The girl in the pink jumper

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This archive short story is brought to you by the author of Maggie's Milkman and Extraordinary Rendition. 
Another long day of heat and nothingness, Bryn was really beginning to question the meaning of it all. He knew how the night would end up - nicotined fingers, a purple tongue and a YouTube video flickering on his computer screen while dribble ran from his snoring mouth.

But tonight something changed, yes there was the wine, yes there were the fags, and yes there were the YouTube videos but tonight there was a reason to live, a vitality, Bryn had fallen in love. Some might call it infatuation but Bryn knew, he knew this wasn’t some passing fad, some puppy love, this was IT.

He’d just watched a video by Nancy Sinatra, ‘These boots were made for walking’ and had seen the girl in the pink jumper. The blonde hair, the dimples, the smile and the chunky thighs had melted even Bryn’s bitter heart.

He had to find her, he had to meet her, he just had to.

He set about Google seeing if he could find a list of names of the dancers in the video, it was difficult, nothing on wiki, nothing on imdb or on the Nancy Sinatra fan groups. Was he flogging a dead horse? Should he give up? He considered it but the thought of that smile, those dimples, those legs kept him going. Clicking site after site, exhausting all possibilities.

One more click and then I’ll give up, he thought to himself for the 3^rd or 4^th time. Ilovenancy.org was a rather creepy fan site that was mostly made up of images of Nancy in various states of undress. Bryn flicked through the images, stockings, boots, bikinis and mini skirts, then, then then there it was a still from the video and whoever had put together this site had put the names of the girls underneath.

Bryn was cock-a-hoop, thrilled that he had a name, that could really start the ball rolling. Nothing better than the internet for a bit of stalking, Bryn’s searches were showing up other videos the dancer had been in, the same cheeky smile and enthusiasm.

It was gone 3am now but Bryn’s enthusiasm didn’t wane. He kept flicking through search results until he found it, an email address – a way to contact her.

He shot off an email and finally went to bed, smiling.

A couple of days later Bryn was amazed to get a reply, a sweet little message saying it was nice that people still take a interest. Over the next 10 days or so Bryn exchanged emails with his dancer until he suggested a meeting. To his surprise she agreed.

They arranged to meet in a café near to where she lived. He told her not to send a photo as he knew what she looked like. Bryn decided to get there a little late, it would be easier to spot her if she was already there. He entered the café with nervous anticipation. He was looking for his blonde, cute dancer but the place was full of men, the only woman was a  grey-haired sixty something. It couldn’t be her, he was looking for a blonde.

When the old woman saw him she smiled, it was the smile. Bryn couldn’t believe it, he wasn’t stupid, but in all his excitement he’d forgotten that she would have aged. He had been expecting to see the girl from the video but that was 44 years old. Here he was, a twenty five year old on a date with a 63-year-old woman. 

What the hell he thought,  smiled back and went to join her. 
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