It’s not every day a man turns thirty. Paul approached this milestone with excitement, and the engagement ring was safely hidden away among his t-shirts in the top drawer. He realised that the trick was to remain completely focused. Mia had reminded him that serving tables at the café was such a dead-end job, and he was all too aware of just how right she was. Previous attempts to create the perfect moment proved that the carrot approach had not worked. In fact, from his first moment of ambition, he had failed miserably. Six months now, following a botched first attempt, his memory of complete failure still haunted him. He had chosen the filthy café kitchen to go down on one knee, but it just did not go down well at all.
“I’ve just got to get myself out of this damn cage!” he shouted to himself. “Get myself a job that she’ll look up to.”
His mind exploded as he faced his demons once more. He knew perfectly well that Mia wanted the tiger within him. He would know too that his thirtieth birthday would likely see the ring appear once more.
That evening, after a most delicious dinner together, and a walk by the sea, Peter got it all off his chest.
“There’s work going aboard The Lady Belle below in the harbour, and they’ve said I’m perfect for the job”, he whispered excitedly. “I’m starting next Monday.”
As he brought out the ring for the second time and pretended not to notice that she was red-faced with excitement, he moved closer to her.
“Will you marry me, Mia? Will you?
This story is an assignment I have for an online writing course that I am studying. To be honest, studying is not something I thought I would be doing at my age!
The criteria outlined was to include as many words as possible from this list:
- trick
- memory
- aboard
- tiger
- pretend
- carrot
- appliance
- cage
- rings
- crow
- filthy
- explode
P.
The Three Hairs 