are we ever consulted?

Unless we have voted,

Do they listen to our voice?

Or ignore it out of choice.

An interesting question!

Why what when who?

Where how do you?

An interesting question!

Are we the unseen masses?

Marked as middle classes,

Do they simply nod their heads?

Then do what they want instead.

An interesting question!

Is this the world that we’ve made?

Or are we just simply afraid,

Will we ever learn to stand?

Try to make them understand.

An interesting question!

Why what when who?

Where how do you?

An interesting question!

Are we the last human beings?

To be cursed by feelings,

Will the evolution produce others?

Who won’t care about our brothers?

An interesting question!

Why what when who?

Where how do you?

An interesting question!

Poppy

10:30 THURSDAY

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Tomas asked open mouthed as he stared at his best friend, who seemed to be auditioning for a place in a rodeo. “You haven’t even had a drink yet?”

 “I’m just getting down with the music,” Ian replied without a trace of irony. “I’ve got a good feeling about tonight. The ladies better be watching out.”

“That’s true you might punch one of them in the face.” Searching through the faces around the dance floor in Chico’s Tomas wished that sometimes his friend was a little less entertaining, especially at times like this when it seemed every eye in the nightclub was upon them. As his eyes met those of his fellow revellers Tomas tried in vain to convey the fact he had no idea who the crazy man dancing beside him was but to no avail. Then by the bar he noticed the prettiest girl he had ever seen looking at him. “Who is that?” Tomas asked himself before his heart skipping a beat, she smiled then winked in his direction.

 “Did you see that? You’re in there mate,” Ian informed him as he continued to audition for David Brent’s dance double.

“I’m going to speak to her,”

“What?” Stopping in mid pose Ian looked at Tomas in disbelief. “You can’t do that. That’s not how it works.”

“And dancing like the funky monkey is? I thought the idea of tonight was for us to pull.”

“It is but times are changing haven’t you heard of ladettes? These days the girls do all the chasing.”

Laughing Tomas shook his head at Ian, “don’t be so stupid we’re men. We do the chasing. I’ve told you stop reading your sister’s Cosmo.”

Taking hold of his friend’s hand, Ian started to drag Tomas towards the bar, “being the alpha male doesn’t work anymore. Look buy us a drink and I’ll explain it to you.”

11:50 THURSDAY

Searching though the faces of the revellers around him Tomas shook his head in frustration, “where the fuck has he got to now?” He cursed, wondering what trouble his friend had gotten into now. Half an hour earlier Ian had suddenly declared he fancied some pork scratchings and that had been the last time Tomas had seen him.

Then all thoughts of Ian or his cravings for pork based pub snacks dissolved as he spotted the angel from earlier in the night dancing near the podium at the front of the nightclub. Was it the flashing lights playing a trick upon him or did she keep on looking in his direction? That smile, the same one as before lit up the dance floor and Tomas knew it must be him she was looking at.

Fortified by a night of Ian’s courage builders Tomas knew now was his moment and so steeling himself he began to walk towards his angel and her friends when suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. “There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Turning Tomas cursed his friend’s inopportune appearance whilst Ian oblivious to romance he had thwarted held out a packet of pork scratching. “Do you want one?”

“No!” Tomas snapped, turning back towards the podium but the girl with the illuminating smile had disappeared and all that remained to Tomas was Ian and his rapidly disappearing packet of pork based products.

01:15 FRIDAY

“Back to life, back to reality,” outside the men’s toilet a drunken Tomas sang along to the music being pumped around Chico’s.

“I really like this one don’t you?” Looking up Tomas almost dropped his pint glass as he saw the girl he had been thinking about all night, standing in front of him. Thinking back to his friend’s ideas on modern mating rituals Tomas couldn’t help smiling.

 “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing really,” he told his dream girl. “I was just thinking about my friend. He reckons these days we have to wait until the girl makes the first move.”

“You mean the one who can’t dance,” the angel asked and Tomas found himself laughing as he nodded his head. “I reckon he tells himself that because he never manages to get himself laid.”

“You’ve met him then?” Tomas joked and was pleased to see his dream girl laugh.

“He sounds like my older brother. Jake’s always complaining manliness is dying out. Mind you he might have a point. Did you know you can get make up for men nowadays? You’re not wearing any are you?” The dream girl asked as she stroked his cheek, as if trying to work out the answer for herself.

“No,” Tomas squeaked, tingling all over from her touch before repeating his denial this time in what he hoped was a more manly tone.

“Good,” she giggled. “I like my men to be men.”

Before Tomas could reply he felt her lips touch his and all thoughts of anything else flew from his mind.

07:25 FRIDAY

Lying back in the strange bed Tomas’ mind replayed the events of the previous evening and Tomas felt contented.

“You better go,” the girl beside him whispered in his ear. “I’ve got college today.”

Turning Tomas reached out to stroke her hair but found he was gently yet firmly rebuked, “I mean it I’ve got lectures I have to go to all morning.”

Realising he was fighting a losing battle Tomas got out of bed and collecting his clothes from where they had been discarded the night before he silently got dressed all the while conscious of the girl of his dream’s studying his body.

Finally when he was ready to leave, the door handle in his hand Tomas realised he didn’t even know the girl’s name. “Poppy” was the answer he received before leaving and as he made his way home he wondered if Ian and Poppy’s brother Jake weren’t right. Whatever a ladette was they seemed to be the new alpha in town.

Versions

Version one

We made our way from the primordial slime,

Out of the sea we learnt to crawl,

From four legs to two was our progression,

Up in the trees we made our home.

As the great lizards lived and died,

We watched, neutral observers waiting.

The Neanderthal began to pave our way,

And all the time we were watching.

As they danced!

Version two

We learnt how to live side by side,

Out of necessity conversation sprang,

The light in the sky became our first religion,

As we discovered a need to celebrate,

So with our voices we experimented,

And eventually we discovered how to sing,

Our voices they took over our bodies,

Until we found we couldn’t stop ourselves.

We learned to dance!

Version three

As we grew we learned to cultivate,

And slowly we became masters of the land,

Strong men were born who were destined to rule,

As democracy was born we called them kings,

They weren’t the first to discover lust,

But still we followed them of to war,

They taught us what it was to kill,

Back home our families learnt to mourn.

As they danced!

Version four

Religion prospered crusades were born

All centred upon a single man,

On our travels we saw many wonders,

As we ravaged through their lands,

In an effort to spread our message,

Many strangers we chanced upon,

Their ways were different to our eyes,

But in one thing we were just like them.

We watched them dance!

Version five

We mastered art called it our renaissance,

Masterpieces never yet outdone,

And one man dreamed of our future,

Showed us his drawings of what was to be.

We sailed the globe discovered continents,

And those we met we accused of blasphemy,

But our cruelty we didn’t limit,

We still found time to burn heretics at home.

We forgot to dance!

Version six

The dawn of a new age an age of industry,

Inventions blossomed led our dear old Jenny,

We colonised and noted the conquered,

The lost souls who brought about the missionary.

A queen sat astride a bountiful empire,

While urchins littered the streets at home,

A man dared to defy the sacred scriptures,

He made us question where we belonged.

And so we danced!

Version seven

Now the pace gets faster the longer we live,

Great wars we fought not one but two,

Developing weapons of mass destruction,

As we became masters of the skies,

Our ambitions which were never sated,

Led us to the moon now we search the stars,

Hopefully exploring looking for brothers,

To whom one question we will ask.

Do you dance?