Harry lay on the bed and wriggled for all
his might. He pulled in his stomach as far as it would go and pulled at the
material. Nearly, nearly, nearly. He’d seen his sisters do this years ago, he
knew it was possible. Nearly! Yes. He’d managed to do up the waistband of his
new pair of skinny jeans. Tonight was going to be a good night. Now all he had
to do was to get himself vertical and check he could walk.
He was off to see the Kooks and just
because he was in his forties he wasn’t going to let the kids have all the
fashion fun. Okay, it had taken him a good twenty-five minutes to get the jeans
on, and his stomach hung over the waist and he couldn’t do his converse daps
up, but who cares - you only live once, right?
He staggered across his flat, the tight jeans
giving him a John Wayne gait.
“They’ll give, they’ll give,” he muttered
to himself. “You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine.” The material began to have more
sympathy and his walk started to get back to normal.
“Let’s have a good time,” he said to the
furniture and headed to the door.
Heather was meeting him at the venue. It
was her idea to go to the concert, but desperate to prove he was not the old
fogey she thought he was, he’d readily agreed even if he did have to get onto
iTunes and have a Kooks crash course. Actually they weren’t bad, a kind of poor
man’s Supergrass, a bit whiney and moany, but not bad.
Heather smiled when she saw him. She went
on tiptoes and gave him a little peck on the cheeks. That was no polite
handshake-type kiss, that was a, a warm little kiss full of Turkish delight
type promise. She linked arms with him and led him inside; this really was
going to be a good night. They mostly ignored the support band, instead they
giggled like teenagers over a couple of glasses of Prosecco. But when the
lights went down and the Kooks came up both Harry and Heather were pogoing on
the dance floor.
“Shine, shine, shine on,” Harry sang. He
still had it. He could compete with these youngsters, no problem. Heather
smiled at him and planted a kiss right on his lips. Everything was going to
plan.
“I’m not saying it’s your fault,” Harry
sang along, he was sweating like a bucket and a bit out of breath but he wasn’t
gonna stop now. “Although you could have done mooorrrrrk” Harry grabbed his
throat, grabbed his heart, grabbed Heather and then slipped to the floor.
“she’s out to get me,” he croaked.
Harry woke up in a much much brighter room
than he’d passed out in. There was no sign of Heather but there was a nurse
taking his pulse.
“Where am I?” He asked.
“The Heath Hospital,” the nurse said.
“Did I have a heart attack?” The nurse
smiled.
“No Mr. Morgan,” he said. “You just passed
out because your blood wasn’t circulating properly. You’re perfectly fine, but
we had to cut these off you.” He held up the jeans. “We’d advise you didn’t
wear such an ill-fitting garment again.”
“And where’s Heather? ” Harry said.
“If you mean the young lady who brought you
in.” Harry noticed how the nurse had emphasised the word young. “She went home
to get you something to wear so you are decent on your journey home.”
Harry smiled weakly. There wasn’t any
guarantee that, Heather would be see him in the same light again, but at least
she hadn’t disappeared completely.
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