Stuck

Bonnie Elderflower is heavy with gloom. With an audible and somewhat melodramatic sigh, she turns and catches Frank’s eye, who fires her an eyebrow raised in curious bemusement;

‘Oh it’s just that I’m grumpy and I don’t know why!’ She exclaims, exasperated, ‘Ahh…’ A long pause before he responds, almost inaudible, ‘you’re stuck, you see….Like me’. ‘Stuck…Yes! That’s it, I’m stuck!’ and she slumps down by his chair, the relief of being so thoroughly seen flooding her body. She takes his hand in hers and their eyes meet, ‘It feels…terrible’ she sighs, and he responds with a nod of weary resignation.

Now at his level, she sees he is so gentle, so full of compassion and care that she feels like a little bird in the palm of his hand, something precious and delicate and worth caring for. After a time (seconds? minutes? Weeks?) a sudden glimpse of light flashes across the deep pool of their gaze (impossible to tell where it began) a micro-twitch of eyebrows, the corners of mouths lifting in the faintest glimpse of a smile which grows as the tension builds until laughter spills out between them, across the furniture, pouring freely and with abandon, washing every nook and cranny of the room with its light.

The stillness that follows is rich with a bittersweet echo of something forgotten and a sudden rush of anguish crumples Franks face, a wave crashing over the shore. It recedes, just as quickly as it came, and his brown eyes look up again to meet Bonnie’s; clear, shining. Slowly, he points to his cheek,

‘A tear…’ he whispers, with surprise
‘Oh yes….a beautiful one…’ she whispers back, smiling
‘Yes…’