New Year's Eve
As I sit alone, staring out the window of my flat, I raise my glass of rum and coke and toast another year gone bye. At twenty-seven years old, most of my close friends are married and are either spoiling their spouses with a night out on the town or enjoying a romantic evening at home once they have put their children to bed.
It's not that I haven't tried to find my soul mate, I've just become disenchanted with going out to clubs or being set-up by my well meaning but meddling mother and sister. If I hear my mother or sister say one more time, "Harry, you just haven't been looking in the right places. One of my friends has a daughter, son, brother or sister that would be just perfect for you....", I will scream bloody murder! I know they mean well, but enough is enough.
There is no way that I can go on another disastrous date that they have orchestrated, so it is time to put plan 'Imaginary Boyfriend' in to play on the chessboard that is my life.
My good friend, Liam once asked, "It can't be all that bad Harry. can it?"
"Liam, I spent three hours in the hospital yesterday morning thanks to my date spilling scalding hot coffee on me when we meet for Saturday brunch. I'll gladly trade you your morning of changing bio hazard diapers, if you want to deal with the pain of some first and second degree burns that I have on my upper arm. Do you? Oh, let's also not forget the other time that one of my dates slammed the car door so hard that two of my fingers were broken due to being in the door jam at the time. Need I continue?"
"Sorry Harry, I forgot about that other incident" Liam meekly replied. "Why don't you just say no to them mate?"
"Liam, do you think my mother and sister will ever take a no from me?"
"You have as much chance of them listening to you, as I do of having my number drawn in the sweepstakes this week. A snowball's chance in hell!"
"Yeah, if there was only something I could do?"
"It's not like you could make up an imaginary boyfriend, like you imagined your friend 'Josh' when you were in pre-school. That would be too easy, to say the least."
Hmmmmm.....That doesn't sound like to bad of an idea. An imaginary boyfriend, I'll have to think about that alternative some more, Harry thought to himself.
